The question of how much money you will spend could be answered a million ways. Hostels vary in price greatly depending on location an amenities. Also, food can really depend if you’re cooking your own meals / shopping at grocery stores or if you’re always going to eat out at expensive tourist traps. Nightlife? Well, again that depends on how frugal you are and where you’re going.

I would say you should by figuring out which city you would like to fly into (since money seems like an issue it might be best to try and find the cheapest ticket and start there) and then plan your trip according to make the legs between each city as small as possible. Also you might want to research cost of single tickets versus buying a Europass. www.raileurope.com gets recommended around here a lot for planning small legs of travel.

It’s also highly recommended that you reserve hostels at least a few days in advance. This will save you the hassle of rushing around to find a place to stay when you arrive in your new destination.

Rail Europe is a competitor to the folks who kindly sponsor this site, and generally their prices for point to point tickets are higher than they are on this site. RailEurope has some good information on their site, but the “bookings” tab on this site and www.railpass.com have the same information (all be it a tad harder to find) and are equal or better in terms of actually buying railpass or tickets.

That really doesn’t answer anything for me, I just need a figure that I could survive for 2 months

It doesn’t answer because your question is vague and unspecific. It really depends upon a lot of factors most of which you need to decide on your own.

Like what?

What cities are you going to? Some places are much more expensive than others.

We are planning to visit Stockholm, helsinki, amsterdam, berlin, barcelona, switzerland, greece, london.

First off, you really do need to do more research on your own. Get a guidebook for budget travelers and use the bookings tab on this site (or other internet resources) to find the actual prices for hostels. Use the web to find actual prices, free days, student discounts, etc. for the museums, etc you want to visit. I’d happily spend $30 to visit a “living history” type place, but many others wouldn’t.

You’ve pretty much picked the most expensive cities/countries in Europe. I’d budget $100 per day US for a budget trip in these places — counting local transportation (subways, buses trams) but not city to city transportation. That would be hostels, local transportation (no cabs) meals from markets, street vendors, self catering and the occasional low-end cafe or tavern (no real restaurants) the occasional beer or wine (little in the way of clubs, mixed drinks) admission fees for museums and possibly 1 or 2 cheap city tours and incidentals (very little for gifts or souvenirs). $75 per day would be the absolute minimum — assuming you can take advantage of student admission fees and/or don’t want to visit a lot of museums and historical sites.

So, my budget would be plane ticket ($1000 or what you actually find) city to city transportation of $1500 if you’re over 25, $1,100 if you’re under 25 (price of a 2 month consecutive day Eurail pass — don’t buy that pass, but it’s a good estimate of what you’ll spend on trains, buses, ferries and planes) plus $200 emergency stash and daily cost for 60 days.

Thanks for the input. Why shouldn’t I buy the europass is it too expensive ? What would you recommend for transportation instead?

Some kind of railpass will definitely save money on this trip, but, IMO, the consecutive day pass isn’t the best deal financially for most travelers. In two months, you’ll probably end up with a combination of railpass, bus, ferry, point to point train tickets (for trips that are cheaper than using a day of the railpass) and a few cheap flights.

I had the same problem when I was planning my trip. And I was so frustrated!!! Everyone is right though, to ask for a specific amount of $$ is very difficult because it really depends on the person.

First thing you need to do is decide how much money you will be able to realistically save before the trip. It wouldn’t make sense to plan for a trip you can’t afford. Using that amount, begin to create an itinerary:

Decided where you would go and for the # of nights you would stay for the perfect trip. Begin your budget with air travel, rail pass and hostel prices (hostelworld.com) If you are traveling with a group of people who don’t mind starving every once in a while your daily budget could be just a few euros. Pooling your $ together and cooking dinner every night is also inexpensive….but some cities would take your first born for a cup of tea. (Seriously, I once saw a cup of tea in Denmark for $6 AD) In those cities that are very expensive, you have not choice but to spent much, much more then you would want. Remember, cooking all your meals in the hostel means not going away for long day trips, otherwise you will be forced to eat fast food or in restaurants. *Safely *saying, I would put away 50 – 75 euro a day for food alone. It is so difficult to put a number on this because the amount spent is a unique as each traveler. I am sure there are people out there who have done it with much less. It would always be better to have extra than not enough.

Finally, after you have round-about-figure, go back over your itinerary and decide where you are willing to cut costs if you had to.

I hope this helped! If you still need me to be more specific, I could probably help.

http://www.eurotrip….

Please don’t be upset or frustrated that posters/volunteers on this board have not answered all of your questions or broken down an exact budget for your trip. There are too many variables and options and budget varies based on people’s comfort level and spending habits, especially after drinking a few beers.
I would suggest that you read more about each city you will visit in the guidebooks, These books will give you an idea on rates lodging, local transportation, museums, tourist sites, cheap restaurants, etc. NOTE: the prices are usualy 6 months to a year old, so use them as a estimate. The books are also helpfull on museums hours and prices and be sure to NOTE the day the museums are closed on your trip calendar.
Start your own mini-guidebook for each city you want to visit.
You can print out a city map and have hostels listed on it in case you show up with no reservations.
Hopefully you have looked at hostel sites and see the rate can vary on how many people are sharing one room. Most times you can also find great hotels with quad rooms that include a better breakfast than most hostels and you can sneak extra in your daypack. But that takes time in doing your homework/research. Many 3/4/5 star hotels slash rates on weekends and in slow seasons.
NEXT: Figure out what you will be doing in each city to see if you want to cut down on some days like in Brussels, Zurich, Vienna and the others. Only you & your friends can decide this based on what you want to see and what museums you want to visit or if you want to party all night and sleep all day like in Barcelona and Ibiza. If you read many post on these boards a student listed club links in Barcelona. Have you researched web sites on Ibiza and transportation links and prices at that time of year (off season?). I have seen web sites that post all the answers that you may have like club and drink prices in Ibiza.
Look into day trips and other cities. Munich, Germany; Salzburg, Austria and Interlaken, Switz. to name a few.
A consecutive day railpass is excellent if you want to cover alot of ground and especially if you get bored of a city or weather sucks, you can jump on a train and explore a city that was not on your plan.
Air Flight:
Eurail Pass: Read pass web site – they give you a list on what is free with railpass in each city(like S-bahn subway in Munich.)
Make your own budget list for each city:
train reservations:
Hostel prices:
Local transportation costs: Subway, Tram, Bus if needed – most cities you can cover by walking.
List monuments & museums that are on your “MUST SEE” list with hours & admission prices.
List other things to do if weather is good: City walking tour or bus tour, Boat ride, chairlift ride to hike in the mountains, bike rentals or tours, visit outdoor beer gardens, etc.
List nightclubs: list ones you have heard about or seen listed in guidebooks – than ask a local, hostel staff or fellow travelers at hostel for suggestions.
GOOD LUCK!