Follow the trail

Cheap food, cheaper beds and a hostel scene so dense you'll keep bumping into the same faces from Bangkok to Hanoi. This is the route that made backpacking Asia famous — sleeper buses, night markets and $1 noodles the whole way.

Adriatic swims, Ottoman old towns and alpine hiking, all for less than a single night in Paris. Buses connect everything and hostels are small and social.

Two months of altitude, ruins and 20-hour bus rides that somehow become your favourite memories. Start high in Cusco and finish with wine in Buenos Aires.

Japan on a backpacker budget is absolutely doable: capsule hostels, convenience-store dinners and a rail pass that pays for itself in three rides.

Bush taxis, drumming lessons and beaches with nobody on them. Harder than Asia, infinitely more memorable, and you'll rarely meet another backpacker.

Four countries, one border agreement, endless volcano hikes. Learn Spanish in Antigua for $150 a week including a homestay, then surf your way south.

The cheapest big trip on this list. Sleeper trains cost a few dollars, thalis fill you up for one, and every single day is loud, overwhelming and unforgettable.

Expensive on paper, but hostel work-exchange and casual bar shifts make it sustainable. Greyhound or a $2k van gets you from Sydney to Cairns.

The rite-of-passage European rail run. A one-month Interrail/Eurail pass plus night trains covers most of the distance, and every stop has a huge social hostel scene.

Tapas, surf towns and Moorish palaces. ALSA and FlixBus connect everything for a few euros, and hostels in Portugal are consistently the friendliest in Europe.

Start cheap in the Baltics, then use short ferries to touch Helsinki and Stockholm without paying for a full Nordic trip. Old towns, forests and endless summer daylight.

Sleep in alpine refuges instead of hotels and the Alps become affordable. Half-board huts run €50–70 and the trains between valleys are punctual to the minute.

Skip July–August prices and the Cyclades are genuinely cheap. Slow ferries cost a third of the fast ones, and most islands have one big social hostel.

The best value region in Europe. Hostel dorms sit around €12, mains around €6, and long-distance buses rarely break €15 between capitals.

Book Megabus and advance rail fares weeks ahead and the UK drops from expensive to doable. Ireland's ferries from Holyhead keep the loop flight-free.

Everything north of Rome is priced for tourists; everything south is priced for locals. €1.50 pizza fritta, regional trains for €8 and volcanoes you can walk up.

Dense, flat and fast — most legs are under three hours. Book OUIGO and Intercités months ahead for €10–19 fares, and eat from bakeries and markets.

The Camino Francés from Saint-Jean to Santiago. Municipal albergues cost €8–14, pilgrim menus €12, and you'll walk with the same crew for weeks. Cheapest long trip in Western Europe.

Norway is expensive, but the fjords are free. This route leans on supermarket dinners, allemannsretten wild camping and the public ferries locals use, so you get Pulpit Rock and Trolltunga on a hostel budget instead of a cruise one.

Route 1 loops the whole island in 1,332km. Split a small car four ways, cook in hostel kitchens and every waterfall, black beach and glacier lagoon on the way is free.

Two of the priciest countries in Europe, done on a rail pass and Coop picnics. Regional trains cover the same scenery as the branded panoramic ones for a fraction of the price.

Big-city history in Kraków and Warsaw, then the High Tatras where a mountain hut bed costs less than a Western European coffee. Pierogi, milk bars and $2 beers throughout.

Castles, painted monasteries, bear-filled forests and Black Sea beaches — at prices that feel like a decade ago. Trains are slow but scenic and cost almost nothing.

Jadrolinija's public ferries connect the whole coast for a few euros. Swim off rocks, sleep in island hostels and eat konoba fish plates instead of marina restaurants.

One of the best value backpacking countries left in Europe. Overnight buses come with snacks and free wifi, cave hostels cost pocket money and the food is unbeatable at any price.

2,500km of coast road with a hostel in nearly every town. Live music is free, the cliffs are free, and the Bus Éireann open road pass covers most of the driving.

Wild camping is legal in Scotland, hostels are dense and the scenery is free. Citylink buses and the West Highland Line cover the whole loop without a car.

Flat, dense, bikeable. Germany's €49 Deutschlandticket and Belgian youth rail tickets make this one of the cheapest ways to see big European cities back to back.

Southern Spain is warm, cheap and stitched together by fast buses. Free tapas with drinks in Granada alone will cut your food budget in half.

Three capitals, two countries and a Baltic ferry that doubles as your hostel for the night. Free swimming harbours and museum days keep it survivable on a backpacker budget.

1,700km down one of the best value countries on earth. Reunification Express sleepers, $6 dorms, banh mi for a dollar and the Hai Van Pass in the middle.

Some of the lightest snow on the planet, plus onsen towns, ramen alleys and an ice festival. Guesthouses and konbini food keep it far cheaper than the Alps.

Fast trains, 24-hour cities and temple stays. Korea is cheaper than Japan, has world-class public transport and hostels that cluster around every subway line.

One rail line circles the whole island. Night markets keep food to a few dollars, hot springs are public and the east coast is one long cliff road above the Pacific.

Ferries, tricycles and $10 fan rooms. Palawan and Siargao are the headliners, but the boat rides between islands are half the trip.

Most people fly straight to Bali and miss Java entirely. Overland you get sunrise volcanoes, Borobudur, night trains that cost $8 and a Bali arrival you actually earned.

Arguably the best eating route in Asia. KTM ETS trains run the length of the peninsula for a few dollars, and hostels in the old colonial shophouses are excellent value.

The most famous teahouse trek in the world. No tents, no porters needed — you walk village to village, sleeping in lodges and eating dal bhat with unlimited refills.

Small island, huge variety. The Kandy–Ella train is the best $3 you will ever spend, and the surf towns on the south coast run on $8 dorms and rice and curry.

Blue-tiled Silk Road cities, yurt stays by alpine lakes and shared taxis across the steppe. Visa-free for most passports now and still almost untouched by mass tourism.

Absurdly good value: guesthouse beds under $10, homemade wine by the jug and 5,000m peaks an hour from the capital. Marshrutkas connect everything.

One of the great train journeys. Beijing to the Mongolian steppe, then ger camps, camel treks and the Gobi before looping back. Sleeper class is your accommodation for two nights.

Gentler than the north and just as cheap. Sleeper-class trains, thali lunches for a dollar and a coastline that runs from party beaches to silent backwater canals.