---
title: 'ULTIMATE GUIDE TO BACKPACKING AROUND EUROPE | what it costs, budget travel tips, how to find hostels'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=BApl8WcaDCM'
video_id: 'BApl8WcaDCM'
date: 2026-06-28
duration_sec: 1198
---

# ULTIMATE GUIDE TO BACKPACKING AROUND EUROPE | what it costs, budget travel tips, how to find hostels

> Source: [ULTIMATE GUIDE TO BACKPACKING AROUND EUROPE | what it costs, budget travel tips, how to find hostels](https://youtube.com/watch?v=BApl8WcaDCM)

## Summary

This video provides a comprehensive guide for backpacking Europe, based on the creator's four-month solo trip through seven Western European countries. It covers planning, accommodations, transportation, budgeting, and practical tips for first-time backpackers.

### Key Points

- **Creator's experience** [00:02] — The creator bought a one-way ticket to Spain and stayed for four months, visiting 7 Western European countries.
- **Finding cheap flights** [01:26] — Use Google Flights to search for the cheapest flight to all of Europe from your location.
- **How to book hostels** [04:58] — Look up hostels on Hostelworld, then book directly through the hostel's website to save money and get perks like free breakfast.
- **Train and bus options** [06:28] — For non-EU citizens, the Eurail pass costs $300–$800 depending on the package. For shorter distances, buses like Flixbus are cheaper.
- **Credit cards and fees** [09:39] — Use a travel credit card (like Chase Sapphire) to avoid foreign transaction fees and earn points for free flights.
- **ATM conversion tip** [11:17] — Decline the ATM's currency conversion to get a better rate from your bank.
- **Work exchange savings** [11:45] — Use Worldpackers for work exchange; the creator saved a full month's accommodation and food by volunteering.
- **Packing recommendations** [13:49] — Pack a 40–55L backpack plus a small daypack. Avoid suitcases.
- **Budget estimate** [16:54] — Budget about $2,500 per month for comfortable travel, but it can be done for as low as $1,100.

## Transcript

hey guys welcome back today I'm giving
you everything you need to know if
you're planning on going backpacking
around Europe I love to go backpack
around Europe about a year ago it was
June 28th of 2022 and it was one of the
coolest things I've ever done in my life
I had bought a one-way ticket to Spain I
didn't know how long I was gonna be
there I ended up staying for about four
months going over I think seven
countries in Western Europe I went to
Spain France Italy Switzerland Belgium
England and Scotland over that four
month time period so most of my
knowledge is in Western Europe but a lot
of this still applies to Eastern or
Central Europe too just the train
systems aren't as developed when you get
into like the Balkan areas or Greece so
it's a little bit different but a lot of
the facts are still the same step one
you have to pick where you want to go
and I don't think you necessarily have
to completely plan out your route I know
I had a couple places in mind that I
really wanted to go to but I didn't
exactly know the way that I was going to
get there and I was playing planning
about two to three probably about three
weeks in advance because I was there in
High season which is summer so if you
are going in the summer time usually
June through August you have to plan
more in advance but if you're going in
off season which is probably like
September to may you have a little bit
more flexibility with the places that
you're booking and where you're going
and how far in advance you need to do it
because it's not as busy but when
picking a place to go I really recommend
just going on to Google Flights type in
where you're currently located and then
in the where you're going to search bar
you can put in just Europe in general
the whole continent and every flight
that's leaving from your town like for
me at Chicago to Europe is gonna pop up
and you can kind of pick the place
that's the cheapest to fly into a lot of
times it's going to be places like Paris
London or Amsterdam I find that those
are usually pretty cheap in relative
terms of flying to Europe but just
picking the cheapest one to start at
traveling within the countries or just
to you within Europe in general is so
cheap comparatively to coming from the
US to go wherever you want to go so once
you have that list of a couple places
that you want to visit you can start
mapping out a tentative route I don't
think you should completely plan out
your whole trip because you're going to
learn so many places once you're there
and talk to so many people that you're
meeting and they're going to tell you
about towns you didn't even know existed
and I know I ended up finding out about
so many different little small towns or
just random places that are more like
European people travel destinations
compared to U.S people travel
destinations once I was there and they
ended up being some of my favorite
places
so come up with your list of roughly
where you want to go and be realistic
about it I have some people that comment
on my videos and they're like I'm going
to Europe for 10 days and I want to go
to these five countries like are you
even planning on seeing things in the
country are you just trying to check
that Ox off because I usually think it's
best if you have only 10 days to go
backpacking to do two countries that are
touching like they're within super quick
distance either that's flight or train
ride from each other and then maybe
three cities that once again are pretty
close together that way you can actually
get to enjoy your time there and you're
not rushing from one country or one city
to the next so once you have that rough
idea of the places that you want to go
next we're talking where you're gonna
stay so personally I stayed in hostels
pretty much the whole time that I was
solo traveling in Europe hostels are not
as scary as they seem they get a bad
reputation in the US I don't really know
why because hostile culture is amazing
and it is the best way to make friends
it is the best way to experience this
new way of travel and meet all these
different people and easily have
activities available to you a lot of
hostels that you stay at have planned
activities every single day that you can
sign up for for like 10 euros and then
you can go hiking with everyone you can
go out to dinner with everyone they'll
host trivia nights like they just have
fun things always going on and that's
how you can easily meet people for cheap
when you're saying in hostels you're
normally in a hostile dorm room that's
just how it is you can also do a private
room but honestly if you want to meet
people and save money the dorm room is
the way to go it's not as scary as it
seems it's honestly it's a really
interesting experience and it's cool and
it's fun and I truly love traveling in
hostels but it's just a completely
different way of travel than you've
probably ever done before you can also
stay in airbnbs or hotels obviously
those are pretty standard in the U.S too
I stayed in a couple airbnbs when I was
gone I loved it and I only stayed in two
hotels I personally as a Solo Traveler
don't like staying in airbnbs or even
hotels when I'm by myself because
there's not as many people around where
is in a hostels you feel a lot more
secure because there are people who
you've gotten to know and staff that
actually maybe not cares about you but
they know who you are and they know you
exist and so you've got people keeping
an eye out for you I always recommend
going on a hostile world to look up your
hostels that you want to stay at you can
type in the city and all the ones in the
area will come up there's tons of
reviews tons of ratings pictures
everything Pro tip is to not book on
hostile world you want to look them up
there read all the reviews and then
you're going to go to the actual hostels
website and book directly through the
hostel that's probably going to save you
a couple dollars a night and a lot of
times you can get some perks like free
breakfast if you go directly through the
hostel and then if you have to change or
cancel or do anything with the
reservation you're not going through a
third party and you're just talking to
that hostel directly and it just makes
that whole process a lot easier next is
all about Transportation I use the
europass that is the pass that you can
get for the train system within Europe
if you are a non-eu citizen and this
pass can cost anywhere from like 300 to
probably like 800 US dollars depending
on the level of pass that you get I
think mine was about 500 to be able to
take 10 trains over the course of two
months they also have unlimited packages
or different packages again these
numbers are from last summer so I don't
know what it's like now but if you're
planning on taking a lot of long-haul
trains like we're talking cities that
are probably at least five hours apart
it probably your cheaper option but if
you're going to cities that are closer
together I recommend busing I know when
I went from Brussels to Paris my bus was
only like 10 euros which was so cheap
and so that made it worth it compared to
taking a train and the bus that you
usually go through is like Flix bus or
at least that's what I used but there is
an app called omeo which I used a lot
when I was in Europe and that tells you
all the different ways you can get from
one city to the next so it'll tell you
the trains buses shared cars literally
any method of transportation that you
can think of will be shown on that app
and you can compare prices and even book
directly through it with the trains in
Europe please be mindful of the switches
that you have to make and also the time
between the train switches so you want
to make sure you at least have an hour
between your trains because a lot of
times the trains run late or things get
delayed problems come up with the train
and you don't want to miss your
connecting train because there were
times when I got completely screwed and
I ended up being stuck in a town for an
extra eight hours because my first train
was late and I missed my connecting
train for the most part the trains are
really nice but do not rely on them to
have Wi-Fi because that's something that
I expected when I was going is that all
the trains were going to have access to
Wi-Fi and it was really only maybe 20 of
the time that I actually had working
Wi-Fi on a train no matter if it even if
it said it had Wi-Fi it still probably
won't work the other option you can do
is flying which I personally don't like
as much because of how long the process
takes like yes the flight might be a lot
shorter than the train ride but you
normally have to Uber out to the airport
and then you have to go through security
and get to the airport a couple hours
early and it ends up being just as long
as the process as the train would have
been and the trains are a lot easier
because they're usually in the center of
the city not on the outskirts like the
airports and you can get to them easily
usually you can walk or take public
transport and then take the train to
your next place that's just a personal
decision planes are also great to but
remember on a lot of the cheap flights
in Europe if your bag is bigger than a
carry-on you're gonna have to pay for it
whereas trains baggage is completely
free next up is currency and anything
money related while you're in Europe the
European countries you definitely need
to look up to see what type of currency
they use because not every European
country uses the Euro a good bit of them
do but not all of them so you need to
see what type of currency they use and
then you also need to look up the
currency exchange rate this is just so
that you kind of can keep track of how
much money you're spending when I was
there last summer it was luckily a
one-to-one for the Euro to the US dollar
so pretty much every Euro I would spend
was like spending one US dollar but then
when you go to the UK and that was
pounds at that time I think it was a one
to like 1.5 so every one pound was a
dollar and fifty cents of US dollars so
you're spending a little bit more every
time you pay than you would have in the
Euro I also recommend having cash on you
at all times when you're in Europe one
it's usually what they take on public
transport a lot of the times it's either
gonna be coins or money that they want
and you're taking the buses around which
I really recommend you do and also
sometimes restaurants in local markets
and stuff will prefer cash over your
card and so it's just nice to have a
little bit on you especially if you're
going anywhere in Eastern Europe
compared to Western Europe they use a
lot more cash than they do card and you
don't need anything crazy I think I
would take out about 300 Euro every
single time that I went to the ATM which
was not often and that would last me
like a month and a half I also recommend
you look into a travel credit card
there's a PSA on this if you're not good
with credit cards please do not do this
but if you are and you want to start
getting into travel hacking and just
having a travel credit card in general I
really recommend the Chase Sapphire that
is the credit card that I use and the
reason you use it is one you get like
three times the points on any travel
purchase you make with that card so you
get a lot of bonuses with flights I've
only paid for like 20 percent of flights
that I've taken this year because I
mostly just use all my points on my
flights and I get free flights all the
time my last flight to Hawaii which
would have been about a thousand dollars
round trip I just paid for in credit
card points and it cost me nothing but
what the card is also good for are most
travel credit cards that you look up are
good for is that when you use them in a
different country you don't get charged
a fee so a lot of times if you were just
to use your normal debit card you would
be charged like three percent of
whatever the purchase was as an exchange
rate fee and when you use a travel
credit card you don't get that fee and
so if you're gone for a long period of
time it's nice because that number does
add up if you're just going on a week
trip you can probably get away with it
it's not that big of a deal but if
you're going to be anywhere for an
extended period of time it's definitely
worth it to look into a travel credit
card or just a card in general that does
not have those fees the one thing that I
didn't have that I wish I did was a card
like a Charles Schwab Bank account or
one of those other kind of foreign bank
accounts where you can pull out money
from an ATM with out getting hit with
those transaction fees because I know
every time I pulled out money from an
ATM it ended up costing like an extra
fifty dollars in just the exchange rate
fees but to make it a little bit cheaper
when you are at the ATM make sure you
deny their conversion because the ATM's
conversion is going to be a lot more
expensive than what your base conversion
would be so you want the conversion rate
to come from your bank instead of the
ATM you'll see it when you swipe your
card in you go to collect how much cash
you want out it's going to say accept
this conversion rate or decline this
conversion rate you want to decline it
and it's still going to give you the
money it's just going to have that
exchange rate be taken from your bank
instead of what the ATM wants if you are
planning on staying in Europe for a long
time or honestly anywhere for a long
time and you want to be able to save
some money doing work exchange is a
great way to do it I'll do a whole video
on this but I went through the
organization World Packers and I did two
volunteer experiences while I was there
so one was at a hostel in Spain for two
weeks and the other one was at a bed and
breakfast in France for another two
weeks and that saved me a month of food
in a comedy so there are ways to get
around the idea that Europe is super
expensive as long as you're willing to
put in a little bit of work and do
things a little bit non-traditional
other ways you can save money are
definitely by taking public transport
and so that's using the buses whenever
you're in a city instead of ubering I
know I only ubered like two times and
that was if I had like a really early
morning planes or flights and the bus
systems are relatively easy to figure
out or the trans systems or literally
any type of public transport in the city
and once you figure out the first city
pretty much every city after that is
similar so it definitely gets easier the
longer you're in Europe now we need to
talk about your phone and how you're
going to be able to have signal to talk
to people while you're gone I personally
use Verizon as my phone service provider
and Verizon unfortunately is like one of
the only providers that does not connect
with SIM cards so if you put a new sim
in your card which a lot of people do
when they go to Europe it just does not
work with these phones I don't know why
I don't know the science behind it
that's just what I've heard and
everything I've looked up so I got the
Verizon travel plan for my phone and I
think it was a hundred dollars a month
it was like eight gigabytes of data 200
minutes of calling and a thousand
incoming texts and a thousand outgoing
texts which is not a lot but it was
honestly really good for me because I
was not on my phone at all for four
months unless I was in the hostel
attached to Wi-Fi in my bed at night and
besides that I just couldn't go on it if
you do not get the travel planned
through your provider you can do the SIM
card route unfortunately I do not have
any information about SIM cards in your
phone just because I've never personally
done it I have heard it's relatively
easy and you can get them at airports or
at train stations whenever you arrive in
a new country but I've never done it
myself next topic is the bag that you
need to bring I personally had a 55
liter off spray bag it was a backpack it
fit all my belongings in it and then I
had a 13 liter Offspring daylight pack
on my front so I had the big backpack on
my back the other one on my front and
that's pretty much it for my bag
situation if I was to go again though I
would force myself to do a 40 liter on
my back and still probably keep the 13
on my front just because what I had was
still way too much stuff even though it
was practically nothing it just gets so
annoying when you're moving around so
much to be lugging everything around
with you and so I know it seems like you
don't have anything with you but when
you're backpacking you really don't need
that much you're going to new cities
constantly so wearing the same thing
isn't that weird because you're not
around any people that would have seen
you in the previous outfit and you just
kind of start wearing the same things
over and over again because everything
just gets so jumbled in your bag that
you're just taking whatever's off the
top and you start to realize that things
just aren't that serious and it doesn't
really matter what you look like but I
personally still like looking cute so I
still had cute dresses and cute skirts I
would just re-wear them and then you
also want the bare minimum for all your
toiletries and makeup I can do a whole
video talking everything about what to
pack for your backpacking trip with
actual clothes and shoes and all your
toiletries and all the random travel
accessories that you would need for your
bag and just to have in general so stay
tuned for that because I think I
actually packed pretty good when I went
suitcases are just personally a no-go
when you're going to grow up for an
extended period of time even if it is a
carry-on size when you're in hostels the
only option that you have to store your
bag is in a locker and you kind of have
to sometimes like smush your bag in
there and you just wouldn't be able to
do that with a true suitcase and so for
safety and lock reasons you're gonna
want a backpack also because backpacks
are a lot easier to lock and become more
theft proof than I think a suitcase
would be I had locks on every zipper and
then you also have a lock for your
locker so no one's going to take your
belongings I was in hostels for four
months like I said and I didn't have one
single thing stolen from me other random
bags that you may want are a fanny pack
or some type of crossbody purse that you
can always leave in front of you instead
of behind when you're walking around for
theft proof reasons and or a tote bag
the tote bag comes in such handy
especially if you're solo traveling
because you'll end up just wanting to
bring activities with you so I would
always walk around with my journal and
my Kindle with me at all times and then
I would usually like pick up lunch or go
buy something like I would always need a
true bigger bag and when I was leaving
the hostel for the day I probably wasn't
coming back for hours so a tote bag was
100 worth it to fit everything but then
it also can double as a beach bag
finally this is how much it's going to
cost you or how much you should save for
your trip I know when I was gone for the
four months including my plane ticket I
spent roughly nine thousand dollars
total which isn't actually that crazy
when you think about being gone for four
months now I did have the total of one
month of volunteering during that time
which helped keep my costs low but it
still would probably have only been
around 11 000 if I didn't I usually say
for rule of thumb the best price to save
up for and plan for per month for one
person is about two thousand five
hundred dollars that's enough to where
you're not gonna feel stressed of not
having enough money and still have a
little bit to splurge on something you
want to buy or a certain Excursion you
want to go on and still be able to eat
out sometimes like it's a flexible
budget with the 2500 but you can
definitely do it for cheaper I know
there was some months that I was there
that I only spent 1 100 but it also
depends on the country you're going to
so I would do some research in knowing
kind of the cost of living in the
countries that you're going to because
if you're going to anywhere in the
Balkans or somewhere in like Portugal or
Spain it's going to be a lot cheaper
than if you're going to England just the
nature of the game and how things are
you just really need to pay attention to
kind of the sheep first expensive
countries and maybe plan your route
accordingly if you know what your budget
is staying in hostels is obviously going
to keep your price low finding the
cheapest flights are going to keep your
costs low not eating out all the time is
going to keep your costs low if you're
staying in hostels they almost always
have kitchens and you can make meals and
go grocery shopping most of the time
people people are not going to steal
your food once again I never had anyone
steal my food so there are ways to keep
this a lot more budget friendly some
other random tips I have are one please
make sure you download your map of the
city that you're going to before you get
there there was a time when my train got
in in Lake Como into this tiny little
town that I was staying in and I had
zero signal I only knew the number of
the bus that I had to get on and I knew
the name of the town and that was it and
I had to figure out my way it was the
most stressful day of my life I was
contemplating everything debating going
back to Milan just was completely
screwed because I've had forgotten to
download my map and I just kind of
assumed that I would have signal when I
got there and so it's definitely
something for your safety that you need
to do a lot of people use Google Maps I
personally use the app maps.me which is
essentially the same thing I just really
liked it because it also had hiking
trails on there too and it's just the
app that I was recommended and I
personally loved it so just make sure
you download offline apps so that when
you get to a city you know where you're
going it's pretty much all the knowledge
I have on backpacking Europe or at least
my quick version of it if there's any
specific topics that you don't think I
covered please just leave them in the
comments box below and I'll get back to
you or I'll maybe even make a whole
video on it I had the best time of my
life it was after I had graduated
college so it was kind of my graduation
gift to myself that I had been saving up
for and planning and it lived up to
every expectation that I could have
imagined so this is your sign to go
backpacking her up if you've been
wanting to so I hope you guys found
today's video useful about how to go
backpacking around Europe and I really
hope you booked that ticket and you go
because it will be the best time of your
life I promise it's worth every single
Cent but if you like this video please
make sure you like And subscribe down
below my content is all about how I
travel with my nine to five and
traveling in her 20s and navigating this
weird time in our lives so if you're
interested in more of that please make
sure you subscribe and I'll see you guys
next Thursday