I’m not planning on leaving next week or next month but possibly maybe next year, if things go really well. I’ve wanted to go ambling through there all my life and I feel a bit silly for never having gone. There’s so very very much I want to see, though.
I want to go to Ireland. And Scotland. And England. And maybe Cornwall. And maybe France. And definitely Austria and Germany. And Rome. And…
…and I know I’m going to have to schedule a month at least to do this and I won’t be able to do everything I want to. I’m awfully interested in museums and history.
Does anyone have tips for good ways to get around Western Europe without spending one’s entire life savings? Favorite places and clever tips are what I’m looking for, but anything you can say to help a person who doesn’t really know much about where she’s going would be very… ah, helpful.
Can you tell us a bit about the living standard that you would expect? Inexpensive can mean so many different things. Do you mean backpacking and staying in hostels or do you want a nice proper hotel?
Do you already know any specific things that you want to include? There are many minor sights that won’t keep you occupied for a long time but can be very interesting if you are already in the city.
You mention history and museums - are there any epochs or topics that you find especially interesting?
Fly into Germany, aparently flights to Hamburg from the US (or to the US) are a hell of a lot cheaper than flights into the UK.
I have no explanation for this.
An example:
New York -> Hamburg (British Airways) £347 ($694) economy return
New York -> London (British Airways) £544 ($1088) economy return
Go sometime other than June-July-August, if at all possible.
Get a guidebook aimed at the low-budget traveler, like Let’s Go or Lonely Planet. (Both have their good and bad points, so if possible, get a copy of each out of the library before committing yourself.)
Hostels are definitely the way to go if you’re traveling alone, but if you’re with someone else, don’t rule out cheap hotels either. Night trains and buses can save you money, but they can also be miserable if you don’t sleep well on public transit. Your call.
Don’t get a Eurailpass unless you have a route planned out and you’re confident that you can make it pay. They’re great for the “five European capitals in two weeks” sort of trip, but if you’re spending a lot of time in a relatively small area, you’re better off buying tickets as you go.
Residential neighborhoods are a good place to look for cheap restaurants, and so are areas near a university. Avoid eating in tourist districts if possible.
If you’re a student, get the ISIC (International Student Identity Card) and check out a student-oriented travel agency, such as STA Travel, to see if you’re eligible for any good deals on tickets. You may also be eligible for a temporary work visa for the UK through a program called BUNAC, although this may or may not be the best choice if you’re going to be on the road most of the time.
I know I could save a great deal of money staying at hostels – moreover, I really only go to hotel rooms to sleep and kill time, and I don’t intend to need to kill time anywhere other than out in the cities I so long to see!
Depending on how I do this, though, I may not have to worry about lodging.
I’m not certain of specific things I want to include as yet. I am, though, currently studying 16th century German culture and I’d love to learn more about that. I’m also a former Classics minor concentrating in the Roman Empire so ancient Roman anything is going to be entertaining. Even if it’s a bunch of old rocks strewn together… well, they’re old! Rocks!
The Lonely Planet forums lean towards budget travel - spend some time browsing the European branches for ideas. One thing I’ll say, plans for ‘relatively inexpensive’ tourism in Europe probably shouldn’t include Britain and Ireland. Definitely think eastwards, as Jamaika a jamaikaiaké suggests.
Anywhere in the eurozone is going to be expensive, because the euro is high (about $1.34 right now). Same goes for the UK- the pound is at $1.99. Something that costs $1 here is probably (with some exceptions) going to cost 1 euro or 1 pound there. Either of those exchange rates could of course change by next year, but the euro at least has been high for several years now. Denmark and Sweden don’t use the euro, but they were very expensive when I went there last year.
If you’re going to be going to more than one country, I think it’s easier to go between two EU countries than it is to go between an EU and a non-EU country. If you go between two countries that are both party to the Schengen agreement, you might not even have to go through customs and passport control at the border. You don’t need a visa to go to any of the Schengen countries, the UK, or Ireland for less than 90 days, which you might need to go to (or even pass through, such as on a train) other countries.
If you don’t have a passport yet, start working on that now. The US recently changed the rules for passports, which means there’s a huge backlog of passport requests now.
I like Let’s Go and Rick Steves guidebooks for budget travel.
I went to Prague last year. It was a really nice place (with wonderful beer), and was a lot cheaper than other places I’ve been in Europe. We saw a number of tourists there from other parts of Europe- they go to eastern Europe for a cheap vacation. Highly recommended.
When you’re there, try to eat like a local, not like you would at home. Some things that are cheap at home are going to be expensive there, and vice versa. For example, in Ireland, we figured that I paid more for a Diet Coke in a restaurant than I did for beer at other restaurants and pubs. In general, local stuff is cheaper and better than imported.
Depends on the time of year, but i suggest Prague and maybe Budapest (except in January - Budapest is a ghost town them). Fly through frankfurt. I once got a $500 round trip ticket to Prague from San Francisco.
Plan rest days. While everyplace you go will be incredibly exciting, traveling can be really tiring and a month is a long time. I took a 3 week trip through Europe this spring and by the end I was beat. Towards the end of the trip my friends and I scrapped all our plans for a day and just spent the day sitting by a river playing cards. It was great and made the rest of the trip go much more smoothly.
Check out budget airlines like Easyjet, Ryanair, etc if you need to cover long distances. You can get flights for as little as 20 dollars (including fees) depending on where and when you’re going.
My favorite place I’ve traveled to in Europe was Sicily. It was so beautiful. There were lots of Greek and Roman ruins, beautiful beaches, good food, etc. Everyone we met was very friendly. It was also pretty cheap. Instead of renting a car we took the trains and buses, which were great (most trips we took were under 5 euro).
IIRC, “Let’s Go” has a section on staying in Europe other then as a tourist; for instance, volunteers organizations will offer room and board to a bunch of international students in some nice job like restoring a castle. Or you could work your way around city centres waitering.
Have you considered camping?
Or staying with some (youth)exchange program?
I thirdthe recommendations for Eastern Europe. Still consideralbly cheaper then Western Europe.
If you want to see a big chunk of Europe I would definitely recommend getting a railpass, despite other comments. It’s the best way to see Europe IMO, and turns the travelling into part of the whole experience.
That’s actually a great idea. I got charged a ridiculous amount (5 pounds per kilo) for excess baggage on a Germanwings flight. It ended up costing twice as much as my ticket. (Although, since I was moving to Germany, I had a lot more stuff with me than a tourist would).
If you really, REALLY want to go cheap, come here to the arse end of Europe. (I tried “ass end”, but it looks funny, even to my American eyes.) Plus, you’ll have gone somewhere probably none of your friends have visited.
Let it be said now, there is not just one kind of “railpass.” There is a complex system which includes all-you-can-ride passes good for various periods of time, passes good for a certain number of “travel days” within a span of weeks or months, exclusion of certain countries (to use the pass there you pay a supplementry fee – Austria was one last I checked, like Austria isn’t expensive enough already), and other complexities. Basically, there are a lot of factors to consider before deciding that a certain railpass is worth the cost (they are reasonable but not dirt cheap).
Another suggestion for Central Europe is Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. Like Prague, but on a smaller scale and very close to some beautiful lakes and mountains .
No first-hand experience, but I’ve heard suggestions that it’s not a particularly cheap option, with Slovenia having an economy on a par with the countries to its north and west.
)