There are many ways to plan and book your travel adventures. However, if you're an inexperienced or solo traveller, one of the best ways is to book an arranged itinerary. Nevertheless, booking a short backpacking adventure yourself, and seeing how you get on, its the best way to decide if a pre-planned itinerary is right for you!
On this post, I'll cover the best search engines, tips & tricks to use to book the most exciting and cheapest backpacking trips!
Skyscanner
I cannot recommend this app more! It is by far the best way to search for cheap flights, and with the EVERYWHERE option, it literally encourages you to EXPLORE somewhere new!
The calendar or chart viewer is perfect to see whether shortening or prolonging your trip is worth while (saving you cash by leaving on a different date) and the Price Alert feature lets you know when the price has changed, allowing you to book the flight at the best price, saving the cash for creating memories on your adventure!
Railplanner
Sometimes it is cheaper to fly from country to country, however it's often cheaper to take the train whilst travelling within a country. Railplanner was originally designed to help those people travelling with an Interrailpass, but with or without the pass, the app provides great knowledge of which trains travel where, times and duration of journeys. You can compare the different routes and stops to get to your desired destinations, to see whether taking a different train 5 minutes later, means less changes and an earlier arrival time.
The only thing this app doesn't provide you with is prices of individual journeys, as it is obviously expecting you to use it along with your pre-paid interrail pass, which i will cover in another post!
Hostelworld
Whether you've pre-planned your trip, or you're taking it day by day, Hostelworld offers a great choice of accommodation, both hotels and hostels, for you to stay in on your journey. It allows you to book your accommodation years or minutes in advance, and only asks you for a very small deposit to secure the room! (BONUS as fellow travellers will know - having extra cash in your pocket can't be a bad thing!)
Also, if you do fancy staying an extra night, or even scrapping the accommodation you've booked to go somewhere else, you will only loose the deposit when you cancel. Even better, pay an extra EURO, and get your deposit back to put on a different booking!
Hostelworld also has its own app, which is crazy easy to use, letting you book your nights stay on the go! Furthermore, each hostel is rated on SEVEN different attributes; location, cleanliness, staff, facilities, atmosphere, security and value for money. Obviously, if each category was a firm 10 you'd be winning, however as long as location and security are a strong 7, you'll survive the night! Additionally, the app provides you with easy instructions on how to get to each property from nearby airports, train stations, metro stops and by foot! (its impossible to get lost, i swear!)
The only downside is that the hotels offered are on the cheaper side, and are advertised at Hostelworlds' price, so if you're looking for luxury on a budget the next app mentioned is probably better for you!
Trivago
By now i am sure you've all seen this website advertised on the TV! And maybe you're asking why this is a great app to use whilst backpacking?
However, as mentioned before, if you are looking for a little bit of luxury, or a private room for a night to get some well deserved (and needed) sleep, you can often find rooms through Trivago at very similar prices, or sometimes CHEAPER, to those private rooms on Hostelworld.
The website, also coming in app form, compares several different hotel websites, to find the best price to book the same room! Additionally, if you are booking the trip last minute, at peak season, most of the accommodation could be fully booked, especially in places such as Switzerland and Slovenia, that don't offer as much backpacker accommodation as other countries.
Again, one negative point would probably have to be the fact most of the hotels ask you to pay in full, rather than a small deposit, meaning you would have to stick to your travel plans in order to not loose your money!
I hope this has helped to guys in planning your first or future adventure! Please note all opinions on this page are my own honest and genuine reviews, and are not sponsored in any way by the featured websites.
I have just used all of these websites myself to book a short trip to Cologne (Germany) starting in Barcelona (Spain) and going through Rome (Italy).
Watch out for my next post!
Watch me on my next trip through instagram - @beccastar24