Back Packing across Europe?

Question

I'm graduating from college this May and I want to back pack across Europe. How long should I go for and how much money should I save for spending and such?

Answer 1

Hi,

for spending money, and to pay for hostels, I'd suggest an average of $1500 USD a month just to get by (as while countries like Spain are cheap, others like the UK are expensive).

You can get a good idea by checking the prices of hostels for the cities you're intersted in, then treble that figure to include food and drink, museum visits, tours etc...so if the most highly rated hostel in Barcelona costs €15 euros a night, then you'll need around €45 a day, multiply by 30 and you have your magic number for a month in Spain which is €1250 euros...

To get around, train is best, but also BusAbout is good too as it's full of other backpackers with the same idea as you...

You can buy your Interrailing / BusAbout package ticket in advance then you won't have to bring much money for the major journeys.

Another option is to use the budget airlines like Ryanair for some of the longer regional journeys, I've put the link to Skyscanner below so you can search for flights between any two cities in Europe and work out your costs and pay for some of the cheap $5 USD filights in advance....

Make sure you stay in hostels (links below), as not only will this keep your costs down, you'll meet loads of other travellers too and have more fun.

I also recommend you try to take in a couple of the great European festivals while you're here, such as the

* Edinburgh festival in August,
* St James Day in Santiago De Compostela (July),
* La Merce in Barcelona (September),
* la Tomatina - the annual tomato fight (late August in Bunol, Valanecia),
* 'San Fermin' bull-running in Pamplona in July

(Spain loves to party with fireworks!)

or perhaps the
* Rhine in Flames in Germany.

and the Grand Dukes Birthday / National Day in Luxembourg on the night of 22nd June is a great party...

I've put the link to whatsonwhen .com below so you can check it out...

Hope that helps,

Happy Trails

Philip

Answer 2

This is right down my alley. I just got back from a 4 month back packing trip across Europe. I think for me, 4 months wasnt long enough, lol!
I did the hostel and living off grocery store foods, and not going to restaurants very often. It adds up after awhile! I can tell you from what I spent, expect to spend anywhere around 1-2k a month.
You have a hostel which avg cost $20X30 days, thats 600 bucks.
Then you got food. Gotta eat and DRINK plenty of water, so right there costs about what $15 a day on food if you go cheap, multiply that by 30 again, thats $450. so you are up to 1k for the month. Then you got your nights when you party and drink, theres more money and if you want a cool present to bring back,theres more money and then transportation between cities, depends on how old you are and if you are traveling with somoene and if you go on 1st class or second class.
Depending on how long you stay and if you don't travel around too much, then you wont need a europass, if you want to travel more then look into the europass.
Good luck and have fun and be safe out there!!!!! :)

Answer 3

An important note: Don't bring too much. 4 changes of clothes are ample enough, as you will easily be able to wash them on the road.

Your pack should hold about 40 liters and weigh no more than 15 kilogramms. If you bring any larger, you will have trouble schlepping it around. You won't be able to fit it into luggage racks in European trains nor into European luggage storage lockers.

My suggested packing list:

1-2 jeans, one zip-off pant, one pair of shorts, sneakers, sandals or flip-flops, 5-10 underpants, one fleece sweatshirt, a rainproof windbreaker, 3-4 T-shirts, a very small microfibre towel.

Answer 4

the alternative is yours to make, are you pastime for journey and subculture and learn extra, or are you patroitic or are you charitable or are you a superhero recueing all that needs you ? Finance would be worked out in case you have the prefer to do it, age should not be a hindance yet an asset, so is braveness and self assurance.....ever heard of a superhero this is a coward ?