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Backpacking in Europe!!?

Travel Info
Hey, me and my friend are going backpacking through Europe next summer. I was wondering what are the must-sees when backpacking through Europe (like what countries and attractions we should see) and also the approximate cost of staying in hostels and buying food...for about 6-8 weeks.
Thanks alot!
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Travel Tips

My wife and I did a 2 month trip in 2001 and want to do a longer trip next year. Our favorite places were Germany and Italy. Hostels in Germany, Holland, Italy, Spain and Belgium were pretty cheap. If you want to stay together in a private room, you'll pay around $40 a night. If you do a bed in a dorm-style room (up to 10 people sometimes), you can pay as little as $10. Make sure to sign up for HI (Hostelling International) for discounts and admission to the better hostels.

As for destinations, I'd definitely plan on spending a few days each in Paris, Rome and Barcelona. Prague was very nice and very cheap (room and board). All the cities on the Rhine in Germany had great hostels (some in castles or forts) and were cheap and easy to get around. We loved Florence and Naples too. If you're traveling on a budget, avoid Switzerland.

Overall, I think our trip cost $5000pp for 2 months. This included $900 for the Europass (best way to travel, and gets you other discounts as well), $450 for plane tickets (check STA Travel), and the rest on room and board. Always eat at the hostels for the cheapest meals and buy food at supermarkets whenever you can.

You can email me if you have more questions: nicholas_mannella@yahoo.com
Others

Well I would suggest you look at accommodation first...I'll put a couple of website links to some hostel/backpackers (but also include cheap hotels) and it will give you an idea of costs per night (sharing is cheaper)...some places are more expensive than others.....eg I found places like Florence expensive and stayed out of town in a campground that had cabins..it was a 50min bus drive to the centre of town, but the cost of a bus was not that much....so you often have to weigh up cheaper (more distant from the town centres) places for time taken and cost of transport...sometimes its actually better overall to stay closer to town than go to the outskirts of town etc.

The transport will also add up too (ie getting from place to place..)...you can get a eurorail pass or look at buses....trains are efficient and quicker generally than buses, but it ups to you how much time you are prepared to stay on buses.

You have enough time to see quite a bit of the place....but it can get completely overwhelming I know.
You may like to chose places to give you a bit of variety or even go to some places you never really thought....I went to Prague..which I LOVED and Slovenia and Croatia....these places are cheaper than other parts of Europe and could be places to go to for a while to help with funding issues.....

There are obvious must sees I think like London, Paris and Rome for big places and I would definately recommend Prague...Italy has lots to offter (places like Venice, Florence etc) and countryside too...As I said Croatia was really lovely with amazing coastlines (Dubrovnik and Split are great, but I also enjoyed Zadar which is inland and has a completley different feel to the others)...Slovenia has some mountains and lakes (Lake Bled in particular..but does not need more than a day or so really)...and is a cheaper alterntive to Austria..although I hear Austria is lovely too.
Parts of France are stunning too, I went to an area around the Lot river which was quite lovely and I was amazed at all the little medieval villages.
Barcelona has some quite different archtiectue (Gaudi) and is also worth a look.
I liked Belgium (Brussles and Bruges), but was not overly impressed with Amsterdam really (but then I'm not a great lover of smoking or seeing naked girls!)....but for you and your mate maybe a good place to visit.
http://www.hostelbookers.com/
http://www.hostelworld.com/
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/
http://www.tripadvisor.com/
http://www.eurolines.com/
visit France, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Holland, and Germany those have to be on the list...research hostels is the best bet...and buying food is cheap you could go to the superemarche (french for super market) and buy bread and other sandwich items that will last you the day...ask locals for fun things to do other then just the sights...you can find other adventure then just the ones with a tour guide...oh and check for places that are closed or free on Sundays