Backpacking Europe

I did 3 months by myself for a little over $3k. Granted a while back.

You Ability To Stretch The Dollar Starts Here!

Airfare. That's the bulk of your cost, so be wise about when you go and how. Consider off-season. Less crowded. Cheaper. We went to Italy last December/January and loved it. Most countries in the Southern part of Europe are fairly temperate. Look at going on the "slow days" like Tuesday. Fly into a gateway city (just get to Europe) and then catch regional airlines to your country of choice. Try using the Hopper app. Pretty good at predicting price trends.

Go to cheaper countries. You'll stretch your dollar more if you don't go to the "hot spots" and expensive countries like Sweden. We just went to the Czech Republic and Hungary last year and thoroughly loved it. Prague is no doubt one of the best cities to visit in Europe anytime of the year. Going to Slovenia this fall. Romania next April.

Best Eastern European Countries

Cheap Locations

Transportation. Inter-country air transportation is fairly cheap, so train travel isn't always the best option. If you do travel by train, look into a rail pass like Eurail.

Where to stay. I haven't done hostels in years, but now a days, there are great adult hostels that are very reasonably priced. LINK

I worked over there for a hostel in Athens for 2 weeks to make some coin. Always a chance you can find something temporary if needed even if you're an American.

Good luck!

I did just over 2 weeks in 1999 for just over $2k. As said above, your flight there and back will be the biggest expense, so be flexible on when you travel, and where you fly into, and you can easily get 2-3 weeks in on that budget. It's pretty easy once there to stretch your money if you're not picky about where and what you eat, or where you stay. That doesn't mean you can't eat well, ro splurge on a nice hotel room here or there. Alcohol can also eat into your budget pretty quickly.

I didn't care where I flew into, and at the time flights to Paris were pretty cheap. Think my roundtrip tickets to and from Paris were around $450.

I took the train everywhere when I was there, but I wasn't interested in seeing how many countries I could hit.

As said, a lot of it depends on where you are going. Your flight and your lodging will be the most expensive. Try and go in the off season when rates for lodging are a lot less.

Also try and go to smaller towns. It will be a lot more to do London, Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, etc. than the smaller and medium towns.

Museums and activities really add up also. Museums can cost $50+ a day easily. So I'd limit those to your absolute must sees.

Airbnb/ VRBO should really help you out though compared to 5 years ago. There's a bunch of cheap rooms to rent. Especially in smaller towns.

Food and drinks are really cheap especially if you try and be cheap. Street food and grocery stores are no more than the USA, and many times the food will be a lot better and definitely more enjoyable if you like to try new things.

I think you could stretch it to 4 weeks on $4000. Maybe more if you can find cheap lodging.

I usually budget $100/day (excluding airfare from/to the states) and typically meet that goal. The key is to stay in hostels, eat "street food", don't go crazy drinking at night and target attractions where you get the most bang for your buck.

If you do plenty of homework and planning beforehand, you can get a 30 day trip out of that budget. Just make sure you have a cushion, or emergency credit card, so you don't wind up stranded or broke and bumming during the final leg of your trip if you blow through your budget too quickly. I've met that guy over there several times.

You can get to Frankfurt direct on Condor for under 400 from Nola.

I’m going with my wife to Frankfurt, Nuremberg, Regensburg, passau, Vienna, halstatt, Salzburg, innsburg, Munich

June-july