eurorail and hitch hiking!!

Agree

It depends on you and your itinerary. For a group, a rented car, while not cheap, can be useful; for an individual, the car is too expensive.

There are a lot of low fare airlines which can save some time, but they often fly from secondary airports, so you have added time and expense on each end of the flight to consider, and a lot of them have draconian limits on how much luggage you can have.

Trains are excellent, with lots of space and a chance to see some scenery, since you don’t have to be watching the road as you do when driving. I suggest you do a lot of research, however, before buying a railpass. If you plan to change locations every day, a pass can be a good idea; if you plan to stay in some locations a few days and move every third day, for example, buying point to point tickets can be cheaper. Some people like to take overnight trains to save the cost of a room, but then you miss the scenery.

My sister used to hitchhike and had no trouble, but its up to you to decide whether that is your thing; many consider it very risky. Her technique was to be very flexible; she stayed in hostels, where there is a lot of talk among the guests, and when someone said they were driving to a place that interested her, she asked if she could ride along and help pay for gas. She also bicycled; rental bikes are widely available and if you want to see the countryside and small villages, thats not a bad way to go, if you’re physically fit.

There is also bus service but the only place I used it was in Switzerland and I had a railpass that also covered postal busses and boats, so I don’t know if the bus would cost less than a train over the same route.

All European trains I have been on have been clean and relatively spacious, so I no longer buy first class tickets since second class is clean and cheaper. The busses I have been on, in Italy, Switzerland, and France, have also been clean, but not as spacious as the trains.

Enjoy your trip.