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Omits-Bagels
Feb 13, 2001

several wet dogs posted:

Okay, so I'm pretty confident the age thing is a non-issue, but now I have another query. What's the deal with the hostel prices I'm seeing online? They are more than I was expecting, from €30 per person per night for a shared dorm, to as much as €70 for a private one (which is what we'd prefer). In regards to the private dorms, I've seen many regular hotels with rooms for the same amount or less!

I ask because I once read you shouldn't book hostels in advance, but that seems like asking for trouble to me!

I should mention these places are all in Rome.

EDIT: After checking out that Savvy Backpacker site it seems this is probably normal and I just need to suck it up! I gotta stop clogging up this thread.

The cheapest rooms are the ones with a lot of people in them. Private rooms are really expensive — sometimes as much as a hotel.
I've never really heard about not booking hostels ahead of time. You could save a few bucks by booking directly with the hostel though.

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EricBauman
Nov 30, 2005

DOLF IS RECHTVAARDIG

Omits-Bagels posted:

The cheapest rooms are the ones with a lot of people in them. Private rooms are really expensive — sometimes as much as a hotel.
I've never really heard about not booking hostels ahead of time. You could save a few bucks by booking directly with the hostel though.

You're right, hostels should be booked in advance. Otherwise you stand the chance to arrive at the hostel and find that there's only two beds available, of which one is in a private room and the other one is in a room shared with three loudly snoring strangers. Happened to me and a friend in Stuttgart earlier this year. Luckily I got the private room bed.

enki42
Jun 11, 2001
#ATMLIVESMATTER

Put this Nazi-lover on ignore immediately!
You really should book hostels in advance, but if you're not going during the absolute peak season, keep in mind that "in advance" can mean "1-2 days before". It's nice to have some flexibility if you decide to stay somewhere longer, and I've rarely ran into problems with booking a day or two before (Worst case we ran into was needing to stay at a still OK hostel that was a bit out of town)

unixbeard
Dec 29, 2004

I usually don't book, you can usually always find something, but it may be really expensive or really gungy. Depends on the reason though, if I'm going on a short break, or for work etc then I will book, but if I'm just travelling round I will just see when I get to the destination. When you first arrive the towns main station will usually have maps of the area with hotels & hostels which you can use to find places.

i say swears online
Mar 4, 2005

The only place I've ever had a problem finding a cheap room was in Istanbul. I slipped an older cabbie ten bucks and he drug me around several hotels until I got a good rate for five straight nights. Probably saved me money in the long run and frankly was worth the hassle instead of locating five different hotels and conversing with the desk man.

Other places, mostly central and eastern Europe, I stuck with somewhat popular hostels and didn't have a problem in high season.

several wet dogs
Jan 4, 2009

Thanks guys, you're a really helpful lot! Does anybody know of any other forums more centered around travel where I can get intelligent/informative discourse such as this? I have so many more questions and feel like I'm posting too much already.

We're going for ~9 weeks over April and May. So far visiting France, Italy and Greece (in that order). Spain and Turkey are still up in the air as we're very much novice travellers and might get a little lost in countries where English is less widespread, though Turkey looks absolutely beautiful, and Spain's art scene certainly is tempting. I guess we're afraid of going in over our heads trying to squash five countries into barely twice as many weeks!
We've already decided to drat it all and book a nice apartment for the weeks we'll be staying in Paris and Rome. Which, as already stated, works out much the same anyway. Hopefully 'Easter Season' doesn't encompass all of May otherwise we're in trouble.

Omits-Bagels
Feb 13, 2001

several wet dogs posted:

Thanks guys, you're a really helpful lot! Does anybody know of any other forums more centered around travel where I can get intelligent/informative discourse such as this? I have so many more questions and feel like I'm posting too much already.

We're going for ~9 weeks over April and May. So far visiting France, Italy and Greece (in that order). Spain and Turkey are still up in the air as we're very much novice travellers and might get a little lost in countries where English is less widespread, though Turkey looks absolutely beautiful, and Spain's art scene certainly is tempting. I guess we're afraid of going in over our heads trying to squash five countries into barely twice as many weeks!
We've already decided to drat it all and book a nice apartment for the weeks we'll be staying in Paris and Rome. Which, as already stated, works out much the same anyway. Hopefully 'Easter Season' doesn't encompass all of May otherwise we're in trouble.

9 weeks with your mom? uggg. Good luck with that. I give it about 10 days before you're at each others throats.

You won't get lost... well, you will but not really. I did 5 weeks alone in Europe and didn't have any major problems.

So you're staying in Paris for a week? Do you plan on visiting other cities in France?
Ohh, and Easter season is the week of Easter.

several wet dogs
Jan 4, 2009

Omits-Bagels posted:

9 weeks with your mom? uggg. Good luck with that. I give it about 10 days before you're at each others throats.

You won't get lost... well, you will but not really. I did 5 weeks alone in Europe and didn't have any major problems.

So you're staying in Paris for a week? Do you plan on visiting other cities in France?
Ohh, and Easter season is the week of Easter.
Speak for yourself! I love my Mum. Our interests are terrifyingly similar - we'd agreed to periodically split up in big cities to do our own thing but have found we pretty much want to do the same things anyway. It's refreshing when compared to my friends, who all only want to go to Tokyo, to shop. Of course, there will be days when we'll make it a point to split up and have some time off from each other.
We'll be in Paris for a week at least, but have no idea where to start with the rest of France. Cannes is definitely out though, ugh. WikiTravel isn't as helpful as it was with Italy; I can't seem to get info on anything but vineyards. Surely France has more than that!

Also, I'm relieved to hear that about Easter Season. I was afraid it would encompass all of April and possibly creep it's way into March and May, just to spite us.

several wet dogs fucked around with this message at 19:33 on Nov 13, 2010

Saladman
Jan 12, 2010

several wet dogs posted:

... have no idea where to start with the rest of France. Cannes is definitely out though, ugh. WikiTravel isn't as helpful as it was with Italy; I can't seem to get info on anything but vineyards. Surely France has more than that!

Also, I'm relieved to hear that about Easter Season. I was afraid it would encompass all of April and possibly creep it's way into March and May, just to spite us.

The Annecy-Geneva-Chamonix area is nice if you like mountains and scenery and if you want to go skiing for a day or two. (Geneva is almost completely devoid of culture though, unfortunately and surprisingly.)

All of northern France (particularly Normandy of course) is neat if you care about WW2 history at all and it has some very nice 'countryside Europe' scenery, best visited in mid-April or later, after spring has made the plants look nice again. Lots of Apple orchards and Apple specialties, but you're missing the primary season for that.

South of France (Cote d'Azur) is nice if you like beaches, and excessive opulence (well, mainly just Monaco). Don't go to Marseilles. Oh and lots of vineyards.

The Pyrenees are also nice for scenery, I hear, but I've never been there. If you end up going to Spain though I'm sure there are places there worth stopping like Andorra.

There's probably cultural stuff to do in France outside of Paris, but other than WW2 sites in Normandy, I've never really heard of much.

I'm not really sure why "Easter Season" would be a bad thing or spite you, but as Omits-Bagel said, it's not particularly commercially exploited (at least, not even on the same planet as Christmas, by comparison). I love Christmas's commercial exploitation though, bringing out markets and other unique seasonal events all over Europe.

If you're really concerned about getting lost, buy a GPS (or if you have an iPhone, download Navigon, although it's almost as expensive as buying a real GPS). You can get one for ~$100 from Garmin or wherever. Otherwise paper maps, street maps scattered around major cities, and/or strangers will help you.


Wikitravel and LonelyPlanet are the best 'general travel' sites I've found besides here. TripAdvisor is good for specifics once you've already selected what cities you want to go to.

Saladman fucked around with this message at 20:35 on Nov 13, 2010

Skam
Jan 6, 2008

several wet dogs posted:

Okay, so I'm pretty confident the age thing is a non-issue, but now I have another query. What's the deal with the hostel prices I'm seeing online? They are more than I was expecting, from €30 per person per night for a shared dorm, to as much as €70 for a private one (which is what we'd prefer). In regards to the private dorms, I've seen many regular hotels with rooms for the same amount or less!

I ask because I once read you shouldn't book hostels in advance, but that seems like asking for trouble to me!

I should mention these places are all in Rome.

EDIT: After checking out that Savvy Backpacker site it seems this is probably normal and I just need to suck it up! I gotta stop clogging up this thread.


they should be a lot less then that, for example this is the barcelona listing on hostelworld for next weekend

http://www.hostelworld.com/search?search_keywords=Barcelona%2C+Spain&country=Spain&city=Barcelona

as long as you dont mind staying in a larger dorm you should not be paying more then 12€, i have seen them as cheap as 7€ a night in the week

if you are after a private room it often works out cheaper to stay in a cheap hostal or pensione rather then a hostel, mainly because a hostel will probably have more facilitys (internet, washing, common area etc..)

Skam fucked around with this message at 03:26 on Nov 14, 2010

Dog Blogs Man
Apr 16, 2007

how are you gentlemen i am a god amongst goons
Yeah, when I was in Europe the most I ever paid for a dorm bed was 30 euros in Amsterdam, and I was amazed at how much that was. 15-18 was the norm in most countries, or more like 10-12 in the Eastern places like Poland / Lithuania where the currency is worth about as much as a wet paper towel.

greazeball
Feb 4, 2003



several wet dogs posted:

Thanks guys, you're a really helpful lot! Does anybody know of any other forums more centered around travel where I can get intelligent/informative discourse such as this? I have so many more questions and feel like I'm posting too much already.

We're going for ~9 weeks over April and May. So far visiting France, Italy and Greece (in that order). Spain and Turkey are still up in the air as we're very much novice travellers and might get a little lost in countries where English is less widespread, though Turkey looks absolutely beautiful, and Spain's art scene certainly is tempting. I guess we're afraid of going in over our heads trying to squash five countries into barely twice as many weeks!
We've already decided to drat it all and book a nice apartment for the weeks we'll be staying in Paris and Rome. Which, as already stated, works out much the same anyway. Hopefully 'Easter Season' doesn't encompass all of May otherwise we're in trouble.

I mention this all the time, but if you're going to be in one city for more than 2-3 nights, it's really good value to rent an apartment. Having a kitchen so you don't have to get dressed to go get breakfast, having a separate room so if one of you wants to sleep in/take a nap the other doesn't have to sit in a darkened room, having someplace quiet to just chill out comfortably if you feel like it... so worth it and it's not really much more than a hotel. For example: €75/night in Rome: http://www.romecityapartments.com/default_new.aspx?&idLingua=2&qstring=1|1|1|0|1|11/03/2011|15/03/2011|2|S|&CenterPage=frmCenter.aspx&qFunction=Ricerca Yeah it's more than a hostel but over 9 weeks you'll probably want some peace and quiet now and again.

Zkoto
Dec 9, 2004
Me and the soon to be wife are planing a European honeymoon, I really want to seem rome, paris and probably london. We have about 2 weeks holidays and The tour packages we have been looking at has 3 nights in said cities. Is this going to be enough time or should we cut out a city and do ~5 days in 2?

I should say, we have never been to Europe so this will all be new to us.

sweek0
May 22, 2006

Let me fall out the window
With confetti in my hair
Deal out jacks or better
On a blanket by the stairs
I'll tell you all my secrets
But I lie about my past

Zkoto posted:

Me and the soon to be wife are planing a European honeymoon, I really want to seem rome, paris and probably london. We have about 2 weeks holidays and The tour packages we have been looking at has 3 nights in said cities. Is this going to be enough time or should we cut out a city and do ~5 days in 2?

I should say, we have never been to Europe so this will all be new to us.

3 is possible, 2 is probably more enjoyable. London and Paris together is really easy and convenient because of the high speed trains between the two cities - the Eurostar takes you centre to centre in 2 hours and is a much better experience than flying.

I'm not sure if I would advise tour packages - they'll probably try and cram in as much as possible. You should just accept that you can't see all that much and that it's probably best to focus on maximum 2 activities a day (max 1 museum a day), and leave plenty of time for just walking and wondering around.

enki42
Jun 11, 2001
#ATMLIVESMATTER

Put this Nazi-lover on ignore immediately!
One thing to keep in mind with the Eurostar between London and Paris is that it's probably the best example around of being worth booking in advance - if you do it well in advance it's competitive with the cheapest plane fares, but it can kill you if you get a last-minute ticket.

London and Paris both have really good free walking tours done by New Europe - they're only a few hours each and they're geared mostly towards a brief intro to a city, but they give a pretty good overview and you can spend the next couple of days visiting all the interesting places you breezed past on the tour. "Free" in this context means that they run off tips, but it still comes in much cheaper than your other options (generally we usually gave about 5 euros per person, and the guides seemed happy enough with this)

Argue
Sep 29, 2005

I represent the Philippines
I may be going to Zurich around January or February. I've seen the city before, though, so I'm wondering what else I could do the next time. I don't want to fly halfway around the world and stay there for only two days, so if I extend to a week, I should have maybe 4 days of free time. What can I do in that amount of time? I'll be by myself, so I'm probably not going to be inclined to do things you'd normally do with friends.

Is that enough time to see some of Europe outside of Switzerland? Can anyone suggest a decent plan for someone with a Schengen Visa and 3 or 4 free days? I've got a decent budget (for a third-world office worker anyway), although I'd like to travel light and carry as little solid cash as I can, if ever.

If that's not feasible, maybe someone can suggest activities in and around Zurich/Switzerland?

Argue fucked around with this message at 17:17 on Nov 16, 2010

elwood
Mar 28, 2001

by Smythe

Argue posted:

I may be going to Zurich around January or February. I've seen the city before, though, so I'm wondering what else I could do the next time. I don't want to fly halfway around the world and stay there for only two days, so if I extend to a week, I should have maybe 4 days of free time. What can I do in that amount of time? I'll be by myself, so I'm probably not going to be inclined to do things you'd normally do with friends.

Is that enough time to see some of Europe outside of Switzerland? Can anyone suggest a decent plan for someone with a Schengen Visa and 3 or 4 free days? I've got a decent budget (for a third-world office worker anyway), although I'd like to travel light and carry as little solid cash as I can, if ever.

If that's not feasible, maybe someone can suggest activities in and around Zurich/Switzerland?

Do you have to fly out of Zurich? The weather in most of northern/central Europe will be poo poo around that time, so my advice would be Italy or Spain, but you can expect rain and cold weather there as well.

smackfu
Jun 7, 2004

If you had 13 days in early December, and just wanted to wander around Europe, where would you fly into?

elwood
Mar 28, 2001

by Smythe
Personally I would fly into London stay there for a few days and decide from there what to do and where to go. If you are with your significant other and are looking for something romantic for example, you can't go wrong with german christmas markets. London - Nuremberg with airberlin would be a good choice for that. From there a short budget airline trip to Rome, then Rome back to London and back home.

enki42
Jun 11, 2001
#ATMLIVESMATTER

Put this Nazi-lover on ignore immediately!
Seconding the Christmas markets.

We did Vienna and Salzburg around Sinterklaas and it's probably the perfect time to visit those cities. It's cold, sure, but there's a ton of stuff going on and the cities feel a lot more alive. With 13 days I'd recommend doing Vienna for 3, Salzburg for 3, and maybe Munich for a bit.

smackfu
Jun 7, 2004

elwood posted:

Personally I would fly into London stay there for a few days and decide from there what to do and where to go.
Good idea. Leaning towards this but with Dublin as the starting point, since it is way cheaper from NYC than London ($450 vs $650). And then Aer Lingus or something to Munich or Vienna (which are like $850 to fly direct from NYC).

Plus I've never done Dublin.

Saladman
Jan 12, 2010

Argue posted:

I may be going to Zurich around January or February. I've seen the city before, though, so I'm wondering what else I could do the next time. I don't want to fly halfway around the world and stay there for only two days, so if I extend to a week, I should have maybe 4 days of free time. What can I do in that amount of time? I'll be by myself, so I'm probably not going to be inclined to do things you'd normally do with friends.

Is that enough time to see some of Europe outside of Switzerland? Can anyone suggest a decent plan for someone with a Schengen Visa and 3 or 4 free days? I've got a decent budget (for a third-world office worker anyway), although I'd like to travel light and carry as little solid cash as I can, if ever.

If that's not feasible, maybe someone can suggest activities in and around Zurich/Switzerland?

If you only have 3 or 4 days and have to fly out of Zurich, I'd just stay within a couple hours of Zurich. If the weather's nice, going to Zermatt or Interlaken or St Moritz would have beautiful stereotypical Swiss winter wonderland scenery. I wouldn't count on nice, clear weather though, so have a backup plan for doing something cultural, like going to Milan, or hitting the Basel->Bern->Lucern->Zurich circuit (1 day each is plenty).

If you don't have to fly back out of Zurich, you could do pretty much anything in continental Europe depending on your tastes (but not the UK!). My vote would be on Rome, since it will be relatively warm, unless you're used to cold, dark weather, which I would guess you're not since you're a citizen of a "third-world" country.

Argue
Sep 29, 2005

I represent the Philippines
Those are great suggestions; I was pretty worried 4 days wasn't enough time to go anywhere. (and for the record, 18 degrees Celsius is a cold day for me and we only get either sun or rain)

I don't think I actually have to fly out of Zurich, but I wanted to store my luggage at the hotel and travel light, which I can't do if I'm to fly home from elsewhere.

Are there any rough projections for the time/money that I'd be spending with 4 days in Milan? Will English get me by? How about the Basel->Bern->Lucern->Zurich circuit?

Anyone else know any other good places? What are your thoughts on Italy, Paris?

Sorry if I'm asking a lot of questions; I know a lot of this can be Googled but there's a lot to sort through. I spent 3 days in Zurich last time and I think I already saw most of the stuff I care to see, unless I take skiing lessons or something, so I'm not really sure what else I could do after my business there is done with.

Argue fucked around with this message at 05:21 on Nov 17, 2010

Saladman
Jan 12, 2010

Argue posted:

Those are great suggestions; I was pretty worried 4 days wasn't enough time to go anywhere. (and for the record, 18 degrees Celsius is a cold day for me and we only get either sun or rain)

I don't think I actually have to fly out of Zurich, but I wanted to store my luggage at the hotel and travel light, which I can't do if I'm to fly home from elsewhere.

Are there any rough projections for the time/money that I'd be spending with 4 days in Milan? Will English get me by? How about the Basel->Bern->Lucern->Zurich circuit?

Anyone else know any other good places? What are your thoughts on Italy, Paris?

Sorry if I'm asking a lot of questions; I know a lot of this can be Googled but there's a lot to sort through. I spent 3 days in Zurich last time and I think I already saw most of the stuff I care to see, unless I take skiing lessons or something, so I'm not really sure what else I could do after my business there is done with.

English will get you by fine anywhere in Paris, Switzerland, Milan, or Rome.

For Switzerland, if you stay in hostels, I'd budget $400/4 days for all your activities (including travel). If you stay in hotels, then more like $700/4 days.

Milan, Paris, and Rome are all going to be similarly priced to Switzerland if you stay near downtown (which I would recommend doing).

You could also go to Nice or Barcelona or something, but if you haven't been around Europe much, it's probably more interesting to start with one of the bigger sites and not another city that's on the same cultural/touristic level as Zurich.

greazeball
Feb 4, 2003



Saladman posted:

Barcelona... on the same cultural/touristic level as Zurich.

Wow. Gonna have to disagree with you on this, Barcelona loving rules. Zurich's not bad but... wow.

Saladman
Jan 12, 2010

greazeball posted:

Wow. Gonna have to disagree with you on this, Barcelona loving rules. Zurich's not bad but... wow.

I was there for a week a couple years ago, and I was bored after 4 days and just ended up spending the rest of the time on the beach. I'm not really into drinking / night culture though, especially not in a foreign country when I don't speak any of the native languages. The Sagrada Familia is cool and the Olympic Park is alright and they have the Picasso Museum and a few other things, but I wouldn't put it even in the footnotes for a map listing Paris, London, or Rome. Feel free to educate me, though..

[Edit: I actually did like Barcelona, I just didn't understand the rave. I also like sitting around on the beach.]

Saladman fucked around with this message at 15:53 on Nov 18, 2010

soy
Jul 7, 2003

by Jeffrey of YOSPOS
I'm going to Stockholm next week, from the 25th to the 1st.. I know about most of the touristy stuff and have picked out the things I want to see already. Mostly just going there to hang out and take some pictures of interesting stuff.

Anyone know of anything I shouldn't miss? Any stuff in the immediate area?

I really have no idea what Stockholm is like, only reason I picked to go there was the airfare seemed cheap, I've always wanted to visit the area, and uh.. I need a vacation. (I'm from California)

e- ooh, found this thread a few pages back..

soy fucked around with this message at 20:12 on Nov 18, 2010

smackfu
Jun 7, 2004

Saladman posted:

[Edit: I actually did like Barcelona, I just didn't understand the rave. I also like sitting around on the beach.]
Well, they have a really good "drinking / night culture", like much of Spain. So not being interested in that gives you a different perspective.

greazeball
Feb 4, 2003



Saladman posted:

I was there for a week a couple years ago, and I was bored after 4 days and just ended up spending the rest of the time on the beach. I'm not really into drinking / night culture though, especially not in a foreign country when I don't speak any of the native languages. The Sagrada Familia is cool and the Olympic Park is alright and they have the Picasso Museum and a few other things, but I wouldn't put it even in the footnotes for a map listing Paris, London, or Rome. Feel free to educate me, though..

[Edit: I actually did like Barcelona, I just didn't understand the rave. I also like sitting around on the beach.]

Architecture, art museums, galleries, restaurants, shopping, all the different neighbourhoods with their unique character, football, tapas, beaches, amusement parks, normal parks, the sea... that's without the nightlife, which I'm not super keen on either. I was there for a week and feel like we left things out. Then again I enjoy just wandering around and getting lost for about half of any day (we saw random insane fireworks shows including a game of football with a burning ball) so ymmv.

Are you sure that Zurich could really entertain a tourist for 4 days? That's what you were comparing it to and there's a rather big gap between Rome and Zurich.

Josh Rogan
Aug 10, 2010

soy posted:

I'm going to Stockholm next week, from the 25th to the 1st.. I know about most of the touristy stuff and have picked out the things I want to see already. Mostly just going there to hang out and take some pictures of interesting stuff.
You could check out a Christmas market (julmarknad). Looks like there's one in Gamla Stan from Nov. 20, in which case you're bound to run into it at some point anyway.

I you're interested in food: glögg (mulled wine) is a Christmas specialty, as is this bizarre soda called julmust. Outsells Coca-Cola for the month of December. I think you have to grow up with it to acquire the taste, but it's worth a try. Swedish pizza is also worth trying; Swedish burritos are not (yes, I'm talking about you, Taco Bar).

Ziir
Nov 20, 2004

by Ozmaugh

greazeball posted:

Are you sure that Zurich could really entertain a tourist for 4 days? That's what you were comparing it to and there's a rather big gap between Rome and Zurich.

I spent a month in Switzerland in a city 45 minutes away from Zurich and I'm calling bullshit on Zurich being able to entertain a tourist for 4 days.

Butt Soup Barnes
Nov 25, 2008

Alright so I'm trying to work out my budget for my 2-week trip to Europe later next month and was looking for some help. I really have no idea how much I will be spending since I am unsure of the cost of things.

We are spending 2 days in Brussels, 5 days in Berlin, 2 days in Prague, 2 days in Munich, and 3 days in Amsterdam.

I know that I will have the following expense:

-$250 for all the hostels (already been booked and we aren't staying in a hostel in Berlin)
-$300 for Eurail pass

So that leaves food, entertainment, and transportation costs. I know it's really hard to generalize, especially since I will be in 4 different countries, but could anyone offer any estimates as far as average price of a (standard) meal, average price of a drink at a club/bar, and what transportation normally runs within a city? Or could someone point to a resource I may have missed that has this information?

Thanks.

Saladman
Jan 12, 2010

Grenyarnia posted:

Alright so I'm trying to work out my budget for my 2-week trip to Europe later next month and was looking for some help. I really have no idea how much I will be spending since I am unsure of the cost of things.

We are spending 2 days in Brussels, 5 days in Berlin, 2 days in Prague, 2 days in Munich, and 3 days in Amsterdam.

I know that I will have the following expense:

-$250 for all the hostels (already been booked and we aren't staying in a hostel in Berlin)
-$300 for Eurail pass

So that leaves food, entertainment, and transportation costs. I know it's really hard to generalize, especially since I will be in 4 different countries, but could anyone offer any estimates as far as average price of a (standard) meal, average price of a drink at a club/bar, and what transportation normally runs within a city? Or could someone point to a resource I may have missed that has this information?

Thanks.


€15 for a decent sit-down place. €5 at a normal club. €1.50-per-transit-without-discount. Prague will be somewhat cheaper. If you need to save money, then cutting out food would be the easiest, especially since German food isn't particularly haute cuisine.

Omits-Bagels
Feb 13, 2001

Grenyarnia posted:

Alright so I'm trying to work out my budget for my 2-week trip to Europe later next month and was looking for some help. I really have no idea how much I will be spending since I am unsure of the cost of things.

We are spending 2 days in Brussels, 5 days in Berlin, 2 days in Prague, 2 days in Munich, and 3 days in Amsterdam.

I know that I will have the following expense:

-$250 for all the hostels (already been booked and we aren't staying in a hostel in Berlin)
-$300 for Eurail pass

So that leaves food, entertainment, and transportation costs. I know it's really hard to generalize, especially since I will be in 4 different countries, but could anyone offer any estimates as far as average price of a (standard) meal, average price of a drink at a club/bar, and what transportation normally runs within a city? Or could someone point to a resource I may have missed that has this information?

Thanks.

I would budget about 30-35 Euros ($41-$48) per day. You can probably spend 20-25Euros if you don't buy any alcohol and only eat food from grocery stores.

a creepy colon
Oct 28, 2004

by Jeffrey of YOSPOS
Im going to Europe from the US with my wife on the 18th of december to the 31st and I had a few questions that hopefully arent boring or stupid like how much does blah blah blah cost

Background itinerary info = flying into zurich, stay for the day, take train to munich for a day, then to prague for 2 days, berlin for 2 days, amsterdam for 2, paris for 3 and finally zurich to fly out.


1) Ive gotten us Eurail passes but really, how often do you need to pay for reservations? Do the trains ever completely fill up and leave you standing?

2) I plan on taking a night train from zurich to munich and later from munich to prague. How hard is it to get sleep on the trains in regular seating?

3) How do the holidays impact travel throughout europe. Is it more crowded? Less crowded?

4) Anyone have any experience with the "Christmas bazaars" or "Christmas markets" in germany?

5) How difficult will it be to find good vegetarian food in the cities i listed? I figure Germany will probably be the hardest?


Thanks for any info

Landsknecht
Oct 27, 2009
I hope this person is trolling, nobody can be so unfunny and dumb

1) Ive gotten us Eurail passes but really, how often do you need to pay for reservations? Do the trains ever completely fill up and leave you standing?

-Reservations are cheap, and you can stock up on them. The zurich HBF has a pretty good tourist help area that can get most of this done for you.

2) I plan on taking a night train from zurich to munich and later from munich to prague. How hard is it to get sleep on the trains in regular seating?

-Not pleasant, IMO cheap flights are better, and if you have a rail pass it isn't much more to be upgraded to a bunk. Still not a great sleep.

3) How do the holidays impact travel throughout europe. Is it more crowded? Less crowded?

-Depends where you go, but it is definitely busier. Christmas eve/day are quieter.

4) Anyone have any experience with the "Christmas bazaars" or "Christmas markets" in germany?

-I think Nurnberg has a cool one, Dresden might as well. If you're into the tradtional "christmas" stuff you'll get what you want.

5) How difficult will it be to find good vegetarian food in the cities i listed? I figure Germany will probably be the hardest?

-No trouble with this. Maybe learn what some common dishes are? You're biggest issue in Zurich is price. Everyone who serves you will speak some english. if not, simple phrases like "ist dies Vegetarisch" or "ist dies ohne Fleisch" will help.

Saladman
Jan 12, 2010

Limastock posted:

Im going to Europe from the US with my wife on the 18th of december to the 31st and I had a few questions that hopefully arent boring or stupid like how much does blah blah blah cost

Background itinerary info = flying into zurich, stay for the day, take train to munich for a day, then to prague for 2 days, berlin for 2 days, amsterdam for 2, paris for 3 and finally zurich to fly out.


Landsknect answered the rest, so I'll say what everyone else will: Your itinerary is way, way, way too crowded. Cut out 2 cities and distribute it to the rest for the love of God. I'd probably cut out Amsterdam unless you smoke weed and/or are a Van Gogh fetishist and cut out Prague because Paris and Berlin are cooler (although I love Prague).

Also I can't imagine why you're going to Zurich if you're only going to be there for two separate afternoons, unless flying from US->Zurich was much cheaper than to Paris, Amsterdam, or Frankfurt. I'd cut out Zurich before Prague or Amsterdam, but I guess you already have the tickets.

Saladman fucked around with this message at 13:37 on Nov 26, 2010

Omits-Bagels
Feb 13, 2001

Limastock posted:


Thanks for any info

Yeah, cut out some cities. You are really rushing things. You're not even taking transportation time into consideration.

Munich > Prague = 6 hours
Prague > Berlin = 4.5 hours
Berlin > Amsterdam = 6.5 hours
Amsterdam > Paris = 4.5 hours

And you have to figure in all the time you'll spend getting from the train stations into your hotel/hostel. Then getting checked in and getting orientated.

So you're losing at least half day each time you change cities.

Also, everything will be closed on Christmas day and some stuff might be closed on the 24th or 26th. I recommend being in a big city during this time so you can walk around the city and enjoy the sights.

Also, as said before, is there a reason you're flying into Zurich? You're using up a solid 1.5 days by doing this.

a creepy colon
Oct 28, 2004

by Jeffrey of YOSPOS
Flights into and out of zurich were about ~$200 less than anywhere else. I would have loved to fly into berlin or frankfurt but it was a $700 ticket VS a $1000 ticket.

As for the itinerary, I definitely have looked at the travel times and I would like to avoid the typical "scramble around europe with no time" mistake however we really dont plan on spending nights in zurich or munich so we were going to take night trains during those travel periods and arrive in munich and prague very early in the AM.

As for the 24th-26th, we will be in amsterdam during that period and i assume that is considered a big enough city to spend christmas in?

Thanks for all the help, ill see what i can do about the itinerary.

/edit

Oh and one more question -

How do the areas I mentioned look upon people with tattoos? This is more curiosity than anything however, I would just like to know if I should expect rude treatment or strange looks as I have full sleeves and my wife has her arms and a full chest pieces as well. Thanks

a creepy colon fucked around with this message at 17:36 on Nov 26, 2010

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Doctor Malaver
May 23, 2007

Ce qui s'est passé t'a rendu plus fort

Limastock posted:

How do the areas I mentioned look upon people with tattoos? This is more curiosity than anything however, I would just like to know if I should expect rude treatment or strange looks as I have full sleeves and my wife has her arms and a full chest pieces as well. Thanks

Oh come on! :D This is the funniest question so far. Berlin, Amsterdam, Paris... are among the most modern, urban and forward-thinking cities in the world. If you're not from New York, you're probably coming from a less open-minded place. You don't have to worry about Prague and Zurich either.

Not to mention that you won't have much opportunity to wear short sleeves since it's winter time.

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