When not to arrive
This tip comes from personal experience:
Remember: Don’t arrive in a town or city in southern Europe at Siesta time. This includes countries like Spain, Portugal, Greece and Italy.
In Southern Europe and South America siesta time is a very important time of day for almost everybody rest. The only people that are awake are usually children. Because of this many businesses are closed for siesta. The reason that one should not arrive between noon and 4:00pm is that one may have many problems finding a place to eat, a bathroom or accommodations. Not only may you not find anything, if you do find something it may cost you. You may commit the same mistake as my family and I when we arrived in Ravenna, Italy. We paid 40 Euros for 4 grilled cheese and 4 cans of coka-cola.
So my tip is this: if you are making up your itinerary as you go try to plan to arrive to towns or small cities before or after siesta time. Even if you have to wait an extra hour or two in another city because your train arrives at 4:30pm at the next town, don’t worry. The extra wait can reduce the problems that you may have upon arrival.
Best of Travels
Does this include bigger cities as well?
I can tell you from personal experience (i.e. leading tours) that this does not hold true for heavily touristy places – Greek Islands, Athens and major Spanish cities.
Always have food and water in your day pack so you do not get ripped off at tourist traps. You can only blame yourself for not being prepared. Plan the day before and stop by a local market and buy snacks and bottle water for cheap prices. Also check the web sites of the cities that you will visit and esp. the web site of your hostel. Print out the free map and directions as well as note the hours for check-in and check-out. Plan your train rides so you arrive at a good time. Store luggage and go site seeing till your room is ready.
Soft drinks like Coke are expensive in Europe. I can definitely see how grill cheese and 4 Cokes can add up to 40 euros. The Cokes were probably 5-6 euros each, or at least they are in most EU countries.