5-week first-time backpacking trip!

Hi! This is my tentative plan for my 5-week backpacking trip through Europe during my school break! This will be my first time traveling alone, and I would *really appreciate * any advice people can offer regarding hostels, the feasibility of my itinerary, and precautions to take as a woman traveling alone. I’m also completely open to suggestions of places to visit and places to skip—my itinerary is far from set and I would love any advice about where to go/skip, where to spend more/less days, etc. *Any advice *would be much appreciated! I’ve gotten a bit of a late start and really need a more concrete plan as soon as possible since I am leaving in less than a month! Thanks in advance!

This is a really great itinerary! Although, your budget is a bit low but doable as long as you’re not including flights.

Some of the best hostels in each city is listed in our “book your hostel” option in the edit menu. They’re listed by value rating (reviews + price).

Do you have any specific questions?

Woman traveling alone? buy a cheap ring and wear it on your wedding finger

You can definetly skip our of visiting marseille and geneva. I would stop in salzburg, it’s on your way.

I would trim Nice to a day and cut Marseille entirely. Add in Arles instead

Thanks for the advice, everyone! I’ve decided to cut Marseille and stop by in Salzburg
Any recommendations as to whether I should book hostels/trains in advance? If so, what website should I use to book trains? I can’t figure out how to book seats through eurail.com, and the prices on raileurope seem way more expensive…
Also, I’m planning to spend a couple nights in Gimmelwald at Mountain Hostel since I heard such great things about it on this site, but the reservation page online seems insecure…if you’ve been, did you book online beforehand?

Thanks again—I really appreciate the feedback!

I may be a bit biased, but consider using Eurotrip to book a rail pass

We offer a rebate for users booking through the trip planner and have great prices. Just click the “find railpass” button in your planner screen and it will set you up with the best possible railpass for the itinerary that you already entered. Same thing with hostels — if you click “book hostels” in your edit screen it will give the best/cheapest hostel with the dates already entered.

Saves a ton of time and gives you the cheapest prices. Ok, plug over