lynx

Dear experts,

I am planning my first time trip to europe this coming june for around 2 months. I have kind of planned my trip and currently deciding whether to go to French Riveria (France). From Paris, I am wanting to travel to Lyon and then to Chamonix. From there I take the train across to Martigny (Switz) mainly for the views. I am thinking whether it would be worth me then going back to France and down to French Riveria and across to Italy OR stay in Switz and then travel to Italy.

Also, from reading the forums, users advice that you need to book hostels in advance. My question therefore would be how far in advance would you need to book ahead as June/July are the busiest periods?

Would appreciate it if you can help me answer these questions.

Many thanks

marc873

I the south of France - Nice, Monaco, etc... I wouldn't miss it if you get the chance. As for hostels, theres no harm in booking them now if you wanted. June/July are def. busy, and you could get lucky and not book, but if you don't want to have to worry about having a place to sleep, I would book them in advance. Shit, I booked some of mine last Aug. Check out hostelworld.com
Happy Travels

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lynx

Sorry, but I am really confused about this. How can you book the hostels for each of the locations way before you are going? I am a first time traveller and hence the question. I mean, I can book the hostel in Paris as this is my first stop. From there on, I can book the hostel in Lyon. However, I do not know exactly when I will be getting to the other locations. If I wanted to stay a day longer in one of them or had problems with trying to get to one of my other locations or wanted to do a divert then I'm screwed basically. I thought the whole idea of travelling is to be flexible and not worry about trying to get to the other location on that exact date.

Please I really need an explanation of how this works as I must be missing out on something and could do with a good advice.

Thanks

joe7f

What I did was go to Hostelworld.com (via Travelpunk.com) and book nights there. If you cancel then you are only out the deposit (10%, I think...).

When I was traveling in the Winter, some hostels were booked solid on certain nights. I can only imagine the summers

I would definitely line up Paris now because the last thing you want to do when jet lagged is arrive in new city and try to figure out an accommodation. Plus, Paris is a destination city and good hostels fill up fast.

--Joey

simply_angelic

I booked hostels in advance 3X over my 2 month backpacking trip. the first time was for my 1st night, when I flew into Paris. The second was for my second day in paris at a different hostel (I wanted my 1st night in a hotel b/c I thought it would be easier....definitely a stupid idea). Anyways...due to uhm....jetlag? and some crazy boys that need not be named *Cough *Tadpole* Cough * Arthur * (and some crazy parisian streets) I didn't end up getting to bed until 6am that night and overslept by a couple hours. Then I navigated my way to the hostel I had booked for that night only to find out that my place had been given away because I was late.

The other time I booked way in advance I missed my ferry . I had absolutely no trouble finding a place to stay the other nights. If you like to book in advance, you can usually book online a couple days before. If it shows that all the hostels are booked, a lot of the times if you show up early that day, they'll have vacancies and you can sign up for the waiting list.

If worse comes to worse, and all the hostels appear booked you should be able to wander around and find a place to stay: train stations have very useful information booths which will usually give you an idea of hostels in the area. Heck the guy at the Tours train station even booked me a spot at the cheapest one in town then gave me a map with my route drawn on for me...(he was awesome).

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Traveler

Hostel online, is best to get you a place first time there. Some even pick up at the airport. When you land at the airport look for Hotel/Hostel area with all the listing of places to stay. You might find flyers of hostel in your next location to stay at.

You can even ask your Hostel for information on your next location for a place to stay at.

If you hit a new town, with no idea where to stay. And your out running around sightseeing, ask a few bartenders, cab driver, store clerks for a good place to stay. Then pick the best place, you feel you will have fun at.

Worse case. Sleeping at airports, trainstation, ain't that bad. Just secure your stuff in a wall locker or tie it to you when you sleep.

Enjoy your trip.

Brookers13

do keep in mind that some train stations close during the night and you wont be able to sleep there so dont necessarily bank on that! or you might find urself sleeping on the streets in barcelona or paris...o wait...that was me!

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joe7f

And there are some train stations the exact opposite of Estacio Sants and Gare du Nord. In Frankfurt's main (no pun intended) train station they have a Red Cross center where you can sleep free, albeit a little uncomfortably, if you miss a late night train. Apparently Munich has something similar, though I never saw it.

--Joey

Canadian Dude

Hey Lynx,

Well first off, great to hear your on your way to taking off on your first over seas trip. trust me it will not be your last!!!

Your trip is a very personal experience and it is hard for me to tell you what direction to take, but when I had to decide where I was going to go, because my time was not a plentiful as a lot of trekers I tried to cover as much ground as possible while still appreciating what each place had to offer. Now you have 2 months, so you may not have the same prob.

As for a place to stay, I have been turned away from enough hostels to know that booking in advance is the best way to go. I was apprehensive at first, not wanting to rush to a schedule based around where I was staying. While sleeping in train stations, ditches, and airports make for GREAT stories for the folks back home, I quickly realized that a warm hostel bed was the better bet. Summer and Spring are very busy times.

The Travelpunk.com hostel booking service is an excellent way to book, give it a look and you will see. Using this service helps support the Travelpunk.com website and these message boards.

The best of luck to you, and we need play by plays of your experiences.

Ahh and by the way, there are NO dumb questions here...every question you ask will help out everyone who visits this site.

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simply_angelic

I loved that train station...it was so beautiful and clean. Gotta love germany

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~Laura
GO CANADA!!!!

If you walk backwards, you'll find out that you can go forward and people won't know if you're coming or going.

Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today.
-James Dean

Countries I've Visited: Austria, Botswana, Canada, Costa Rica, Democratic Republic of the Congo, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Italy. Malawi, Mexico, Portugal, Rwanda, South Africa, Spain, Taiwan, Tanzania, Uganda, USA, UK, Vatican City, Zambia

Delaney

Another thing to think about is booking the hostels in advance while you are there. Use internet cafes and the computers in your hostel to book a few days or a week in advance. I haven't done this in Europe but in Australia it worked perfectly.

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mrtariq

I am going on my first travelling adventure later this year so these tips on hostels are useful. However, I am planning to camp my way across much of Western / central Europe.