3 Month Backpacking Trip, What would you do?

On the question of how I'd plan a trip like that, I'd have to give it some thought.

A few thoughts come to mind regarding your plans....

• If you haven't been to Europe before, I'd highly recommend reading Europe Through The Back Door prior to your trip. It provides a lot of good information on how to travel well in Europe.
• Use the country and city-specific guidebooks to plan sightseeing, transportation, hotels, etc.
• If you're planning to stay in Hostels, you might consider getting an inexpensive HI Hostels membership. They have properties in most places in Europe. Don't forget to pack towels and padlocks if staying in Hostels.
• One point to note about your Eurail Pass is that it doesn't include the seat reservation fees, which are compulsory on the express / fast trains in Italy or France. You'll have to pay for those separately out-of-pocket. If you're caught without a valid reservation for the train you're riding on in Italy, you'll be subject to hefty fines which will be collected on the spot! When travelling with a Railpass, it's up to you to know which trains require reservations and which ones don't.
• Also regading the Railpass, it won't be usable on some of the smaller railway lines in italy, such as the Circumvesuviana. Be sure you're aware of which rail lines the pass is valid for.

When is this trip taking place?

Please list the cities in Europe that you've already been to.

Hi,

Fantastic ! Do I envy you with these 12 weeks or so for a trip!

Going over without stopping in England and focusing on west and east central Europe for almost 90 days (just make sure it's an exact count...no big deal anyway, I 've never had problem keeping track of it), I would plan my trip taking full advantage of (1) night trains using the Pass, (2) ferries, (day and overnight), esp if the 30-50% discount can be applied by using the Pass, if you're going to Poland, Sweden, Serbia, Norway, Germany, Finland, (3) the various bus companies ,ie using the combination of train and bus, using bus night routes, (4) the discount air carriers (sparingly) depending on the geographic extent of the trip

With this extended time frame, my itinerary would include after landing in Copenhagen (2-3 nights), Finland, Poland, Germany, Hungary, Austria, Czech Rep, France, Austria, northern Italy, , Kleipeda (Lithuania). Logistically, it can easily be done if you know what you're doing, plan and reserve ahead, use the trunk lines for day trains, use night trains to squeeze out extra time, pace yourself, focus on train schedules, and buses too if you're using them.

Since the Global Pass includes Poland (it didn't use to), you can go from Cologne to Warsaw by night train, direct. That route in the opposite direction used to go as night train Warsaw to Amsterdam, now it ends in Cologne....makes not big difference anyway.

I would not necessarily wing it when it comes to taking major train lines, since if you tailor the route you may transfer less often, say once as opposed to 2-3 times, getting from A to B. That requires planning, plus getting more for the Pass.

My husband & I have done the rail pass thing several times before. We love the flexibility of the pass - just beware the TGV & Thalys trains do require reservations and last minute seat only res. for pass holders are rarely available. I was always able to put together a route that did not require reservations - sure it took longer but we were never in a hurry - for us the journey is part of the destination. The DB site in invaluable for this planning - make sure you have internet access while traveling.

When is this trip taking place? The time of year will have a large impact on crowds & hotel availability.

What is your departure city? The idea would be to make a loop from your arrival to departure city.

I am currently planning a 3 month trip as well - 75 days on the ground and a 15 night cruise back. My destinations for a "cities" tour:

Paris, Amsterdam, Hamburg, Copenhagen, Berlin, Warsaw, Krakow, Prague, Vienna, Salzburg, Florence, Sorrento, Barcelona - we are ending in England as that is where our ship departs. This is about our 12th trip so our destinations will vary from a first trip. For a first trip I would definitely include time in the Loire Valley, Rome, Venice, Budapest, and the Rhine River area of Germany.

If smaller towns & country sides are more your style add the Alsace region of France, Provence, Tuscany, the Black Forest area in Germany and alps in Switzerland.

It can be overwhelming planning a trip like this - especially the first one. You should both sit down with a map and make a list of your top places and start there.

A Backpacker’s Journey - 14 Countries in 3 months

Day 01 Dublin – 4 nights
Day 05 Edinburgh – 4 nights
Day 09 London – 5 nights
Day 14 Paris – 5 nights
Day 19 Bruges (Belgium) – 3 nights
Day 22 Amsterdam – 4 nights
Day 26 Berlin – 5 nights
Day 31 Prague – 4 nights
Day 35 Budapest – 4 nights
Day 39 Vienna – 3 nights
Day 42 Salzburg – 3 nights
Day 45 Munich – 4 nights
Day 49 Luzern (Swiss Alps) – 4 nights
Day 53 Milan – 3 nights
Day 56 Venice – 3 nights
Day 59 Rome – 5 nights
Day 64 Florence – 4 nights
Day 68 Nice (Cote d'Azur) – 3 nights
Day 71 Avignon (Provence) – 3 nights
Day 74 Barcelona – 5 nights
Day 79 Madrid – 4 nights
Day 83 Seville – 4 nights
Day 87 Lisbon – 4 nights
Day 91 End

Or, chop off Dublin & Edinburgh for time in Athens and a Greek island (or two).

Our trip is taking place on May 2 - July 27.

I've only been to London for 4 days and Paris for 3. This will be my wife's first time in Europe.

Thank you all for your amazing advice, please keep them coming!

You will be traveling during peak season and the height of summer. You might consider starting south and working your way north as the temps rise.

Also - many popular sights will have extremely long lines - check into city wide museum passes and/or skip the line tickets. With no set itinerary advance tickets will be out of the question.

What are your plans for hotels? Prime areas are likely to be booked or expensive - large booking sites are great to locate availability - then book direct.

What are your interests? What types of sights do you both enjoy? Food? Architecture? Budget?

That will help posters here guide you as well.

You say your flight lands in Copenhagen. From where do you fly home?

When you say "backpacking" trip, do you mean that you are traveling carry-on only and using a backpack as your primary piece of luggage?

I've done what you're planning (decades ago), but without the backpack. One issue I had was managing the information I needed to help me along the way. It's far easier now with the internet and ebooks. One resource that might help you is a subscription service called "squibd". It appears to have the entire Lonely Planet catalog in ebook form. That would be a good supplement to whatever Rick Steves guide(s) you opt to take with you in physical or ebook format. Squibd has a 30-day free trial. You have to provide a credit card to get that. When the free trial ends, you are automatically switched to an $8.99/month plan until you cancel. For that price you get access to three books each month and unlimited access to their magazine holdings. I just checked for National Geographic Traveler, which they seem to have. If you each sign up for the free trial a few days before you leave (so you can figure out how everything works while still at home), you'll have access to 18 LP guides during your trip for a total cost of about $36. Just don't forget to cancel when you return home!

As for destinations, I won't presume to guess about your specific interests, but this seems logical to me:

• You've bought an expensive rail pass and this might be the only time you travel this way, so it's logical to use it to cover distances that might be financially impractical if you were buying point-to-point tickets. So hitting some awkwardly-located counties might be a smart move, especially ones where you'd not expect to spend a great deal of time (meaning more rail travel and less staying put).

• Consider the usual cost of rail tickets in the individual countries. May as well try to maximize the value of the rail pass. Switzerland is a bit of an issue since the high-mountain transportation is sometimes just discounted (as little as 25%) rather than free, but the basic trains are rather costly per mile; this might be a good time to cover a lot of Switzerland, but with an eye to stopping short of the very costly trips to the tops of mountains. French trains are also expensive if not booked well in advance. Germany has a lot of regional tickets that are fabulous deals, but for longer cross-country treks, it can get pricey for last-minute travel. I assume the same is true in Scandinavia. Last-minute purchases of fast-train tickets in Spain and Italy are less expensive but still not cheap. On the other hand, if you spend a lot of time traveling around Poland and the Balkans, I think you'll quickly come to the conclusion that you probably could have done it less expensively without the rail pass. (Yes, this is sort of at war with my first point; that's the way travel is, sometimes.)

• Realize that the farther east and south you go, the more limited you may find the train service and the more necessary buses are. I assume the fabulous Swiss postbuses are still covered by the Eurail pass, but most buses in most countries will be an out-of-pocket expense. That means your transportation benefits in the Balkans are sort of limited. It might also help you to know that both buses and trains in that area are typically very slow. I figured I was making about 30 mph. If you spend much time there, you won't be getting a lot of pass benefits. And there are few train or bus options for crossing borders down there; makes plotting an itinerary awkward.

• Be sure you know your ferry benefits and use them as appropriate. I see, for example, that you can go from northern France to Ireland. That might be something to consider.

From the economic standpoint, I think I'd focus first on Scandinavia, Germany, Switzerland, and France. Add Spain or Italy if there's time. If you want to visit Greece, you can find a covered ferry trip from Italy, but Greece doesn't have a lot of trains and inter-island transportation will be out-of-pocket.

I ran out of room before I could explain that for France, I was thinking especially about visiting the parts of the country that are farther from Paris. Paris, of course, is very accessible from the US. The Riviera, Provence, the Basque Country, the Dordogne, Alsace, Normany, Brittany: those take time to reach.

You have a similar situation in Germany, Spain, and Italy. This is probably not the trip on which you'll want to spend 7-10 days in Paris, a week in Rome, etc. That could be accomplished less expensively with budget flights.

Hi,

First, determine how many and which countries you will be visiting, ie, are you skipping Holland or Spain, or Austria? What of Greece...to visit or skip. Then determine which cities or areas to be visited in these countries. If you're visiting seven or more countries, then the max number of nights in a city is 5, two at most. Determine too your priority interest(s) so that you'll know on which to focus, instead of a smattering of interests.

You and your wife will hate my answer. The first thing I would do is not go backpacking! :-)
For that much time, I would prefer to rent an apartment and live like the locals do. That would be a dream.

MrsEB - just curious - would that have been your preference for a first trip?

Is using a backpack for luggage incompatible with renting an apartment or staying in a hotel or B&B? I'm not getting the point.

I'll take wheels any day, but lots of people like the idea of having their hands free when the move from place to place. I don't think "backpacking" necessarily means carrying bedding and cooking utensils when folks are talking about travel to Europe.

Hi,

If you end up choosing Poland as part of the itinerary, go to Krakow, great city for numerous reasons and a great hostel (the Greg and Tom) to stay at for backpackers, extremely popular. My first trip as well as the second two years later saw me staying in hostels as a backpacker. The third trip was more mixed, still HI hostels were part of the accommodation choice. Hostels aren't merely for college kids but solo women in their mid- 20 on, families with kids, retirees, etc stay, but if you did that in Poland, Austria, Germany, etc, I would expect to see only locals, no anglophones. I still use the hostel option, depending on the various factors.

Time wise how much of the 3 months will be devoted to east-central Europe.

I would have done it 30 years ago.

I'm sure that did not help.

But, I could not resist. :-)

I would make sure to balance city and countryside. Our favorite part of travel is getting away and walking quiet, small villages, so on such a long trip I'd make sure to add some small village stays into the mix. Also, take it slow and easy since it may get tiring.

Sounds wonderful! Have a great time!

You guys are lucky and I'm jealous. If it was me I'd list all the major places I want to visit and then map out the most efficient route. Then I'd consider places along the route that are also worth visiting. Then I'd research using guidebooks, websites, etc. each location on my list to help determine how long I want to be in each place. Then I'd start paring down the list and would also make sure I leave in some flexibility (i.e. we planned to be in Venice 4 nights but were ready to move on after 2). Enjoy your trip!

Lucky!

I have not traveled, longer than 47 days at once. But for anything over three weeks we find that we are happier and more energetic if we mostly stay in each location for at least five days. We also found that too much big city time gets old.

I suggest you periodically stay 5 to 10 days in apartments, preferably in locations with multiple day trip possibilities. This will give you a break from three restaurant meals a day, a chance to do laundry, and reduce the time you waste checking in and out of hotels. In between make one to two stops in smaller places for two to three nights each. Other than that choose your route to minimize travel time.

If it were really me, I'd choose two places to spend three weeks and spend the remaining 45 nights alternating between 3 night and 7 nights stops. Paris and London, Rome, Amsterdam, and Barcelona are appealing one two three week stays. Berlin, Vienna, Florence, Venice, Prague, Budapest, and Lisbon, each could easily keep me happy a week. Given a car I'd might spend three weeks somewhere more rural and hike and road trip from there for a week.

MrsEB, thanks for the clarification. My 1st trip to Europe back in '77, would fit your definition -- 4 months, mostly hostels, some hitching, small backpack and cross-body messenger bag.

Trips in 2009 and 2011 were with the RS convertible carry-on backpack. After that all trips so far have been with 22" roller bags. However, my husband has used his RS convertible carry-on backpack for every trip he's been on. There have been no hostels, only hotels, B&Bs and apartments.

I hope my next trip will be like the 1st -- small backpack and cross-body tote, but neither hostels nor hitching will be in the mix.

I still would like to hear what a "backpacking trip" means to the OP.

Hi,

On this backpacking trip (am totally envious of its duration), I would suggest first booking some of the hostels, especially in those cities you consider top priority, or those hostels at which you much prefer staying to others of lesser priority in a city. I still use the hostel option depending on the trip but I'm picky on the choice of hostels, only private independent ones.

Hi all--Thank you for all of your responses thus far! It's so helpful getting other people's​ perspectives.

What I mean by backpacking is that we'll have everything we need (besides food and shelter) for the duration of our trip fit into a large (45-55L) backpack each. We plan on staying in mostly hostels (they must be coed, have wifi, have something for breakfast so that we save money, a kitchen for cooking, and clean) but also some cheap hotels here and there. Are we crazy? Lol

Hi,

The private independent hostels have coed dorm rooms, women only,, and male only, plus private double rooms where you pay by the bed. All these rooms are en suite. I've only stayed in coed dorm rooms on recent trips since 2009. I did the same as a backpacker my first two trips staying almost exclusively in hostels, plus a couple of times in university dorms.

Re: cooking. The private hostels have cooking facilities, guests do take advantage of that. The last time I stayed at a private hostel was in 2015 in Vienna where I saw Korean guests using the kitchen facilities.

Many years ago I backpacked for 8 straight months, mostly in "western Europe." I traveled by train, stayed in hostels (for the most part), did most of my own cooking to save money. It was a wonderful experience.

My advice:

1. Travel light. Don't fill those backpacks! You don't want to lug a bunch of stuff around. Hostels might not be open all day -- it is much easier to store your stuff if you don't have much to store.

2. To save money, picnic. It's easy to buy small quantities of food in markets. I had one small cooking pot (with a folding handle).

3. Take advantage of the rail card. Set up a base and do day trips. Amsterdam is a perfect base -- I spent 6 nights there. Rail cards are perfect for cities and towns but not good for rural visits or villages. So don't do villages on this trip. Save villages for when you have a car. But don't just go to capital cities. Try to see 2 or 3 places per country.

4. Have a plan! It might seem like 87 days is a lot. It is not. Decide which countries you want to visit. You need at least a week per country. You need 3 weeks for big countries like France and Italy. You don't have enough time, so you must pick and choose. I had 8 months to do the trip you are proposing in less than 3. I did not have enough time so I know you won't!

5. You will figure out if night trains (to the extent they still exist) are for you. I did not like them, even when I was young.

6. Figure out a rhythm to your travel day. If you go really hard one day, you may want to take it easy the next. I always finished my sightseeing in the late afternoon and then went shopping for supplies before going to the hostel.

7. Enjoy! This will be a trip you will always remember!

My husband and I used to backpack Europe a lot for 2-3 months at a time. We combined camping and hostels. I agree with the above poster that you should start in the south and work your way north since you are starting in May.
Having done this many times here is my general advice...
- Plan a laundry / business day every once in a while (every 8 - 10 days or so). You'll need to wash clothes, take care of errands, etc. If you don't plan for it as part of your itinerary, it will eat into your sightseeing time.
- You will accumulate things as you travel - send a box home every so often so you don't end up with more bags/luggage than you can carry. We made the mistake of buying a duffle bag on our first trip that got more and more loaded down as we went - we carried it between us by both straps when we had to walk with all of our things anywhere...nightmare!
- When you have this long to travel you can look at your trip a couple of different ways...1 - an overview that hits many different countries and cities and their highlights. 2 - an in-depth visit to 5 or 6 regions or countries. The second one is what we did most. It minimized moving around and made for a relaxing time that we thoroughly enjoyed! A week or two in London, a week in Chamonix for hiking, a couple of weeks in Florence to see every museum there, etc...so much fun!
- Since you have so much time you may want to consider a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants approach. We rarely made reservations ahead of time and just had a general plan for where we wanted to go. When we were ready to move we would call ahead and reserve a place or just show up in a town and find somewhere to stay...it eats up a little bit of time to do it this way but allows for a lot of flexibility. We've even done this during the busier summer months and it was only ever a problem once...we arrived in Edinburgh without realizing it was during the big festival they have every summer - there were literally NO rooms or campsites available anywhere. We ended up sleeping in the back room of a bar! Makes for a good story but at the time we were a little panicked! Just make sure to research things like this so you don't get stuck!
Have a great time on your trip!

I agree with Anita that winging it is a fun way to go. I do it myself for summer-long trips. It takes a lot of pressure off you because you don't have to guess whether 4 days will be enough time in City X. You book for 4 nights and adjust if necessary after you get there (understanding that in popular areas you may need to switch lodgings to stay longer). Since you have a rail pass, you will not be paying the exorbitant walk-up fares for your train tickets. You could run into problems getting reservations on some of the fast French trains, though, since they have limits on how many seat reservations they will sell to pass holders.

As for lodgings, I would not recommend just showing up in a town without a reservation, especially since you will not be traveling by car and would have to depend on trains or buses to move on to the next city if you can't find an affordable place to stay. I do feel that I pay a bit extra, on average, by booking at the last minute. Occasionally it works in my favor, especially over a weekend in a business-oriented city where some hotels are lightly occupied on Fri-Sun nights. But "works in my favor" typically means that I get something like an $80 room for $60, when I would have preferred a $50 room for $50.

I make most of my reservations 24 to 48 hours in advance via the internet. If you are planning to stay in places that don't allow direct internet booking, I'd recommend either planning farther ahead (to allow for emails back and forth) or calling. But moving from country to country as fast as you will be, that phoning business may be a challenge if you are dependent on buying a new SIM every time you cross a border.

45L and 55L backpacks sound awfully big to me. In fact, the dimensions of the larger size might not work as a carry-on and would likely be very awkward on the train. This is an article about backpack sizes. Backpack weights are also an issue here. If you haven't bought those packs yet, you might want to try them on loaded and go up and down stairs in a store and see what you think. That article also talks about weight. A maximum of 20 pounds total is the typical recommendation.

Here's another article about pack size. I''m sure you can find many more. And if you two haven't already looked at the information here on the RS website about packing light, you need to do so. This video by Rick and this one by Sarah are good ones to see. You might also want to spend some time on the packing forum.

Now it was a very long time ago, but my first trip to Europe was for 4 months (pre-Schengen). I traveled with a very small ski pack and a cross-body messenger bag. It was a fall/winter trip, starting in the UK, hitting Belgium and Holland, venturing over to Scandinavia, coming down through Germany and Austria, going over to southern France and Spain and ending in Greece, before heading back to London. I spent most of my time (5 weeks) in Italy. I don't know the exact volume of that pack, but I'd guess that it was around 30L--35L. I'm also guessing that the total weight when full was less than 20 pounds.

I had a BritRail pass and a Eurail pass. That was back when they were a bargain. I did love the freedom. I did laundry about once a week, just like I do now. I mostly stayed in hostels, something I don't do now. But it's back to the future for me. I'm hoping to get everything I need to take in this Eagle Creek 34L pack for my next trip.

I think you are going to have a great time, but don't overload yourself with stuff you don't really need. In answer to your question, I'd plan my trip to not carry a heavy and awkward backpack.