If you have been to Europe...

<p>I have never been outside of the country but I know for sure I will be heading of to Europe after I graduate. But I have no idea how much anything costs, so I was hoping to get a general idea here. Basically my plan is to go over and...stay until I run out of money. Assuming I stay in hostels that I book in advance and take the train and try to save on everything but food, how far would ~15000 go? I know nobody can give me an exact estimate but, like I said, I'm working with no prior knowledge so I'm just curious. Thanks!</p>

<p>I went to Barcelona and San Sebastian, Spain last July.
I went there with my soccer team for a tournment, so everything except airfare was paid for. Basically stayed 10 days in four star hotels free, plus $1,000 airfare.
Hostels were around 20-40 euro, and the currency rate is 1 euro equals about 1.67 dollars. Everything in Spain was incredibly expensive.
Food was outragous, Levi jeans were 120 euro.
Trains are reasonable, public transportation is fairly affordable.
$15,000 will go pretty far if you don't plan on buying much. The food will def. add up, plus the cost of using a phone to call home/paying to use a computer.
It just depends on what you plan on doing/buying.</p>

<p>It really depends on which countries you want to visit. Some are really expensive (UK, for instance) and some are very cheap (eastern Europe, such as Romania). It also depends on your spending habits. If you are very thrifty and avoid London, Venice, and other expensive cities, $15k should last at least 4-5 months, probably more (6-8 months?). Man, I wish I had $15k to travel with! </p>

<p>By the way, food (and beer & wine!) is usually cheaper in Europe, outside of the UK, than the States. I had a fantastic 5 course gourmet meal at a tiny restaurant in Tuscany for 35 euros, including the wine and as much grappa as I wanted. In the States it would have easily cost over $100 for the same. Plus you can be even more thrifty and head to the farmers markets to buy lunch items, such as bread, cheese, fruit, etc. and have picnics. If you are in Spain (Portugal would be cheaper right now, actually), go out for tapas and beer with friends from your youth hostel. It is filling, fun, and not too expensive (choose the bars that look like they've been around for a long time and are filled with local Spaniards instead of tourists; don't eat anywhere on or very near Plaza Mayor in Madrid). Food is wonderful in Europe, I sometimes want to go back just for that alone.</p>

<p>lets say 2k for flight from the US to lets say London. you have 13k left. translate 13k to euros/pounds. for every dollar its usually .5 pounds and .6 euros. so id say about 4-5 months depending on how much you eat, where you eat, extra spending, whether or not take train or drive or fly, where you sleep, etc.... 6 months MAYBE if you dont get mugged or spend it very wisely. btw you will get tired after the first month.</p>

<p>Are you going by yourself or with someone else? 15k will last you a long time, how long would you want to go? I'd say cut that 15k in half.</p>

<p>OP: Just curious. Are you planing on saving $3750 a year, every undergraduate year (4) for this trip? Have you thought about studying abroad (probably cheaper)? I'd say that gstein is right, $7500-$8000 is more realistic imo. </p>

<p>thatgirltoo: do you think that tuscany is a cheaper place to visit/live than most other european places?</p>

<p>well well well...</p>

<p>I spent a month in Europe after graduation, May 23 to June 23. I went to Pisa, Rome, Interlaken, Lauterbrunnen (Swiss alps), Zurich, Vienna, Krakow, Prague, Berlin, Brussels, Amsterdam, Paris, and London.</p>

<p>I ate from grocery stores and traveled by eurail, and made it on $75 a day, but I definitely saved... skipped some tours and such that would've been nice, but I did pay $130 to go to Jungfraujoch (highest train station in europe). The $75 a day does not include Eurail pass or plane tickets, but does include reservation fee on eurail trains, and hostels. Hostels will generally run 17-30 euros, more in London, less in Eastern Europe (I got one hostel for like 9 euros, it was either in Krakow or Prague... I'd have to check my notes to be sure). You can book online through Hostels</a> & Youth Hostels Worldwide - Online Bookings and Hostels</a>, Youth Hostels & Cheap Accommodation With No Booking Fee! and there are some others. Paris hostels have their own site... that was a minor panic attack when we couldn't find a place in Paris, but then we were saved, and all was ok!</p>

<p>You can do $100/day without much trouble. I mean, obviously you can spend thousands a day, but $100 should cover everything you need + some extras.</p>

<p>So... $1000 for the plane ticket, $1000 for Eurail (but it will be cheaper) leaves you with $13,000 = 130 days, longer if you spend less. As others have mentioned, different places cost different amounts. The USD is very weak right now, which sucks for travelers. London is expensive, but all their museums are free (churches cost though, ***) Switzerland is expensive, but the exchange rate is more favorable. Eastern Europe is cheaper. You will probably want to stay away from countries that you need a visa to get into, and I would recommend against Morocco unless you are taking a professional tour. Prague is really cheap, the exchange rate is like 16:1, and 3:1 I think in Poland. I didn't make it further east to Turkey and Slovenia and Croatia and Greece etc... but I hear they are great places, and cheaper than western Europe (not on the eurail though, watch it!).</p>

<p>You can easily drop $1000 in Interlaken, Switzerland though, if you go skydiving and canyoning and paragliding.</p>

<p>Museums generally will run you $15-20. Many cities have tourist passes that bring you a significant discount.</p>

<p>Buy Rick Steve's "Europe Through the Backdoor" and read it</p>

<p>"save on everything but food" You can spend 12 euros a day on food if you eat from grocery stores, or you can spend 15+ euros a meal eating out. Food can make or break you.</p>

<p>... there is also facebook group called something like "backpacking europe" and it has a lot of good info</p>

<p>hey it just depends. i went to span for a week and a half last year and i just used a debit card. you have to keep in mind that the exchange rate is ridic over there so 17 euros may seem like a good deal until you calc how much that would be in us dollars. just try not to splurge too much on things that you know you do not need, do not dine out every single night, and do not carry large loads of money with you. my teacher (who has been numerous times) has witnessed and experienced muggings so just be careful. make sure you speak the language in each country you visit because you will find that the people are much more nice.</p>

<p>
[quote]
do you think that tuscany is a cheaper place to visit/live than most other european places?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>No, not really. Well, maybe to visit, but not to live (housing might be difficult to find, and with lots of Americans, Brits, and Germans buying property there it is becoming increasingly too expensive for locals). I am lucky in that I have a good friend (American) who lives in Cortona with her boyfriend, so I can stay there for free. It is a very central place, so we normally do day trips to other Tuscan and Umbrian towns. Food and wine there is really cheap, but it depends on where you are. You can get a glass of wine at one of the nicest wine bars in Cortona for about 80 Euro cents. It is almost cheaper than water. But food in Florence is way more expensive and subpar. Leather goods are inexpensive in Florence, though. </p>

<p>Barcelona is one of the most expensive cities in Spain, but it is glorious. I highly recommend it for a few days if you like clubbing or architecture. I would highly recommend southern Spain, northern Spain (especially Asturias if you like the country and might want to camp a bit), and even Madrid for the budget traveler. Bilbao is cheaper than San Sebastien and far more interesting. </p>

<p>Look into cheap flights on RyanAir or EasyJet in addition to trains, but note that there is a weight limit for luggage, you might pay a lot if you go over that limit. </p>

<p>It is almost more expensive to take the train from London to any point outside of London in England than it is to fly from Stansted to anywhere on the European continent. I'm talking 20 pounds one way to go from London to Margate, a 1.5 hour trip. Believe it or not, one can, if one plans ahead, buy an EasyJet ticket from Stansted to Paris or Amsterdam or Berlin etc for less than 20 pounds one way. The train between London/Dover to Paris might be an exception, though.</p>

<p>Do not forget about the bus! Buses in Spain, for instance, for traveling short distances between cities, are very nice and not very expensive. In some cases you will have to take a bus because there won't be a train. I'm sure this is the same in other European countries.</p>

<p>Try to pick a "home base" city or town, one that you might want to stay in for longer. You will know it once you get there. Mine is Madrid, but friends of mine have chosen Amsterdam or Prague. It will be a place that you can return to and really get to know and will be comfortable in. This will be nice if after a month you are tired of trains, planes, and buses and need a break, but are not tired enough to return to the US. Maybe you could find a language school to attend for a week or two to pick up some of the language (it is a great way to meet other people who are traveling).</p>

<p>Kudos to the guy who said you'd be tired after the first month...I just got back after two months in western/central Europe and by the end I was sick and exhausted.</p>

<p>Just going to warn you that Ireland is incredibly, INCREDIBLY expensive. I was in London with friends several months ago and we were commenting on how cheap things were compared to Dublin. Though that may have been us all speaking through our beer goggles.</p>

<p>If you want to save money on your flight, check European travel websites (the latest flight to Frankfurt I booked on a German website was $600; the cheapest offer I found on an American website was around $1000). Flights to Frankfurt are also significantly cheaper than flights to London ($200+ difference).</p>

<p>I've been to Italy and France on a tour .
So I basically paid 2.2K for the tour which includes breakfast , hotel and dinner + tour guide for 10 days.</p>

<p>I've spent roughly around 800 dollars on souvenirs + food for 10 days.
It really depends on where you go, cause this hotel at Paris we stayed in was only like 45 euros a night? lol ... sure it was ghetto, but if you just want a place to stay at, it's not that bad at all.</p>

<p>15K, I would say last around 5 months if you don't spend excessively</p>

<p>ryanair.com has REALLY cheap flights within europe. my friends found flights costing 1 pence (2 cents!) + tax. many of their flights are like $20 (last i checked, which was a few months ago). really early flights and weekday ones tend to be cheaper. the flights are supposed to be fairly good too. you might need a travel companion though because the airports tend to be sort of isolated.</p>

<p>go to eurail.com to purchase eurorail passes, which need to be done ahead of time.</p>

<p>i didn't get to do much traveling, except in tour groups. :(</p>

<p>watch the cheap flights, as you will have to travel to out of the way airports for them. They can still be a really good deal though.</p>

<p>I agree with other people that you will probably want to come back before that much money runs out. Of course, I could hike around the Alps for forever, but eventually... it's just nice to be home.</p>

<p>
[quote]
i went to span for a week and a half last year and i just used a debit card

[/quote]
</p>

<p>what does that mean? like you didn't spend any money?</p>

<p>also, you do not need to speak the language, you can get by with English, as long as you are understanding, try to use SIMPLE words and simple sentence structure. If you have communication issues, you can usually write things down, like dates or times, this can be helpful somewhere like a train station.</p>

<p>I am in Paris doing a study abroad thing right now for the month of July. Paris is one of the most expensive cities in Europe (I think 2nd, after London) but I haven't found things to be too extraordinarily expensive here. It's a bit different for me, because I am staying basically just in Paris (and I had to pay for my program through my school which, inclusively, was $5000 for tuition, room/board, and our flight). I brought about $1100 with me in credit cards/debit cards (use atm's to get money out, my bank has only charged me like .10 each time I've withdrawn something). And I have been here almost 3 weeks and only spent about $350-400. That is with a few souvenirs, and reserving train tickets to go places outside Paris too. Mostly that is on food and museum entries lol.</p>