Backpacking through Europe

[JakesKTM]

Been to Europe twice, once "backpacking" and the other staying with wife-at-the-time's family in Amsterdam.

Staying in one geographical location lends itself to a deeper experience and appreciation of the culture. Backpacking was too much constant transition, things moving past as I thought wow that's cool, then kept walking.

The only way I will return to Europe is to see the Isle of Man, a wsbk race at Brands Hatch or Donnington, and a motogp race at Valencia or Jerez.

bypass the west part of Europe and get straight to Eastern Europe

 

[m_asim]

Hostels in europe are not THAT bad as long as you keep your wits about you. Hostelling is a major way European kids travel and is part of the culture. If you are in UK, B&B is a good alternative to hostels.

 

[cat_in_sf]

2 weeks? That's not enough time to backpack Europe. I did 2 1/2 months and still missed a lot of places. 2 weeks wasn't enough for all of Italy last year....we only hit 3 major cities (Rome, Venice, Florence) and some of Tuscany, and I'd been there before.

Germany in March is freezing and cold. Portugal, being way farther south, is much warmer. The difference in clothing would make it difficult to backpack, unless you have a place (like family) to dump stuff for part of the time. If you only have 2 weeks in March, I would try to stay in the southern areas, maybe Portugal and Southern Spain & France, all of which is on Eurail. Plus, the southern areas are way cheaper. When I went, the most expensive areas to travel were Germany and Switzerland. Cheapest were Greek Isles, Spain & Italy.

If you have a little bit of money, you can stay in "penciones" which are little boarding houses where you can get a room and share a bathroom with the floor, or pay a little more and get a room with a bath...more expensive than hostels but much cheaper than hotels. There's a ton in the southern countries (Italy, Spain, Portugal) and they offer more privacy (you can lock the door at night) than hostels. Also, if you don't know where you're going to be (and thus, can't make reservations) they work nicely.