Every one of us has the wish to travel and see the world, get to know the USA; Europe or Australia. But in most of these places, the problem we have is similar: They are really expensive places to travel to. At least this is the case when we are speaking about all-inclusive or packaged tours. But did you know: If you take your chances a bit and put up your own trip, it is not that expensive at all. Here are some tips:
Take the train!
To begin with this. Traveling around Germany is not that difficult: It isn’t a very big country, so therefore the longest trip you can do, from south to north, is around 10h in a car. But if you take the train, the Deutsche Bahn, it results to be faster and even cheaper. In Germany (and some European cities) there is a ticket offered which is named the “Deutschlandpass” and allows you to travel in summer for 3 months on all the trains for only 100€. This is a fee you only pay once and after that, you are free to take any train for free. This is the cheapest way to move around Germany and even get to know some cities around like Prague, Vienna, Brussels, and Amsterdam.
Hostels are not always the cheapest!
When we talk about the places to stay and pass the night, hostels are not always the cheapest, even though we think so. We pass the night in a crappy hostel, sharing a room to save money. This maybe is worth it if you travel alone but once you travel with a few other people often it is cheaper to check also hotels and Airbnb's where you can get double or 4- bedrooms. This results often in being cheaper or the same price as hostels, but way more comfortable. It is also important to be aware of the price fluctuation between the cities in Germany. If you want to save some money avoid cities like Munich, Frankfurt, or Heidelberg and choose cities close by with a train connection. So you can still explore the cities you wanted to explore, but also get to save some money and go off the beaten path to get a more authentic experience.
Neuschwanstein is not the only castle there is!
Just give it a try and one time put the phrase “Schloss” or “Burg” in google maps to get an idea of how many castles there are in Germany. Hence, it is not necessary to change your path just to go and see the castle of Neuschwanstein because it’s the most beautiful one. This is not true: it is only the most expensive and most famous one. Most german castles do not even want any entrance fee or have a very low one for you to see the insides of it. A few examples of castles we love and recommend are Lichtenstein, Hohenzollern, Rheinstein for example. There are also many times medieval festivals in those castles which give you free entrance and a unique experience, this way you can make the best out of your trip to Germany.