In mid-December each year most of Europe’s rail and bus companies revamp their schedules, but many also do some mid-year tweaking of their timetables. So here’s what is in store for the upcoming summer period. The new summer schedules will feature in the June 2012 edition of the Thomas Cook European Rail Timetable, which is » Read more

Wednesday May 2, 2012— If you’ve been traveling in Europe this week, were you caught unawares by a spate of public holidays? Over 40 countries and territories across the continent took time out Tuesday for May Day while some countries opted for a double dose of May Day festivities. In Russia, for example, both Monday and » Read more

“I’ve done central Europe and have no real interest in going back,” said the traveler we ran into on the train though Spain last month. Cities from Berlin to Budapest had, it seemed, been ticked off as done and dusted. It’s a common view that, as long as there is virgin territory waiting to be » Read more

Yes, we’ve been traveling a lot of late. Over the last 40 days, our travels have taken us from Cadiz to Hamburg and from the Alps to the Apennines. We have paddled in the Atlantic and the Adriatic and taken in a few cities too: Florence, Madrid, Paris, Zürich, Poznan and more. It has, in » Read more

“What’s the best way from X to Y?” It is a query we’ve read a thousand times here on EuroCheapo, and it comes in various guises on hundreds of other travel forums: from Fodor’s to Frommer’s, from BootsnAll to the Thorn Tree. For those who pose such questions “best” probably equates “cheapest” or “fastest.” But » Read more

Regina Bryan’s interesting article here on EuroCheapo last month sparked a discussion on rail fares in Spain. So we thought a few thoughts on Spanish rail travel might be in order. The hop-on-at-will culture that prevails in many European countries when it comes to long-distance rail travel simply does not apply in Spain. All long-distance » Read more

Madrid Chamartín station has little of the appeal or the convenience of the Spanish capital’s main rail hub at Atocha. Located near the city center, Atocha is extravagant and exuberant. The classic art nouveau train shed, now a superb indoor tropical garden, stands cheek by jowl with architect Rafael Moneo’s assertive late-20th century new add-on » Read more

We could so easily have opted for the plane, taking a direct flight from Berlin to Málaga and then traveling onward to Cádiz by bus. And it would have taken 12 hours door-to-door. That would have been too simple. Why pass on a chance to catch a glimpse of parts of Europe that we had » Read more

Some 15 million Americans will visit Europe this year, a small part of a flood that helps reinforce Europe’s position as the most buoyant tourist market in the world. Despite economic uncertainties, Europe recorded a 5 percent increase in international tourist visitors in 2011, in some measure benefiting from the declining fortunes of the Middle » Read more