€1,000 - How Far Would You Get?

Madra98

Hi guys, so my question/story is simple.

I haven't traveled much. I have no real concept of travel. I've looked up a lot online, but I want a good perspective from Irish people as well as any odd hints or tips you guys might have.

So, I'm a 24-year-old male, recently lost his job, I have no obligations, no restraints - I've 2 weeks before I return to education; how far could I make it with €1,000 euro. Starting in Dublin, hoping to see as much of Europe as possible; no mode of transport other than my own two feet, happy to stay in hostels and walk long distances while travelling light.

What do you guys recommend? Where is a good touch-down point starting from Ireland. Has anyone on Boards.ie been on an interesting trip around a certain section of Europe, or Europe in general alone for €1,000 or less?

W0LFMAN

Book and plan your trip through Internet. You will pay premium costs walking in and purchasing tickets/accommodation. Online deals will get you the best milage. I reckon. You could cover twice the distance through good planning and booking through the net with online deals.

Gatica

Pick countries that are cheap, e.g. going to London's gonna cost you more than going, say, to Lisbon.
Learn to use the public transport system of the country where you go, local transport prices are usually far cheaper than taxis or the tourist transport options that speak English. Book cheap flights online, if you book ahead and try any number of European city destinations, you're bound to get something for under 100 Euro return. If you wait til the summer, be aware that it will be peak holiday season and the prices will go up accordingly, but I'm assuming you're doing this in the next 2 weeks. If you've only two weeks, I think there's plenty of places you can go on a 1000 Euro budget.

FTA69

See if you can get a cheap flight to Morocco, if so land in Marrakech and check into a hostel. I can recommend a good one if you want. Arrange to join a tour of the Sahara, you won't be disappointed when you're standing on top of rolling sand dunes. It's breathtaking. Go back to Marrakech and spend a couple of days knocking around there seeing the sites and soaking up the atmosphere. Get a bus to the coastal town of Essaouira, chill out and maybe do some wind surfing. It's a beautiful town. After that return to Marrakech and get a night train to Tangier. From Tangier go to the mountain town of Chefchaouen and spend a few days hiking in the Rif mountains and wandering the blue town. Return to Tangier via bus and spend a day or two knocking around the sea front and the small old town. Get a ferry over to the south of Spain and go on the lash and eat some tapas. Fly back to Dublin via Malaga cheap flight. Job done.

Madra98

Thanks, guys. I appreciate you guys taking the time to share your opinions. Some really great tips and bits of advice here. There's a few things that I would have done wrong anyway.

Funnily, enough - Morocco is not a place that I would have thought of. Is it safe?

Mugatuu

Madra98 wrote: »

Thanks, guys. I appreciate you guys taking the time to share your opinions. Some really great tips and bits of advice here. There's a few things that I would have done wrong anyway.

Funnily, enough - Morocco is not a place that I would have thought of. Is it safe?

I was looking at visiting Marrakesh this summer and asked a friend who had gone last summer and she said she wouldn't go back - she went with a few girls last summer and she found the market people had to deal with and said they would follow you in order get talking to you and sell you stuff. I've not gone off the idea but it's made me reconsider going there until theres a few fellas going on the trip. We're now looking at going travelling around Croatia instead!

schaffer1969

Madra98 wrote: »

What do you guys recommend? Where is a good touch-down point starting from Ireland. Has anyone on Boards.ie been on an interesting trip around a certain section of Europe, or Europe in general alone for €1,000 or less?

I hear the middle east and north africa is pretty cheap at the moment....

PLL

Cheap Ryanair flight to a European city, then get yourself an interail pass (http://www.interrail.ie/interrail-global-pass#prices) travel to another 5 cities. ~2 nights in each.

It's a good way to get a taste of a good few places so you know for the future where you would like to go back to and spend more time exploring.

PLL

PLL wrote: »

Cheap Ryanair flight to a European city, then get yourself an interail pass (http://www.interrail.ie/interrail-global-pass#prices) travel to another 5 cities. ~2 nights in each.

It's a good way to get a taste of a good few places so you know for the future where you would like to go back to and spend more time exploring.

Edit: I just did a quick search for a trip I want to do - Budapest > Vienna > Prague > Berlin > Amsterdam.
Flights to Budapest and return via Amsterdam including interail pass for €330. You could even throw in a night in Brussels too.

Bananaleaf

Interrail ticket costs 400€ for 15days travel within a one month period. There are cheaper tickets than that if you want a shorter time.

Accommodation in hostels are cheap but the standard of the really cheap ones is awful in Eastern Europe.

To be honest, I think the interrail pass is only good value if you are travelling Western Europe - it seems ticket prices in EEurope are seriously cheap.

However, if you want to start off small - which you might do if you haven't traveled much - I would suggest Krakow in Poland. Very cheap flights and even cheaper food! When we were there we calculated that it would actually cost us more money to make the food in the hostel ourselves than it would to buy it out. Look out for the Milk Bars - scrambled eggs, toast, cottage cheese (very filling breakfast) for the euro equivalent of €1

When the day comes that I can no longer afford to travel, that's where I'll be headed back to.

OP - wherever you do go, google around for 'Free Walking Tours' of that city. Getting very popular now. You are expected to tip but still works out cheaper than taking a paid tour.

munchkin_utd

theres a network of intercity busses that often travel overnight meaning you are combining cheap transport and no accomodation costs. Travelling at only 100kmh, it can take a lot longer than going by train, but a 12 or 14 hour journey is much more pleasant at night when asleep for most of it, and doing it in the cool of night as opposed to wasting a day of sightseeing sitting on a bus in 35degree heat and sun blasting in the windows. It will also keep you out of the pub, which would be a drain on finances.
From doing numerous overnight trips, it isnt the most pleasant thing in the world, but when you wake up in a new place at 7 in the morning you do get a lease of life and you should be able to power on till sunset when often tourist towns die a death anyhow.
I wouldnt want to do 2 nights in a row on a bus or train though as you will need your bed the night after sleeping on a bus/ train.
Just be warned, busses can get stuck in chronic traffic during the day especially in western europe, so be wary about relying too much on busses.
Your regular overnight trip could be about €20 but you can get deals with Megabus for as little as €1. Best website for busses could well be :
www.busradar.com/ which has heaps of operators and sometimes even special deals on train fares.

Booking trains in advance though is also fairly cheap, especially if you avoid travelling on the peak Friday evening/ Sunday afternoon rush. A handful of cheap point to point tickets is cheaper than the interrail pass. The interrail though has the advantage of being flexible. (also.. the interrail ticket dates from the 70s when the only tickets available were full price, and there was no internet let alone advance booking internet deals)

for stretching the cash, eastern europe would be cheap all right, but even in west europe, if you are staying in hostels then you can cook your own food so you can still have a home cooked dinner for pennies.


To stretch a full month out of €1000 might be a bit much, but definitely you could have 3 weeks on the go no problems.