Get more bang for your forint with our Cheapo-tested tips for a night out in Budapest. Kari Hoerchler, who recently prowled the city’s streets hunting down hotels for us, also found out how to have fun…

Start the night with a free drink.

A cheapo could get a jump start on the evening with a free drink at the Matyas’ wine fountain in the Labyrinth of Castle Hill. However, we found it more efficient and enjoyable to fork out the HUF 8000 (roughly €31) to sample over 50 wines at the House of Hungarian Wines above ground.

Get your restaurant row on.

Ramble on over to the Liszt ter, the veritable restaurant row of Budapest. People watching is free of charge, not to mention fun. And, frugal dining spots abound. A fresh variety of cocktails, sandwiches and salads are available at Café Vian. ‘Pest favorites, including goulash and fruit soup, are served at Menza (which also serves international fare, like pasta and salads). Both restaurants run a tab of about HUF 3,200 (almost €13) per person.

Hit up a club.

For a walk on the wild side, head over to Erzsebet ter to catch live acts and art at the underground Godor Club. Even if the place gets overcrowded with revelers, it’s still fun to check out the stage from the park above via a glass bottom fountain. When we were last in Budapest, we made a visit. Pints of beer were HUF 480 (just under €2) and entry was free.

The late night and early morning crowd pumps at Szóda. Not only is the design of this club chic, but the crowd is notoriously hip, making Szoda the perfect place to find out where the latest and greatest kerts (makeshift bars in the courtyards of abandoned buildings) can be found. The team behind Szoda are also behind several of the city’s speakeasies.

Sit back and relax.

For a more mellow mood, catch local and European art films at one of Budapest’s opulent, old movie houses. Urania National Movie Theatre was built in the 1890s. Plush velvet seats and gold vaulted ceilings trick the eyes into thinking one is spending the evening at the much more expensive opera house across town. Stop by the box office to find out which films have subtitles. Tickets run between HUF 890 and 990 (€3.50-4).

Kari Hoerchler is a budget traveler and science fiction novelist stationed on Planet Earth. Not only has Kari been a star contributor to EuroCheapo’s guide to Budapest, she has also recently been spotted under spotlights on small stages in New York coffeehouses telling tall tales of a tropical island—and future vacation hot spot—in the Bermuda Triangle. Book ahead.

Paris can get, how do you say?, “très cher.” After dining out in Paris for two nights last week, we were ready to give our wallets a break and try a Paris night à la Cheapo.

A stroll for free

After doing a bit of research, we mapped out a fun, Seine-side stroll from St. Germain des Près (where we were staying at the lovely 2-star gem “Villa des Princes“) to the foot of the Eiffel Tower. The whole journey took about an hour as we wandered along the river, stopping at bridges, watching the tour boats, and posing for photos.

A pancake dinner

By the time we arrived, we had worked up an appetite. Sure, we were feasting on the sight of Paris by night, but that didn’t quite cut it. We got in line for fresh crèpes from a street vendor and salivated as he poured the batter, flipped the pancakes, and added our ingredients: Nutella and banana for Mere, and ham and emmental for Pete. Two crèpes set us back about €7 and we shared a Coke (€1.50).

A free light show

We timed our walk so that we’d get to the tower just as the hourly ten-minute light show sparked up the sky. Light shows start at the top of the hour, after sunset. They occur every hour until 1 am or 2 am depending on time of year.

After ingesting crèpes and stars, Seine and Eiffel, we hopped on the Metro. For €1.50, we scooted from Invalides to the Latin Quarter.

Slow sipping at the cabaret

We were ready for some good company, old fashioned standards, and the wacky feel of live cabaret, so we ventured to “Aux Trois Mailletz,” our favorite cabaret at 56, Rue Galande in the Latin Quarter. Downstairs, the fancier vaudeville show costs €25 a ticket, but upstairs in the more casual piano bar, you need only buy a drink to sip it all in. (We also found that if you tip the singer and pianist, they’ll fulfill multiple song requests.)

Cheapos could sip a Coke for €5, which isn’t cheap. Beer costs €9, while cocktails run about €11-13. Obviously, you’re paying for the tunes, but you can sip your drink as slowly as you like. We think it’s worth the inflated drink price just to take in the music, the sight of dogs in the audience, and that weird glamour of cabaret performers running about in full makeup. Bravo!

Hitting the town in Madrid doesn’t have to rip into your bank balance faster than a speeding bull. As in all good cities, nighttime budget-friendly options abound!

Here’s our cheapo guide to living it up for a night in Spain’s vibrant capital.

Get in the mood

Start out near central Plaza de Chueca, an area where there’s no shortage of trendy clubs and restaurants, many of which are cheapo-friendly. Considered to be the premiere gay area of  Madrid, Chueca and its main square are full of people hangin’ out in cafes and bars almost every night. In fact, if you hang out in the square long enough, chances are decent that you’ll make some new friends and find yourself involved in some last-minute plans.

Dinner

While daytime lunch specials certainly abound around Chueca (a good midday meal can be had for between €5-8), it can be a bit challenging to keep dinner prices low. We’d recommend checking out the trendy and delish Bazaar Restaurant, located just south of Plaza de Chueca on C/Libertad, 21. The menu runs the gammut from goat cheese salad to Thai-style noodles with grilled meats, and can be digested with ease for under €25.

And a movie…

Next stop: Filmoteca’s Cine D’Oré (Santa Isabel, 3, next to Metro Anton Martin) where the Spanish film archives are housed and any number of old greats from Ingmar Bergman to Luis Buñuel are showcased in one of three “session” rooms. Tickets are €2 for students, €2.50 for non-students.

And then drinks to discuss…

When the movie lets out, try Café Central, located about three blocks away, at Plaza del Angel, 10. The jazz bar has a bubbly atmosphere with reasonably-priced drinks, delicious snacks (pinchos y tostas €1.20), and even fixed-price meals (€10 for two courses). 

And if you decide to spring for tickets to the evening’s jazz performance, they’ll throw in a free drink ticket. We don’t know about you, but we always love getting an added bibbidy for our buck.

Photo by Stefan Tiess

Le Pop In is a must-see bar for anyone who wants to get to know the Paris music scene. Every weekend it teems with musicians and groupies. Fight your way across the packed front room and you can wander up and down flights of stairs to find small performing spaces tucked away at the end of narrow corridors, all crammed full of loungers and listeners.

There’s no cover charge, and you’re guaranteed to have a few good concerts of all varieties of music every night. Even if cutting-edge folk rock synthesis isn’t your thing, it’s worth going just to check out the Tokyo-esque fashion taste that prevails among the über-trendy regulars.

The Pop In is located at 105 rue Amelot in the 11th arrondissement. The closest metro station is Saint Sébastien Froissart on line 8.

Photo courtesy of Kaymaria Daskarolis

Now, when most Greeks and tourists alike are beginning to flock to the clubs and bars dotting the Athenian coastline, is the perfect time to explore many of the bars and clubs packing Athens’s city center. You will find outdoor tables and chairs at many of them, more room to move about, and lower prices on drinks and cover charges than can be found in most beach-side spots.

One spot we particularly enjoy due to its funky East Asian décor, friendly service, and reasonable drink prices is Kasbah, located in the northern Athenian neighborhood of Ambelokipi (Alexi Pavli 35B across from the Panormou metro station, +30-210-692-7447). We especially like going to the Kasbah on Sunday nights, when we get to watch and listen to playful and jovial DJ E-Mill (a.k.a. Emilio).

Photo by Reicheru

Forget the penny whistle and fiddle. Whenever we’re in Belfast, we like to swing by the Empire Music Hall for one of Rab McCullough’s blistering Thursday night blues sessions. And we’re not the only ones.

Though the Empire is a spacious venue, it’s typically packed soon after McCullough’s band takes the stage at 10:30 p.m. Nevertheless, there’s enough room for the shimmyin’ and shakin’ that’s known to break out as McCullough’s set reaches its culmination. And since there’s no cover charge, Cheapos can indulge at the bar should they require some liquid courage before hitting the dance floor.

The Empire Music Hall is at 42 Botanic Avenue, a few blocks north of Botanic Gardens Park. Arrive early if you prefer a table.

Photo by RichardsonA

Usually a late night in London means a long night out, a club with a cover charge, and kebabs as the sun comes up. Now, the more cultured among us can step out for something other than a sticky dance floor and over-priced mojitos. Okay, so the new Late Nights at London’s cultural venues don’t last until the sun comes up, but National Gallery, The Tate, and other London favorites now have extended weekday hours. Now we can have our culture after work during the week, freeing up coveted weeken hours, which could easily be spent country hopping on Ryanair.

Check out the Lates website for all information on what’s currently on and what’s upcoming.

Photo by theGirlonthestreet

The weekly free newspaper A Nous Paris recently published a list of the ten trendiest nightclubs in Paris. This paper bills itself as “the diffuser of urban news and trends,” and the article, written by Edouard Ronstand, is an attempt to boil down Paris nightlife to the ten must-do addresses with the best ambiance.

The list ranges from the classic La Flèche d’Or (102 rue de Bagnolet, metro Porte de Bagnolet line 3), to an upscale Cabaret named Bobin’o (20 rue de la Gaîté, metro Gaîté line 13). The cutting-edge electro and multimedia club La Géode is also listed (parc de la Villette, metro porte de la Villette line 7). La Géode and La Flèche d’Or are some of the few venues mentioned in Ronstand’s article that can be visited on a Cheapo budget.

Another suggestion is Le ShowCase, a massive venue literally under the bridge Alexandre III (metro Champs Elysées Clemenceau, lines 1 and 13). Also included: a sushi bar in an aquarium (Ozu & Aqualounge, 2 Avenue des Nations Unies, metro Trocadéro lines 6 and 9); a modern club in an old boulangerie (Le Nyx, 30 rue du Roi de Sicilie, metro Saint Paul line 1); a hub of counterculture with lasting happy hour prices (Le Motel, 8 passage Josset, metro Lerdu Rollin line 8); a neon mini-restaurant with changing themes each night (Club Superbar, 3 rue André Antoine, metro Pigalle lines 2 and 12); a brothel turned into a rock and hip-hop scene (Tania Club, 43 rue de Ponthieu, metro Franklin D. Roosevelt lines 1 and 9); and a members-only casino that serves dinner all night (Cercle Gaillon, 11 rue de Berri, metro George V line 1).

Photo by Dan65

How do the Viennese celebrate Labor Day, May 1st? Tens of thousands attend the Socialists’ annual May Day march where Michael Häupl (Vienna’s Socialist governor and mayor) and Alfred Gusenbauer (Austria’s Chancellor) will hold forth. Others will make short excursions to the Prater or other parks. Many others will stay at home or spend their free time in restaurants and pubs.

For good ol’ May Day debauchery we recommend Flanagans, an Irish pub owned and staffed by Irish nationals. Opened in December 1996, the pub’s interiors are made of the dismantled parts of a public house in the village of Churchtown in County Cork. Interiors were transported to Vienna and reassembled. It would seem that no city is immune to the charm of an Irish pub.

Flanagans serves Irish beer and international brands to the soundtrack of televised sporting events. Lunch specials, served Monday through Friday, cost €6.50. Special kids’ meals run €5.50.

Flanagans Irish Pub is located at Schwarzenberg Strasse 1-3. Telephone: +43 (0)1 513 7378. The pub is open Sunday to Thursday from 10 a.m. to 2 a.m., and Fridays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 a.m.

Photo from www.djqbert.com

Calling all fans of technically-skilled DJs and of the Invisibl Scratch Picklz! If you’re in Athens this week, here’s some good news: DJ Qbert is in town! If you’re unfamiliar with Qbert, check out the documentary DJ Qbert For Intellectual Dummies or pretend to be him by playing his character in Tony Hawk’s Underground video game.

Tuesday and Wednesday nights he’ll be performing at One Happy Cloud (Aristofanous 12, Psiri, +30-210-322-2256) beginning at midnight. Tickets are only €15 per person—not bad for a legend—and if you want to make sure you get in, go early, as only 100 people will be admitted to the club each night.