Backpacking Europe for 3-4wks?

[Freya]

Has anyone backpacked Europe for 3-4wks? Dh and I are wanting to go on a holiday around April next year and Im wondering if backpacking and making our own way is doable for such a short period of time.

[Phteven]

With 3-4 weeks I think you would be best to pick one or two countries rather than Europe.

If I had a month I would start in Paris and then travel to either Berlin, Madrid, Budapest or Rome.

TBH if I had a month I would probably 2 weeks in Le Marais and 2 weeks in a small village near Geneva.

[*Ang*]

If you can afford to it is much much easier to lease a car - check out car websites like Peugot or Reanult. At least you can get where you want to when you want to and dont have to rely on others transport.

Unless you do an organised tour you wont see a hell of a lot in that time. We usually pick a few countries and do them.

[Nai]

I have done it twice - once backpacking and once with hire car - both times we did about 3-4 countries selected to see. Whereabouts in Europe were you thinking?

[Freya]

Well Im just going to have to accept that I cant see every country in Europe without taking 12 months to do so and selling my children

Ive been to Italy and Switzerland before. Dh has not been anywhere (except for military stuff). I really want to make sure we go to Italy, France, Germany, Austria.

Maybe we should do a shorter trip of Europe and then add on a tour of Scandinavia? Ive always wanted to see Denmark/Norway/Sweden/Finland. Or maybe we should add on a british tour instead and see Scotland/Ireland/Wales.

Gah I dunno. We wont be back there for a long time so I feel like I want to cram as much in as I can lol

[Phteven]

If you can afford to it is much much easier to lease a car - check out car websites like Peugot or Reanult. At least you can get where you want to when you want to and dont have to rely on others transport.

The car leases are great.
I don't know what the minimum is but you might scrape in. What they do is 'sell' you a new car from the factory and then at the end they 'buy' it back from you. So while you have the car the rego etc is in your name. The insurance you get with it is fantastic - zero excess and covers almost everything except being a total plonker there is 24 hour roadside assist too.
If you're taking your children and you want to cover a lot of ground I think you would be crazy not to lease a car. Carrying luggage and children through terminals is a PITA.

In a month you could drive from Rome through Austria and Gemany to Paris or vice-versa. You would be driving a really long way so you mightn't have much time to just sit and savour the moments.

[Sopdet]

Seriously, for that short amount of time, go on a tour, yes you will do a lot of countries in a small amount of time if you so choose one of those 12 countries in 14 days tours, but you will get an idea of where you wish to go back to again in the future. Also you know that all your accommodation & some meals are paid for, you can also ask in advance how much the extras are, like side trips, special meals, have that all budgeted for before you leave, so you only have to worry about spending money.

I've done about 5 tours of Europe over the last 25 years, as well as travelling to different places via car/train/bus/hitch-hiking.

For a Scandinavian visit, I suggest a tour, too expensive otherwise.

Our family did 3 months in Europe when the others were young (11 - 6 in age), I wasn't with them the whole time as I was in and out for work, but they stayed in camping grounds a lot of the time that had these amazing tents, that were almost like cabins, we also stayed in home stay type of accommodation as well. We had the 7 of us in a car, 6 most of the time as I was more inclined to fly into whichever major city the rest of them were at to spend some time with them. The kids were out of school for this 3 months and they were home-schooled during that time, with their school giving them the work they needed to cover.

[kiwimummy]

I've done it. We had about 10 or 12 weeks though. But you could still see heaps in 3-4 weeks. We got a train pass and took trains everywhere. We hired a car once or twice to go to more remote areas and it was scary driving! Way preferred the trains which were fantastic, you can enjoy scenary along the way or read or sleep etc. We just booked somewhere to stay online a few days in advance and made up our itinerary as we went along It was great.