Can anyone suggest how to travel around Paris and Swiss in backpacker's budget?

Travel is best done in pairs. $180 3 Months, thumb out hitchhiking 14 European Countries. Sorry I can't help, there are too many of you.

With that many people - it depends how many people the hotel will allow per room. Maybe in some cases renting a room together would be cheaper. My hunch though, is that you will still be best off in a hostel if your primary goal is to save money. They often provide ways to do laundry at cheap rates, they have kitchens you can often cook in and they run tours out of them that are usually reasonable. Sure you all sleep in a common room or rooms with everyone else - but hey - the price is right. And by all means - get eurorail passes. Google it. That will be the best way. Maybe one guy and one girl would make a good hitchhiking team - but 10 at once? No. But then again with that many people maybe you could all rent a van and save on the passes? Just make sure you invest in a gps as the road in europe are not easy to navigate around.