Planning a trip to Europe in next months

johnfiore1231

Hi,

I have one month free which i want to utilize to visit Europe.But i don't know where do i start from.Please guide me to plan a trip which is to be cost effective and memorable.

Regards

Browntoa

Where do you live now ?

Doshwaster

Some idea of a budget for the trip would be helpful. Are you happy using hostels or require good hotels?

If money is going to be tight then you will be wanting to spend most of the time in eastern Europe.

Just avoid the temptation to got to as many places as possible otherwise you will spend most of the time travelling and sleeping rather than getting to know places. I always recommend a minimum of 3 days anywhere.

Moto2

Pick somewhere you fancy going to and go there, after a couple of days, pick somewhere else and go there etc. etc.

Don't over-plan a trip like that too much

AlexMac

Assuming you are a bit idle (or you wouldn't post such a wide open Q here without at least browsing a guidebook or tripadvisor or the travel advice elsewhere on this site) you probably couldn't hack it the way I first travelled Europe in a 'cost-effective' way thr 1st few times; hitching to southern Spain... although that was certainly memorable, and required remarkably little planning.

So for value, my advice would be to stick to just a few countries in southern Europe, particularly Spain and Greece which are great value. Strangely, although Italy's economy is also a basket case, prices have not come down so much there- (although internal flights and trains in Italy are very cheap), France and Germany are also pricier, and in Scandinavian countries even a beer can be eye-wateringly expensive. Car travel’s probably out on cost grounds, so that leaves budget air, train (which can also be pricey) or bus (which isn’t so great for long distances).

Learn to travel light; we can do three weeks in winter on a cabin-luggage sized trolley case, so you should do a month easy in summer with one. And that way not only will you get cheaper fares on Easyjet, Ryanair, German Wings, Norwegian air, etc (where a checked bag can double the fare) but you'll be first out of the airport terminal.

You could do worst than to start with the route-planning maps on those cheap airlines; click on smaller regional airports to see which other countries and regions they fly to . For example if you look at Ryanair (and assuming you can use internet cafes or a smartphone or tablet to check in online locally and download the essential boarding pass) you'll be amazed at how cheap it is to travel between European airports - often £20-30 for example between Spain, italy, Croatia or Greece.

Or, in Greece or Croatia, do the classic 'island hopping' on local ferries - google it . One of my best first holiday memories is getting a budget flight to Athens, jumping the first ferry at randon from Pireaus, landing 6 hours later on an island, jumping a local bus and 24-hours after leaving the UK, waking up in a cheap room in a tiny village with a balcony a few yards from the sea. Or getting the bus up to the mountain watershed on Crete, walking down the famous 'Samaria gorge' and then, along the coast to a village then only accessible by sea and staying there rather than getting the bus. Without any luggage more than a toothbrush as my bag was in left luggage in Chania.

https://www.seat61.com is an alternative resource for european rail travel, and that way you end up in city centres, not airports a bus-ride away...

Alternively again, I've enjoyed really cheap bus travel in Spain and North Africa. If you were to start from a regional bus hub like Seville in southern Spain or even one of the cities of the north, you could do not just the touristy 'costas' with the beach-bunnies, clubbers and lager louts but beautiful inland areas and mountain regions with heritage attractions (like Granada with its fantastic 'Alhambra' palace dating from hundreds of years of Arab Muslim occupation). Don't underestimate the heat in summer, however, and carry water; the only time in my life I ever got the runs was when I ran out of water in Tunisia while bussing around between beaches, deserts, souks, Roman amphitheatres etc, and ran out of bottled water and couldn't find a shop so drank from a tap!

Anyway, I could go on, and frequently do...

And if this sounds too much hassle to research... buy a cheap last-minute package. And don't forget travel insurance; bought online, it costs peanuts