Hart of Travel

I don’t know about you, but for the longest time I had dreamed of traipsing through Europe for weeks on end, absorbing different cultures, hopping between countries, staying in hostels, and having the time of my life. I dreamt and researched and planned for this trip of a lifetime for about 3 years and the biggest thing I learned is that there is a LOT that goes into this! In this post, I put together all the tips and tricks I learned while planning (and what I learned during) my dream European backing trip.

Table of Contents

• How to plan your itinerary
• How to get around
• Where to stay
• How much does this cost
• Travel tips
• What to pack

How to plan your itinerary

Here are a couple things you need to figure out before you can zero in on your itinerary.

• How long do you have? – I’m sure everyone would love to spend an endless amount of time traipsing through Europe, but the reality is that most people are restricted to how many PTO days they can get. If you only have one week, it would be smarter to stick to one area of Europe where you won’t have to spend a lot of time traveling between places. But if you’re lucky enough to have more time, you have a bit more flexibility on the scope of your travels, which brings us to the next point.
• What is your travel style? – Do you like to stay in one place for more than a day and take your time seeing everything at a slower pace OR do you prefer to hustle to see as much as you can? There isn’t a right or wrong answer to this, it’s just a matter of personal preference. If you plan on traveling with someone else or multiple people on this trip it’s important to know what they expect in this area as well.
• What is your “must see” list? – Do you have something or someplace in your mind that you just know you HAVE to see? Make a list and then map them out to see if you can feasibly see all of them in whatever amount of time you have.

Once you have answers to the above questions, you can start mapping out your route. Here are a few tips and tricks:

• Book an “open-jaw” flight – this means you fly into one city and out of another, essentially buying two one-way flights instead of one roundtrip flight. This can save you loads of time if you plan on exploring a larger area of Europe. It can also save you loads of money! We watched flights for a couple different cities that we knew we wanted to include in our itinerary, we booked the one that was cheapest, and then that’s where we started our trip!
• Utilize “home bases” – this means that you would stay at a central location for multiple days and take day trips from there. This works really well for certain areas and not so well for others. Also, I do encourage people to check out and stay in smaller towns in addition to big cities as you usually get a better feel for the local culture in the smaller towns.
• Use Rome2Rio – this website lets you see what forms of transportation are available between locations and approximately how long the travel times are. You might think that the travel time from one place to another would be a lot shorter than it actually is, so it’s important to know if you need to take things off your itinerary or not. You can also book some transportation straight from the sight.

Read more about our 19 day itinerary here!

How to get around

Once you’re in Europe, how do you get place to place? Since this trip involves instances when you’ll be travelling within a city as well as travelling across countries, there are lots of options. We utilized all these different kinds of transportation throughout our whole trip. Once again, this is a good time to utilize Rome2Rio to weigh your different options.

• Trains – Train travel in Europe is super efficient and reliable and can be much less hassle than flying. We recommend getting a Eurail Pass for train travel. There are a couple different kinds you can get based on how long you’re staying and how often you’ll be using it. The website does a really good job of breaking them down and explaining the process. It even has a trip planner tool! There are some trains that are not included in the Eurail Pass. You sometimes have to reserve your seat even if you have the pass. We think it was definitely worth the money. Get the Eurail app so you have access to train schedules, addresses, and maps! It also shows all of the train changes you’ll have to do to get where you need to go and the duration of the ride. It’s really important to look at the train schedules while planning your itinerary so you don’t end up stuck somewhere because you missed the last train for the day.
• Overnight Trains – this is a great way to make the most of your time here! Sleep while country hopping! We took an overnight train from Salzburg to Verona and I thought it was pretty comfortable. The train movement really lulled me to sleep (not just on the overnight train). When you get to your destination, you have a full day to explore!
• Budget airlines – There are plenty of budget airlines that fly within Europe. We flew from Verona to London for I think $70. It’s definitely the fastest mode of travel to get from point A to point B, even though you have to go through security and possibly check your bags, etc. We use the Hopper app to find cheap flights!
• Subways/Metro systems – The larger European cities all have metro systems that have been around for awhile. It’s definitely worth it to figure out how to use these systems so you don’t have to spend as much time walking between places in the big cities or pay for taxis (which can get expensive).
• Buses – We didn’t take too many buses, but this is an option and usually it’s cheaper than taking trains, but it takes longer and is less reliable.
• Walking – We walked SO MUCH! And honestly it was wonderful. It’s a great way to see and get to know a city. Plus it’s great exercise especially when you’re eating a bunch of amazing food. We downloaded the Maps.Me app so we always had offline access to maps and navigation. I have no idea what we would’ve done without this – I do know we would’ve gotten lost way more than we did! It’s an amazing resource, highly recommend.

Where to stay

Location is EVERYTHING! If you want to make the most of your time, it’s helpful to stay in centrally-located places, or at least places that are close to metro stations so you have quick access. This might mean you pay a little more for a better location, but it’s usually worth it for the time you’ll save.

• Hostels – Since we were doing this trip on a budget, we mostly stayed at hostels and we had great experiences! There are so many really cool and unique hostels throughout Europe. It’s a great place to meet fellow like-minded travellers. We never felt unsafe. There are usually a couple different options for rooms/beds. You can book a private room, you can book a bed in an all-female or all-male room, or you can book a bed in a co-ed room. We did both the all-female and co-ed options and it wasn’t ever weird or anything. Most people are really only there to sleep and take a shower. We booked all our hostel stays through hostelworld.com. You can get their app and then you have all your info in one place!
• AirBnB – There are also so many cool AirBnBs throughout Europe. They range in price a lot, so there’s something for every budget. These can be a little trickier language-barrier-wise, since you have to coordinate with locals more, but it’s a great way to have an authentic experience. We stayed at an AirBnB in Verona and it was at the right time in our itinerary where we wanted alone time – we were also able to do our laundry in an actual washing machine there and cook our own dinner.
• Hotels – Hotels are generally the most expensive option, but it’s nice to splurge every once in a while. We stayed in a beautiful hotel in Colmar and it made our time there so much more special. We use booking.com for hotel stays.

How much does this cost?

You can make this trip as cheap or as luxurious as you would like. Like I’ve said before, we were on a budget so we tried to save money wherever we could without compromising on our experience too much. We spent about $3,000 each for the whole trip, I’ve heard of people doing it with less and more. Read my post with a detailed breakdown of what we spent here.

Here are some of our money saving tips:

• Travel in the shoulder season – My favorite time to travel anywhere is in shoulder season because I don’t like crowds, but travelling in the shoulder season can be a big money saver as well! Food, transportation, and hotel prices are all hiked up during peak season which in Europe is generally the summer months June-August. If you travel the couple months before or couple months after peak season, prices and crowds are better.
• Stay in hostels – It’s a lot cheaper to pay for a bed than to pay for a whole room. A lot of hostels also offer free breakfast and/or free walking tours which is a BIG plus! This can be a game-changer for your budget and honestly, it makes for a really cool experience because you’re more likely to meet fellow travelers.
• Walk, walk, walk – Walking is always the cheapest form of transportation, so when you’re able and it makes sense time-wise, walk to your sightseeing destinations. Also utilize FREE walking tours of cities! There are plenty of places that offer them.
• Cook some of your own meals – I would never say that you should cook every meal during your trip because part of the travelling experience is trying local cuisine, BUT if you’re trying to save money, try to cook at least one meal per day yourself if the place you’re staying allows- you’d be surprised how much money this can save you.

Travel tips

• Always have cash in whatever currency of the country you’re in. Most places do accept credit cards but not all places, so it’s necessary to have cash just in case. You can exchange your currency at most train stations right when you arrive (pro tip – you get a better exchange rate if you exchange by the $100, so take a few hundos with you, keep them in a safe place, and exchange them as needed at each location).
• If you plan on using credit cards as your primary form of payment, check on your card’s currency exchange rate – if you don’t check beforehand you might end up with a lot higher charges than you thought they would be.
• Always have an idea of what the exchange rate is for every currency to yours. It’s good to have an idea of how much you’re spending.
• You have to pay to use public restrooms in many places!! This is so weird to many Americans. It’s usually just change, but you don’t want to be stuck without any change and needing to use the bathroom. The only exception to this is when you eat at a restaurant you can use their restroom.
• When you eat at restaurants, you don’t have to wait for hostesses to seat you, you can just sit at a table if you see it’s open. You also have to ask for the check, they don’t just assume you’re done and want to leave. You also generally don’t need to tip your server, since that’s included in their wage.
• Get to popular attractions EARLY! If you don’t you’ll most likely be waiting in lines. We actually missed our chance to go inside Notre Dame because the line was too long and we had a train to catch.
• Buy your tickets to popular attractions ahead of time.
• Keep a journal. My journals are some of my favorite souvenirs from my travels. It’s insane how quickly you forget things if you don’t write them down. Plus it’s so nice to get to look back on all you did. This is also a great way to wind down at night or on trains.
• Call your cell service provider about international service. Some providers offer low-cost international service, but most likely you’ll want to put your phone on airplane mode and only use WiFi throughout your trip. This is another reason why having offline maps is essential.

What to pack

The most important thing I can say is PACK LIGHT. If you’re truly backpacking, then you will be carrying everything you’re bringing with you most places. So you don’t want it to be super heavy or bulky. We each took a backpacking backpack and a small day pack for most days when we could leave our big bags at the places we were staying.

As far as clothing goes, it really depends on what time of year you’re travelling. Regardless, I would recommend layers. We went end of May/beginning of June and layers were good to have. Keep in mind that you don’t have to have a different outfit for every day. You can do laundry either in sinks or some places have laundry facilities. Don’t forget to leave room for souvenirs!!

• fanny pack or money belt – I always kept my passport, money, and any important documents on my person at all times.
• packing cubes – packing cubes are your friend! It really helps to keep everything organized and you can fit more.
• portable power bank – these are great for quick charging needs on the go
• plug-in adapters – Europe has different plug-ins, so you have to have adapters for any electronics you bring
• toiletries – shampoo, conditioner, body wash, face wash, lotion – we shared all of this stuff to save room
• first aid kit – you’ll be happy you have it when you need it
• quick dry towel – honestly one of the best things we took, your towel won’t always have time to dry fulling before you have to pack it to move on
• portable clothesline – if you need to do laundry in the sink, these are your best friend
• instant coffee – if you’re a coffee person, this is something I would really recommend. We had a couple really rough mornings without coffee just because of timing reasons.
• 2 pairs of shoes. I know ladies, you wanna look cute. This is not the time for fashion. This is the time for comfortable walking shoes and space saving finesse. I took two pairs of Chaco sandals and it’s all I needed. When it was a little cooler I would wear “sockos”. One of the pairs was leather, so it was a little cuter for those cute outfit days. PS you probably also want to take “shower shoes”. It would really only need to be some cheap flipflops, just something so your bare feet aren’t on the shared shower floor.
• laundry detergent – you can get travel sized liquid detergent at Target
• journal
• water bottle – essential! There are lots of places you can fill up your water in cities. Staying hydrated is key
• tissues – I constantly found myself needing to blow my nose
• Have a copy of your passport and addresses of all the places you’re staying – keep in a separate place from your actual passport and phone (this is just in case your would lose anything). Also keep a copy of both things with someone you trust back at home.
• cash

What to pack in your day pack

You don’t want to be carrying a lot around with you everywhere, but there are things you should always have with you:

• first aid kit
• tissues
• cash/credit cards
• passport
• phone/camera/navigation
• water bottle
• portable power bank
• journal
• extra layer of clothing

I hope all this helps you to plan your own European backpacking trip – it’s really an amazing experience!

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