Camping?

[spencerhutch]

I am thinking of taking a backpacking trip this summer all around Europe and I am going to have a really low budget. I was wondering if it was possible to find free/extremely cheap camping around Europe. if you have any other advice for me about where to go or cheap places to stay i would love to hear it. Thank you and have a nice day.

[pointofnoreturn]

Hostelworld do list "hostels" that are campsites. You should keep in mind that not all campsites are cost-effective. Many are situated far away from the city of interest so transportation must be factored in.

Italy and Greece (esp. the islands) tend to have more campsites listed than other countries.

[herrbert]

I think the plan has more downsides, then positives sides.

Yes you would save some money on the place you sleep. But you would have to drag a tent without, on every transfer you are making, if you happen to make flights, you need to be careful to take a good look at how much kg, you can take with you. (for most flights it's around 20 kg). Every kg more, you will be charged, sometimes at an abnormal high fee (ryanair).

Also most campingsites are outside the cities, so you would have to pay extra for connections to the city you are visiting, and that would also take a bite out of your available time. If you need 45 minutes to get to a city, and 45 to get back, and do that 3 or 4 times for one city, you have lost 4.5 to 6 hours, you could have spend in a better manner. (also note, that if busses run until 23.00, then you need to be back at the site, so no nights on the town)

I think free campings, are hard to find, unless you can presuade a farmer to set up your tent on his land, but more usualy you would be camping, at an official campingsite, so expect to pay something like 4-5 euros. It's an OK way to go, if you are making a bicycling or a big hiking tour, but for visiting cities I think it's more a hassle than something else.

[madamtrashheap]

spencerhutch, welcome. This topic comes up occasionally - here's the last discussion on as a reference:
pretravel.proboards1.com/index.cgi?board=Transportation&action=display&n=1&thread=4845&page=1

And here's one form commie specifically about Germany:
pretravel.proboards1.com/index.cgi?board=intinary&action=display&n=1&thread=7122&page=1

And another for general reference:
pretravel.proboards1.com/index.cgi?board=Accommodation&action=display&n=1&thread=6651&page=1

As PONR pointed out, some places offer more options that others and it will depend on where you're planning to stay as to whether camping is the best option in the long run.

Happy planning!