Tips for 2-month Spain, Italy, Croatia,East Europe

[karoshi]

Here's my Itinerary in a nutshell.
Wondering which places I can pitch a tent and likely find cheap accomodations.
Think I can do this with less than 3,500 Euros?

Cost saving tips? Places to go?
This is my trip of a lifetime.

Leaving May 15th for London (2 nights)
May 18- Madrid Spain (2 nights)
May 20-31 - Cordoba(2), Sevilla-Arcos De la Frontera(1), Ronda(1), Granada(2), Valencia(2), Barcelona(3 including Girona)
June 1st - Venice Italy (1)
June 2-15 - Milan-Torino (2), La Spezia(2), Sienna Florence (2)
(any tips on places to go in tuscany?

June 15-20 - Italian Farm Stay - Naples (5)
June 20-25 - Pompeii, Capri, Sorrento, Sicily (5 days throughout)
June 25-30 - Bari(1), Dubrovnik(2), Corcula - Split(2)
July 1 - July 5 - Budapest(?), Bratislava(2), Vienna(?)
July 5-9th - Prague (4)
July 10-12th - Frankfurt Germany (2)

Any tips? Think I'm crazy?

[lauren313]

Wow, that sounds pretty cool! There is a list on the main travelpunk site of campsites around Europe. Here it is! I'm sure the list is not exhaustive, and you'll find loads of cheap places to stay. At least a few of the places you're looking to go to are on the list.

As for your budget, that's almost 60 Euros a day, which is pretty good, especially as you're looking to camp and stay in hostels! Also, if you're trying to save money, cook for yourselves as much as possible, or else your money will soon drain away at restaurants!

One this is, a few of the places you're going to you're looking to only stay 1 or 2 days. I've not been to any of those places, so can't comment on what's there, but perhaps your itinerary could be quite flexible in case you get somewhere and find you'd like a couple of extra days there.

Other than thatt, sounds great, have lots of fun!

[beergal]

cant believe im going to be in milan 2 days after you...as for Budapest you could spend 6 months there and not see everything this wonderful city has to offer

[freakypete]

I take it you are flying home from Frankfurt, so thats why you are spending the last 2 nights there?

In my opinion there are much nice places nearby than frankfurt, like Heidelburg or Koblenz, where you could stay a couple of days, and are only about an hour away from frankfurt airport by train. plus you'll be there just after the world cup is over, so the bigger cities like frankfurt will still be pretty busy i imagine

[bluepea]

Another great city near Frankfurt is Mainz. They have a great little shopping area and are right on the Rhein River. They have this fabulous restaurant that was converted from an old church - it very modern themed, very airy. There's also a winery near the shopping and some great outdoor courtyards. Just a suggestion.

Your itinerary seems great though. There are a lot of campgrounds in Europe - I'd definitely recommend googling some areas to get an idea. We camped in Tarragona, Spain for nearly two weeks and it was very affordable, plus we were right off the Mediterranean Sea.

Some of the cities you've listed are a bit more expensive, so those are going to be the ones you'll probably want to restrain yourself the most! Spain and Central Europe (barring Hungary if I hear correctly) are a lot less expensive.

The three biggest cost saving tips: eat as much grocery store food as opposed to restaurant food as possible, drink (if you drink) before you go out to the bars/clubs because that'll save you the inflated drink prices, and try to book accomadation ahead of time (hostels) so that you don't show up in a town with limited availability and end up paying a lot more than you would normally have. Remember, pre booking hostels costs only a couple of dollars, and if you decide to go somehwere/maintain a loose itinerary, you won't be out much!