We’re proud to announce the Finn-tastic launch this week of EuroCheapo Helsinki, our 29th city guide!

The new guide to cheap hotels in Helsinki takes us into exciting new territory, farther north and east than any of our other guides.

Sarah Silbert, a contributing editor who covered the city following her update of Copenhagen, was initially surprised by the high rates of hotels in Helsinki while planning her trip. “I had expected that, like other cities covered on the site, there would be a wide variety of budget sleeping options. But ‘budget’ in Helsinki is different than ‘budget’ in Berlin,” she explained.

While Helsinki has a few hostels and pensions to accommodate the most budget-minded of travelers, even these are a bit more expensive than the same type of lodging in other European cities. A dorm at the Hostel Erottajanpuisto, for example, costs $36 a night.

“In Helsinki,” Sarah said, “that’s really cheap.”

Bumping up a notch, a double room with shared bath at the Eurohostel runs $72-$84 a night. Despite its name, the property only offers private rooms, not dorms. ”I stayed at the Eurohostel and found it to be a good option, especially considering the steep rates at other hotels in Helsinki.”

EuroCheapo’s Helsinki guide also includes a number of three-star hotels, as well as travelers’ apartments and even one four-star pick. The city guide articles cover basics like Helsinki city transportation, expect to spend, and budget tips to keep it cheap.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Pardon the interruption to our regularly scheduled “Daily Cheapo” programming, but we have an exciting announcement: We’ve unveiled a new release of our budget hotel search engine and think you’re going to love it!

Our new search engine includes all the Cheapo “bells and whistles” we could dream up to help budget travelers find the best hotel. Here’s a short list of what’s in store:

More Cheapo-Filters
We’ve added all sorts of nifty filtering technology to help travelers easily narrow down search results. Now you can filter by proximity to popular landmarks, user ratings, neighborhood, room rate and property type.

Looking for a three-star hotel this summer in Paris, near Notre Dame with at least a 7.5 user rating for less than $200? We have several suggestions!

Trusted Travel Advice
Can’t decide where to stay? Our editors have inspected thousands of European hotels and provide recommendations in 28 popular cities. Read editor reviews and check out our candid hotel photos. Need help choosing the right neighborhood? Roll over neighborhood names to read detailed descriptions.

What’s Your “CheapoFactor?”
Our search results rank budget hotels by their “CheapoFactor,” the site’s super top-secret algorithm that pushes the most interesting, central, highest rated, and lowest priced hotels to the top. Check out the creme de la (cheapo) crème!

Handpicked Hotel Listings
Our editors select every hotel that shows up in our search results. To be included, hotels must be central, have satisfactory user reviews, and always have budget-friendly prices. We don’t let just any hotel show up!

Hotel Price Comparison
Our search engine compares hotel rates from multipile reservation websites, allowing travelers to easily find — and book — the lowest rate out there.

Tell Us What You Think!
We’re proud of our budget hotel search engine and always want it to be as helpful as possible. So try it out and tell us what you think. What are we missing? Leave a comment below and let us know your thoughts, Cheapos!

Popularity: 6% [?]

Hotel les Chansonniers
113, Boulevard de Menilmontant   
Paris, France

Doubles €55-68

We love scouting out small, quirky hotels in Paris. Happily, the city is full of independent, charming hotels that offer rooms at very reasonable rates. One that we have an especially deep “crush” on is Hotel les Chansonniers (”The Singers”). Located a bit off-the-beaten path, this cheery hotel has a whole lotta heart and soul, and 40 clean and cheap rooms.

If you stay at Les Chansonniers, be sure to say hello to the lovely owner, Madame Sellam. She has a passion for music and takes pride in rooms touting the lives of great songstresses like Edith Piaf. The minute you step inside the note-worthy lobby and hotel bar, you’ll swoon.

What do we mean when we say “off the beaten path”? The property is in the Republique neighborhood, a bit northeast of the main sights, but very well connected by the Metro. The area is busy and working-class. It’s not Latin Quarter touristy, but brims instead with local activity. In short, it may not be right for first-time travelers to Paris who want a hotel steps from the Eiffel Tower or Notre Dame.

Read our full review of Hotel les Chansonniers.

Cheapo tip: Try to stay in one of the two top-floor rooms that come with Jacuzzis!

Find more budget hotels in Paris and read our budget guide to traveling in Paris. 

Popularity: 10% [?]

At EuroCheapo, we’re all about hotels with a little extra flavor. And when in Rome, why settle for a normal night’s sleep?

These three hotels in Rome have traipsed through history, from ancient history to 19th-century, but all of them today offer modern amenities so you can sleep comfortably.

1) Casa Banzo
Campo de’ Fiori
Doubles from €110

This bed and breakfast, with just three rooms, screams, “location!” Housed in a 15-century palazzo near Campo de’ Fiori, this family-run establishment is far enough from the crazy Campo crowds, but close enough to easily walk to the Vatican, Spanish Steps and other Roman highlights.

Each of the Casa’s rooms are chockablock with vintage accoutrements. Think oil paintings, mahogany surfaces, and lots of marble. And, we haven’t even mentioned the frescoes! Just keep in mind, book early if you want to stay here. With only three rooms, the hotel fills up quickly.

If you do stay here, tell Antoinette (the owner) and her husband we say hello!

2) Hotel Navona
Piazza Navona
Doubles from €135

If you’ve ever dreamed about sleeping in ancient Rome (and who hasn’t?), this is your chance. The ruins underneath the spick-and-span rooms and bathrooms at Hotel Navona are literally the baths of Agrippa and date back to 33 B.C.!

Stucco walls, terra-cotta flooring, a family-run feel, and plenty of 18th and 19th-century antiques (many taken from the family’s palace in Venice) give the rooms a top-notch vibe. Near Piazza Navona and the Pantheon, you can start off your day by touring the hotel (whose main structure is a 13th-century palace). And yes, this hotel has frescoes, too.

3) Suore di S Elisabetta
Santa Maria Maggiore
Doubles from €64

The quiet Suore di S Elisabetta is a convent that offers low-priced rooms on a peaceful street south of Santa Maria Maggiore. If you don’t mind an 11 p.m. curfew or a bedroom ornamented in crucifixes and the like, then get thee to this nunnery!

Rooms are as simple as a nun’s habit. For example, none of them have televisions. But, the breakfast room sparkles under light of hanging chandeliers and a dome of painted frescoes. An added bonus? The rooftop terrace—with inspiring views of Rome—is quite simply, divine.

Also see:

Our favorite theme hotels in Amsterdam

Popularity: 11% [?]

Directly outside of the Saint Peter’s Metro station is the delicious Federici B&B. Aside from the fabulously convenient location, rooms are big and bright, ranging from €80 to €120 for a double.

Francesco and Roberta (an adorable couple) run the the place with their son, Fabio, who speaks a smooth Australian English. The hotel is located inside a giant palazzo, with an entrance from within an inner courtyard.

They’ve also got apartments at negotiable, reasonable rates near the Vatican and in Trastevere. Our recommendation: check Federici out!

Popularity: 9% [?]

Okay, so they’re not always that cheap. But if you sign up for The Hoxton Urban Lodge’s newsletter, you’ll be alerted when they do have room sales. Just click here, and get on the mailing list to be alerted when £1 rooms are up for the taking. Hell, even when rooms aren’t a pound, they usually hover between £59 and £79—cheap in London.

The Hoxton is on Great Eastern Street in London’s hip (if a bit too trendy) East End. Some of the best nightlife in town is within a ten minute walk. All rooms have super soft Frette sheets, free Wi-Fi, coffee, milk, water, and tea, and a heavenly waterfall shower head (plus soft towels and Pears soap.)

Room Service is reasonable and there’s a 24-hour shop in the lobby just in case you’ve forgotten anything. Rooms come complete with mini-breakfast so you won’t be starving before you leave either. And newspapers are free, to boot. Sign us up.

Popularity: 13% [?]

When we think Hostelling International, we think ping-pong tables and bunk beds. But during a recent research jam session, we also found a range of HI hostels with adultish, cheap double rooms. The best of these deserve a plug or two, so keep readin’.

South of the Wista River on Grochowa Street—a bit of a (beautiful) walk from the sights pictured above—Krakow’s Hostel Szkolne Schronisko M?odzie?owe has 20 basic private doubles for PLN80 (€20.50, $27). The hostel boasts a spacious guest kitchen, and on-site laundry facilities make living out of your suitcase a fresh affair.

Långholmen Hostel, located on a small island in the middle of Stockholm, has a jaw-dropping 79 private doubles for SEK520 (€60, $74). Housed within a stately 19th-century building, Långholmen is also easier on the eyes than some of HI’s big box hostels. Also on the premises: a boutique, beach, garden, and museum that chronicles the building’s unromantic past—it was once a prison.

The Zurich City Hostel in Wollishofen has 16 private doubles starting at CHF116 (€72, $95). Wollishofen is a quiet suburb—15 minutes by tram to the city center—and there’s on-site cycle rental, perfect for a short ride to the banks of Lake Zurich.

Proof positive that HI hostels aren’t just for whipper snappers with nothing but a rucksack and a dream.

Popularity: 13% [?]