Ah, Florence, Renaissance city of artistic treasures, architectural icons, and mouth-watering delicacies. And throngs of tourists. And locals zipping up and down tiny streets on scooters and motorcycles.

If you’re an adventurous traveler, you might consider seeing the city like a local — on a cute little euro-scooter. But should you?

Pros

Renting a scooter in Florence makes sense if you want to take scenic drives through the countryside. If you rent a typical scooter (like a Honda SH 125 cc or the smaller Cagiva Cucciolo 50), you’ll be able to drive along country roads and scoot your way through Chianti country. Sounds romantic, no?

The hilly countryside (and even immediate environs of Florence) are much less strenuously traversed on a scooter than trekked on a bicycle.

Cons

Renting a scooter is not practical if you simply want to speed up your city sightseeing. Sure, the locals zip about town, but they also are trained to avoid the busiest streets and pedestrian zones, and know how to stay alert for tourists and car doors.

Even if you plan to limit your scooting to areas outside of Florence, you will need to exercise caution, as small roads have their share of blind corners, speeding autos, and other scooters. Also, consider that most of central Florence is a pedestrian-only zone, and scooter riding is relegated to the busy side streets.

Legalities

To rent a scooter in Florence, you simply need a passport, valid driver’s license, and the willingness to plunk down your credit card as a deposit.  Anyone riding on a scooter must wear a helmet (which is included in rental). Also included in scooter rental are liability insurance and unlimited miles.

Both agencies below require that drivers have previous experience driving a scooter. As Florence by Bike states in the FAQ, “we suggest not to rent a scooter if you are a beginner.”

Note that you will not be allowed to drive on highways and freeways unless you rent a motorcycle. However, small country roads are just waiting for you.

Where to rent

Alinari scooter rental - Via San Zanobi 38/R. Located near the main train station, Alinari has lower prices than its competitor and offers more types and sizes of scooters. Prices range from €30 for a one-day rental of a Cagiva Cucciolo or Honda 50, to €55 for a Honda Bali 100 cc and €55 for a Honda SH 125. The shop also rents bicycles and motorcycles.

Florence by Bike - Rents the same Honda SH 125 for €65, but offers much helpful advice. Additionally, the shop offers a wide variety of bicycle rentals and organizes bike tours, including a Chianti bike ride that it claims is not terrible strenuous. Florence by Bike encourages tourists to opt for bikes over scooters for visiting the city. Daily bikes rentals run from €14 for city bikes to €35 for fancy racing bikes, with many options in between.

Have you ever rented a scooter in Florence? Tell us about your experience!

Amsterdam is one of the best European cities for cycling. See the city, speed along the canals, and act like a local.

Ready to roll? First, grab a good map. The tourism office facing Centraal Station offers a bike-specific map with highlighted biking paths and touring suggestions.

Then, go get a bike! Where?

Mike’s Bike Tours
Kerkstraat 134

One of the most popular bike rentals in Amsterdam, Mike’s (along with other rental agencies) requires you to leave some sort of deposit when you rent a bike:  your passport, an imprint of your credit card, or a deposit of €200. They provide you with two bike locks, and will even demonstrate how to use them!

(A word of caution: Mike’s also has a location in Munich and it can be a bit tricky to navigate their web site, so if you decide to book online, make sure you’re on the Mike’s Amsterdam page!)

Rates - 1/2 day: €5 (€8 with insurance); 1 day: €7 (€10 with insurance).

Frederic Rental Bike
Brouwerstgracht, 78

All bikes go for €10 a day (no hourly rentals) and Frederic requires a deposit of either a credit card or passport. Insurance is included in the price.

The advantages of renting from Frederic are simple: It’s cheap, you don’t have to deposit any money, and the bikes are free of giant logos that make them look like dorky, commercial rental bikes. These bikes are “originals,” and thus great for cycling hipsters. Also, Frederic’s staff claims they are “gastronomical freaks” and will fill you with their culinary expertise before you speed off.  While we don’t recommend eating your meals on wheels, you’ll at least now the best places to stop for a meal.

Canal Bike
Weteringschans 26- 1 hg

Ok, so this isn’t a traditional bike company. Canal Bike only rents “canal bikes,” which are pedal boats for two, three, and four people. With pedal boats, you’re free to tour the city via its famous waterways. Canal Bike holds onto a €50 deposit due at the time of your booking. Dock your boat at the Rijksmuseum, Anne Frank House, or countless other city attractions.

Rate - €8 per person for 1-2 people;  €7 per person for more than 2 people.

Mac Bike
Multiple locations around the city

If you’re making a group booking (10 people or more), we think Mac is the best plan of attack. They offer great rental discounts and even lead some of the most unique tours in town, grouped by interest (gay, architecture, even Hans Brinker).

Rates - From €6 (3 hours) to €25 (1 day), depending on type of bike and length of rental.

Bike City
68 - 70 Bloemgracht

Bike City is great if you plan to rent for more than a day. They offer really reasonable 5-day rates (€34-44.50) and prices are significantly reduced if you rent for more than 5 days.

Rates - €10-14.50 per 24 hour period.

Note: Prices are shown for half-day and full-day rentals, although multiple day rentals are available through most bike agencies.  A half-day rental makes sense for a fun tour of the town, although real cycle nuts (we see that Lance Armstrong bracelet!) and tourists looking to use their bike for daily transportation will want a longer rental.

photograph courtesy of Josh Clark on FlickrParis Runners

Visiting Paris as a tourist usually means long days of hiking across town, climbing steps, and carrying a backpack. With so much physical activity, you can just forget about the need to hit the gym, right? 

Well, for us it also means days that begin with a butter croissant (268 calories) and end with a creme caramel (759 calories). In between the two — well, let’s not go there. After about a week, no matter how much you’re walking, one can start feeling the pastries.

What’s a Cheapo to do? We’ve tried a number of strategies, but they usually amount to very little (read: Semi-distracted push-ups on the hotel room floor while watching CNN International). There must be a better way to stay in shape, raise your pulse, and sweat off some of those delicious sauces.

Here are five cheapo ways to stay in shape in Paris:

1) Run

It sounds obvious, but if you’re a runner, pack your running shoes when you’re visiting Paris. If your hotel is located anywhere near the Seine, a morning or evening run along the river is a must. 

Every Sunday, the city’s “Paris Respire” (Paris Breathes) program closes traffic along the banks of the Seine to automobiles from 9 AM to 5 PM, offering the perfect spot for running, walking, or cycling.

2) Bike

The city-run Vélib’ public bike program allows short-term subscriptions (one-week passes: €5, one-day passes: €1). More than 10,000 cute bikes are available at 750 kiosks around town for 30-minute free rentals. Sign up, grab a cycle, and head for one of the many bike lanes. If you want a better workout, stay on the bike for an hour and you’ll only be charged €1. (more pricing info)

If you’re up for a Friday night adventure, join the “Paris Rando Vélo” group for a free group ride through the streets of Paris. The cycling group meets at the Hotel de Ville at 9:30 PM every Friday night, and on the third Sunday morning of the month at 10:30 AM. 

3) Rollerblade

Every Friday night, 12,000-15,000 rollerbladers hit the streets of Paris for a 3-hour speed skate through the city, escorted by the police department. The weekly event is not intended for beginners, as the massive group rolls over all manner of road surface, including cobblestones (yikes).

A more relaxed skating tour, the “Roller Rally“ leaves every Sunday afternoon from the Place de la Bastille at 2 PM. Rollerblade rentals are available at Roulez Champions, 5 rue Humblot (Arr 15), Metro: Dupleix (01 40 58 12 22).

4) Take an aerobics or yoga class

The American Church in Paris offers daily one-hour aerobics classes open to the public featuring a different focus every night. Classes are €10 each or €72 for 8 sessions. More information is available here.

Yoga classes are held all over Paris on every day of the week. Check out the extensive list of yoga classes on the AngloInfo website.

5) Go to the gym

The gym craze is just beginning to hit Paris (we’ve heard that several gyms are even getting rid of their smoking sections…). While most chains require expensive memberships that are not practical for most travelers, certain gyms do allow single admissions. Among them:

The Body Gym, 157, rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine near the Bastille. (€16 single entrance).

Club Quartier Latin, 19 rue de Pontoise in the Latin Quarter (€19 single entrance). 

Find more gyms, classes, and fitness ideas on the Paris Fitness website.

If you’re the kind of Cheapo who prefers a rollicking “hostel environment” to a quiet mom-and-pop hotel, you should consider a Busabout bus tour of Europe, if you’re traveling during the summer months.

What is it?

Busabout operates a “hop on hop off” bus line that shuttles young and indie travelers along “loops” of major European cities. You purchase a loop pass (for $639) and are bused about from one city to the next — usually about 12 cities per loop.

You can get off at any of these cities and stay as long as you like, and then hop on the next bus that passes through town. (A bus passes through all 30 cities every other day from May 4 through October 30.) You can book each of these stops in advance through their website to ensure that you’ll have a seat on the bus.

For example:

The “Western Loop” takes you along the following path: Paris - Bern - Nice - Avignon - Barcelona - Valencia - Madrid - San Sebastian - Bordeaux - Tours, and back to Paris.

The “Northern Loop” hits Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague, and Munich (among other cities).

The “Southern Loop” buses from Munich, through the Alps to Venice, Rome, Florence, Nice and more.

How much does it cost?

A Busabout single loop costs $639, and allows you to travel at your own pace from one city to the next. The more loops you buy, the cheaper the pass becomes. Two loops costs $1069, while three will set you back $1319. (We can’t quite imagine what state we’d be in after three loops, but maybe that’s just us.)

Another option is the “Flexipass” that allows riders to ride between destinations already covered by any loop. The pass costs $549 and each “hop” costs $59.

Who is it for?

Busabout really pushes the “backpacker angle” on their website, reaching out to young, student, and independent travelers looking to have a good time and meet like-minded travelers. This, of course, is not everyone. But the “big blue buses,” as they refer to them, are ideal for meeting others for exploring (and partying) in the next city on the loop.

Single travelers, the company notes on their site, are especially welcome, and “Many people start traveling on their own on Busabout and very soon have a group of friends to travel with.”

First-time travelers to Europe, in particular, may appreciate the loop structure, as being bused from one big city to the next without any choice over destination certainly “simplifies” the planning process!  

Who is it not for?

Truly independent travelers who just want to get from point A to point B would not want to mess with Busabout, its fun philosophy, or its loopy schedules. If you simply want to get from one city to the next, you’d be better off taking a national bus line or booking a seat on the Eurolines bus service.

Eurolines, in fact, offers its own bus passes, providing unlimited trips over the course of a 15 or 30 day period.

Rates are generally cheaper than Busabout and vary depending on age and travel season. A 30-day unlimited adult pass during the summer costs €439 ($649 US) and doesn’t force you to follow a pre-determined loop.

But then again, on Eurolines, your chances for finding the right party are greatly diminished.

Turin, Italy is the latest city to hop on the free/cheap bike-sharing phenomenon sweeping Europe, according to Budget Travel’s “This Just In” blog. Turin is reportedly ready to place 1,300 free bikes on city streets, docking them in 390 stations, in early 2008. Now that’s a great way for Turin’ the town!

As our blog readers know, we’re big fans of the programs and have been monitoring their popularity, especially in Paris, where the Vélib program has been a hit with residents and tourists alike.

We were pleased to see that Eric Rayman at the New York Times recently arrived in Paris and immediately hopped on a Vélib’ bike rental. In yesterday’s travel section, Rayman describes the joys of pedaling down the Boulevard St-Germain (and the terrors of biking through Place de la Concorde).

We’ve been big Vélib’ fans since it was launched this spring by popular socialist mayor Bertrand Delanoë, and have even eyed it with envy (especially one Cheapo in this office, who bikes his way through lower Manhattan every morning, along streets that are decidedly unfriendly to cyclists). The program has put 15,000 bikes on the streets of Paris, available for short-term rental for almost nothing from more than 1,000 hop-on and drop-off stations.

BudgetTravel.com pointed out in a post this summer that many Americans were unable to rent bikes from the Vélib’ program, as the kiosks were only programmed to accept credit cards with “smart chips,” which are the norm in Europe. Rayman notes that the machines now accept American Express cards issued in the US, a sign, perhaps, of a “warming of Franco-American relations.”

Consider us warmed!

See also: Vélib official site.

We suggest taking a look at KLM’s current “Break Away” fare promotion.

It offers decent roundtrip fares between Amsterdam and several European cities: Birmingham, Edinburgh, Geneva, Helsinki, London, Madrid, Manchester, Marseille, Milan, and Paris. The cheapest listed Break Away fare is Amsterdam-Paris, which begins at €147. Afraid of fare creep via undisclosed fees and taxes? Don’t be. These fares include all additional charges.

In most cases, Break Away promotional fares last through November.

CSA Czech Airlines has just launched Click4Sky, a new, independently branded initiative designed to fill empty seats on Czech Airlines flights. The upfront basics look promising. The site itself is clean and light and direct, as all low-cost airline sites should be. (A heavy, busy low-cost carrier site, after all, screams Hidden Costs! Scams! Fear!)

Aesthetics and others dangers aside, Click4Sky charges CZK 1990 (€72; $102) for a one-way journey, taxes and fees included. In actuality, the CZK 1990 assertion is a bit slippery, as only roundtrip tickets can be purchased. So figure CZK 3980 (€144; $204) per ticket.

There’s something pleasing about a set fare, as it completely eliminates guesswork, fare hunting, and, well, all attempts to divine future fares. Also pleasing is the fact that all Click4Sky seats are on regular Czech Airlines airplanes, with free drinks and gratis newspapers.

Downside? Despite a wide-ranging destination map, which includes decent Central and Eastern European coverage (Athens, Belgrade, Bratislava, Budapest, Istanbul, Košice, Krakow, Ljubljana, Prague, Riga, Tallinn, Thessaloniki, Vienna, and Vilnius), one destination outside of Europe (Cairo), very good coverage of Germany (eight destinations), and Oslo, among other destinations, all flights are routed through Prague.

For Prague area residents and for visitors planning to base a long-term holiday in Prague, Click4Sky is a great deal. For average travelers, however, its utility is somewhat limited. We’d love to see Click4Sky sell one-way flights and thereby make these low fares more accessible to run-of-the-mill tourists.

Recently we learned about the existence of UK site Motorhomeholidayswap.com. Site founder Chris Farrow, who hails from the north of England, emailed us to tell us about his business. Just six months old, Motorhomeholidayswap has already facilitated motorhome/campervan exchanges among people across Europe, North America, and Australasia.

Members need to cough up the annual fee of £45 (€66; $91) to exchange motorhomes, though registration itself is free.

Motorhome exchange—much like house exchange and other cheap exchange-oriented strategies—looks like a great way to cut down on costs and assemble a budget-friendly itinerary. We say right-o.

Photo by supermonkey_pekin

While Barcelona’s underground train system reaches just about every corner of the sprawling metropolis, the metro isn’t really the best way to “see” the city.

The Catalan capital’s new Bici bike system, however, is just that. Barcelona’s city hall has set up about 100 stations across the city, most near the Barri Gòtic, offering bike rentals for close to nothing. After paying an initial fee of either €1 for a week’s membership—or €24 for a year’s membership—Bici users will pay have to cough up just €0.30 per half hour of bike use. Until July 6, a year’s membership will go for just €6.

For a list of rules, rates, and information, visit the club’s site (in Spanish and Catalan only.)