70 Day Europe Backpacking Itinerary - Thoughts?! (First 30 Days)

My thoughts on your UK leg is that you are spending lots of time on peak period trains which will be expensive, possibly double the cost of travelling after 9.30am.

Liverpool is a long detour for such a short visit.

What time of year are you travelling?

Why stay in Cambridge? Trains from there peak period are expensive and often full, standing room only, so it would probably be easier and cheaper staying in London as you seem to be looking at little in Cambridge itself. The day you travel from Liverpool to Cambridge, you are spending the day in London but you will have all your luggage with you. Book tickets 12 weeks out for the best prices.

You need to group your London sights better geographically as St Pauls and the Tower are close but you are visiting on different days.

You need some down time and flexibility built in.

If you are on a budget, why visit Santorini? The most expensive Greek island by far and probably the least authentic as it is overrun with tourists more than most other islands.

I would add another day in Berlin and would scrap Munich. Overall, I think you are trying to visit too many places and will end up just ticking the 'been there' list without having time to appreciate anywhere. Paris needs at least 4 full days to even scratch the surface.

Some of your trains are arriving very late at night and you may struggle to find accommodation with a reception open so late, never mind the difficulty of finding the place in a strange city at midnight.

Thanks for the awesome reply.

I plan on getting an England Rail Pass for 8 days. Worth it? Would it help with some of the added costs that you cite?

I am an obnoxiously huge Beatles fan, hence the Liverpool stop.

Family in Cambridge. Would the free lodging make up for the hassle of the train in to London?

I've heard good things about Santorini. What other island would be a better bet?

Will look at adding a day in Paris, and I really would like to see the Neushwanstein Castle, hence the Munich stay.

Will also look at train selections more closely.

Thanks again for your reply, great info!

Free accommodation and paying for rail fares will be probably cheaper than paying to stay in London and buying a travel card.

As to Rail Cards, you will need to do some online research, as often Rail Cards are not best value.

Instead of Santorini, which gets overrun with cruise ships, I would consider flying to either Preveza or Kalamata for chill time or just go straight to Crete and spread the other Santorini days into Berlin and Paris.

Good luck planning!

Hi Matthew,

Back to Jennifer's question - when are you going? The time of year makes a difference. Will it be high tourist season? Hot weather? Shoulder season? What time is sunset.

Neuschwanstein - I was there last month, stayed 2 nights in Fussen. It was a rather big disappointment, and I was one of those little girls who grew up dreaming of Disney princesses and fairy tale castles. It wasn't high season yet and it was crowded. You are herded through the castles pretty quickly on guided tours. There's not much else to see. After that, I was in Burgundy and Alsace. The French castles were more interesting and with few visitors.

Sleeping in Cambridge. . . I don't know what your relationship is with your relatives. It sounds like you'll be using them as a hotel, without spending time with them. I've done that with close friends, but not with people I didn't know well.

If you are planning to sleep in hostels, find out if you can leave your backpack with them when you arrive. Some close for several hours from mid-morning to mid-afternoon and you may have to find an alternative. In any case, every day of travel you are going to have to take time either to go to your lodging to drop your bag, or to return to the train station to pick it up (and pay for storage).

Hi, On day 27 you plan to arrive in Munich at 10 am. That means you'll be taking a train departing from Wien Westbahnhof prior to 6 am. If so, you had better stay in a hostel across from Westbahnhof, ie, Wombats Hostel.

Hello matthewthacker12. I agree with what Jennifer said, in both of her replies. If you will be at Europe a total of 70 days, I think it is not necessary for you to ride in night trains, and it is not necessary for you to arrive at a train station at a time late at night. You could ride in a train the next day. I suggest : do not go to Munich. In Germany you will be at Berlin. Berlin is better than Munich. And, I suggest : do not go to any island of Greece, or any part of Greece in this trip. If you will travel in Italy, you can see the Mediterranean Sea at a village in the Cinque Terre (in Liguria, north of La Spezia). A hostel is at the village Manorola in the Cingue Terre. And inexpensive rooms are located near the hostel in Manorola. Be at Manorola (or at an other village in the Cinque Terre) three nights, minimum. If you will be in Italy, I recommend : be in Italy a total of 14 days.
I recommend : have an unplanned day, one day each week.

I will be going in the summer of 2016. I am expecting it to be crazy but it is a dream of mine to go there during the Euro Cup.

Since I happened to spend two days in Bratislava recently, I wanted to weigh in.

On Day 24, you have allowed yourself 90 minutes to get from the train station to old town to walk around, then across Most SNP to the UFO tower, then back to the train station. You will have to take taxis everywhere because I don't think the timing works out if you are doing public transport/walking, as I did. Personally, I enjoyed the views from the castle, (and took pictures of the UFO from there, rather than crossing the river) I'd recommend it if you had more time, but everyone gets to design and live his/her own travel style!