EuroCheapo's hidden europe Articles

Jan 23 Train stations are just like airports. Some are great spots for making connections, others make that change of train (or plane) rather less memorable. Change trains in Cologne and, even with just a dozen minutes between trains, you have a strong sense of having experienced something of Cologne. The German city’s landmark cathedral towers over » Read more

Jan 10 There is a lovely anecdote in the introduction to Annie Kay’s Bradt Guide to Bulgaria. It tells how God was dividing up the Earth between all the different peoples. True to form, the Bulgarians turned up late and there was nothing left. But the good Lord took pity on the Bulgarians and gave them a » Read more

Jan 02 Like us, you are probably already planning rail trips for 2013. Our New Year resolutions are to remember the slow train (always much more fun than the high-speed services) and give time to those smaller communities through which we have so often passed but which we have never taken time to explore. Europe at speed » Read more

Dec 19 So here’s a prediction for the year ahead. Looking at European trends in budget travel, we are confident that 2013 will be the year of the long-distance coach. Following liberalization of coach transport elsewhere in Europe, big changes are now afoot in Germany, with the scrapping (on Jan 1, 2013) of an 80-year-old law that » Read more

Dec 12 If your idea of fun is traveling in circles, then London’s Circle Line was made just for you. In truth, the trains don’t orbit forever and with each 360 degree circuit you’ll need to change trains to continue your orbit. Edgware Road is the usual changeover point. The Circle Line: Barely subterranean Like many points » Read more

Dec 05 A huge snowstorm left traffic stranded on Russian freeways late last week, with blizzard conditions and heavy drifting snow continuing to inflict misery over the weekend. Worst hit was the main M-10 highway linking Moscow with St. Petersburg. Yet the trains, by and large, continued to run on time. Tackling the Russian winter The Russian » Read more

Nov 28 The latest issue of the Thomas Cook European Rail Timetable is published today. Just for the record it is the 1,519th edition of the book. Can you imagine that? Surely no other volume in the history of publishing has gone to 1,519 editions. Not all editions are equal. We happen to particularly rate the December » Read more

Nov 23 Back in the summer, we had a solemn moment over our evening tapas as we marked the tenth anniversary of the invasion of the island of Perejil. In July 2002, a small Moroccan force invaded this fragment of Spanish land off the coast of North Africa, only to be ousted a week later when Spain » Read more

Nov 14 The far southwest of England is just five hours by fast train from London. And we think it’s at its best off-season. The stylish coastal resorts of St. Ives and Padstow, both in North Cornwall and good for art and seafood respectively, still pull a winter crowd. Through Wessex to the Duchy of Cornwall Looe, » Read more