I want to travel around Europe with my family this summer. Does anyone know a cheap way of doing it?

Answer 1

One of the cheapest way after on foot is to go by train.European trains are not expensive and they are having full service and you can enjoy driving by train

Answer 2

1. Take advantage of Saver-passes for the trains, only good when you all travel together. I also recommend the train. Buses are a pain for longer distances and renting a car can be expensive with their gas prices.
2. Take night trains and get couchettes in a sleeping car a few times to save on hotels.
3. Get food from grocery stores. They have delicious stuff ready to eat. All you need is plastic forks and spoons.
4. Try to stay in hotels that serve at least coffee for breakfast.
5. Drink water. Even sodas are expensive, so ask for tap water- it's safe to drink. Then you can afford some pastries down the street.
6. Read Let's Go Europe to find names of cheaper hotels, hostels, campgrounds, and restaurants.
7. Lonely Planet Guide to EU and The Rough Guide to Europe are 2 other gudebooks with the best budget listings!
8. Don't pay extra for a private bathroom. The shared ones are usually fine, and you still have a sink in your room.
9. Ordering coffee or a drink at a bar is cheaper than sitting at a table in many places, like France and Italy.
10. Look for lunch specials and go in restaurants at lunch, then just snack at dinner time.

Answer 3

You simply can't beat rail as a way of getting around in Europe. Eurail Passes can be bought for many different individual countries, for pairs of countries, or for the whole 18 participating countries. The link is for the 15-day pass specially priced for 2 or more people travelling together. It looks pricey (especially when you see the "First Class" label) but the payoff is immense, especially in speed and comfort.

Either train or bus would end up costing you much more when you buy tickets individually as you go along.

Train services are incredible, nothing like anywhere in North America -- they are fast, frequent, direct, comfortable, and take you right to almost every town or city big enough to see on a map!

If you are thinking car, forget it -- fuel costs in Europe are easily 2-3 times as high as in North America!

Answer 4

Magic words are trains and camps.

Trains are affordable, comfortable, fast (but safe) and very reliable.

I'm not that familiar with camps in Europe other than where I live, in Croatia. We have hundreds of them and most of them are really cheap compared to the hotels and motels. Here hostels are very affordable too, but I know that in most other countries they can be pretty expensive in comparison with hotels). Of course, you need camping equipment, but maybe you can borrow it from friends or family? And if you are a member (all of your family you're travelling with) of a mountaineering society and you have their member's card (which automatically makes you a member of the International Mountaineering and Climbing Federation (UIAA)) you should have significant discounts in camps and mountain huts (at least, that's how it works here).