Photograph by Tomsch

Now that spring is officially here, with daylight saving time adjusted, Austrians are up and ready for outdoor activities, including the famous open-air music festivals that fill their streets with music and tourists.

Nickelsdorf, a sleepy village in Burgenland, will be the scene of one of the biggest rock festivals in Europe, attracting visitors from the ever-expanding corners of Europe. The vast Pannonia Fields is gearing up for Nova Rock for the third time.

This year attendees will witness the reunion of Smashing Pumpkins, along with Pearl Jam. Other musicians who have confirmed their appearances are Marilyn Manson, Incubus, The Killers, Slayer, The Hives, My Chemical Romance, Mando Diao, and Frank Black. Even Hollywood actor Jared Leto’s side project 30 Seconds to Mars is slated to perform.

The festival will run from June 15 to 17. Tickets range from €179 (including camping and parking) to €30 (for the so-called Caravan ticket). For concert attendees located anywhere in Austria outside of Burgenland, Austrian Railways is offering a 25% reduction on train journeys to and from the festival. Get a hold of their EVENTticket passes by booking on their Web site.

Photograph by SkyEurope

To promote their recent addition of Vienna as a new base airport, SkyEurope is hawking €19 airfares (taxes and charges included!) to and from Vienna.

These low fares will apply to flights to and from all sixteen destinations served by SkyEurope from Vienna. Among the highlights, in our view: Amsterdam, Barcelona, Bucharest, Larnaca, Paris, Thessaloniki, and Zadar.

The €19 fares are on sale through Sunday.

We’re still waiting for Kiev and Istanbul to show up on the SkyEurope map, but these low fares will do for now.

Photograph by coyanis64

We love the Swiss capital, and not just for its beautiful streets and quaint tile-roofed buildings.

Here are some of the reasons we adore Bern:

1. Physics Lessons. Where was Einstein when he created that famous E=MC2 formula? Bern, of course. And that’s where the first Einstein Museum is too. Maybe you’ll learn what sort of physics gave him that great hair. The Einstein Museum is located at Helvetiaplatz 5.

2. Animal Talk. Now through July, visitors to the Museum of Communication can get a glimpse at the phenomena of communication between humans and animals at a special “Animal Talk” exhibit. Find the Museum of Communication at Helvetiastrasse 16.

3. Jazz Out. The Bern Jazz Festival is back for its 32nd year, now through May 20, with a spectacular line-up of jazz greats and newcomers.

Photograph by Kaymaria Daskarolis

How to get into Athens from Athens International Airport (ATH)? Here are a few options.

1. Bus

The X95 line will take you straight to the heart of the city, Syntagma Square. The journey takes between 60 and 90 minutes. It runs 24 hours per day, departing every 20 minutes. One-way tickets cost €3.20 per person.

2. Metro

The metro connects the airport to Monastiraki station, although it is possible to transfer at Syntagma, Omonia, or Monastiraki to board lines going to the northern and southern suburbs. The journey takes between 35 and 45 minutes. The first train departs ATH at 6:30 a.m., and the last train of the day departs at 11:30 p.m. (From Monastiraki to ATH, the first train departs Monastiraki station at 5:50 a.m., the last at 10:50 p.m.)
Trains depart every 30 minutes. Tickets run €6 for one person, €10 for two, and €3 for those under 18 and over 65.

3. Suburban rail

The suburban rail connects the airport to the Larissis train station, where train connections to other parts of Greece can be made. The journey takes 30-45 minutes, and schedule and fares are identical to the metro’s.

4. Taxi

Taxi rates from the airport are pre-set and include all fees, including toll charges. From 5 a.m. until midnight, the range is €15-€29, depending on your destination. Between midnight and 5 a.m., the range swells to €21-€44.

To the airport, the fare varies depending on distance and time. Expect to pay around €15 from a northern suburb of Athens to the airport and around €45 from a southern suburb.

Photograph by extranoise

The southern German lake city of Friedrichshafen is low-cost carrier Intersky’s base. We like Intersky for this fact alone, as Friedrichshafen is hardly a first-tier destination.

From Thursday March 29 through Sunday April 1, Intersky is offering €19.98 fares (including taxes and fees) from Friedrichshafen across its entire route map, good for travel from April 21 through July 31. Snap up cheap one-way fares between Friedrichshafen and Berlin, Cologne, Dresden, Elba, Graz, Hamburg, Naples, Nice, Olbia, Vienna, and Zadar.

No word on how many tickets at this fare will be made available, so your best bet is to move quickly.

Photograph by David G Kelly

Dubliners have become used to the sight of giant blue luxury buses criss-crossing the city. For most, these buses are a welcome sight.

Aircoach, a private company operating special routes to and from Dublin Airport, provides the most comfortable service at the comparatively cheapest prices in the city – and possibly the whole island. For just €7 one way or €12 round-trip, travelers are treated to luxury leather seats, free bag carriage, climate control, and a video introducing Dublin to tourists. Compare this to a €30 one-way taxi from downtown Dublin.

Travelers from Cork and Belfast are also in luck. The Aircoach operates services from both cities at €12 one-way and €18 return.

Children under five travel for free and children between five and 12 years of age travel for just €4. Senior citizens also qualify for discounted fares.

Photograph by Stuart’s Photos

We’ve long been fans of Dutch bargain holiday boutique chains like D-Reizen, which regularly put together deals that amaze us.

A quick look today at D-Reizen’s “Last Minute TOP-10″ list turned up three particularly interesting deals. These range from the unremarkable (€87.50 for a double room at an Ibis in Ghent, Belgium) to the downright intriguing (€420.50 for a seven nights in a two-person apartment in Alanya on the Turkish Riviera, including airfare from Amsterdam.)

Our favorite of the bunch: a double room for seven nights in Mayrhofen, Austria (see above) for just €182.50. That’s not per person, either—€182.50 is the total price for a week’s stay for two.

When will travel chains outside of Europe finally begin to coordinate holiday package offerings with their European equivalents?

Photograph by heroldova

If you appreciate rural tourism and distinct ethnic traditions, you will certainly enjoy visiting the hilly country of northeast Hungary, the home of the Palóc people.

Palóc traditions combine folk elements of Turkish and eastern origins with a Hungarian way of life. Their rather peculiar dialect of Hungarian is famous for its long vowels. Each village has its own twist on the Palóc heritage and especially on the beautifully embroidered folk dress: Kazár is renowned for beautiful bonnets; Rimóc for the shortest skirts.

Although the Palóc are now largely Roman Catholic, relics of pre-Christian traditions survived until the 1960s, and are still recalled. In the past, girls in village hall cubicles received the courtship of fully dressed young men lying down alongside them, a relic of the medieval legend of Tristan and Isolde.

The easiest way to reach the region is to travel by bus to the largest Palóc village, Hollókő, a UNESCO World Heritage site. At weekends an express bus leaves for Hollókő from the central bus station in Budapest, adjacent to Stadionok metro station. The trip takes two hours and costs HUF1400 (€5.60; $7.50).

Alternatively, the Palóc Route Society arranges a variety of tours around the region and to special events in individual villages.

Mozartkugeln boxes are stacked in pyramid form in countless Salzburg shop windows, bearing the sweet beponytailed face of W.A. himself.

Salzburg confectioner Paul Fürst dreamed up the chocolate-nougat-marzipan balls to sell in his shop back in 1890. He named them Original Salzburger Mozartkugeln after the city’s famous son. Much to Fürst’s dismay, other manufacturers began to cash in on the success of the chocolates. Nowadays visitors can choose from a whole slew of different-sized boxes. Some are even shaped like the little violins.

Intrigued by all this fuss, we ventured into a branch of the shop where it allegedly all began—Konditerei Fürst.

Our verdict? Tasty, but a little too soft in the center. The marzipan component is fundamental to the kugel. If you like marzipan, hop on board; if not, you’ll probably want to pass.

While marketed proudly as Salzburg’s hometown chocolate, it’s not hard to find Mozartkugeln outside of the city, or even beyond Austria’s borders. We spotted them among the clog keychains, pot-leaf visors, and stroopwafel canisters at Amsterdam Schiphol airport! We’ve even spotted them on a shelf crowded with Ukrainian jams in Brighton Beach!

Mozartkugeln, you’ve done your hometown proud.

Photograph by AEngineer

We just about “bought the ferme” today when we flipped through the new catalogue of rural guesthouses in Brittany, France. Mon dieu!

The Bienvenue a la Ferme (Welcome to the Farm) catalogue is an effort to promote farm stays, campgrounds, bed and breakfasts, local products, and various other outdoorsy activities in Brittany.

You can register online to receive the catalogue or just navigate your way through the Bienvenue a la Ferme Web site. (Sadly, the site is only in French and German). Click on “Que faire” and do a search for “Sejourner à la ferme” (farm stays), “Dormir in chambres d’hôtes,” (bed and breakfasts), “Louer un gîte” (cottage rental), or “Louer une salle” (room rental). Results are shown in the four geographical regions of Brittany: Côtes d’Armor, Finistère, Ille-et-Vilaine, and Morbihan.

The farm stays sound like hardy, tasty affairs. Many, like Le Musee du Cheval et du Paysan, offer downright dirty farm activities, followed by bountiful meals made with locally grown ingredients—all for about €50 a night.

Brittany Tourism offers a less adventurous—though snazzier—site, which also has an English-language version.