# Europe trip



## leeder (Jan 28, 2012)

I am looking to do European trip next fall (2018). I have never been before to any of the European countries before, and I am weighing whether I should do this through a tour company (e.g., 20-30 day tour going through different cities/countries) or just going and booking hostels in advance. I would like to see different countries and cities during this trip. Any one with experience that can offer advice? If you have done a tour before, which tour company did you go with? What's more economical? Any travel tips?


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## indexxx (Oct 31, 2011)

I've done about 8 long solo backpacking trips through Europe, totalling almost 2 and a half years of travel time. Go to the library and get a copy of Europe Through The Back Door by Rick Steves. He's travelled through Europe every summer for over 35 years, and writes excellent travel guidebooks and knows the best-kept secrets, what is a must, and what you can skip as well as being packed with great insider travel tips like what to pack and how the train systems work. The book I mention is sort of his introduction to European travel- a great place to start and a really fun read as well. 

Personally, I would never take a tour for many reasons. First, it's usually much more expensive. You can't stop and spend more time at a place that you like, skip something you don't care about, or make a diversion on the way to something that looks cool. You're totally stuck to the itinerary of what someone else 'thinks' you want to see; usually the 'big guns' in capitol cities. (I find many of the better sights are in secondary cities). Europe is so easy to travel- trains link everything for the price of a Eurail pass or cheap 2nd-class tickets, there are hostels or pensions everywhere, and with a good guidebook like Rick Steves or Lonely Planet, the continent is yours to explore. 

When I am planning a trip, I'll go to the library and take out a bunch of different guidebooks to help me decide where I want to concentrate my trip. Europe is so vast- one month is enough to only cover a few countries well- so I would suggest picking a region that speaks to you, whether it be the Mediterranean, or Eastern Europe, or war sites, or Scandinavia- whatever appeals to you. You can easily hit a whole bunch of cities in a month also; but you'll be running around more than sightseeing. A good strategy is to sleep on overnight trains between distant cities- pay for a couchette car and save money on a hotel, waking up in a new city.


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## Moneytoo (Mar 26, 2014)

If you're under 35 (next fall ), check out Contiki tours: https://www.contiki.com/ca/en/destinations/europe


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## SMK (Dec 10, 2015)

indexxx said:


> Personally, I would never take a tour for many reasons. First, it's usually much more expensive. *You can't stop and spend more time at a place that you like, skip something you don't care about, or make a diversion on the way to something that looks cool. You're totally stuck to the itinerary of what someone else 'thinks' you want to see;* usually the 'big guns' in capitol cities. (I find many of the better sights are in secondary cities). Europe is so easy to travel- trains link everything for the price of a Eurail pass or cheap 2nd-class tickets, there are hostels or pensions everywhere, and with a good guidebook like Rick Steves or Lonely Planet, the continent is yours to explore.


+1. Not so much in Europe, but we've done both tours and on our own, and by far the latter was the better option most times. One just needs to be well informed so as not to miss must see places, especially if you're going to a place that you're unlikely to return.


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## kcowan (Jul 1, 2010)

We spent 8 days of our last one month trip with VBT and it was a positive experience. People that took the expanded 16 days with pre and post land tours did not enjoy that part as much. One thing we recommend is to tour the first time and note where you want to return to spend more time. We do that on cruises. For example, touring The Rhein.

OAT is another tour company we can recommend. This year, we are spending a month there on our own, mixing train with car rental, and Airbnb with hotels.


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## lagagnon (Apr 13, 2017)

Taking a guided tour is not _travelling_, it's tourism. I suggest doing it yourself - you will have many more enjoyable, memorable experiences and have a better chance of meeting the locals. It will be a bit more work but you don't get something for nothing.


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## gibor365 (Apr 1, 2011)

You don't need any guided tour in Europe


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## kcowan (Jul 1, 2010)

gibor365 said:


> You don't need any guided tour in Europe


You do if you need a bike.


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## My Own Advisor (Sep 24, 2012)

We've been to Europe a few times Leeder and always did our own booking, planning, etc. - not organized tour. Our bias is, that's part of the fun.

We book AirBnB or B&Bs in advance and travel that way. 

I suspect you could do it cheaper on your own - not with a tour and booking hostels in advance - if that is where you want to keep your accommodations.

Travel tips?
1. Always carry some cash, local currency, in any country.
2. Use an unlocked cell phone and buy a local SIM card for it - cheaper than Canadian roam as you go cards. Or, simply use WiFi with phone or tablet when travelling abroad.
3. Ask locals where to eat. Benefits of staying in AirBnBs, and B&Bs, vs. major hotel chains. This way you can get good food at good prices.

Last but not least - enjoy, be patient and have fun.


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## lagagnon (Apr 13, 2017)

A hint also about eating out. Many southern European nations offer "menu del dia" or "day dinners", often at lunchtime rather than dinner. These are very good value for money, usually half of what you would pay at night, and often for a full 3 courses. Many of them are also regional dishes.


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## leeder (Jan 28, 2012)

Thanks for the feedback and the travel guide to consider. I am leaning towards doing it on my own rather than organized tours. Couple questions:
1) For those travelled over there, how many days were you there? 
2) About how many Euros did you bring/use? Did you guys convert your money when you get to Europe or convert here before leaving?
3) Any language barriers in different countries? Can I get by with English (and really broken French)?
4) Regarding accommodations, what's the best way to book? Any recommendations on what hotels/hostels?


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## RCB (Jan 11, 2014)

My husband and I did Dublin, St. Andrews and Edinburgh over about 12 days last year. I booked everything online, and any tours were just quick guided, around a city, or at Edinburgh castle or the undergound vaults. Tours were booked online once at destination. We are returning next summer to see more of Scotland, and I'm finding the longer tours expensive, repetitive, or covering many things I'm not interested in. I think I will be, again, creating my own itinerary. 

I exchanged for euros and pounds at home. We stayed in hotels, with Motel One ("discount", German-based) my favourite. Felt like a spa, for Motel 6 price. Hotels were booked online about a month or two in advance.

Public transportation was inexpensive and just fantastic, whether from airport to hotel, or between destinations. Wish it was that way in Canada.


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## indexxx (Oct 31, 2011)

leeder said:


> Thanks for the feedback and the travel guide to consider. I am leaning towards doing it on my own rather than organized tours. Couple questions:
> 1) For those travelled over there, how many days were you there?
> 2) About how many Euros did you bring/use? Did you guys convert your money when you get to Europe or convert here before leaving?
> 3) Any language barriers in different countries? Can I get by with English (and really broken French)?
> 4) Regarding accommodations, what's the best way to book? Any recommendations on what hotels/hostels?


My experience:
1- I've done trips ranging from 20 days to 9 months
2- I usually travel extremely cheaply, staying in private rooms in youth hostels (don't like dorms anymore) or at pensions/B&Bs, and I eat mostly out of markets or quick takeouts like shawarma. My budget is usually 50-75 Euros a day; this is a place to sleep, food, and sightseeing- much more if I'm in an expensive country. Good general rule is the further south you go, the cheaper it gets. So in Greece or Italy or Portugal, I can get by on 30-50 a day, in Scandinavia it's definitely double. Add restaurant meals accordingly and if you want to upgrade to better accommodations. Again, I very strongly suggest a copy of Rick Steves' book- he goes over budgeting for different tastes and scenarios. I start with some currency from my first country (so if I'm landing in England, I'll bring a hundred pounds), and then I just use ATMs as I travel. I'm guessing most countries you're likely to visit will be on the Euro. I also keep a stash of about $200 in Canadian and US currency in my money belt for emergencies.
3- I got by totally fine everywhere with exactly your language skills. People you will mostly interact with ls a tourist will speak English- you'll be fine.
4- I will usually only book accommodation at my first destination. Once I get there I'll look at my guidebook (in my pre-trip research, I will have already highlighted potential accommodations in each city I'm gong to, based on location and price), pick my next place and call or email them- most places now you can easily book online using their form on their website. I do it this way because I often want to stay longer in a given place and therefore don't want to have to leave to make it to my next booking. But if you're on a time budget of a couple of weeks you could book everything ahead from here.

Rick Steves website- lots of great info here.
https://www.ricksteves.com


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## gibor365 (Apr 1, 2011)

leeder said:


> Thanks for the feedback and the travel guide to consider. I am leaning towards doing it on my own rather than organized tours. Couple questions:
> 1) For those travelled over there, how many days were you there?
> 2) About how many Euros did you bring/use? Did you guys convert your money when you get to Europe or convert here before leaving?
> 3) Any language barriers in different countries? Can I get by with English (and really broken French)?
> 4) Regarding accommodations, what's the best way to book? Any recommendations on what hotels/hostels?


1. For us the shortest was Barcelona (7 nights), the longest Czech Republic+Germany and France (3 weeks). Usually 2 -2.5 weeks. Except Barcelona, every time we rented car. Only in France,we stayed 7 weeks in Paris and then rented car for exploring North-Western France. We book car up front on autoeurope.com
2. How many Euros depends on accomodation, some accommodations want cash... Except it, usually we bring 300-400 Euro max. You can always use credit card and if needed to take money from ATM.
3. Depends where are you going... sometimes it's a bit of a problem esp in country side. However, never had big issues
4. We usually book on booking.com, sometimes on home-away , sometimes directly with owner (using reviews like tripadvisor). 
Tell us where you want to go and we can be more specific.... for example France tourism runs very good government website...



> I got by totally fine everywhere with exactly your language skills. People you will mostly interact with ls a tourist will speak English- you'll be fine.


 To tell the truth in Czech republic (and even sometimes in Germany) it was much easier for us to use Russian than English 
Had impression than 60-70% of Karlovy Vary are Russians . btw,you can download on your cell dictionary (I have Spanish). It doesn't required data and you can get it for free.



> I will usually only book accommodation at my first destination.


 For Europe we always book all accommodations up front ...don't want to waste time looking while travelling


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## PrairieGal (Apr 2, 2011)

Two good websites for research are Tripadvisor and Fodors.com. Read the forums and ask questions. Tons of good info.


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## kcowan (Jul 1, 2010)

We go for about a month. We take trains. We ask locals where to eat with great success. We use TripAdviser forums to become familiar wth destinations. We use Rick Steve's guidance. We convert 500 euros and then use our Chase Visa to access ATMs.

We have only taken 2 tours, one for biking the Moselle (8 days) and a Med cruise on our way to an extended stay in Spain (10 days).

We would gladly go for longer but are limited by 212 days away from health coverage and we spend 6 months in Mexico.


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## Koogie (Dec 15, 2014)

gibor365 said:


> We book car up front on autoeurope.com
> 2. How many Euros depends on accomodation, some accommodations want cash... Except it, usually we bring 300-400 Euro max. You can always use credit card and if needed to take money from ATM.
> 3. Depends where are you going... sometimes it's a bit of a problem esp in country side. However, never had big issues


+1 on AutoEurope. Just used them and they were far and away the best price for a difficult rental arrangement. Pay attention to insurance for rentals. Your coverage here likely doesn't apply, even with supplemental addon (unlike in the US) and check if your credit card does. 
We take some cash but my last two trips I have taken to much. Europe never used to like credit cards but that has changed. Cash is still best for small purchases though.
Language can be an issue in rural areas but in touristy areas not to much.


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## lagagnon (Apr 13, 2017)

PrairieGal said:


> Two good websites for research are Tripadvisor and Fodors.com. Read the forums and ask questions. Tons of good info.


I do not recommend Fodors - neither their website nor their books. They are USA-centric and speak to your typical un-worldly American tourist who travel to all the same spots and stay in American-style hotels. lonelyplanet.com is a much better choice for the Canadian traveller, IMHO.


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## kcowan (Jul 1, 2010)

We had to buy a Frommers for Sicily because Steves had not covered it.


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## ian (Jun 18, 2016)

We have used autoeurope (and kemwell) for car rentals many times. They are especially good for one way rentals in Italy. Just keep in mind that if you want an automatic transmission you will pay substantially more. We prefer a standard for many parts of Europe so we always order the lowest cost unit and we almost always get an upgrade. We very seldom rent from an airport location.

We typically spend time in one area. Last trip was Vienna, Budapest, and Prague. Then 10 days in Malta and 20 days in Sicily. We want to go back to Sicily.
Same with Greece. Did a 10 day car rental for Peloponnese followed by doing our thing by ferry, island hopping down to Crete. No solid plans, just went where we wanted to go or where the best ferry schedule took us.

There is so much to choose from both in terms of your personal interest and cost. Further north, Germany, Switzerland, Scandanavian countries is more expensive than the south...Spain, Portugal, part of Italy, Croatic, Greece, Turkey, and some eastern European countries as well.

Great time to go to the UK at the moment. GBP is down again after the election. We may go.


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## gibor365 (Apr 1, 2011)

> Just keep in mind that if you want an automatic transmission you will pay substantially more.


 Not only they cost more, they are also much more difficult to find...You can rent them easily in major cities like Frankfurt or Paris, but when in Borges we had flat tire and were told to exchange cars, we had a big issue to find car with automatic transmission.



> Further north, Germany, Switzerland, Scandanavian countries is more expensive than the south


 Don't compare Germany and Switzerland , Germany is probably 50% cheaper than Switzerland...



> Did a 10 day car rental for Peloponnese followed by doing our thing by ferry, island hopping down to Crete.


 Majority of rental cars agencies won't allow you to take ferries (or maybe you need to pay extra). Also if yourenting in Western Europe, in order to go to Eastern, you need to pay extra. btw, Czech Republic is very nice, cheap, very beautiful, decent highways, excellent beer and food


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## ian (Jun 18, 2016)

We do not take rentals on ferries. One of the reasons why we do one way rentals. The exception was the ferry to Kotor in order to shorten the road trip.

We are huge fans of Italy, Croatia, Greece, and Turkey. If I plan a trip, I only have to tell my spouse that we are spending some time in Italy and she is fine with it. Even if it is only a few days!


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## gibor365 (Apr 1, 2011)

> We are huge fans of Italy, Croatia, Greece, and Turkey.


 and we're fans of France, Germany and Austria 
btw, are you OK with driving in countries you listed? I was driving a bit in Northen Italy, but heard from many that driving in the South Italy is a nightmare (as well as in Greece). Have been to Turkey, buy wouldn'tlike to drive there eighter (actually nowI wouldn't even bother to visit this country)..



> One of the reasons why we do one way rentals


 we did only one way rental on the last trip, took car in Paris and returned in Lyon


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## ian (Jun 18, 2016)

We have driven fairly often in Italy. No issue whatsoever. Don't know what the fuss is all about. Driven in Portugal, Spain, Turkey, Greece, France, UK, Switzerland, Austria, Croatia, and Germany...no issues whatsoeer. Mind you, the roundabouts in the UK take some getting used to. Other than that, all was good. Also driven in Australia and South Africa. No issues other than getting used to their side of the road.

In Turkey, we picked up a car and drove it along the Med. coast. Wonderful. You really do need a car to get to the sights.

We usually do one way rentals and open jaw air in Europe.

But.....I learned to drive in Montreal so that could explain why I had no issue in those countries.


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