Let me tell you guys, i'am a sort of guy who does not like to plan before a trip. i like to go unprepared and travel at my own Leisure. But then, i wanted to backpack across Europe. Not just the few eastern European countries, where in most of the Indians backpack usually to, for the obvious reasons of being less expensive; but also across the western Europe as well. And also lets face it guys, as Indians it is quite expensive to travel across Europe unplanned, especially because (1) their currency euro equals to 74 INR and also that (2) most of the trains/flights/accommodations etc become expensive closer to the date around which you arrive. for example: a train, may be from Dijon, France to Nice, France in second class would cost you around 15 euros if booked 40 days in advance but the same train if booked on the day of travel could cost you as much as 120+ euros one-way. Well there are a lot of other ways of backpacking across Europe unplanned at a much lesser price than i did; and I've explained the same in the subsequent paragraphs.
I wanted to go across 9
countries (12 cities/towns) spanning from Western Europe to the very east. From
France o Greece! The plan was a little ambitious but yet managed to backpack
across all the countries planned for a period of 32 days for around 1.6 lakh
(all inclusive). i traveled in nice trains, ate well in well rated restaurants and stayed at good accommodations, mostly in the center of the city everywhere i stopped.
I started planning for this trip 2 months ahead. My first step was to book my
to and fro flights. I chose Paris as the point of entry into the Schengen area, as the tourists flow into this city in Europe
is the maximum (of course also Amsterdam and London among others) and hence the
flight fares if booked in advance could cost as less as even 18,500 INR one
way. If you're booking your flight through skyscanner, then please read carefully before you book your flight, as most of the flights do not have an automatic check-in luggage booked with your flight and hence needs to be reserved separately for a fee.
Next step was to book all the accommodations. We booked our accommodations through airbnb and booking.com. If you are booking a hostel through booking.com then its better you book at least 2 months prior. Airbnb can be booked even a month prior. Else, if you plan to spend no money on accommodation, and also go totally unplanned, you could try this app called couchsurfing. Here the natives across the world volunteer and offer a part of their house to fellow travelers for no money charged. This could be a very good way of connecting with the locals and also spend no money at all. But in order for you to be granted a Schengen visa you need to show your accommodation bookings accounting for every single night you are there. Hence if you plan to couchsurf and travel Europe completely unplanned then you could do a little “scam” of sorts ;) Through booking.com or hostelworld.com there are several hostels that allow you to book rooms for no cost (this means you will pay when you check-in) and also allow free cancellations. Book such hostels across the places you wish to go to, submit the itinerary accordingly along with the accommodation booking confirmations sent out to you by these websites, when you apply for your visa. Once the visa is granted and you clear your immigration at the point of first entry into the Schengen area, cancel all these hostel bookings for no fee at all and go ahead with couch surfing. But yes, there is a lot of uncertainty you will have to deal with if you go ahead with this.
All the intercity trains
were booked from the respective country’s government websites and this got the
cost of travel to much lesser than it usually is. For train bookings i would
suggest the website “seat61”. This website is GOLD, and i was so relieved
finding this after going through several blogs suggesting me to buy a eurail
pass. Eurail pass is expensive and is suggested only if you are going
travelling to Europe unplanned, else through seat61-website directs one can
book trains for much lesser price. But remember- these trains have to be booked
at least 90 to 60 days in advance. The more you delay the costlier it is going to
get by the day. Fares can reach up to 10x to 20x times upon certain routes, so
beware and book the trains from point to point i.e city to city in advance. This
means you should know what cities you are going into and the progression from
city to city at least 2 months prior. Also another point to note while booking
a train is that, (1) booking a train for your journey and (2) reserving a seat
for this travel are 2 different things and have to be done separately. Both
require a certain booking amount to be paid.
Else, there are many
other ways you could plan travelling there for much lesser, for example blablacars
or flixbus. Blablacars is an app that links the individual native drivers in Europe
travelling across to neighbouring cities and volunteer the empty seats in their
cars for a far lesser price. If you plan to do blablacars then prior planning is
not required. But there is a slight uncertainty that accompanies this mode, but
could be a lot more fun. Again, you could get your intercity travel costs to
near zero if you are open to the concept of “hitch-hiking”. You could hitch
hike from one city to another for no money at all. But for this you should be OK with waiting around a lot, and seriously, as an Indian guy, this is
something i wouldn't do in Europe!
Also apply for your visas at least 30 days prior so as to avoid any last minute issues that may arise at the consulate. I got my visa in just 3 days. But there are instances where it can take from even 15 to 30 days or even more. I applied for my Schengen visa from the vfs-global, New Delhi. I applied to the French consulate. I applied for the visa by myself but it is easier to apply through an agent (for eg. Thomas Cook.)
I landed in Paris on 11 September,
1700 hrs France time. (For the first 15 days of the trip- for western Europe part, i had my brother and cousins along) I was here for a period of 5 days till 15th
afternoon. The important places to visit here are the Eiffel tower, Louvre
museum, Moulin rouge/lido, the opera house, Notre dame cathedral among others. It
is advised to take a “walking tour” in Paris on the first day so that you will
know all the major attractions and a brief history pertaining to all of them.
All the major attractions in Paris are at a walking distance. Museums and the
tower top have entry fees of around 15 euros.
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| Arc du Triumph |
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Next we took the pre booked train to Dijon, where we had to stay at a village called Chevannay, famous for its wine yards and wineries. Luckily we got a very good accommodation at the village through airbnb. We stayed here for a couple days. These were the best days of the trip. The village was serene, the host, very generous and the weather, beautiful! This is the village in Bourgogne, France. All we did here was lazing around, visit wine yards and wineries drink a lot of wine and barbeque turkey wings.
Next we left from Dijon to
Nice, the French Riviera. Nice has got one of the best beaches in the world!
The beach at Nice is different in a way, it is not a sand beach but a pebbles
beach! I also did diving here as I’m a certified diver and it is here they say
scuba diving was first done! We stayed here for a couple days again. We stayed
in a airbnb accommodation at the center of the city.
Then we set course for
Milan, Italy. We stayed here at an airbnb again in the centre of the city.
There are a lot of places to see here, from Duomo cathedral at the very centre,
which also is the centre of all the fashion shopping in Milan. Also there is
the castle, it is particularly beautiful in the night, with all the lights.
There is a lake called Como, around 40 kms from the city, accessible by trains.
This lake is right at the Milan – Switzerland border. It is one of the biggest
lakes in the world. There is another Duomo here if you wish to visit and also a
cable train that takes you up a hillock from where you can view the entire Como
town. It is a beautiful place to be. Also Venice is jus a couple hours drive from Milan and is a very beautiful place to visit as well!
After Milan we had to
reach Rome with a 5 hr lay off at Pisa. I had pre booked the train in such a
way that we get a layoff time of 5hrs at Pisa so we can see the leaning tower
enroute and not stay a night there. We got down at Pisa station, put our
luggage in the luggage room for a price of 7 euros per piece, and walked to the
leaning tower which is approximately 2 kms from the train station. The leaning
tower is beautiful. You could go to the top of the tower as well but that will
cost you around 15 euros. We walked back to the train station after all the
attempts at clichéd photography! Took the train to Rome and settled down at the
pre booked airbnb accommodation here.
Rome is a very important
place with respect to history, religion and also architecture. There are a lot
of places to visit here. From the Colloseum to the Pantheon, from the St
peter’s basilica to the Sistine chapel at the Vatican City. There are so many
other places you could visit but for that you’d need a little more than a
couple days. The museum at the Vatican City is the world’s second largest
museum, the first largest being at Beijing, and it takes a very long time to
see the entire museum and also the Sistine chapel. Audio book by Rick Steves can be downloaded onto your phone and this will save the money you'd otherwise spend on a guide. The museum and the Sistine
chapel have a entry fee of approximately 15 euros but the entry into the
basilica is free. the colloseum also has an entrance fee of around 16 euros.
From here had to take the
ship to Split, Croatia. So we first took our pre booked train from Rome to the
Ancona port and then the pre-booked ship from there to Croatia. We were here
for a weekend. The beaches are beautiful, currency here is Kuna and not euro,
however there are a lot of exchange shops that buy euros for kunas. Things are
a little cheaper here compared to France and Italy. I did a lot of diving
here-around 04 dives of an hour each. It was nice to dive in the Ionian Sea as
compared to the Mediterranean at Nice as there were a lot more creatures and
soft corals as compared. The sea food is pretty tasty too, especially the
salmon.
Then again we took an
overnight ship back to Italy and later a pre booked train into Zurich, Switzerland.
This was a day train so that we get to see the Alps from the train as we
travel. And we did enjoy the view of the Alps. We reached Zurich and stayed here for a period
of 2 days. We visited the Rhien falls, trekked up the mount Uetliberg and also
had been to the Zurich Lake. There are a lot of museums that could be visited
but we gave that a miss. Zurich is a little expensive city. But the prices are
similar to Paris. We stayed in a hostel here.
We later set course for
Amsterdam via an overnight train from Zurich, with pre booked couchettes so
that we could sleep well enroute.Yes, we could've planned Amsterdam right after Paris, but this was a last minute addition to this trip. Initially had planned to travel to Greece after Croatia, but had to change the plan for various reasons. We stayed here for a couple days and a night.
Amsterdam is a great place and deserves a lot more time than a couple days.
Well, next time may be. The culture around this place is fantastic. There a lot
of places to visit here. The red light district is like no other place you
would’ve seen and does deserve a visit! Ferry rides are recommended.
In every
city there is something called a 24hr/48hr/72hr metro/bus/ferry pass. It could
be beneficial if you’d buy one soon as you reach a particular city. This will
bring down the cost of intra-city travel. But there is a catch to this. In
small cities most of the important places can be accessed via walking. So it’s
better you take a call once you’ve reached the city and depending upon your
company too!
From here I was alone as I
drifted towards the Eastern Europe, about which I had heard so much! I took
blablacar to cologne and from there had an overnight train into Prague. The
currency here is Koruna and yes things are a lot less expensive here as
compared to the west. The city is small but very beautiful. Prague is famous
for the old town, the castle and the Charles’s bridge. The old town is beautiful
and is recommended to visit the old town around evening time. A couple days is
enough to laze around the beautiful city, perhaps even the ferry rides in the
tunnel. . Also there are a lot of church organ concerts conducted in the old
town, sort of like an opera concert and it’s pretty entertaining to attend one.
I did, and it is an experience I shall not forget in a long time. If you plan
more days at Czech Republic then I would like to suggest this beautiful village
called as “CK”. One can plan a night and a couple days here and believe me it
is every bit worth! One can also plan to do skydiving at Prague, as it is very
affordable. Has to be pre booked and could cost you as less as 11,000 INR.
Then I took a train
to Budapest, Hungary. It’s around 6 hours from Prague. The economy of Hungary
is very bad. One Indian rupee equals 4.16 Hungarian forints. So things are
pretty cheap out here. But the city is still very beautiful. The chain of
bridges, the parliament building, the museum, castle, water channel and the
ferry ride is all very affordable and also very beautiful. Do not forget to grab a bite at the New York Cafe at Budapest.
From Budapest I started
towards Vienna, Austria. It is just a couple hours ride in the train towards
Vienna. Vienna is an expensive city in the Eastern Europe. There are a lot of
palaces and museums that could be visited. The Schonbrunn palace in particular
is very beautiful.
From Vienna i took a
flight to Athens, Greece. One can go via train as well, but then that would
take a day and a half in train and involves changing trains in between. At
Athens I had planned nearly a week. Athens is a very nice city, reminds a lot,
of India ;) Europe begins here. This place is very important historically.
The acropolis, temple of Athenian Zeus, agora etc. From here, one could also
visit temple of Poseidon at cape so union, 60 km away from the city centre.
This place is not just famous for its temples but also its crystal clear
isolated, nude beaches. After visiting the temple of Poseidon, one has to walk
back for a distance of 3 km towards Legrena. Then after walking for a couple
kilometres, quit the road towards the coast and walk by the coast. This could
be interrupted by several coves over which you will have to trek to find your
own personalised isolated beach or even a cave, which you and your friends
could occupy. There are numerous caves and is advised to visit cape Sounion on
a weekday to avoid the weekend crowd. Also if you have more days, could also
plan a couple days at Santorini, and also a day cruise to the neighbouring
islands, which can be booked for a price as low as 65 euros online. If you plan
for Santorini, it is better to take a flight from Athens and also to book this
flight and accommodation at the island well in advance, else it gets very
pricy! Apart from the islands, one could also plan to visit the temple of
Appolo at Delphi. Greece is also known for beautiful paragliding sites.
Food can be very costly in Europe, especially if you’re having all the time at restaurants. There are a few things that can be done to control the spendings on food. Always eat at Mc donalds or KFC or Subway or Kebab places so that the one-time food cost per person could be as low as 4.5 euros. Else you could also plan to carry ready to eat food from India which can be cooked in a couple minutes there, so that you don’t get bored eating their bland food for long! Ready to eats like haldiram’s paneer kadhai can be cooked in 2 mins and eaten along with fresh bread, bought from the bakeries. Also south indian ready to eats like upma or poha could also be carried along. And there is always Maggie. I did carry a lot of these ready to eats and this helped me out a lot!
Every major city in
Europe has walking tours or hop on-hop off bus tours that can be booked so that
you don’t miss out on any place worth visiting in the city! In cities like
Prague and Budapest, ferry rides are preferred or even the walking tours.
European culture is
strange in a way that people don’t share water and is not available for free.
At your accommodation you can drink water straight out of the tap in the
kitchen or even bathroom. And outside you have to spend around 1 euro for just
a 500 ml water bottle. Hence it is advised to carry a 1 litre water bottle
filled at your accommodation every day, before you leave for the city. Also, if
you have to take a leak, you can’t do it anywhere as in India. There are very
few restrooms available and it costs from 70 cents to 1 euro to use them
I’ve tried to write down
as much as I could remember. All the best to you guys and have fun! If you need
to know more info, I ‘am available on my mail id – nittish.rm@gmail.com Feel free to contact me anytime.
Cheers!
��������Looking forward to c u in Canada.
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