1-2 European countries to backpack in...but which ones??

Eve_Dublin

Just throwing this out there....I've just decided to go backpacking in a European country or two for about 3 weeks in August. I'll be going alone as that's how I prefer it (and I've no one to go with who has holidays + money...and no one likes me ) so if you were me, which country (countries....2 max) would you choose? What I'm looking for: culture, not pricey and not land-locked. I'm very tired, I've just had a can of Guinness, I'm a little tipsy and I could do something stupid so please advice me before I book two weeks in Hull...

Thanks!

cesc77

Eve_Dublin wrote: »

Just throwing this out there....I've just decided to go backpacking in a European country or two for about 3 weeks in August. I'll be going alone as that's how I prefer it (and I've no one to go with who has holidays + money...and no one likes me ) so if you were me, which country (countries....2 max) would you choose? What I'm looking for: culture, not pricey and not land-locked. I'm very tired, I've just had a can of Guinness, I'm a little tipsy and I could do something stupid so please advice me before I book two weeks in Hull...

Thanks!

One Guinness and youre monkeyed?My kinda gal.Do you need a chaperone?

On a serious note:
Thon eastern block country that Hostel was filmed in.

You'll have a hoot:pac:

Mr Benevolent

I would venture that Germany or Scandanavia would be best.

grizzly

France & Italy (People will say Ireland but that's boring).

stinkle

Spain! Plenty of variety in the different regions. Easy to get around by rail too according to friends. Not sure how expensive that travel option is though

Denmark is lovely too, a bonus is you can travel across the bridge to Sweden from Copenhagen and explore there. Slight prob is they're expensive enough places to visit...

EverEvolving

Croatia and Italy - 2 beautiful countries right beside each other, plus both are coastal and not too pricy (obviously depending where you go).

I would give my left tit to be going on a back packing adventure now but I just can't afford it. Lucky you, hope you really enjoy it.

Eve_Dublin

stinkle wrote: »

Spain! Plenty of variety in the different regions. Easy to get around by rail too according to friends. Not sure how expensive that travel option is though

Denmark is lovely too, a bonus is you can travel across the bridge to Sweden from Copenhagen and explore there. Slight prob is they're expensive enough places to visit...

I live in Spain and have been to Denmark.

Eve_Dublin

Confab wrote: »

I would venture that Germany or Scandanavia would be best.

No interest in Germany (except Berlin) and Scandanavia too pricey.

Alter-Ego

+1 on Croatia and Italy. Poland is also a great country.

Pherekydes

Russia. Backpack from St Petersburg to Vladivostok.

Are you sure you want a second?

Corsendonk

Sweden-Finland, nice people, plenty of beaches and lakes.

Eve_Dublin

EverEvolving wrote: »

Croatia and Italy - 2 beautiful countries right beside each other, plus both are coastal and not too pricy (obviously depending where you go).

I would give my left tit to be going on a back packing adventure now but I just can't afford it. Lucky you, hope you really enjoy it.

Thanks

Hmmm....seriously considering these two...are they easy to travel between? Could I get a boat accross?

Have been working hard and saving me backside off (work from 8am to 10pm most days) and eating lettuce for months...I'm on less than 12,000 a year. I deserve a holiday.

Eve_Dublin

Pherekydes wrote: »

Russia. Backpack from St Petersburg to Vladivostok.

Are you sure you want a second?

Was thinking of Russia too. Would LOVE to go...but would it be safe to travel alone??

WindSock

Why not land locked? The alps are lovely in the summer.

Italy anyway should keep you busy. A new Europe would be interesting and cheap.

Eve_Dublin

WindSock wrote: »

Why not land locked? The alps are lovely in the summer.

Italy anyway should keep you busy. A new Europe would be interesting and cheap.

I live in a land locked city and I like the sea. I've visions of me lying on a beach somewhere for a few days but....I could probably sacrifice that for somewhere special.

Emiko

Holland.

The views in the countryside are amazing.

Raekwon

cesc77 wrote: »

On a serious note:
Thon eastern block country that Hostel was filmed in.

You'll have a hoot:pac:

Hostel was shot on location in Prague, Czech Republic but was suppose to be depicting a town near Bratislava, Slovakia. Both are absolutely beautiful places and well worth a visit by the way

OP I heard that Slovenia is suppose to be absolutely breath taking. You've pretty much got everything crammed into one country, Alpine mounties in the north to Mediterranean beaches to the south. Plus there are loads of lake districts & Medieval towns outside of the main cities, Ljubljana & Maribor being the main too. Plus they are the only former Yugoslavian country to adopt the Euro currency, so no confusion over prices etc

livinsane

Eve_Dublin wrote: »

Thanks

Hmmm....seriously considering these two...are they easy to travel between? Could I get a boat accross?

Have been working hard and saving me backside off (work from 8am to 10pm most days) and eating lettuce for months...I'm on less than 12,000 a year. I deserve a holiday.

I'd second this idea. You can get ferries from Italy to Croatia as far as I remember.

x_Ellie_x

A couple of years ago I spent a summer backpacking starting from Barcelona, Spain to Palermo, Italy. Italy is beautiful. It's not that expensive and the food is fantastic. There is loads of great cities to see. Off the coast of Sicily, there is a small volcanic island. It erupts a couple of times a week. They do boat trips out to it. You're not allow on the island. The boats circle the island a few times but they do get close enough that you can see the lava spewing out of the volcano. It really interesting and if you decide go to Italy you should do that. How many people in this country can say they've seen a volcano erupting?

Eve_Dublin

x_Ellie_x wrote: »

A couple of years ago I spent a summer backpacking starting from Barcelona, Spain to Palermo, Italy. Italy is beautiful. It's not that expensive and the food is fantastic. There is loads of great cities to see. Off the coast of Sicily, there is a small volcanic island. It erupts a couple of times a week. They do boat trips out to it. You're not allow on the island. The boats circle the island a few times but they do get close enough that you can see the lava spewing out of the volcano. It really interesting and if you decide go to Italy you should do that. How many people in this country can say they've seen a volcano erupting?

I was definitely considering Italy but I suppose I'd be thinking it was too obvious a choice...but then I suppose because it's so obvious, it's a good sign.

Hmmm....Russia, Croatia, Italy, Slovenia...

This thread is very self-indulgent...thanks for the ideas, guys.

Eve_Dublin

Emiko wrote: »

Holland.

The views in the countryside are amazing.

Are they not kind of....flat?

Stinicker

Turkey, Syria and Israel.

ejmaztec

Raekwon wrote: »

Hostel was shot on location in Prague, Czech Republic but was suppose to be depicting a town near Bratislava, Slovakia. Both are absolutely beautiful places and well worth a visit by the way

OP I heard that Slovenia is suppose to be absolutely breath taking. You've pretty much got everything crammed into one country, Alpine mounties in the north to Mediterranean beaches to the south. Plus there are loads of lake districts & Medieval towns outside of the main cities, Ljubljana & Maribor being the main too. Plus they are the only former Yugoslavian country to adopt the Euro currency, so no confusion over prices etc

I recognised Cesky Krumlov.

http://www.castle.ckrumlov.cz/docs/en/zamek_oinf_sthrza.xml

Emiko

Eve_Dublin wrote: »

Are they not kind of....flat?

Does one can of Guinness affect your sarcasm-detector?

I offer you Norway, to make up for it.

The fjords are amazing.

Sergeant

EverEvolving wrote: »

Croatia and Italy - 2 beautiful countries right beside each other, plus both are coastal and not too pricy (obviously depending where you go).

I would give my left tit to be going on a back packing adventure now but I just can't afford it. Lucky you, hope you really enjoy it.

This. Throw in Slovenia as well, right in the middle and an astonishingly beautiful country.

EverEvolving

Eve_Dublin wrote: »

Thanks

Hmmm....seriously considering these two...are they easy to travel between? Could I get a boat accross?

Have been working hard and saving me backside off (work from 8am to 10pm most days) and eating lettuce for months...I'm on less than 12,000 a year. I deserve a holiday.

If you're going for 3 weeks it might be worth checking out the Interrail tickets and have all your travel paid for before you leave, that's how I did it all those years ago. Google and Lonely Planet all the way, although I wouldn't bother buying the books as with the Internet so handy for booking you won't need to cart around a book.

johnnycnandy

Slovenia and Croatia. You wouldn't see many better places.

Eve_Dublin

Emiko wrote: »

Does one can of Guinness affect your sarcasm-detector?

Hahahaha...oh right! Yep. Looks like it. Actually this is something I've noticed recently...having to tone down the sacrcasm when you work internationally. Was out with a group of Americans last week having dinner and they ordered a load of meaty tapas that were very obviously meat. I dug in and as I was munching, I asked them, "This is all vegetarian yeah? Because I haven't eaten meat since I was 6". The looks on their faces were priceless. When I told them I was messing, they looked at me like I was out of my head with the madness. The Irish are awful sarcastic feckers...you take it for granted that everyone "gets you" and you don't realise 'till you move away just how sarcastic we are.

Edit: I love "jokes"...I TOTALLY get jokes.

Eve_Dublin

EverEvolving wrote: »

If you're going for 3 weeks it might be worth checking out the Interrail tickets and have all your travel paid for before you leave, that's how I did it all those years ago. Google and Lonely Planet all the way, although I wouldn't bother buying the books as with the Internet so handy for booking you won't need to cart around a book.

I'm 31. Isn't interrailing for youngins?

Sergeant

EverEvolving wrote: »

Eve_Dublin wrote: »

If you're going for 3 weeks it might be worth checking out the Interrail tickets and have all your travel paid for before you leave

It's been a few years since we went Interailing, but unless you plan to travel throughFrance, the UK, Netherlands then it never saved any money.

ball

Have to say, when I saw the title of the thread, the first places I thought of were Italy and Croatia. It's been mentioned by a few people there.

I think you're onto a winner.

EverEvolving

Eve_Dublin wrote: »

I'm 31. Isn't interrailing for youngins?

Will you be carting a zimmerframe or something :P

Just had a look on the site there and an 'Adult' is considered 26 or over and the prices do go up considerably.

You can get one country passes though and they might work out cheaper than paying per train, really depends on how much and where you want to travel.

http://www.interrailnet.com/interrail-passes/one-country-pass

Since you live in Spain you might be able to bet better deals there either?

rossie1977

i would have said norway but the weather (even in summer) and the fact that big distances from north to south don't make it appropriate to be busing it or railing it

croatia and italy are great choices though, north western croatia is stunning, southern italy past naples equally so, you could spend weeks alone just checking out historial sites in rome, venice and florence but italy is so much more than that, the Amalfi Coast, isle of capri, honestly you could just spend the whole time there

Eve_Dublin

rossie1977 wrote: »

i would have said norway but the weather (even in summer) and the fact that big distances from north to south don't make it appropriate to be busing it or railing it

croatia and italy are great choices though, north western croatia is stunning, southern italy past naples equally so, you could spend weeks alone just checking out historial sites in rome, venice and florence but italy is so much more than that, the Amalfi Coast, isle of capri, honestly you could just spend the whole time there

Right. Decision made. Croatia, Italy and Slovenia and if it works out too pricey, just Italy. Thanks guys. If you want to lock it up mods, please feel free.