The Edinburgh Festivals:
The first week in August sees the launch of what is collectively, the world’s largest arts and entertainment festival. Between the International Festival, the Festival Fringe, the Book Festival, the TV Festival, and other such events there are more than 10,000 separate performances and presentations. The population of the city doubles, so book early … and enjoy.
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In the Shadow of the Hapsburg Empire – Eastern Europe on the Cheap
Budapest, Vienna and Prague are just a few hours from each other, and consequently, these three cities make for great side trip from other European destinations. All three cities are rich in culture, art, and architecture. You can get lots of information on points of interest on the web. This article will focus on how to visit these cities without breaking your budget.
Getting There
We began our journey from Newcastle, England, booking an open jaw ticket on one of Europe’s many low cost carriers into Budapest and out of Prague for about $80 per person. Not bad for about 5 hours total flying time. Transfer from Budapest airport to the center of town cost about $10 per person. The most adventurous travelers can take a local bus to one of the outer metro stations, and then catch the metro from there to the city center. This will not cost more than $3. Similar transportation was available from the city center in Prague to the airport.
Warning: Travelers on public transportation are especially attractive targets for bag snatchers and pick pockets. Your suitcases identify you as a traveler, and therefore as probably carrying lots of valuables. Fortunately, theft via confronting the victim, is rare. Just be certain to spread your assets around between you (my wife and I carry at least 2 sets of credit cards, and neither of us carries all of the cash), and carry your valuables in a pouch worn about your waist or under your shirt or blouse.
Traveling Between Cities
Forget about renting a car unless you are flying in and out of the same destination. Drop off fees in Europe frequently cost mort than twice the rental cost. The road signs are all in the local language, and if you think reading German is hard, don’t even think about reading Hungarian or Czech. Traffic in city centers is wild, and parking places are overpriced or non-existent. We determined that the cheapest journey from Budapest to Vienna was a 3-hour bus ride, costing about $25 per person. We picked up our modern, comfortable air-conditioned coach right near one of the subway stations in Budapest, and were dropped off at another subway stop in Vienna. The 4 ½ hour train trip between Vienna and Prague cost a bit more, coming in at about $50 per person. Rail stations in all of these cities are right in the center. Bus travel is not an easy option between Prague and Vienna.
Getting Around Town
Budapest, Prague, and Vienna all have efficient, integrated transportation systems, comprising metro rail (which sometimes runs above and under ground), electric street cars, and buses. Transit maps at each stop clearly specify routes and running times. Three-day (actually 72 hour – meaning you can actually use it on the afternoon of your first day, and the morning of your 4th day) passes in each city average out to $7 (Budapest), $5.50 (Vienna) and $4 (Prague). Passes for a single day, or for longer periods are also available in all cities. The pass is good on all modes of public transportation. Even for larger groups, using public transportation is your best bet. And if you are making more than two trips a day, the pass pays off.
Accommodations
We found clean, comfortable hotels in all three cities for $60 to $70 for a double room (including your own bathroom – not a given in Europe) with a fairly extensive continental breakfast included. There are cheaper accommodation options, particular youth hostels, in all three cities. Some of these have dormitory arrangements and others also have double rooms and family rooms. If you are willing to share your room with up to 6 strangers, you can access this sort of accommodation for about $15 per person per night. Many hostels offer cooking facilities (thereby keeping your cost for meals down).
Food and Drink
For the best deals on food, avoid cafes and restaurants. Carnivores will find lots of tasty snacks including Donner Kebabs (Gyros) on the street. Shopping centers, a few stops out from the center of town, have food courts with a variety of low priced and delicious international and local cuisine. And if you are willing to compromise your anti-globalization principles, Burger King and McDonalds in all three cities offer a cheap and predictable menu. A good way to get into some of Prague and Vienna’s historic coffee shops (where Beethoven and Mozart sipped the murky brew) is to forego the full meal, and spring for just coffee and dessert. Even in Vienna, we were able to do this for about $7.00 per person.
Even if you are not staying in a hostel with kitchen facilities, you might consider carrying a little mess kit with facilities for making coffee and tea, and perhaps cold meals like sandwiches. All of these towns have reasonably priced convenience stores. It is amazing how costs can mount when you are dropping a couple of bucks or more several times per day for a cup of caffeine. We often ate lunch out when sightseeing, and then had a light evening meal in our hotel room before heading out on the town again. A pint of draft beer in Prague and Budapest will cost you about $1. Expect to pay three times that in Vienna.
Enjoy your trip.
Dr. Kirk Zimbelman
Senior Executive Vice-president and
European Division Manager
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TRAVELING EUROPE BY TRAIN VS. PLANE
by Kirk Zimbelman
Planning to visit Europe in the not too distance future? Looking to take in a lot in the limited time you have? Then consider foregoing the traditional Eurrail Pass, and instead booking internal flights on one of Europe’s increasing number of low-cost, no frills airlines.
Rail fares are not the bargain they used to be. And overnight commutes, even in sleeper cars, have you arriving at your destination feeling like something the cat drug in. If you can live without the frills (more about that later), and can plan your trip a few months early, you can get astronomically low fares with these airlines. It is not unusual, for example, to be able to book 2 to 3 hour round trip flights (4 to 6 hours total flying time) between Europe’s major cities for around US$100, or even less.
Speaking of those “frills” you might give up, there are a few drawbacks, none which I have ever found to be particularly problematic:
These carriers are “point to point”. That is to say, they will ticket only a single leg or a round trip. Otherwise you need to book each leg as a separate transaction. If you miss a connection, even if it is the airline’s fault, they will not give you a free ride on a later flight, a hotel room, or meal vouchers. Moreover, they cut costs by refusing to transfer baggage between flights. This means that you have to claim your luggage and recheck it on your connecting flight. The bottom line is, if you want to make a connection, give yourself at least a 4 hour layover.
Apart from a seat and perhaps an in-flight magazine, there are no on board extras. Drinks and food are pay as you go. If you don’t want to pay their slightly inflated prices, carry your own food and beverages.
These carriers save money by flying to secondary airports (with lower landing fees) that might be a few miles further out than the main airport. This is almost never a problem, as these smaller airports invariably have adequate public transportation car rental facilities. Some flyers enjoy the lack of congestion (both vehicle and air traffic) at these smaller airports.
Your fare (these airlines don’t issue tickets) is invariably non-refundable, though some carriers will allow you, for a small administrative fee, to change to a different flight.
Some additional hints and caveats:
Book early. These airlines’ tickets get more and more expensive the closer you get to your flying date. It is not a bad idea go get on their e-mail lists, so that they can send you notification of when seats for certain routes go on sail. Unlike major carriers, who might release their seats for sale a year in advance, these guys generally wait until a few months before the travel date.
Travel light. Most of these carriers allow you only 20 kilograms (44 pounds) of checked baggage (in fact, some allow only 15 kg), and perhaps 10 pounds of carry on. They rigidly enforce this limit and charge you around $6.00 for each additional kilogram (2.2 pounds).
Book on the Internet. They will give you telephone numbers where you can chat with a human being. However, this costs them more money, and consequently they pass the cost on to you. You can save up to $15 or more on a round trip booking if you do it yourself.
Check in early, unless you don’t care where you sit. These carriers don’t assign seating at the time of the sale. Earlier check-in allows you to board the aircraft earlier, at which point you choose any vacant seat.
A word of reassurance: While these carriers cut costs where they can, they don’t do it on safety. Moreover, their punctuality record is about as good at the major carriers. Happy travels!!
© 2005 BTU.com. All rights reserved.
Here are a few links to some of these low cost airlines throughout Europe:
30 Summer destinations from £49 return
Flights
from Expedia.co.uk.
HOTEL DEALS IN EUROPE
Paris Hotels - up to 60% off!
from EasyTravel.com
London Hotels - up to 60% off!
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Edinburgh Castle
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Last Drop Bar