My wife and I are both retired, low-budget seniors. We have been in Europe several times before, but this trip we decided to extend to two months, much longer than previous trips. Since we are somewhat budget travelers, we wanted to keep costs as low as possible, however, we are too old to want to travel as backpackers.
We decided on a road trip since the cost of renting a car is dirt cheap, way cheaper than trains and it gave us the opportunity to stop when we want, explore the smaller centres and just generally be more flexible. We are not huge fans of big cities and have seen a lot of the major attractions before, so we wanted to travel at a slower pace and experience more of the backroads.
Our Itinerary: Flew Vancouver to Gatwick via WestJet return, then Easyjet to Edinburgh.
We rented a car in Edinburgh and after a couple of days touring Edinburgh, road tripped the Highlands for a week then returned to Edinburgh.
We flew Edinburgh to Basel, Switzerland by EasyJet, took the train to Freiburg and rented our long-term car there.
We drove through the Alsace area of France 4 days, then drove into Switzerland 3 days, back into Germany about 10 days touring Rhine Valley, east into Bavaria, then 5 days Czech Republic and Prague, then 3 days in Slovakia, 5 days in Hungary and Budapest, 4 days in Austria, 3 in Slovenia, 7 days in Italy, back into Austria, Switzerland, Lichtenstein and returned the car in Freiburg. We flew out Basel to Gatwick and home.
Total trip cost was $220Can/day for 55 days.
Ways we economized:
- We saved on all luggage fees by having only cabin baggage. We packed very light. Once we had the long term car, we provisioned up with a cooler bag, utensils, some cooking supplies at a dollar store in France, bought used clothes at a couple of thrift stores.
- We bought a cheap Sim card in Freiburg at an internet cafe when we arrived. We used a Lebara Sim card which gave us 30 days / 5 gigs, 3G coverage for 20 euro. We renewed the 30 days once. Our primary usage was Google Maps and the Airbnb app.
- For driving, we set GMaps to avoid all toll roads and it did an excellent job doing that. I can't tell you how great that option is. Avoiding toll roads slowed our pace substantially, it gave us the opportunity to see the small towns and villages, and we paid zero toll charges - except the time the dumbass driver decided not to listen to GMaps and drove into a toll zone. The car was a very economical Skoda and gas costs were not a significant part of our overall costs. In mainland EU, we rented through Europcar and the rate was 8 euros/day throughout the trip. I insured the car through our Visa Platinum.
- Airbnb was excellent. We set the filter as low as possible to get bookings in areas we were traveling through. Rates are much lower in fall and we had no problems booking the same day, but we tried to book at least a day or two ahead once we decided on the general route.
- If traveling to large cities, we tried to book on the fringes, then rode transit into town, that way we kept our accommodation cost lower, we were more likely to find places to ourselves with a private bath, we didn't have to drive in the large cities and less noise.
- Most places we stayed had at least a microwave oven and fridge so about 80% of the time we ate meals from supermarkets like Lidl, Tesco (our favourite) and Coop. We bought wine in the supermarkets in 3L boxes (we would also splurge on the good stuff), bought beer there as well - super cheap. Some accommodations had a full kitchen so we would buy ingredients to actually cook a nice meal.
Total cost was $220Can/day for 55 days.
Areas we traveled that were a pleasant surprise:
- Alsace region. Beautiful architecture, rolling hills, the FOOOOD.
- Switzerland was actually very reasonable cost-wise as a road trip. The Airbnb was in the country, we traveled through the area around Bern and brought our own food, we had to pay a $40euro highway pass, but that was about our only significant cost.
- Rhine valley, Germany
- Spa region of western Czechia. Wow! Cheb, Karlovy Vary, Pilsen. This region was my favourite.
- Rural Slovakia, particularly the area around Martin
- The drive from Linz, Austria into Slovenia.
- Lake Bled region has been mentioned here many times, but is really worth visiting. We splurged here and got a 100 Euro room at a new casino in Kranjska Gora. Beautiful spa there.
- Mountainous region of Tuscany.
- Naples and the Amalfi Coast region.
- For major cities, I'd say Budapest was number one, although Prague, Edinburgh, Vienna, Rome, Naples were all phenomenal. Bern and Luzern were also very beautiful. As I said though, major cities were not really a big part of the overall trip.
I could go on, but really, there were very few disappointments, perhaps the farming regions of Germany and northeast Italy and maybe the beach zones along the coasts of Italy.
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