For first time independent travellers (like us) we’d recommend euroventure as everything was sorted out for us (tickets and hostels) but there was still plenty of freedom. It saved the hassle of spending hours searching for trusted hostels. It was probably more expensive than doing it ourselves but at least we knew it was safe. The hostels were safe and on the whole good although our preferences of ‘central and single sex dorms’ were rarely met. The train journeys planned for us were at convenient times and the route was perfect. However we had many issues with seat reservations as we were told by euroventure that they weren’t compulsory but some trains we had major issues with seating and were told by the staff at the station that we couldn’t reserve beforehand without paying and some trains they tried to kick us off. However apart from that the trains were good. The recommendations of things to do in the guide were helpful although a lot were out of budget for travellers so might need adapting. Directions to hostels were helpful.