Travelling around Europe

lexuslad

So im thinking about going to see what europe has to offer. First of all im a male in my early 20's and have never left ireland before nor have i done any traveling around ireland. So i said to myself if i dont go now and get over my fear of flying i never will.

I was hoping some people here would have some tips on where to start off in europe and then i can go from there.

I wont be traveling until last week of march and will stay for 10-14 days so i want so see as much as i can.

Ryan Mac Sweeney

Hi there
Yes I read your post about travelling around europe. Yes I believe you should go as its an opportunity not to be missed while young that you will definitely regret in later life. The best place to start in Europe is London.There is so much to see and do and you can get cheap return flights and it is only a 1 hr flight which is good to start. Then from London you can then get the Eurostar to Paris and from then onwards you can travel by rail. The best places to visit in Europe are Paris Brussells Amsterdam Berlin Salzburg Vienna Rome Milan Madrid Barcelona and Lisbon. The best places to stay in are youth hostels as you also get a free breakfast and most of the attractions are cheap to get into. There are also lots of art galleries and cathedrals that you can get into for free. The best mode of transport is rail and you can book a free unlimited ticket and some trains are even overnight that you can sleep onboard and arrive fresh the next morning. March is a great time to go as it is low season so you will pretty much have everywhere to yourself really.
Best of luck and let me know
Ryan

lexuslad

Ryan Mac Sweeney wrote: »

Hi there
Yes I read your post about travelling around europe. Yes I believe you should go as its an opportunity not to be missed while young that you will definitely regret in later life. The best place to start in Europe is London.There is so much to see and do and you can get cheap return flights and it is only a 1 hr flight which is good to start. Then from London you can then get the Eurostar to Paris and from then onwards you can travel by rail. The best places to visit in Europe are Paris Brussells Amsterdam Berlin Salzburg Vienna Rome Milan Madrid Barcelona and Lisbon. The best places to stay in are youth hostels as you also get a free breakfast and most of the attractions are cheap to get into. There are also lots of art galleries and cathedrals that you can get into for free. The best mode of transport is rail and you can book a free unlimited ticket and some trains are even overnight that you can sleep onboard and arrive fresh the next morning. March is a great time to go as it is low season so you will pretty much have everywhere to yourself really.
Best of luck and let me know
Ryan

thanks for the reply.

Im leaning towards starting in brussels or duseldorf and leaving paris for the home stretch, and then maybe london if i have enough money left.

From brussels or duseldorf i can go onto dortmund, frankfurt, berlin, prague, vienna, at this point i get stuck and cant decide where to go. Theres the milan and marseille and then to paris route or theres munich then paris.

Ive been looking into interrail which sounds great and the overnight trains to some places will save me money on hostels or hotels which means i will be able to travel for longer.

Any other routes or tips for me anybody?

munchkin_utd

just one word of warning, there's getting to be less and less overnight trains as cheap flights and quicker day trains make them somewhat obscelete.

the euro rail thing is great in one sense that you have the flexibility. On the other, you can get deals on trains and busses, some overnight, that would work out way cheaper.
For instance deeu.megabus.com does trips like the overnight bus from munich to Cologne or Munich to Berlin for €1 , so no accomodation cost and across the country for less than the price of a cup of coffee.

anothernight

If you're planning to go to the more expensive cities and doing a lot of train travel, getting an Interrail ticket might save you some money. It does work out more expensive if you stay mostly in cheaper countries though.

Hostels are probably the cheapest accommodation you can get. Some can be very good, and some not so much. In particular, I found hostels in Paris to be of a very low standard and far too pricy. Berlin, Prague, etc had much nicer hostels.

If you're a student, most European countries will accept a student card from Ireland to avail of cheaper student rates.

Make sure you plan how you will move through a city before you get to it. Things like checking only what kind of day tickets for trams/buses/metro a city has can make a big difference in your transport costs. Tourist tickets are rarely worthwhile, in my experience. Also, many of the nice places you might want to visit are very walkable.

lexuslad

Thanks for all the advice!

Just booked ryan air flight from dublin to berlin there for march, i know its early but it will get me motivated to have everything planned.

munchkin_utd

anothernight wrote: »

<snip>
Make sure you plan how you will move through a city before you get to it. Things like checking only what kind of day tickets for trams/buses/metro a city has can make a big difference in your transport costs. Tourist tickets are rarely worthwhile, in my experience. Also, many of the nice places you might want to visit are very walkable.

have to agree on that, although if you have a compact-ish city like Munich or Vienna (kinda similar to Dublin), once your accomodation is located downtown then youre fine and you can get away with seeing an awful lot on foot.

or even somewhere like Paris, you can spend all say walking and then just spend a little over a euro and go right back across town again one way on the subway.

Mr rebel

Berlin is a great starting point and extremely budget friendly. In fact, Germany is truly wonderful and so many cities there are worth visiting as they all have their own unique vibe.
After Berlin, I would travel south to Prague, then westbound to Nuremberg and then further south again to Munich.
In fact I think if you are visiting Germany, you really have to visit both Berlin and Munich to get a taste of both sides of the country (modern, liberal Berlin versus traditional, conservative Munich, both amazing cities in their own right).
From Munich, I would then follow the Danube tour with visiting Vienna, Bratislava and Budapest.

Ryan Mac Sweeney

Hi there
Yes Berlin sounds great to start off. Germany is a lovely country to visit. In Berlin there is the Brandenburg Gate and the Berlin Wall . Cologne is also another great city to visit especially the Cathedral. Munich is definitely a must as it is a beautiful city. The Danube tour sounds great as there is beautiful scenery along the way. The best way to save money in Europe is for to stay in hostels. Also instead of eating out you should find a supermarket and buy and cook your own food as most hostels have their own cooking facilities. Also you will be sharing a room with other travellers so it is a great opportunity to make new friends and meet new people. You should then go west from there and visit Amsterdam Brussells Paris and then finish in London.

lexuslad

Anyone know a really good cheapish hostel in berlin? Theres alot to choose from but would like someones experience of them.

munchkin_utd

i stayed in the Backpax downtown http://baxpax.de/downtown/ and found it grand. You're not a far walk from the Bundestag, Brandenburg gate, museums and everything else. Theres a few other hostels in that area too.
Hostels in Germany seem to be all quite aceptable, and most are fairly new. I remember about 10 years ago in Munich there was only 1 independent hostel on top of the youth hostel ones.

Actually, thats another thing to look into as the youth hostel association has some savage locations including castles and everything. The only drawback in general with hostels is that you share a room, but with some in ear earphones/ earplugs even the loudest of snoring shouldnt be a problem.

And going in march is a great time as the yanks havent yet started to arrive so hostel prices can still be a complete bargain.