Photo courtesy of Monarch

Low-cost carrier Monarch is partnering with music label Hed Kandi on flights between four UK airports and Ibiza this summer. The house music label’s specially-liveried planes will allow dance-crazed Brits the opportunity to begin feeling the Ibiza magic long before they arrive on the White Island. The partnership ties in nicely with the music label’s Ibiza summer residencies.

Our favorite part of the whole shebang? The Fly Kandi site, which reminds us of an exploded Easter egg.

House prices have shot up in Dublin in recent years, and real estate aftershocks can still be felt in the rental market. For students and young professionals, this altered housing context has engendered real financial stresses. Those in the know use Daft to ease the pain.

Daft, you say? Daft is Ireland’s biggest property site, with over 60,000 properties available for sale or to let at any given time. With categories including Lettings (rental), Short Term (rentals of just a few weeks or months), and Sharing (search for renters or owners who need roommates) the site is very helpful, to say the least. Visitors to Dublin might take an especially close look at the Short Term rental option.

Forums such as Moving to Ireland and Renting Questions also make it easy for those just arriving in Dublin to find their bearings, and email alerts allow prospective renters know the minute something suitable comes on the market for them.

So don’t be daft when it comes to finding a rental in Dublin—or rather, do.

Photo by Martin Baran

Košice, Slovakia’s second city, ranks high on our short list of underexplored European gems. Set in a valley, with the Ore mountains to the west and the Salt Hills to the east, Košice remains a delightfully unspoilt place.

Slovakia’s budget airline SkyEurope flies between Košice and Bratislava, making the city both easy and cheap to visit. We found one-way fares from Bratislava to Košice for as little as SKK436 (€13; $18) in May. That’s including taxes and charges, Cheapos.

In Košice, take time to just wander through the cobbled streets with their pastel buildings, dating from the time when Košice was an eastern metropolis of the Hapsburg Empire. We recommend a visit to Craftsman’s Row, a long street in the heart of the city, where leather and jewelry makers, silversmiths, coin minters, herbalists, potters, and bakers make and ply their wares.

In the summer, cold Czech beer flows freely on the streets and squares. On the main street look down. Glass panels under your feet display 13th century fortifications underground. Finally, pay a visit to the Jakab’s Palace, a small gem of art nouveau architecture.

Photo by acastellano

The rumors regarding Plitvice Lakes National Park match the velocity of its waterfalls. Guidebooks and even on-site hotel staff are full of misinformation. Even the park Web site is secretive, encouraging potential guests to refrain from contacting hotels directly. During a recent expedition within the park grounds, we were able to make some eye-opening discoveries. Živjeli!

Rumor 1: Nacionalni Park Plitvička Jezera is Difficult to Reach. False. A main highway runs right through the park with bus stops near both entrances.

Rumor 2: The Hotels in the Park are Hidden Away. False. One guidebook implies the nearest bus stop is 6 km away from the main entrance as well as the three park hotels. The Hotel Bellevue is 300 meters away from a bus stop near the Second Entrance and the other two hotels, Hotel Plitvice and Hotel Jezero, are a five-minute walk from the Bellevue.

Rumor 3: Hotel Bellevue is Dreary. False. Brand new 1970s retro furnishings are not the point; the lush window views are. The outside of the hotel is freshly painted, to boot.

Rumor 4: Maps are Readily Available. False. When we visited, maps could only be purchased for a few kuna inside the Hotel Jezero gift shop. We overheard one Bellevue staff member advising a guest that maps are unimportant. Signs point in confusing directions. Signage graphics are misleading at their best and illegible at their worst.

Rumor 5: Start a Waterfall Tour at Station 1. Not really false, but a bad idea. A start at Station 4 allows for easy downhill walking. Also, the approach to the Big Waterfall at Station 1 is more dramatic.

Rumor 6: The Park is Not Handicapped Accessible. True. Venice, Italy is easier to traverse.

Rumor 7: The Waterfalls are Spectacular. True. All the confusion is well worth the trip.

Note that Plitvice hotels don’t have Web sites. You can contact the general Plitvice sales department at info@np-plitvicka-jezera.hr.

Wandering Cheapo Kari Hoerchler is a blogger, budget traveller and science fiction novelist stationed on Planet Earth. She has recently been spotted on small stages of New York coffeehouses telling tall tales of a tropical island—and future vacation hot spot—in the Bermuda Triangle. Book ahead.

Photo by fdo h

For one week in May, the Fondation Cartier will be hosting a “Nomadic Nights” series to run in conjunction with an exhibition celebrating the works of American artist and film director David Lynch. Organized by Lynch himself, the “Nomadic Nights” series at the contemporary art gallery allows visitors to browse the exhibit while rocking out to a band or listening to a discussion—all with the hopes that the two aesthetic forms presented side-by-side will productively illuminate one another. Each night presents a different group or performer. Tickets run a relatively cheap €10.

As another part of the “Nomadic Nights” series, Archie Shepp’s birthday bash will be held in the Fondation Cartier’s garden on May 7. The American jazzman has orchestrated a new work for the occasion and, at 70, can still jam like a champ.

Tickets must be purchased in advance at the Fondation Cartier ticket booth. The Fondation is located at 261 boulevard Respail. The closest metro stations are Raspail and Denfert Rochereau (lines 4 and 6).

Photo by Uli Franke

Over the first days of May, the Andalusian cultural capitals of Granada and Córdoba celebrate the Festival of Crosses.

The crosses themselves are king. Decorated with local flowers, the crosses adorn homes, squares and gardens. The crosses in turn become focal points for singing, dancing and, of course, drinking.

Scheduled from the May 1 to May 3, the festival is your best chance to see Granada—especially the neighborhoods of Albaicín and El Realejo—before the unbearable heat of the city’s summer sets in.

Photo by Karen Bryan

The coastal town of Arbroath, in the county of Angus, lies twenty miles northeast of Dundee. It is probably best known for its coppery gold Arbroath Smokie smoked haddock. The Smokie is now protected by European Union legislation and, in accordance with EU law, must be smoked in the traditional manner. A tartan was even launched in honour of the Smokie in 2005.

The town centre is dominated by Arbroath Abbey, founded in 1178. The Declaration of Arbroath, in which Scottish nobles swore their independence from the English, was signed here.

Also noteworthy is the Bell Rock Lighthouse. Finished in 1811, it is eleven miles out to sea from Arbroath. It was a real challenge to build, as part of the rock is often submerged beneath the North Sea. Said to be one of the Seven Wonders of the Industrial World, it has been automated since the 1950s. The Signal Tower—originally constructed as accommodation for the families of lighthouse keepers—now houses a museum devoted to the Bell Rock and local history.

Weather permitting, we recommend grabbing fish and chips from “Marco’s on the Shore,” and eating with a view of the harbor and its colorful houses. And if you feel like a walk after eating, the coastal path feaures dramatic red sandstone cliffs that plunge down into the sea.

Photo by Karen Bryan

Photo by infraredhorsebite

A sibling love affair, a taxidermic incident with the family dog (whose name, of all things, is Sorrow), and a dancing bear. Need we say more? These plot details are just the tip of the iceberg in John Irving’s novel, The Hotel New Hampshire.

The story follows a family from New England as they open their Hotel New Hampshire and endure various travesties. They take the show on the road, moving to Vienna to run a Gasthaus for an old family friend, Freud, a former European refugee who, along with his traveling companion—the dancing bear—originally brought the parents together. Intrigued yet? You haven’t even reached Vienna.

We don’t want to spoil the plot, so we’ll just say that once you arrive in Vienna you can look forward to a hotel floor of prostitutes and a plot by radicals to blow up the Vienna State Opera. It’s a wild ride, and we are willing to bet you won’t want to put it down.

Because Vienna is a fairly placid place, a novel like this one provides an enjoyable and counterintuitive take on the Austrian capital.

Photo by sgoralnick

When you’re done meandering through the narrow streets and climbing the old walls of Old Dubrovnik, retreat from the crowds to the island of Lokrum.

A peaceful island of less than one square km, Lokrum is a nature preserve with no cars or human inhabitants. Save for an old fortress and a Benedictine monastery converted into a restaurant, you also won’t find buildings on the island.

Locals and tourists alike go on pilgrimage to Lokrum to commune with nature. Plant enthusiasts will delight in the lovely botanical garden while sun worshippers should head straight to the island’s beaches for a dip in the pristine Adriatic. For those who prefer to go au natural, there is a secluded beach—check bikinis at entrance—in the southeast. If you climb the rocks all the way around the southern tip of the beach, you can dive into your very own grotto.

Boats for Lokrum depart every hour in low season and every half hour in the summer. Look for ferry tickets just beyond the clock tower on the southern end of Old Town’s main street. It’s a 15-minute boat ride (HRK35; €4.75; $6.50 roundtrip.) The last boat in low season leaves at 6 p.m. (8 p.m. in high season.)

Wandering Cheapo Sunnia Ko is a wanderer at heart and primarily supports this habit as a teacher at Plovdiv University in Bulgaria. She recently returned from a cross-Balkan trek from Plovdiv to Sibenik, Croatia and back.

Photo by SzentesDailyPhoto2

No visit to Hungary is complete without trying lángos, the national fast food.

A lángos is a deep-fried flat bread made of potato dough. It comes with a choice of toppings: garlic, sour cream, grated cheese, or all three. The name comes from the Hungarian word láng (flame) from the days when the snack was baked next to the flames of a brick oven.

The good news for Cheapos is that a lángos is the size of a dinner plate and so is an easy meal-replacement. Even a deluxe lángos will only set you back about HUF300 (€1.20; $1.65).