Steampunk Fashion: Cheap Europe Travel

Cheap Europe Travel

显示标签为“Cheap Europe Travel”的博文。显示所有博文

I can’t be everywhere checking out the current prices for travelers, so occasionally a wandering writer will stop by with an update. Today we’ve got a report from travel writer Sharon McDonnell, who has been spending some time in Prague. Take it away Sharon!

Prague isn’t the bargain it used to be—and is decidedly more expensive than the rest of the Czech Republic—but values can still be found in one of Europe’s most beautiful and magical cities if you follow a few basic tips. The reward is great: check out that dreamy skyline of steeples, spires and castles from the statue-lined Charles Bridge.

A fast, efficient and cheap transportation system of tram, bus, and metro covers the majority of the city and outskirts. This means you can reach major tourist sights in a few minutes, even if you’re not staying in Old Town or Lesser Town.

Here are some sample costs for travelers in Prague. All are in U.S. dollars, but Prague accepts Czech korunas and Euros. In the past couple years, a dollar has been worth between 17 and 21 korunas and is close to 20 as this post goes live.

Transportation
– Bus from airport to Old Town, Lesser Town, New Town (#119 to Metro Line A to Dejvicka metro station; buy ticket at airport metro booth) – $1.50. Large luggage costs an extra 50 cents for each piece.
– Express bus from airport to Main Train Station – $2.50
– Taxi from the airport to Prague Old Town – $26
– Prague tram, bus or metro ride – $1 (good for 30 minutes and all transfers), or $1.50 (good for 90 minutes and transfers).

Food & Drink
– Beer in a locals’ bar or restaurant – $1.80
– Beer in a tourist bar or restaurant – $3.60
– Meal of the day lunch in a budget restaurant – $5.20 (one course), $10.50 (3 courses). Food tip: Bread usually costs extra in restaurants – 40 cents. If you don’t want bread, tell the waiter when you order.
– Street food: sausages, $1.80. Hot mulled wine $1.50-$2. Fried cheese sandwich with mayo in a hamburger bun (raved about by Anthony Bourdain in his TV show No Reservations), $2.60. Trdelnik, fried doughnut-like pastries sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon and baked on the spot, $2. Halusky, potato gnocchi with cheese, bacon and sauerkraut, $6.30.

Lodging
– Hostel bed in Prague, $5-$29 in a single-sex dorm of 5-10 beds. Some are open 24 hours, have pubs and free WiFi.
– Budget Prague hotel room with private bath, maid service, breakfast, hot water – $55 (spring/fall)
– 3-star equivalent hotel – $80 (spring/fall)

Best tips on saving money in Prague
Stay outside the popular touristed areas of Old Town (Stare Mesto) and Lesser Town (Mala Strana), the neighborhood below Prague Castle and across the Charles Bridge from Old Town.

Best thing for free in Prague
Christmas markets in Old Town Square, Wenceslas Square, Republic Square and downtown walking zone, which offer dozens of vendors selling gifts, tree ornaments, toys, food and beverages, and daily afternoon/evening concerts and folk dance troupes (Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square). Most open one month before Christmas and end January 1.

Worst rip-off
Taxis. Ask fare before stepping into taxi. Avoid taxis waiting in front of main tourist sights and train stations, who up their rates for tourists. Make sure it’s a registered taxi, with “taxi” in big letters and company, rate and license number posted on doors. Luckily, there’s no reason to take a taxi in Prague unless you’re in a huge hurry.

* Photos courtesy of Czech Tourism . Visit their site for info on what’s happening in the city and useful articles like a rundown on Czech brewery tours .

To find a deal on a hostel, try Hostelbookers or HostelWorld . For discounted hotels, check Hotwire or make a bid on Priceline .

Some of the best hotel or guesthouse deals I found when I first started traveling were from personal recommendations from other backpackers met on the road and from pure legwork: walking into places and asking the price. I often spend a bit more than that now, but I’ll often still arrive with no reservations at all .

Fast forward to now and it appears to be so much easier to find a good deal and book a hotel where you’re going. You can just pull up Expedia , Travelocity , or Hotels.com —or on the cheaper end of the scale, Hostelbookers or Hostelworld . Here’s a fact that few travelers seem to grasp though: there are thousands of hotels not listed on any of these sites.

You can see a few reasons for this in this Gadling article from one of the guys who runs EuroCheapo: The Best Offline Budget Hotels in Paris . He’s talking about how to find a decent place to sleep for less than 75 euros a night ($105) in the most popular city in the world for tourists, but you can apply that some logic to almost anywhere. The owners of these businesses don’t think it’s worth it to pay the hefty commissions. You can’t book them on any website period except maybe their own ugly one built in 1998 and barely updated since. Don’t judge the independent inn by its virtual facade.

A while back I poked around for a half hour before booking a hotel in San Cristobal de Chiapas in Mexico for an adventure travel summit I’m attending. I looked at what was on the big booking sites and wasn’t seeing any good deals at a nice looking place in the center. I looked at prices on the convention organizer’s recommendations on their booking site and thought, “I can do better.”

After tracking down some independent listings of hotels in the city on some Mexico-focused websites, I ended up with a 5-night reservation at a little hotel a few blocks from where I spent most of my time, walking distance to the center, free internet and breakfast, for 680 pesos a night double—taxes included. Thanks to a strengthening dollar and weakening peso, that currently comes out to less than $50. Similar hotels on the big booking sites were running $75 to $80 and were further from the center.

I reserved online directly through their site after looking at the various room options. Other times I’ve reserved and booked by e-mail or phone. When I’m traveling alone, or occasionally with the family, I’ll just show up and look around, old-school. Culturally this works in some places better than others and you can negotiate more with a small family-owned property than you can in a big corporate chain hotel with a part-time night clerk used to dealing with pre-booked package tourists. It’s often worth a shot though wherever. (Update 2014: the perils of booking direct include companies letting their domain or hosting expire. Now you have to book this hotel through Trivago and see what pops up.)

In this case I didn’t have much luck with my guidebook: I only had a Lonely Planet Mexico one and I’ve found most hotels in there tend to get overpriced because they get so much business without trying. One focused on a specific city/region—especially if it’s by another publisher—will usually be more helpful. I’ve personally had really good luck with recommendations in the Moon Handbook series. Moon tends to use more experienced authors who have been covering the same country for a decade or more and it shows.

Be advised this works better internationally than it does in the U.S. For better or worse, we’re a country dominated by chain hotels. Unless you’re booking a B&B, vacation home rental, or park cabin, most of the inventory is listed somewhere as it’s hard to get noticed here otherwise.

In the end, this hotel wasn’t perfect, but it was a great value. The hot water cranked, the bed was comfy, the included breakfast was decent, and the Wi-fi was fast and free.

What have been your experiences in finding hidden gems that aren’t on the big hotel booking sites?

Back in the spring of 2013 I wrote this post on prices in Turkey for travelers and noted that the booming economic times seemed to be leading to higher and higher prices. Overall it felt to me like only a slightly better deal then western Europe and a worse value than Portugal.

Since then rates have definitely swung in the favor of tourists, thanks to a slowing local economy and a strong U.S. dollar. Whereas in 2013 the exchange rate was 1.7 Turkish lira to the dollar, just three years later it’s 3 to the dollar. I’ll do the math for you: that’s an increased buying power of 76%. Even if you factor in inflation, that makes a huge difference. Beer and wine seem less costly, nice restaurants seem more affordable, and the hefty admission charges that can add up are now easier to swallow. The cheap things the average Turk spends money on are cheaper.

I was only in Istanbul on this trip, invited as a speaker for the World Tourism Forum. I arrived a few days early though, exploring on my own and doing a fantastic food and markets tour with Walks of Turkey on the Asian side in Kadikoy. Here’s what I found for costs in Turkey for travelers, all converted to U.S. dollars.

Food & Drink Prices in Istanbul

Coming to Istanbul and not eating out a lot would be a crying shame. This is one of the world’s best cities for food. Thankfully if you avoid the tourist districts and the luxury hotels, you can dine well here without plowing through a lot of cash. Alcohol prices are high here in comparison though, thanks to hefty sin taxes from the nanny Islamic-leaning party. It’s not hard to find in this city—just expensive.

Turkish glass of tea: 35 cents to $1
Coffee: 65 cents to $1.35
Soda: $1 – $2
Cappuccino or latte: $1 – $2
Beer in a store: $1.35 – $2
Beer in a bar: $2.50 – $6 (330 or 500 liters)
Glass of wine in a restaurant: $3 – $10
Bottle of local wine or raki in a restaurant: $10 – $25

100 grams of nuts/dried fruit: 65 cents to $2
100 grams of already shelled pistachios: $3.35
Kilo of seasonal fruit/vegetables: $1 – $3
Kilo of olives: $6 – $8
Sesame semit: 35 cents
Doner kebab sandwich: $1 – $1.50
Street food meal: $1.35 – $3
Main dishes, non-tourist restaurant: $1.65 – $6
Ice cream novelties: 15 cents to $1

Transportation Prices in Istanbul

The main number you need to know is 4 because every metro, tram, bus or ferry ride that’s not an especially long distance costs 4 Turkish lira. For taxis, there is a meter (in the rear-view mirror, which threw me) and when they use it the prices are reasonable. Find out how much it should be though because some drivers don’t like to use it if there’s traffic. And there’s always traffic if it’s daytime. Expect Uber to cost more, but can be more convenient with no haggling.

Local transportation: $1.35 one-way
Taxi rides: $3 – $20+ (airport)
Blacklane.com airport car service: $45 – $75

Admission and Activity Prices

So far official admission prices haven’t gone up to compensate for the lower lira, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they do eventually.

Hagia Sophia & other major sites: $10
Second-level museums/sites: $5 – $6
Museum Pass Istanbul (12 sites): $30
Day tour with Walks of Turkey : $41 – $107

Travel Prices in Istanbul (on a Strong U.S. Dollar)

$20 a night Taksim Hotel in Istanbul

Hostel and Hotel Prices in Istanbul

Lodging prices are a screaming bargain in this city now, especially outside of summer. In the ranges below, you’ll find a wealth of choices, even at the low end.

Hostel bed in dorm – $8- $16 (check Istanbul rates on Hostelworld )
Cheap hotel double private room: $12 – $25
4-star hotel, double: $25 – $90

Whatever you do, try to spend some real time here so you can wander the back streets and really explore this huge city. You could go sightseeing every day for a month and not run out of things to see and do, so the “48 Hours in Istanbul” kind of articles the airline magazines love to run and only covering a speck of the surface.

See this post on how to have a great experience without spending a fortune: Europe on the Cheap(er): Istanbul .

I can’t be everywhere, so sometimes I invite local experts to come on and talk about prices in cheap destinations they know well. Prague is a rather expensive city in a quite reasonable country, so there are ways to overpay but it can be quite get a deal. To give us the scoop on what things cost there is Roman Jelik, a Czech-born resident who publishes the Travel Prague site. Take it away Roman!

Prague is smack in the middle of Europe but can be a great bargain if you are careful about how and where you spend your money. The city of a million residents was host to more than eight million visitors last year. Most came to be taken back to a time of castles, kings, cobbled streets, and medieval stone bridges. The city of a thousand spires does not disappoint. Standing at the base of the Gothic St. Vitus Cathedral and looking down at the patches of red rooftops and narrow streets one can easily imagine the city as it existed five hundred years ago.

Food & Drink Prices in Prague

The first thing you will notice is how cheap the beer is. A half liter of the popular Pilsner Urquell costs 32 CZK which at current rates is about $1.30 USD. Or to put in another way, if after a few hours of chatting with your friends you find that you drank 7 mugs of beer you still have spent less than $10. The very affordable beer price probably has something to do with the fact that Czech people hold the infamous distinction of being the highest per capita beer drinkers in the world with 148 liters per person per year.

You would think that with all that beer drinking there would be a lot of beer bellied people stumbling around. Yet there are plenty of skinny people. Even though a hardy plateful of goose, cabbage and dumplings glazed with grease is enjoyed once and a while, it is not uncommon to have nothing more than a bun with a couple slices of ham for lunch. All throughout Prague are delis with various hams, fish and potato salads. The salad is served on a little plate and costs around $2, the buns cost $0.15 each. There are little tables at which you can stand and eat your bun and salad. It’s quick, it’s simple, it’s delicious, it’s filling, and best of all you spent under $3.

Hotel & Hostel Prices

You are not going to be able to find great deals if you plan to stay at a hotel in Prague. The prices are similar to hotels in other major European cities. Expect to pay anywhere between $100 to $150 for a double room at a regular hotel. (Check current prices from multiple sources here .) Of course as you move closer to the Charles Bridge or Old Town Square the prices rise proportionally.

To save money, and experience what most tourists never do, you should consider staying at a pension just outside of Prague. Celakovice is a pleasant 25 minute train ride through the countryside. With 10,000 residents, the riverside village has all the amenities you need: a town square with church-bell tower, restaurants, bakeries, delis, butchers and even a supermarket. For $40 a night you can stay at a fully furnished apartment with kitchen, couch and bath located right on the main square.

The train to Prague departs twice an hour and costs $5 for a return ticket. Staying at a pension enables you to make your own meals and relax in the sleepy town when you need a break from the crowds of the big city.

Transportation Costs in Prague

Taxis have a terrible reputation in Prague. There was a time when if you stood at the airport with your bags and hailed a taxi you where no better off than a fresh carcass on the Savannah. Stories abound of oblivious tourists paying $200 for a 30 minute taxi ride to Prague. There was probably some truth to these stories as now there are set prices for taxi rides to the center of the city. No need to haggle or debate – just pay the amount stated on the signs in the airport. A taxis ride to the city costs approximately $30 depending on where exactly you need to go. You might argue this is still expensive just to get into the city, or you can look at it the other way and consider that you saved $170.

In terms of land area Prague is a tightly packed city and most of the interesting tourist sites are walking distance from each other. The popular Royal Walk through Old Town, over Charles Bridge, and up to Prague Castle starts from one side of the city and ends on the other; walking at a leisurely pace it can be done within a day.

If you really need to get to the other side of Prague quickly and cheaply I would recommend the public transit over a taxi. For under $3 you can purchase a 90 minute pass which enables you to use any combination of metro, tram, and bus to get to anywhere in Prague.

Admission and Activity Charges

Besides food and drink there is no reason for you to spend any money on admission. The city is best experienced on your feet and from the street. The buildings and statues are the museum. The underground restaurants and the delicious cheap beer they serve is your entertainment. The Old Town square is free, the Charles Bridge is free, walking up to the castle and sitting on the royal lawn is free.

Tourist Traps

Prague can be a very cheap city to visit but it can also be very expensive. It depends where you pull out your wallet. Because there are so many tourists and almost all of them visit the same few sites, it is just good business sense for a shop or restaurant owner to raise their prices and collect as much as they can. To avoid overpaying follow the simple rule of never buying anything in a popular tourist spot or on streets connecting the sites. Here’s an app to tell you whether your are in Prague tourist trap. Simply walk 200 meters in a random direction till you are safe in local territory and buy your goods there.

List of Important Prices (in USD – at rate if 1 USD = 25CZK):

half liter mug on tap: $1.30
half liter can: $1.20
2 liters of Kofula (Czech Coke): $0.40
bottle of respectable local wine: $8
bottle of respectable Czech vodka: $5
bun with fish salad: $3
rabbit, cabbage, dumplings: $6
goulash with dumplings: $5
large sausage in bun from street vendor: $2
glass hot wine from street vendor: $2
1kg Czech apples: $1
loaf of Czech bread: $0.50
100g Czech ham slices: $1

24 hour public transport pass: $4.30
3 day public transport pass: $12.15
3 hour train to the beautiful Czech city Ceský Krumlov: $12
1 hour bus to ski hill in northern Czech: $4

48 sq meter (500 sq feet) 2 room, kitchen, 1 bath apartment to purchase: $120,000

This is a guest post by Roman, a travel writer living in Prague, who also shot the photos. He shares tips and advise on his website Prague Travel . He invites you all to come for a beer or two or three.

It has been quite a while since Istanbul was anywhere close to being the cheapest major city in Europe. It can still be a great value though if you do it right.

Turkey has come a long way since I lived there in the mid-90’s as a young English teacher in the midst of backpacking around the world. Back then the skies of Istanbul were filled with so much coal smoke that the sun was a rarity in the winter. When we would go to exchange our Turkish lira for dollars, we would be lira millionaires and the rate could go down several times in one day. The destination was so cheap that it had no problem making the first edition of The World’s Cheapest Destinations and it squeezed into the second one because it was still far cheaper than most of Europe.

Those days are long gone. Turkey is a powerhouse on the economic stage now and Turkish Air fliest to more destinations around the world than any other airline. When I lived there we would see a smattering of foreign tourists at the sites around Sultanhamet in Istanbul and barely a smattering elsewhere. Now Istanbul alone gets more than 12 million foreign visitors a year. If you believe Travel + Leisure , the Grand Bazaar is the most-visited tourist attraction on the planet. There’s talk that the city could pass Paris this year in sheer number of tourists.

So the days of coming here as a shoestring backpacker and getting by for next to nothing are no more. There are tactics that will make it more reasonable, however. Plus with the Turkish lira being around 2.5 to the U.S. dollar as I write this, like the rest of Europe this is a good year to be going.

1) Choose carefully on where to stay

The first thing to realize is that accommodation can cost you a lot here, but it doesn’t have to. Hostel prices are pretty much in line with a lot of other not-too-crazy big cities, like Lisbon and Prague, at around $13 to $22 per bed in a room with 6-10 bunks. Couples or triples are often better off getting a cheap hotel room instead and splitting the cost. Better yet, tap into the fact that apartment rentals in Istanbul are far more reasonable than hotels are overall. I ran a check on Wimdu for Istanbul rentals and found these:

– 1BR 45 square meter apartment in heart of Taksim (pictured below) with washer and balcony: $54 per night
– Studio 30 square meters in Sultanahmet with washer and TV: $28 per night

This article is about traveling cheaper in Europe, but you can actually save in Istanbul by staying in Asia. That’s not as big a deal as it sounds: you just cross the Boshphorus waterway. Do that and you could get a deal like this:

– 2BR, 90 square meter apartment in Kadikoy elevator building with A/C, big TV, washer/dryer: $124 per night up to 5.
– 2BR, 1 bath, 100 square meter more basic apartment in Kadikoy: $88 per night sleeps 4.
– 1BR, 60 square meter modern flat with dishwasher and washing machine near ferry stop: $45 per night

2) Choose your attractions even more carefully

The government of Turkey has socked it to the tourists as hard as they can when it comes to entrance prices and the tourists have kept taking it. With so many cruise ships docking here and so many short-vacation Europeans and Middle Easterners popping in, there’s not much economic sense at work. Since the number of visitors keeps climbing year after year, they can keep raising prices without any adverse effect on the number of museum tickets sold. Every place is still crazy crowded. So what do you really want to see in this great historic city? What you do you have your heart set on?

With a multi-pass costing 85 Turkish lira ($34) for 72 hours or 115TL ($46) for 5 days, you’ll probably not want to spring for this if you’re on a budget. However, Topkapi Palace can be $20 if you do everything and Hagia Sofia is nearly $12. Just seeing the mosaics of Kariye Chora Church can cost you $6, as will the underground cisterns. Take your time and figure out what’s going to be memorable. And remember there are plenty of other mosques besides the famous blue one…

3) Use public transportation, preferably off the roads.

Traffic in Istanbul is horrendous. There’s no way to sugar coat the problem and rush hour is more often than not. Avoid it at all costs by taking the metro ($1.60) or a tram (70 cents). A taxi from the airport will cost you at least $15, but if you get the express bus it’s more like $4.

Getting to the Asian side or up the Boshphorus is often best done on a boat, which again keeps you off the clogged roads.

4) Drink tea

The conservative government has been in power quite a while in Turkey and they have make their presence felt in many ways when it comes to drinking. Alcohol is heavily taxed and just staying open when people want to go out is a major challenge for bar owners. Raki and Turkish wine used to be dirt cheap here and beer was pretty reasonable. Now a night of partying can really cost you. It pains me to say this since I had so many fun nights in the good old days, but now you should drink in moderation or plan to do it at home. Or drink tea.

5) Snack like a Turk

In almost any place, “eat like a local” is great advice for those on a budget. But here it’s even more vital. Restaurants geared to tourists are really pricey, even if they don’t look like much. Find the back alley places the locals who aren’t in suits are eating at. Or get doner kebab sandwiches, semit snacks, and cheese borek varieties when you just need to fuel up. There’s a lot of good Turkish street food .

For the latest prices you’ll probably encounter in this great city, or at least a general idea, see the Price of Travel page for Istanbul.

订阅：博文 (Atom)

Steampunk Fashion

Prices in Prague for Travelers