I went on a trip to Europe from August 28th through September 20th, 2024. For a few days I met up with some of my Family but for the most part I was solo.

I stopped at:

• Munich, Germany (8/28-9/1)
• Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland (9/1-9/4)
• Zurich, Switzerland (9/4-9/5)
• Salzburg, Austria (9/5-9/7)
• Vienna, Austria (9/7-9/10)
• Budapest, Hungary (9/10-9/13)
• Prague, Czech Republic (9/13-9/17)
• Berlin, Germany (9/17-9/20)

Planning Phase:

My parents decided they wanted to take a trip to Europe and thought it would be a cool idea if the whole family could get together there. I had been wanting to make another trip to Europe since my last one in 2022, I had saved enough PTO at work to make a longer trip happen in 2024.

I purchased my flight to Europe in February, long in advance. Lufthansa does direct flights from San Diego to Munich so I decided on that one.

I booked most of my accommodations in June. I stayed in hostels for the entire time I was solo. On average I spent about 40 Euros a night on accommodations. The hostels I stayed in are listed below here: Hostels.

My film photos from this trip can be found on this page: Europe 2024.

Munich, Germany (8/28-9/1)

Munich was the first stop on my trip. I had been there before when I went to Europe in 2022 with Nick. I arrived around noon, the flight was exhausting. I made sure to pick up a few essentials for the trip when I arrived. When traveling for a few weeks I normally buy a medium bottle of soap and conditioner rather than bringing a small travel size and running out.

When I was in Munich, I got to meet up with a friend who had studied abroad at SDSU. Her name is Mi, she took me all around to some of the more local spots since I had been to Munich before. One of the highlights of hanging out with her was riding down the Eisbachwelle river area like the locals do. We left all of our stuff (including my phone, wallet, and cameras) in a little park area and hopped in, rode it for about half a mile, then made the “walk of shame” back on the rocky path without shoes. I was super nervous about leaving my valued possessions in the park unguarded on the second day of my trip but they were safe when we got back. The current in the river is so fast that I could not out swim the speed it was going at all. It was also about 6 feet deep in some parts. Would only recommend if you are a confident swimmer.

Another highlight of Munich was getting to see the Kieth Haring and Andy Warhol exhibit. My sister and I stopped there for a few hours, it was very interesting.

The rest of my family showed up in Munich the night before we left to go to Switzerland. We went to a restaurant I had stopped at when I went in 2022.

Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland (9/1-9/4)

We caught an early train out of Munich to go to Lauterbrunnen. Initially we were supposed to have just one transfer but due to some issues with the first train, we ended up having to take 3 transfers that were all pretty quick. That made it a bit stressful. We arrived in the small town of Lauterbrunnen in the early afternoon. We stayed in an Airbnb there.

We stayed in a great Airbnb in Lauterbrunnen. The surrounding landscape was absolutely incredible. The entire train ride in past Interlaken was gorgeous. It is hard to put into words the scale of the mountains and valley there.

On the first full day there we took a gondola up to the town of Murren. The town of Murren is up and in the back right side of image 3 “View from Airbnb.” From there we took another little cable car up the mountain a bit more to Allmendhubel. We hiked around Allmendhubel and back down to Murren, in the ~4 hours of hiking we probably saw 10 other people total. It felt like we had it all to ourselves. The views within this area are absolutely jaw dropping.

At the end of the first day we went to dinner in the downtown area of Lauterbrunnen. I had my fantasy football draft that night which I got to do from the picturesque valley (proceeds an incredibly unfortunate last place finish in the league, I attribute it to being out of my element during the draft).

We took a train the next day to go to a town called Grindelwald. This town was on the other side of the mountains shown in image 7. The town had a lot more tourists. Still had fantastic views. Julia, Kevin, and Becca did a zipline and offroad scooter ride down the mountain. My dad and I decided to do the walk in image 11.

Getting to see this part of Switzerland was such a great experience. I look forward to being able to return and spend more time there. Probably the highlight of the trip.

Zurich, Switzerland (9/4-9/5)

The next stop on the trip was Zurich. My parents and sister were flying out of Zurich so they got an Airbnb the night before. I decided to join along to see the city. I took an earlier train than my family to get some more time there.

Honestly one day in Zurich felt like enough. I walked through a lot of the different parts in the town mostly around the river. I did not get the chance to venture outside of the city.

My family went to a fondue place for dinner. Fondue was fantastic there. There is also a local Swiss dish called Rosti that I would highly recommend. It is similar to a hash brown but typically covered in various toppings. My mom had a pesto one and I got one with beef, cheese, and bacon on it.

Salzburg, Austria (9/5-9/7)

My family and I parted ways in Zurich. My parents and sister flew home to California. Kevin and Becca spent a few more nights on their own then flew home. My trip felt like it was just getting started at this point. I still had 15 more nights solo to go. My next stop was Salzburg, Austria.

Salzburg was a great little town to see. There are tours near that are for the Sound of Music. It was based in the area and the tours play the music during it. I did not go on one of these tours.

The castle on the hill is a cool stop to see. There is a little tram thing that will take you to the top. The views of the town are pretty great from there.

My favorite stop in Salzburg was going to the Eagle’s Nest. The Eagle’s Nest is a property that one of Hitler’s advisors gifted to him. Hitler only went to the property a few times and never actually spent the night there because he was afraid of heights. The property doesn’t really tell much history of it. I mostly heard it through word of mouth from other people who visited or reading online. a few decades ago people used to be able to spend the night there as it had a few rooms you could rent. Now its just a restaurant at the top.

To get to the Eagle’s Nest, I rode the local bus out there. I think it took about 45 minutes and did not run very frequently. I got there super early for my reserved time. You can hike up to the property for free but it takes about 3 hours to get up there. I got the bus service, it was about 20-30 euros. The way back took forever. I just missed the first bus back so I ended up waiting half an hour for the first, then another half an hour for the second. I’m not sure the best way to go between Salzburg and there but it definitely wasn’t the method that I used.

The views from the Eagle’s nest were spectacular. I was on the first bus up in the morning so I got some pretty unobstructed photographs. The views are very dependent on the weather. It was good for about half an hour then clouds rolled in and you couldn’t see much.

Another cool stop in Salzburg is the Mirabell gardens. Kevin said the best time to see them was early in the morning since they were super empty then. I didn’t have the chance to do that since I went to the Eagle’s Nest. The gardens were very well kept and gave great opportunities for photos.

Some food highlights from Salzburg were the Goulash and half fried chicken.

Vienna, Austria (9/7-9/10)

My next stop was in Vienna. Train from Vienna was very quick.

The first full day I had in Vienna had good weather. I walked around a bunch of different parts of the town. The subway system was also super easy to use. The town has graffiti pretty much everywhere. There are some areas that look cool like surrounding the river. There are other instances such as just on the side of a building or wall and incredibly poorly done that I really did not like. I am not necessarily anti-graffiti but at least make it nice if you’re gonna do it.

I regret not going inside/seeing a show at the opera house when I was there. It seems like that is one of the big highlights of the city.

One major let down I had when I was there was that the main sausage stand I wanted to go to was closed the entire time I was in the city. It is closed on weekends and was closed due to rain the Monday I was there. Honestly it was so devastating I was really looking forward to it. Action Bronson did an episode of his food show that stopped at the stand and it looked really good (ACTION BRONSON LIVE FROM AUSTRIA). I did stop at a few other sausage stands that were pretty good.

Vienna was definitely a city worth stopping in but I wish I had stayed one less night. I feel like one full day there is enough to see all the major stops in the city. I came to realize this later in the trip that most cities I overestimated how long I would really want to spend there. I probably could’ve cut a few nights at different places and seen another city or two. If I were to do it again, I would cut a night from Vienna and spend it in Bratislava instead.

Budapest, Hungary (9/10-9/13)

The next stop on the trip was Budapest. Had a very chill train ride from Vienna and got there in the early afternoon. The first evening I walked around the main area by the river and saw the St Stephens Basilica.

The first night there I met some Aussies and Brits and ended up going out super late with them. We went to this ruin bar (Szimpla Kert) that was super cool. Very nice vibe at the bar, lot of different areas to hangout with different DJs. We stayed pretty late there, they slowly start moving people towards the exit. After that we stopped at a bar/club called Instant that was also pretty fun. I stayed out until about 4 am, that did not yield a super productive following day.

The following day I walked around the big market hall. I also crossed over part of the river to the western side of the city. That evening I took it easy and had bigger plans for the last full day I was there.

The last day I was there I went to the Vajdahunyad Castle. There were some hot baths there that looked cool but I wanted to get around to more of the city. I crossed the river and went up to the Fisherman’s Bastion. There was a pretty great view of the city and parliament building.

That evening I did a night boat ride on the river. Easily the highlight of stopping in Budapest. They light up a lot of the buildings, the pictures don’t do it justice. I think it was about 20 euros and included a beer with it. I’d recommend getting to the line pretty early, I was there about a half an hour before it was scheduled to depart and I got one of the last outdoor seats. I think the views from the inside of the boat would be nowhere nearly as good.

After the boat ride, I went back to the ruin bar one last time before leaving the city the next day. I ran into the group of Irish dudes I had met in the hostel bar in Vienna. I ended up hanging out with them for a while.

I had a very weird experience when leaving Budapest. The trains were pretty screwed up at the time due to heavy rains that caused some railways to wash out. When I was waiting for my train out, these two sus looking big dudes kept trying to get me to buy them a ticket for the train. They were trying to get me to use my credit card and they would pay me the cash. The thing is I’d have no way of knowing what fake Euros would look like. They approached me 3 times. Normally I don’t get sussed out by situations but these were big dudes compared to me so it was not ideal.

Prague, Czech Republic (9/13-9/17)

The train ride from Budapest to Prague was not great. After the ordeal with the sus dudes, it turned out the train cars for the ride all had shared cabins with 6 people in each. 3 on each side facing each other. I had the door seat and there was a British lady in the window that had to go to the bathroom every 20-30 minutes, for a 6 hour train ride. I wish I could’ve had that window seat, I got up twice the whole time. The British dude who was the husband of the lady kept trying to talk to me about American politics. That is one thing that is odd about traveling in Europe as an American, I feel like they don’t like Americans but they sure love to talk about American politics.

It rained pretty much the whole time I was in Prague. It wasn’t a super hard rain but just steady the whole time. There was one day that it cleared up for most of it. I was able to walk around most of the city. I went up to the Prague castle. After that I looped around to the north and walked through the Letenské sady park. The views of the city were pretty great.

The hostel I stayed at in Prague was not great at all. One of the dudes in my room was this guy from Oregon and he was an absolute weirdo. He heavily judged me for my plans of getting a tattoo in Prague but then proceeded to get laser hair removal on his face. I think when solo traveling when young, it is great to stay in hostels but the quality of the hostel can largely influence how you feel about the city. I didn’t want to stay in a party hostel in Prague but I probably should’ve. Most of the people I met in my Prague hostel were pretty boring.

Berlin, Germany (9/17-9/20)

Train ride from Prague to Berlin was pretty chill. At this point in the trip I was super ready to go home. The past almost three weeks had really gotten to me. Both of my Europe trips I have done three weeks and that feels like the limit of how long I’d really enjoy going. I also think it might be due to the anticipation of knowing the end of the trip is soon.

First impression of Berlin was the Hauptbahnhoff, the photo I added doesn’t do it justice. There are at least 3 different levels of tracks on top of each other with some being local rails and some longer distance trains. Pretty impressive piece of architecture. The transit system in Berlin was super easy to use. I rode it around a few times.

On the first day I visited the Berlin wall memorial (but forgot to take any pictures). There was a cool four story viewpoint with an area that showed what the wall would’ve looked like when it was up.

I did not want to go out to bars/clubs by this point in the trip but that is what Berlin is known for and has a lot of. I was down to grab a few drinks but the bar/club scene has some strict rules about dress code/way to act that I didn’t really jive with. Not sure why they take it so seriously.

The second day I was there I walked from where the TV tower is west past the Brandenburg gate, Memorial for Jews, and into the main park area. I really enjoyed the walk through the city. I rode a Lime scooter back towards the Brandenburg gate, it was a fun ride on some of the trails in the park.

That night I hung out in the hostel bar. I met some fellow Americans from Michigan who were pretty fun to hangout with. They were just starting their trip and didn’t seem like they had done much research or planning so I had to explain the train system to them. I also saw a British dude who I had met in Budapest, it was cool to hear about the other cities he had stopped in between last seeing him.

On the last day, I had to get up incredibly early to ride the local train and get to the airport in time for my 8 am flight. I wasn’t sure how security and customs were going to be. Since it was just the first leg and only and hour long, the customs check wouldn’t be until later. I don’t like how European airports work for getting on international flights. You wait in line to get through customs, then wait in line to get into the gate area, then wait in line again to board the plane. Not sure why this is. Flight back wasn’t great. I had the window seat so wasn’t able to stretch much. I did however watch 5 movies in a row (Mad Max Fury road, Tenet, Boys in the Boat, The Big Lebowski, and Shawshank Redemption).

Hostels

Hostels are the way to go in my opinion when solo traveling. It is a great way to meet other like minded travelers, find out more about the city or other destinations, and save some money on lodging. The main website I use to book the hostels was through Hostelworld. It keeps all the bookings in one place and also has chat’s for each city and hostel itself. One thing I always look for in a good hostel is it needs to have a nice bar for people to go to. The hostel bar typically serves as a good starting point to meet people who are going out that night or create plans for the following day.

• Munich: Wombat’s City Hostel Munich
  • I had stayed in this hostel before. It is very close to the central train station. Has a pretty good bar. Decent price as well.
• Salzburg: Yoho International Youth Hostel
  • This hostel was average. No major complaints. The bathrooms are communal which isn’t as nice most of the time. Decent location between central in the city and near the train station.
• Vienna: Wombat’s City Hostel Vienna
  • Definitely not my favorite hostel. The area around it didn’t feel great. It was also a bit annoying to get to from the central station. Not bad location to go see different parts of the city though. Decent bar.
• Budapest: The Hive Party Hostel
  • Highly recommend this hostel. I was a bit skeptical about it being a party hostel but that definitely fit the vibe for the city. I didn’t have much issue going to sleep even though there is a bar/club in the courtyard of the hostel (always bring ear plugs when staying in hostels). There was also a rooftop bar that was cool to see the sunset at. Good price, good location, good people. Only thing I didn’t like was getting assigned a top bunk bed.
• Prague: Prague Dream Hostel
  • This was easily the worst hostel I stayed at on the trip. The people in my room weren’t great. There wasn’t a bar to meet people at, most of the people who were staying there were incredibly introverted. I regret not staying at one of the bigger party hostels in Prague.
• Berlin: Circus Hostel
  • I enjoyed this hostel. It had a cool basement bar where they brewed their own beer and the bartender was super courteous. He actually came out with a bunch of people after his shift was done. Pretty decent location.