If you plan your trip yourself, you can travel around almost all of Europe relatively inexpensively. If you have enough time and desire, it is perfectly possible.
Flights
As a rule, flights take the lion's share of the travel budget. There are many low-cost airline companies in Europe that sell tickets at very low fares. If you live in St. Petersburg, you can get to the nearest European countries by land transport: Finland, Latvia and Estonia. Residents of Kaliningrad can easily get to Gdansk, from where many low-cost airlines also fly. From Moscow, low prices to Europe come across much more often, you can also buy last minute charter tickets.
Movement
Most of the countries in Europe are quite small compared to Russia, and it is easy to get around by bus or train between cities. The most economical transport is the bus, especially if you book tickets in advance for the promotion. The cost of promotional tickets can be from one euro! But pre-purchased tickets give less freedom of movement. Renting a car is usually more expensive, but there is also a way to save money - stay in remote hotels in small towns along the way. Accommodation there is much cheaper than in the center of big cities, and the difference can fully compensate for the cost of renting a car. Ferries usually run between the islands.
Route
It is best to plan the route yourself, based on the experience of real travelers. You can read about it on special forums, but not on travel sites. Identify the country you want to travel to the most, and then see how you can get your route through neighboring countries. It is always worth looking at air tickets to a neighboring country, they can be much cheaper, and it takes only a few hours to get to the country of destination by ground transport.
Lodging
To find the most suitable option, look at both hotels and private apartments. Apartments are generally cheaper, and in terms of comfort they are not inferior to hotels. There is an unspoken rule: in large European cities such as Paris, Madrid, London, it is always better to settle in the center than on the outskirts, although it is noticeably more expensive. Choosing to live on the outskirts or, even worse, in the suburbs, you will spend a lot of time, effort and money on the road, and most importantly, deprive yourself of the pleasure of evening and night walks along the central streets.
Country selection
You can get your hands on very cheap airline tickets, but all of the savings will come to naught due to housing prices, food, and domestic travel. Denmark, Norway, Iceland - budget travel is out of the question here. And the most economical countries are mainly located in Eastern Europe: Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary. You can easily combine several countries by traveling by bus or train.
