Italy and Greece summer 2012

[thisisjohnwood]

Hi! I'm planning on spending my summer (roughly 2 months) in Italy and Greece in 2012.
This will be my first time traveling to Europe and alone for that matter.

and i have a few questions.

-how much money will i need? I'm buying a Eurail Pass for (10 days within 2 months) for the trip. which costs $369.
interested in everything including nightlife.

I am planning on staying at hostels and backpacking.
- how far should i book ahead of time?
anything i NEED to pack?

I haven't planned my route yet, any suggestions?
my must see places are:
Italy
Rome (Vatican City), Venice, Florence, Milan, Naples, Sicily, i hear the Italian Alps are beautiful and so is Cinque Terra, but i don't know much about either.

Greece
Athens, Meteora, Crete, Kos, Rhodes, Cape Sounion, Mykonos, Delphi.

any more places i should plan on visiting? or perhaps a route I should take? or anywhere i shouldn't visit?
Thank you so much ahead of time!!

[beckysmyt]

Hi!
I've never been to Greece but I traveled around Italy for 2 weeks. I dont know what you require on a journey, but I spent around 600 € on those days. Except for Venice, we never paid more then 17 € on an hostel. The food is also quite cheap, and once you're tired of having pizza you wont mind paying some more =X
About the route, I think its quite good. Cinque Terre was, for me, one of the most beautiful places ever and its really worth seeing (and hicking, if you like to). The hostels there are few, not so cheap and always full...on my trip, we just decided to crash on the ground, near the water, one day in Vernazza and the other in Riomaggiore. Its calm, its safe and you save a lot of money =P
I would also advice a daytrip from Naples to Capri (best ice-cream ever), and a day to go to the Vesuvio and Pompei (or Herculano, which is quite close to the vulcain). The views are Amazing.
From Florence, we took a day trip to Pisa, and then to Lucca. They are really nice small cities, and if you're tired of Florence (beautiful city, but skeeping the museums half a day is enough to see it).

About what you need to pack...well, the obvious =P Dont forget your sunscreen, the sun in Italy (and Greece too, I imagine) is really strong. And I guess thats it.

We never booked an hostel. Before we went to the next city we just checked online for nice places. If you want to, call them, but I went in september and there was always room. If you want to, I can tell you what hostels I stayed in.

Hope I helped!

[kwongbb]

I've been to Greece once and Italy twice and I absolutely adore these two cities. If you're planning to get souvenirs or do some shopping while you're there, you may want to bring some extra cash. Normally, a meal costs around 10 - 12 euros. I don't know about the nightlife in Greece but while you're in Rome, Venice and Florence, that is definitely something you will want to consider! The bars and clubs are quite different in each location so you may want to plan ahead. Nevertheless, they are vibrant and welcoming. I would highly recommend some sort of entertainment guide. I got a copy of Party Earth's entertainment guide recently and I find it especially helpful as to what to wear to the clubs and bars in Europe, and what to expect. Definitely going to bring the guide with me to my next Europe trip! You may want to check that out!
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Party Earth - Europe. The ultimate nightlife guide.
www.partyearth.com/pe-store/party-earth-europe-guidebook