I'm doing some high level planning for friends. 2 Adults + teenager, next summer. Want to spend 3 weeks hopping around Europe for $15K or less. I hope they'll have some points to burn at least for the hotel rooms, but I'm not sure. I think they should avoid London / Paris / high price town because of the price. And I'm not sure how much backpacking they can endure.

Which town / country will you suggest? Any tips? Think travelling by rail intra-Euro will make most sense. At this point, I just need some ideas to start brainstorming.

Hmmm - I'm planning a trip for 7 adults for three weeks next June in Scotland, and it's only running $3300 per person, which sounds well within your budgets. That's including airfare, B&Bs, budget food (pubs and such), rental cars, ferries, etc.

Check out my plans if you like:

www.greendragonartist.com/STindex.htm

Here is an article on Europe trip planning - basic, but has some budget tips.

http://www.greendragonartist.com/articlesEurope.htm

$15k? Can easily be done. The only question is how comfortable will you be.

I'd look at renting a car. The more people/car, the more you save. If you avoid driving in cities it can be a lot less stressful than air or train travel. A 3 week rental can be done for $1000-1500 (ballpark). Make sure at least one person knows to drive stick. The cost of gas is another matter.

Eurail passes will be at least $800/person (only youths can get coach passes). http://www.eurail.com/eurail_global_...1&currency=usd

$15k...
That would be about €2.28 by then.
Seriously, let's think. Should be doable but let's have some numbers down.
3 economy tickets to get them to Europe and back at €900 each = €2700
2 rooms for 20 nights at €100 (4* hotels) a piece = €4000
Average of 1.5 sit-down meal per day for 20 days at mid-range restaurants at €25 per person per meal: €2250

Roughly 9000 Euros, meaning $12700ish at today's rates, leaving them with just under €2000 for the rest.
Doable but they need to do either some careful budgeting or make some sacrifices along the way (such as sharing the room with the teenager, which I wouldn't really opt for, unless the teenager is 13-14 and not very mature for their age). Zero backpacking required.
Definitely avoid London and Paris. Things are very expensive there, and they aren't such great places IMHO unless you want to do a stand-alone visit for 3-4 days...Definitely not as part of a large trip.
My suggestions would include Central Europe (Czech Rep/Hun/Svk/Austria), Southern Italy and Spain.

I can't see skipping London and Paris, or at least skipping both of them because of cost. These are two of the greatest cities in the world. In London in the summer, you can stay at a very reasonably priced student residence, with separate room for the parents and teenager, with cooking and laundry facilities included. In Paris, there are various cheap hotel deals you can do, or even get an apartment.

That said, they can have an excellent trip without setting foot in either of those cities. Germany is a very reasonably priced country for the most part, and very easy to travel in, with lots to see and do. Although hot, muggy weather is possible, it's going to be much better than Spain or Italy (except for a few locations). In the Netherlands, I've only seen Amsterdam and some surrounding towns, but this is a very pleasant place to go, and again usually without extreme summer heat (more so than many German locations). Berlin is an extremely appealing city for both adults and teenagers. To my slight surprise, one of my daughter's favorite cities is Cologne, in large part because of some other interesting teenagers she met there.

Edinburgh during the festival is an excellent destination, but it would really crimp the budget if they were not willing to stay in a student residence. We did that in 2006, me and my teenage daughter, and we had a great time.

I'd highly recommend that they consider 3 or 4 major destinations, with daytrips from each if they want. This will save money and avoid a hassled feeling, which can be exacerbated by a teenager, and there should be plenty to do in each.

Even if the exchange rate gets worse, that budget should stand them in good stead, if they do any advance planning at all.

I don't think the budget is a problem at all... even with Paris and London.

There is a big gray area between 4* hotels and backpacking. Consider an apartment rental for some of the more expensive places. That will allow for some meals in, to make up for the more expensive restaurants.

And don't cut out flying as an option. Intra Europe flights can be pretty cheap.

If it were my 3 week trip...

Week 1 - London (2 days) Paris en evirons (5 days)
Week 2 - Spain
Week 3 - Northern Italy

Easily doable.

As a previous poster indicated intra-Europe flights can be found for very cheap rates on carriers like Wizz Air, German Wings, Ryan Air, Brussels Airlines, Air Baltic etc. if done in advance

I'd recommend something different from the previous posters though. I'd get the cheapest round trip to Europe. Checking May I found $600 including taxes to both Amerstdam and Brussels (direct from JFK).

Then I would rent a car for a week and see Belgium & Southwest Germany Black Forest area. Best Western is a good solid hotel chain in Germany and rates include breakfast. Depending on the dates you can find rates between $60-$100 Euros - figure 6 nights 2 rooms sets you back 1100 euros plus a week car rental at $500 euros. Then I'd try to find a $100 plane ticket to Helsinki and spend three days there (if you have hotel points I'd use them in Helsinki as its expensive). From the airport there is a finnair bus for about 5 euros into the center of town. $300 euros for plane tickets and another $100 for the ferry.

Then I'd take the ferry to Tallinn. And I'd stay 2-3 days in Estonia, 2-3 days Riga Latvia (via train) and a day or two in Vilnius (again via train). You can usually find decent hotels like Scandics for less than 100 euros in these cities if you book in advance and they include a good breakfast. Another $1200 euros in hotels and figure $200 euros train tickets.

Then I'd find the cheapest airfare to either Vienna or Bratislava and rent a car and spend 3-4 days in Slovakia visiting castles, old towns and hiking through beautiful nature - and either swing down to Budapest or spend the final few days in Vienna (which is admitted not cheap but has great public transport). Then fly out of Vienna back either Amsterdam/Brussels and next day go home. Another $500 euros car rental plus 6 nights hotels at another $1500 euros (again use points if stay in Vienna).

Thats a total of $5400 euros ($7800 USD) in Europe plus $1800 in airfare. So if you then allow $150/day food to spend for 21 days thats another $3150. Total of 12,750 and $2K to spend as you see fit.

If you have various points use them on hotels in big European cities. If you have to see Prague then use points. If you have to see Vienna again use points. Don't associate Best Westerns in the US with Best Westerns in EU. You'll find that small hotels in Europe are often of good quality.

Disagreed. Hotel points may be a good use for the expensive places like LON, MOW and Scandinavia, but, outside of the Old Town, Prague hotels are still reasonably priced. No problem finding a decent room for �70. Similarly, Vienna isn't facing a massive hotel shortage. Again, 4 stars for under �100 is easy, and if you *really* are on a budget, you could stay across the border in BTS for much less and take the train across (40 mins).

15K is no problem at all - you´ll enjoy a fantastic time in Europe!

That really depends in what your friends are intersted in. Ancient cultures or nature, shopping or relaxing, big cities or small hideaways, beachlife or museum, most likely hot weather in the southern part or the risk of colder times in the north and the list goes on and on. Anyway - may brainstorming:

Day 1: Fly into London
Day 2: London (arrive, go to hotel, relax a bit to adjust the bodyclock, explore the inner city)
Day 3: London (do a boat trip or go outside to eg. Oxford or the castles
Day 4: Cheap oneway flight (many LCC) to Barcelona. (Arrive, go to hotel and enjoy a nice evening in the old town with tapas, drinks and nightlife)
Day 4: Barcelona (sightseeing) Late afternoon - catch a oneway flight (many LCC) to Malaga, pick up a rental car and drive to your beachhotel at the Costa del Sol.
Day 5: Beachlife
Day 6: Beachlife
Day 7: drive to Granada to explore the cultural highlights like Alhambra and the old town. Good nightlife.
Day 8: continue to Cordoba - also a wonderful, arabian influenced city.
Day 9: back to Malaga to catch a cheap oneway flight (many LCC) to Munich. Explore the city by public transport and enjoy a beergarden.
Day 10: Munich (time for some shopping or the Deutsches Museum)
Day 11: Pick up a rental car and go north - stop in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, very touristy but a mediaval old town as its best. Continue to Nürnberg (Hotel)
Day 12: Continue your tour to Frankfurt - if the weather is nice, have a brake for an applewine. Then take an ICE Train (buy tickets in advance online) to Cologne to experience train travel at 330km/h. The world famous cathedral is next to the central station. Enjoy the nightlife with one or three Kölsch.
Day 13: Take a Rhine River Cruise (a must for oversea-visitors)
Day 14: Board a LCC to Rome. Arrive, go to the hotel and have a pizza originale.
Day 15: the ancient Rome and the Vatican
Day 16: A full day of shopping and relaxing. Late afternoon board the Euronight Train to Zurich (buy tickets online in advance).
Day 17: exit the train in Brig and continue eg. to Zermatt or Interlaken. Enjoy the Alp Mountains.
Day 18: A full day in the Swiss Mountains
Day 19: Go by train to Geneve and take a LCC flight to Paris - arrive, go to hotel)
Day 20: Explore Paris
Day 21: Return flight via London

It´s a little bit zigzag, but you´ll be able to use the large LCC Hubs (Easyjet, Air Berlin, Germanwings). You´ll have the very best cities of Europe (London, Paris, Barcelona, Munich, Rome, Cologne), ancient culture (Rome, Granada), shopping (Paris, Cologne, Rome, Barcelona, Munich), famous sights and old cities (Cordoba, Rothenburg), large museums (London, Munich, Paris), Beachlife (Costa del Sol), and nature (Swiss Alps).

15K$ will be more than enough, if you book the flights and train-tickets in advance. To find good hotels in Europe check out http://www.hrs.com

And of course - there are so many more possible highlights.......

Michael

Try to priceline hotels. Could save a bit there.
restaurants look at toptable.co.uk I use tham all the time when in London. They usually have specials with a lot of restaurants for a set price dinner, and usually they are excellent dinners.

When you rent a car in Europe, be sure to reserve a diesel. I recently rented a Renaut and a VW diesel and saved a bundle on fuel. Diesel is subsidized in Europe. Or, at least, less taxed.

Great torque, too.

Possibly, but probably not.

They'd have to get two rooms, because there are three of them, and almost all Priceline wins in Europe will net you a room that fits only two people, not three adults, as the 15-year-old is considered an adult in most cases.

I think it's better if the teenager gets their own room. When I was a teenager travelling with parents, I used to have one whenever possible.
Their budget isn't too tight for that, so I can't see why they should be squeezed into triples for such a long trip.
I have used priceline, but only in areas where I was happy with all the possibilities. It's good for 5-star hotels where available, but otherwise you aren't likely to save a lot of money. For example, I had to stay in Manchester once. I could get a (single, admittedly) room in a very central 4-star-property for �48 straight from the hotel's website. I entered �40 (and that's before charges) for a 4-star on priceline and it told me that my offer was far too low and therefore unlikely to succeed, so I just booked through the hotel site.