Just turned 18 and 2 friends and I want to travel to Europe during the summer, possible routes and advice?

Question

just turned 18 and i was wondering about is there any advice i need to know about traveling through europe. We want to start in Madrid, make are way to Paris, then travel down to Rome, and make are way to Athens. is this an ideal route? where should we stay? Hostels? Hotel? what should we know before we leave? I am planning to save about 4,000 dollars, is that enough. is there a better route that could be cheaper? any thing can help, we just need to no more about europe. thanks

Answer 1

It can be done on $4000, but be careful and use traveler's checks. Be very wary of hostel's as there are locals who will stay in them to take advantage of tourists. Try adding a trip to Switzerland.

Answer 2

to expensive, go to Mexico. Besides Europe is cold and there aren't any warm beaches. It's SUMMER

Answer 3

I would suggest a couple of things. First, get a map of Europe, and circle all of the cities that you and your friends would like to visit. If you plan to use ground transportation, try to travel in a circle of sorts, to save time and money. If you plan to fly (Ryan Air and Easy Jet usually have flights for about 20 euros, cheaper than trains) then look to see which cities let you fly to other cities, and plan that way.

You can stay in hostels, which are cheaper, but they are usually noisy and sometimes dirty. If you are traveling with other people, you may be able to save money by searching for "Pensions", which are like hostels but rent by the room, instead of by the bed. This way you can sometimes save money, and you get a private room.

Depending on how much money you spend, 4,000 would probably be adequate. I spent about 4 weeks in Europe last summer. I spent 1,000 on a round trip flight to europe, about $600 for flights and hotels in Europe, and I took about $1500 with me. I didn't spend a whole lot of money on food, entertainment, or souvenirs, and I did stay with friends part of the time, but I came home with about $500.

Enjoy!

Answer 4

I am more conservative than some of these other respondants. With a $4000 budget and limited time I would rather not spend huge amounts of time on trains going to the most expensive cities in the world. I would stick to Spain and see all of the great cities in that country. By the time you see Madrid, Barcelona, Granada, Seville, Toledo, Segovia,Ronda and spend a little time on the beach you will have a full summer. You can take the ferry from Valencia to Ibiza if you want to do some serious partying. Plus there are more hostals in spain than anywhere.

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Paris and Rome are so blisteringly expensive that you are shocked at how much you will pay for a sandwich on the street. Madrid has this great nightlife that goes until all hours. Spanish cuisine rivals French and Italian even though it is not as well known. There are dozens of clubs that open at 4 in the morning. It is an incredible city.

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You are young yet, you have time. Paris is much better seen combined with a trip to London.

Answer 5

I think its a wonderful idea but here is the skinny on whats up over the pond.  The dollar sucks right now, so unless you have friends or family in one or more of those countries you plan on visiting 4grand is not enough.  Also the government in a few of those countries has alot of turmoil going on right  now and the US isnt on the favorite list.  So if you are dead set on doing this start looking at the news in these countries and the countries you will have to go thru to get to your destination.  Check the prices for meals and hotels.  Its not cheat.  Also get a passport and whatever others documents you will need to enter these places cause there you really strict now.  Have fun but man be very careful

Answer 6

There's lots of good info at this site:

http://www.ricksteves.com/

Answer 7

Thats some traveling. Well, it depends what kind of experience you are going for. I did a tour where everything was taken care of, and it was just one packeged price.It was nice not to have to worry about logistics, but I would have liked staying longer in each destination. But what i really want to tell you, is check out ferry routes from italy to athens- cause everything I saw was REALLY expensive. I ended up taking a cheap $280 fight from rome to athens because arranging to get to the ferry was really tricky and expensive. Look at ryan air, because they do have some great deals. But if you want to do a tour, i used a company called EF College break. its and 18-26 thing and it includes everything but lunch and dinner pretty much. (it included rt airfare, hotels, museums..and stuff.) I don't know if you want to look into that, but their discount code is hesseln1188 if you want to use them. (it gets you like $50 off a trip) But seriously, if you are doing it on your own check into the eurail. The train system is really good in europe, and depending on your plans, this could be a really good investment. And the metro system (the subway) is really good in the big citeies- ie Paris, rome, madrid. and its pretty cheap too. 4000 sounds like a good amount- but don't forget to take into consideration the exchange rate! good luck!

Answer 8

I would say you guys should visit Turkey, Istanbul as well. Istanbul is the most beautiful city i can say in the world. My suggestion is that in every Country you guys travel you should guys go to the "tourism office" to get free handbook about that country's culture, hotels, and fun places. Without that hand books you guys will get bored.

Answer 9

$4k should be more than enough for 2 weeks.  I spent that much in 5 weeks, although the dollar wasn't the doodie pile it is now.  I bought the eurorail pass and stayed at hostels...  never had a problem.  and don't miss barcelona!

Answer 10

be safe

Answer 11

Well, You can start off in Madrid and spend some days there, and then head over to Barcelona, you wont be disappointed. If you do skip Barcelona, there is a night train that takes you into Paris in the morning. So if you wanted to go from Madrid to Paris, that is a good idea, so it will be cheaper to travel by night, dont have to spend as much money on a place to stay and you dont waste time during the day traveling.  From Paris, would be a good place to visit Versaille, its about an hour of Paris. On your way down to rome, stop in Lyon or Avignon, then you can head down to Nice/Monte Carlo for a couple days at the beach, then travel down to Italy and can stop at Cinque Terre for a couple days and enjoy the italian riveria... then head over to Florence for a few days and make that your base to travel out to tuscany and enjoy the countryside, you can do a day trip in the area and visit small towns like Siena, San Giammiano, Certaldo, etc.... and then you can head down to Rome, do your thing there, and travel south to Naples and to get to Greece, you are better off just taking a flight there b/c the boats will take a lot longer to get there, (if your on a time constrant)...

I would stay in hostels, they are wonderful places to stay and meet people.  When I traveled across Europe and Asia I used

www.hostelworld.com

i would book my trip a day before or even as late as same day, but if I were you, I wouldnt do that, but if you can't help it, you can still book last minute.

Take the train, and I would actually buy a Europass, you will be young enough to get the Youth pass, which is a lot cheaper.

www.ricksteves.com

great place to book your tickets for the Eurorail.  I dont know how long you are going for, but they have different set ups depending on where and how long you are traveling for.

I think 4k is doable, just watch it, b/c it goes by quick and the euros are strong compared to our week dollar.

Bring a translation book with you, rick steves has them as long as other travel books... check them out if you want to go to spain and other places.

Answer 12

Starting in Madrid will take a little more effort as you'll probably have to go through another European city to get there.

But if you start there, I'd do it in this order: Madrid, Barcelona, Lyon, Paris, Venice, Florence, Rome (all on rail, just buy a Eurailpass). Then you would probably have to fly to Athens if you wanted to include that on your itinerary.

If you wanted to save some money, eliminate the Athens part.

Don't' get me wrong, Athens is a great place to visit but the additional cost involved to get there might not be worth it. There's so much more to see in western Europe. You can find hostels and small hotels to stay in all these places and transportation readily available and easy to use in all these destinations.