Just a quick warning though. A lot of those flights are not originating from the city or main airports. For instance, the "Brussels" flight they suggest taking is from an airport that is one hour away from Brussels (in Charleroi). It means that you will need to spend some more money to get to the city centres. These additional costs from "low cost" airports to the cities do add up to a significant amount on that entire itinerary. Just something to keep in mind.
How to visit 30 cities for less than $450USD – Europe on the cheap
21–30 of 36 posts
Re: How to visit 30 cities for less than $450USD – Europe on the cheap
#22Earlier quoted context omitted.
US users probably don't know much about it but Interrail is one of the greatest things about being young European, together with the Erasmus student exchange program. Add the very low-cost airline ticket to the mix on a continent that is quite safe and peaceful place and you may start to understand why young people are much more positive towards the EU project than the previous generations. EU is also planning to giv…
Most European children don't go through Erasmus or inter rail. A train ticket for kids paid for by unwilling tax payers is little more than bribery and propaganda. It's disgusting, they can't win the hearts and minds of the populace so they insinuated themselves in schools and now are outright bribing kids. I was pro-stay, but some of the stunts the EU are pulling to get kids to believe in EU federalisation are disgu…
I did both Interrail and Erasmus and its probably the best things I did in my life.
I will be more than happy to contribute to that with my taxes to give opportunities to young people to become more open minded.
Re: How to visit 30 cities for less than $450USD – Europe on the cheap
#23Edit: this comment is bogus. I didn't know about sweet Schengen visa . Only applicable to people from rich countries Visa costs for everyone else, UK - $160 Germany - $120-$210 Spain - $100 Portugal - $80 France - $67 Belgium - $80 ... you get the idea.
Fun fact: there's not even border control between those countries.
Re: How to visit 30 cities for less than $450USD – Europe on the cheap
#24Just a quick warning though. A lot of those flights are not originating from the city or main airports. For instance, the "Brussels" flight they suggest taking is from an airport that is one hour away from Brussels (in Charleroi). It means that you will need to spend some more money to get to the city centres. These additional costs from "low cost" airports to the cities do add up to a significant amount on that enti…
That's quite right. You can safely add $10 per flight for transport to the airport.
Re: How to visit 30 cities for less than $450USD – Europe on the cheap
#25This article is omitting a lot of side expenses.
Let's take Paris case: if you use Ryanair as stipulated, you'll end up in Beauvais which is about 80kms from Paris. You'll need to add a 20€ mandatory bus fare or find a car sharing in order to arrive in the city.
The idea is cool and definitely doable if you are highly organized. But you'll need way more preparation than this vague travel roadmap...
Re: How to visit 30 cities for less than $450USD – Europe on the cheap
#26Edit: this comment is bogus. I didn't know about sweet Schengen visa . Only applicable to people from rich countries Visa costs for everyone else, UK - $160 Germany - $120-$210 Spain - $100 Portugal - $80 France - $67 Belgium - $80 ... you get the idea.
Nope, you can get a Schengen Visa and you will be able to visit most of the countries. Also, EU citizens can travel visa free. There is a visa free travel opportunities for many other citizens from the world as EU or individual countries have special agreements with many countries. So no, it is not a 100 bucks per country visa fees.
Should note that the UK is not part of Schengen. That visa alone is ~100 GBP if you need it.
Re: How to visit 30 cities for less than $450USD – Europe on the cheap
#27Edit: this comment is bogus. I didn't know about sweet Schengen visa . Only applicable to people from rich countries Visa costs for everyone else, UK - $160 Germany - $120-$210 Spain - $100 Portugal - $80 France - $67 Belgium - $80 ... you get the idea.
Fun fact: there's not even border control between those countries.
Except airports. And you do need the Schengen visa, plus there are some minor rules like "you need to register with the local police if you're staying in some countries over X months"; this is not really an issue on a trip like this.
Re: How to visit 30 cities for less than $450USD – Europe on the cheap
#28This is poor advice.
You'd spend all your time dealing with flights and inconveniently located airports. You're left with no flexibility, since so much has to be booked in advance.
Instead, look up how train ticket prices are set -- for example, in the UK a budget backpacker would need to book ahead to get at affordable price, but there's no need in Poland. If you miss a cheap pre-booked train in the UK you need a new ticket, but on most trains in Germany you've only lost the seat reservation (I think).
Buses are often cheaper than trains, but much less comfortable and have poor views along motorways -- only use them if the train is too expensive, or the journey a lot more direct / faster.
You then have the flexibility to spend longer in one city than you planned, or to leave early when the weather is bad and you're bored of museums, or to break journeys in smaller towns and villages, which makes for a more interesting trip than a succession of major cities.
Students with a very tight budget should stick to Eastern Europe, and not only EU states. There are Roman ruins in Albania, vineyards in Romania, modern war history in Bosnia Herzegovinia, and beautiful 19th century buildings in Hungary.
Re: How to visit 30 cities for less than $450USD – Europe on the cheap
#29This is poor advice. You'd spend all your time dealing with flights and inconveniently located airports. You're left with no flexibility, since so much has to be booked in advance. Instead, look up how train ticket prices are set -- for example, in the UK a budget backpacker would need to book ahead to get at affordable price, but there's no need in Poland. If you miss a cheap pre-booked train in the UK you need a ne…
I think it's worth to book a bit ahead if that means you can save that much money. E.g. book the flights ahead of time and then still spend a few weeks at every destination. This itinerary is meant to take like 2-3 months. You can still go to all the little towns and villages. But it might make sense to fly into the cities to score the cheap deals. And if you're on such a tight budget just don't stay in super expensive places like London or Paris (just use them as connection hubs...)
All I want to do with this itinerary is show the economies of traveling in Europe e.g. flying from London to Linz and not to Vienna which will cost you 5 times as much. Or flying from Rome to Barcelona instead of Zurich to Barcelona lets say.
Re: How to visit 30 cities for less than $450USD – Europe on the cheap
#30You can actually do something similar with an Interrail Pass [1]. It's a train ticket valid in all of Europe for 1 month for €407 if you're under 26 or €532 if you're older. Still, pretty cool! 1: http://www.interrail.eu
yeah! I love Interrail! That's a really good option, too! I might add it to the blog post. Thanks :)