10 days in Europe cheapest

[LesleyA]

Please help. Flying internationally to London or Europe. Have ten days to show our teens some of Europe. Have been gifted flights to Europe. What is the cheapest travel plus acc. What is eurail option like? Can we sleep on train to save? Is it safe to backpack for kids, hire a car or campervan or what?

Our experience is the complete opposite of your's. Accommodation through airbnb or a local accommodation website, or a hostel with private rooms has always been cheaper when booking for a family or group than using a hotel. Even budget chains like Accor (using their discount cards) are still more expensive.
The other benefit of using local accommodation is that it feels like a more authentic experience. We've stayed in fab apartments with high ceilings, tiled floors, etc, a few steps away from the main square in Venice and a short walk from the Coliseum in Rome. With hostels, you have a more buzzy atmosphere and a chance to meet travellers from different places too. Teens might like that.

I'm not sure the last time you travelled on the continent? Things have changed with covid. Maybe some cities with less demand are cheaper to Airbnb but I'm sitting in Paris today and with kids it's cheaper not to Airbnb! I've been in Belgium and the Netherlands in the past three months too and it was the same! Also found Airbnbs in the U.K. were asking a lot more than before covid - but the hotels weren't much different. I could believe that in cheaper countries airbnbs are still cheaper?

And four beds or a family room in a mid rate hostel wasn't cheaper at all than a family hotel/extra bed added to a room in Accor hotels.

There's a travel company called Viva who do lots of multi-city breaks from London, some with quite short durations of 1/2 nights. They can also tailor them to your requirements.
DD and I did Rome/Florence/Venice in 6 nights at a very reasonable cost. Flew to Rome, then train around Italy, then flew back to London from Venice.
You can Eurostar from London to Paris/Brussels/Amsterdam (might even be able to use the Megabus if they still exist).
For UK travel, you might be able to join the Youth Hostelling Association, many of these have family rooms now and are more upmarket than they sound. Very reasonable prices. Membership only £15 a year. They have good locations in many UK cities (which will be accessible by train or coach).

10 days will fly by and you don't want to spend it all travelling, if you're flying into London I'd keep it simple, spend 3 days there - it's an amazing city for tourists! then go Amsterdam (2 days), Brussels (2 days) and Paris (3 days) - there's still a lot of travelling there. If you're not flying into London then think about the distances carefully. Generally I'd just do a couple of countries - southern Spain and Portugal or in Italy you could easily spend 10 days there alone - Venice, Rome, Florence, Naples and the Amalfi coast.....major favourite of mine! Just be careful whatever you do that you don't spend all your time travelling.

I got one of those 'travel around Europe' bus passes when I was young. They didn't put on enough buses and it was absolutely horrendous, we couldn't get anywhere we wanted. Might be different now though. I also wouldn't recommend sleeping on trains for more than one night, I've never slept well and then just feel awful and not like doing much the next day.

You really need to think about where and/or what exactly you'd like to see, it's difficult to narrow down prices or think how best to get around when all you've got is 'Europe'. There are over 40 countries in Europe and going from Ireland to Greece is considerably further than going LA to NY. You'll have a great time, just think carefully about distances and how much to pack in.

I've no idea why people are saying don't bother with the UK. London (which I realise does not represent the whole UK) is one of the world's great cities. Fantastic art galleries and museums, the majority of which are free. Great views from the river and very walkable.

Then from London Eurostar to Paris or Brussels in a couple of hours and onwards from there.

I didn't realise you could get Eurostar tickets so cheaply if you book a year in advance. I stand corrected!

Germany are doing a very cheap rail offer for this summer. 9 Euros a month for unlimited train travel on local trains. It would need good planning as it would probably work best to take a cheap flight from the UK and then focus on one area - eg Easyjet to Basel and visit the Black Forest region (there is a German train station in Basel).
www.bahn.de/angebot/regio/9-euro-ticket

How long is the ticket valid?
The 9-euro ticket is valid from June 1, 2022 to August 31, 2022.
It is valid for one calendar month, from the first (0:00) to the last (24:00) day of the calendar month.

Where is the 9 euro ticket valid?
The 9 euro ticket can be used nationwide on all routes and in all means of public transport (RE, RB, U-Bahn, S-Bahn, bus, tram) for any number of journeys.
The ticket is not valid on long-distance trains (e.g. IC, EC, ICE) and long-distance buses .

Germany also has the Flix train network which is very cheap-
www.flixtrain.com
There are also Flix buses which go all over Europe, but not sure how comfortable that would be.

2 days Netherlands 2 France 2 Switzerland or Austria or Italy

@LesleyA if your priority is Netherlands, France, Switzerland, I would aim for that as three countries in 10 days is plenty if you actually want to see something and not be too exhausted to enjoy your trip. After all, you want to be able to enjoy a coke or a glass of wine in a pavement cafe and watch the world go by, as well as hitting the big sights. Can you fly into one city and out of another?

You mention cheap, but how cheap? Europe is expensive and you'll be coming in July, which is peak season. We travel in Europe all the time and we budget around £100 per day for our family of four for food, but if you buy food at supermarkets or eat at McDonalds you could manage on much less. A French loaf, 2 large bottles of water and a packet of ham will cost less than €10 and keep you alive.

Your main cost will be accommodation, which can be very high in cities in July. I would check out hostels (which often have family rooms), and budget hotel chains. The latter are often in out of the way places though, on ring roads or by the airport, which if you don't have much time for sightseeing will just waste valuable time. Sleeping on the train is a good idea if you can get a private cabin with couchettes, but if you're trying to sleep sitting in an ordinary train seat I think that could really impact on your enjoyment of the trip.

Entrance to attractions is variable as some museums are free (check websites to find entrance charges), but things like boat and bus tours (hop-on, hop-off, which are great if you want to see a lot in a day), can be expensive. One day tickets for the Big Bus Tour of Paris, for instance, are €37.80 for anyone over 12. The same thing in London is £36.90 if over 12. Using the metro/tube and a guidebook would be cheaper, but you'll see less and it will be more stressful.

Yes, hostels are an option, backpacking is an option, many European teens do Eurail after they leave school and there are budget ways of doing things.

A guidebook like this www.amazon.com/Lonely-Planet-Europe-shoestring-Travel/dp/1786576406/ref=sr_1_1?crid=M8C87JI1HOKM&keywords=europe+on+a+shoestring+2022&qid=1652866779&sprefix=europe+on+a+shoe%2Caps%2C129&sr=8-1 will help you to get the most out of your trip, while doing it cheaply.

If we borrowed a car (there is a possibility of this) in the UK I gather we would have to pay insurance cover and then added cost of going from uk across to continent? Sorry I’m completely in the dark.

If you borrow a UK car and drive it over to the continent, don't forget that UK cars have the steering wheel on the right and we drive on the left. In Europe, cars are left hand drive and you drive on the right (as in the US). If you aren't confident driving a UK car on the wrong side of the road, don't do this!

And yes, you'll need insurance and breakdown cover and to pay to get the car over to Europe. Look at fares for Le Shuttle (a car train that uses the Eurostar tunnels beneath the English Channel), and car ferries (Dover to Calais is the shortest/cheapest route).