Backpacking Europe is both a fun and daunting task. Almost on a whim, my roommate and I decided that we wanted to spend our summer backpacking throughout Europe since we [1] just graduated university and [2] were about to embark on real-world, adult stuff. Within a week we had our tickets purchased and we started drawing up a plan for where we want to go and what we want see. Granted, we were pressed for time, so we had to kind of rush things. You see, the decision to backpack Europe was a last minute one, giving us only about two and a half months to plan everything out. So, it has been about two months since we made the decision, and things so far have gone swimmingly. But, this has obviously been stressful as well, which is why I’m going to walk you through things you should get done at least 2 months before you travel overseas.

So, you have 100% decided that you want to go overseas and let’s say that, like me, you want to do everything within a budget.

Choose a time span, a date, and a goal

1. Since we decided this so late in the game, we had to choose a date rather quickly. I’m starting graduate school in late August, but I still have to move into my new house and do all that great new student stuff. That was helpful because it limited the days we could go and how long we could be there. We figured three weeks would be a good amount of time to be away, and for beginner backpackers it seemed like a good start. I suggest at least two weeks if you want to see more than one country (2-4 weeks being a good time span for beginner backpackers).
2. Considering we were purchasing our tickets at the way end of April and we wanted to be back by at least mid-August, that limited us to June and July to leave. So, we settled for a mid-July to early August time period. When looking at possible dates, I suggest you give yourself a flexible range rather than a set date initially.
3. To save you some extra money, consider traveling on a low-season. Ticket prices, accommodation, and even small, local businesses have cheaper prices during low season. I’ve flown to Peru and all over Asia during low season, and while the weather wasn’t ideal, the lack of tourists was well worth the occasional rain.
4. Finally, we had to decide on the one goal we want to accomplish while in Europe: not go overboard with spending money. We are just two recent college grads, after all. So we had to decide which was more important: comfort or our budget. Obviously, we picked budget, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t be comfortable as well. Pick how much money you’re willing to spend and multiply that by at least 1.5. Assume that’s how much money you’re going to end up spending. For us, we want to keep everything within $2,000, so we are setting aside at least $3,000 for spending.

Pick the most feasible route

1. Decide what you want to accomplish. Do you want to see more cities or do you want to take it easy and relax on this trip? Anny and I decided that we wanted to see more places at the expense of comfort, but we don’t want to be exhausted one week into our trip from traveling so much. So, we found a route that worked around that by giving us enough time to relax in each city before moving on to the next.
2. Take out your map and circle the places you absolutely want to visit. For us that was Barcelona, Paris, Krakow, and Budapest. Then, write a list of all the cities in between and how many days you would spend at each. I probably had about ten different routes drawn up that we could take and rated them on feasibility. I gave myself two free days per route as leeway.
3. Find out the travel times between each city. Between major cities it’s easier to find an abundance of transportation means, but if you pick smaller cities it could take much longer to get there. So, its important to have a rough estimate of the time it’ll take to and from each location when deciding a feasible route, as well as how easy it is to get from location to another. Are there direct trains running to and from cities? Are there busses available on multiple days per week? How long would the transfer times be for long journeys?
4. Be flexible with your route. Sometimes it’s either impossible or extremely time-consuming/expensive to make it to certain locations. Be open to where you can go. Europe is so beautiful, it’s almost impossible to find yourself somewhere not enjoyable.
5. If you’re working with a budget, make your way through Eastern Europe. Countries in Eastern Europe are often less traveled and much cheaper than major sites like Madrid and Paris. We opted for a route that was half Eastern Europe for more off-road travel, budget-friendly travel.

Purchase your plane tickets for cheap

1. I check with Momondo, a site that scours the web for all the plane prices and can list it from cheapest to most expensive, for how much to expect to pay. They also show you rough estimates of the ticket prices a week before and after your preferred date. The only downside is that you have to be careful about the site they link you to actually purchase your tickets. For example, when looking for cheap tickets it would link us to websites like JustFly.com and GoTravel123, which were apparently scam sites. I check with Momondo, but I always purchase my tickets through the actual airlines.
2. Be ready to compromise luxury for cheaper prices. A long flight could be absolute torture when you’re taking a budget airlines, trust me. But, it’s definitely worth the money saved, which can be a difference in the thousands. Since you’re not booking well in advanced, you might be limited to available airlines. Know what you absolutely want in an airlines, like lunch/dinner to be served or free baggage check in, and work from there.
3. Some cities are cheaper to fly into than others. Depending on your route, you can land in a multitude of cities, so check the prices of tickets landing and leaving in different locations. If your route is flexible enough, you should have a number of possible starting points to choose from.
4. As stated above, Momondo roughly shows you the ticket prices a week before and after your chosen date, so by initially keeping flexible dates, you can save yourself money by leaving on a Tuesday or Wednesday, rather than a Sunday or Monday.
5. Bonus points: If you have a layover, make it a long one. Since we’re taking Turkish Airlines, we picked a flight with a 23 hour layover in Istanbul so that we could easily add one more city to our route.

Now that you’ve set a budget, drawn up a route, and purchased your plane tickets take a breather! You’ve got at least two months to finalize the rest of your trip.

Cheers!