Buying train tickets in Venice. Photos by Tom Meyers

Two regular contributors to EuroCheapo respond to a good question posed on our blog.

Victor posted on March 11, 2010:

“Hi, three of us have planned a trip to Europe from 27th June 2010 to the 10th July 2010. Our itinerary will take us from London to Paris, Amsterdam, Rome, Venice, Vienna, Berlin and back to Paris and London.

We wish to travel extensively by rail. Please help us make a schedule that would enable us to touch all or most of the cities as planned above and at reasonably priced rates. We are all adults above 40 years of age and most likely do not qualify for any discounted fares. Please also inform us when and where rail bookings could be done in the UK. Thanks.”

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Reply from Susanne Kries and Nicky Gardner of hidden europe:

Hi Victor,

We cannot help you with all you ask, but we can venture a few comments that will perhaps inform your thinking, as you and your friends plan your journey. In responding to your question, we hope these thoughts will also be of broader interest to folk here on EuroCheapo.

The key thing here is to think very carefully quite what you and your two traveling companions want to get out of your upcoming journey. Is the journey the centrepiece or are your hearts set on getting to know the various cities you plan to visit? We rather sense the latter.

1. Too packed an itinerary

Europe is a lot larger than many outsiders imagine, and your itinerary touches only a small part of western Europe. You have fourteen days for your explorations (including your days of arrival in and departure from Europe). Let’s assume that you spend at least a couple of nights in London after flying in, and you want to be back in London on the eve of your departure. That brings the time available for the round trip through continental Europe down to ten nights.

Taking the fastest trains, your itinerary from London to Rome and back (as specified) would take 75 hours. Are you really thinking of spending six or seven hours every single day on trains? If you use slower night trains, you can sleep from one city to the next, but your 75 hours travel becomes closer to 100 hours.

Our view is that this could so easily turn out to be the trip from hell. Of course, you could use night trains for some legs, but you are still spending much time travelling. At the pace you propose you have only one day to see some cities. Yes, that is do-able, but how much can you see in that time?

Let’s take an example. You could leave your hotel in Rome before 7 AM and be in the middle of Venice in time for lunch. You could sightsee in Venice for the afternoon, and catch a night train at 9 PM direct to Vienna. You would be in the middle of Vienna by 9 AM next morning – great if like us you sleep very well on night trains. But if you don’t sleep perfectly, you could arrive shattered and it’ll be too early to be able to check into a hotel.

The sequence in which you have ordered the cities is very sensible, but the entire itinerary is too condensed. Over a couple of months it could be fun. Packed into a few days, it might become an ordeal. You could possibly shift Amsterdam towards the end as it could easily be accommodated en route from Berlin to London, assuming you had no real wish or need to go back through Paris a second time. So the home stretch back to London would now look as follows:

Berlin to Amsterdam: 7 hrs by day (with one train change en route at Amersfoot)
Amsterdam to London: 5 hrs by day (with one change at Bruxelles Midi)

Moving Amsterdam to later in the sequence then frees you up to take the Palatino night train direct from Paris to Rome. Departure is around 6 PM each day. Lovely train – you can enjoy dinner on board as the countryside south of Paris slips by outside the window. It is a super way to spend a summer evening.

Bear in mind that our aggregate travel figure is time on the actual trains. Add in transfers in each city from hotel to train and vv, and your time for sightseeing is even more eaten up by travelling.

Our feeling is that each city on your list deserves a week – not just a few hours. At the very least, you need two full non-travel days in each city just to begin to scrape the surface. That implies three nights in each city. With the time you have you could perhaps pack in three cities on the continent (ie. apart from London) but surely not more.

2. What kind of Europe

Europe is a continent of countryside and small towns. The places you propose to visit are busy, cosmopolitan, and (dare we say) much favoured by international tourists. They are spots you can be sure of finding Starbucks, crushed ice and waiters who speak English.

But there is another Europe – the Europe favoured by many Europeans. If you could throw in a dose of small town Europe, you would find out so much more about our continent, our lives and our varied cultures. And if you are to travel so fast, then it is easier to get the flavour of a country in a smaller place. Better Bergamo than Rome; better Potsdam, Görlitz or Quedlinburg than Berlin; better Shaftesbury, Lavenham or Cambridge than London.

Why not drop some big cities in favour of smaller places? Relax. Take time and watch the sun set behind the mountains in the Alps. Less might be more.

3. Advance booking is the way to deep discounts

You suggest that you may not qualify for any discounted fare. This is not the case. Anyone in Europe can qualify for a discounted fare.

Let us take Vienna to Berlin as an example, using the only direct trains that link the two cities. These all run via Prague and Dresden (yes… more temptations Victor, we know, for now you’ll surely want to pack in an afternoon in each of those two cities as well).

If you just pitch up in Vienna and buy the Berlin ticket on the day (and that is always possible), the regular one-way fare is €117. If you purchase the ticket well in advance (we always recommend 10 to 12 weeks), then you can ride the same route on the same trains for €29. Even with the cheapest fares, you can still break your journey (in Prague, Dresden or anywhere else on the way), but you have to specify that at the time of booking. With the full fare you do not need to pre-specify stopovers.

If you book slightly in advance, say just a week or two before travel, you will still get a ticket for way less than €117, but it will no longer be €29. For a midweek off-peak day, booked a week in advance, you might pay €49. For a peak summer travel day, you might pay €99. But chances are that you will still get a discount.

But it is not as if students or seniors can somehow get privileged access to the rock bottom €29 fare. You can secure the most heavily discounted fares if you book well in advance. Advance booking is the key to cheap travel – not age.

4. Night train fares and the Eurail pass

If you take our suggestion above of using the Palatino train from Paris to Rome, bear in mind the fares structure. We give this as just one further example of how much fares can vary. That run can cost as little as €76 per person if booked in advance (using the Artesia Depart+Go fare). Or as much as €265 each if you book at short notice and opt for the highest class of accommodation (ie. sole occupancy of a sleeper compartment).

Be wary of rail passes sold outside Europe. If you are doing a very packed itinerary, spending hours each day on trains, they may be great value. But check the small print. For many routes they may not offer entirely free travel.

Let’s go back to our Artesia example above, using the Palatino night train from Paris to Rome. Book now, and as we said you could get tickets for €76. If you have a rail pass that includes either France or Italy, you might imagine you would ride for free. But actually not – a Eurailpass valid in France or Italy will give you a €6 discount on the €76 Depart+Go fare. So you pay €70 in all.

5. More information and booking

Web sites are great for travel planning, and you can book most or even all these tickets online now – even before you leave the US. We would advise that, rather than waiting (as you imply in your question) until you arrive in the UK to book tickets. 

And remember that the best deals will always be on the websites run by the rail operators - not those run by agents outside Europe. To get the best from those websites, use the native language versions of them.

Once your exact itinerary is clear we can advise you the best site to book each leg. You could end up using such a variety of services, that you might be looking to a mix of train companies for your bookings: Eurostar, DB, Thalys, Artesia, SNCF, Trenitalia, SBB, ÖBB and more besides.

With a packed itinerary like this, and so many trains, there will surely be a hitch or two along the way. In such cases, there is no substitute for a printed timetable – and it is good at the planning phase too. We suggest you purchase the current (ie. March 2010) issue of the Thomas Cook European Rail Timetable. Details are available on the Thomas Cook website. That will be a great asset in planning.

You might also consider getting the June issue in due course too – just to ensure that the schedules you have with you on the actual journey are bang up-to-date.

6. Apologia

So, Victor, we fear we have not answered your questions quite as you would have wished. But we hope that in these words there is something that will assist you in your travel planning. We wish you and your two traveling companions a fun time as you journey through Europe.

Susanne and Nicky run a Berlin-based editorial bureau that supplies text and images to media across Europe. Together they edit hidden europe magazine. You can read more of their writing in their regular e-brief and in the Notes section on their website.

Popularity: 1% [?]

A villa in Tuscany. Photo by Nika.

By Pete Meyers—

A few years ago my wife and I pulled a daredevil stunt: We rented a 1,100 year old villa in Tuscany and invited both sides of our families to join us for a week-long vacation.

Now, before you ask “what were you thinking?” or say “that doesn’t sound particularly Cheapo, Pete,” let me explain further.

Yes, the villa we rented was admittedly off-the-charts decadent. It had seven large bedrooms, five bathrooms, a kitchen nearly as large as my current apartment, a billiard room, a dining room, a massive living room area, an in-ground pool whose gorgeousness was eclipsed only by its vineyard view, and—somewhat inexplicably—a separate, small chapel on the grounds. And just to round it off, there were also large stone lion statues adjacent to the front doors, greeting us upon our return from schlepping around the countryside.

But did we mention the entire week-long stay cost each person roughly $70 per night? Sure, you can beat the pants off that price at a number of our Editor’s Picks in Florence (while actually being in Florence rather than a 45-minute drive outside) but for everything that the villa had to offer, we felt the price was reasonable. And for the sheer experience of the endeavor we were willing to shell out a few extra euros.

But looking back on our trip, there are a number of tips and recommendations that would have been helpful to know when we were planning our stay. Here are some things to consider when renting a villa in Tuscany:

1. Prepare to “hub” it.

If you’re planning to explore a particular region - rather than just one specific city - renting a villa makes sense. Our villa was located near the village of Traversa, making it easy to “hub it” and visit Florence, Pisa, Siena, Cinque Terre, Bologna, and even Venice during our trip. Which brings us to our next tip…

2. Get ready to drive.

Rent a car and plan on driving it a lot. This might seem obvious to most, but prior to our trip we didn’t really consider how frequently we’d be driving around the region. Fortunately we had several eager drivers among us who were particularly adept with manual transmissions. Otherwise, we likely wouldn’t have strayed too far from our residence. Which, again, brings us to our next tip…

3. Get cooking.

While most villa rental agencies offer decadent, home-cooked meals on the premises at an extra cost, part of what made our experience so special was handling all meals ourselves (plus it saved a whole lot of money). There was never any shortage of ingredients at local markets for our nightly dinners and we found that a large part of our daily routine revolved around dinner planning. And we loved it.

4. Get ready for some family time.

For our group, part of what made renting a villa so special was traveling as a big family. Sure, we experienced our fair share of “I think it’s your turn to do the dishes” moments, but we still frequently reflect and laugh about our hysterical experience of sleeping in the Tuscan castle.

When renting a villa in Tuscany might not make sense

1. You don’t like your in-laws. Just kidding. Promise.

2. You don’t like driving through twisty, turny, slightly nerve-wracking roads. If this is the case, you might be better off staying in a city rather than in the winding hills.

3. When the math doesn’t work out. Budget wisely and consider all the incidental expenses of renting a villa. While the per person price of accommodation itself can be similar to that of  2 and 3-star hotels, you’ll also pay for food, car rentals, gas, electricity, a cleaning fee, and any other incidentals that spring up.

Websites that specialize in renting villas in Tuscany and elsewhere

There are many helpful websites that provide reservation services for villa rental throughout Europe. Most offer large format, high quality photos that should stir up your excitement. Here are a few that we recommend checking out:

Parker Villas - Specializes in villas through Italy. Parker Villas was one of the first villa rental agencies we discovered when we started our search.

Tuscany Now - Large listing of villas for rent in Tuscany, Umbria, Lazio, Sicily, and other regions in Italy.

VRBO - While not technically a villa reservation agency, VRBO does feature many properties in Tuscany and beyond, plus the rates tend to be a bit more reasonable.

Cuendet - Offers villas in Croatia, Italy, France, and Spain (and was the website we used when booking ours).

Tell us: Have you ever rented a villa in Italy or elsewhere? Share your experience with other Cheapos by leaving a comment below.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Is that in Airplane Mode? Photo by Jorge Quinteros.

By Tom Meyers—

If you’re an American iPhone user getting ready to take a trip to Europe, you’ve likely been warned about using your iPhone abroad. After all, AT&T’s rates for international data use can be confusing, and misunderstanding your usage or iPhone setup could be a very costly mistake.

I just returned from two weeks in Europe, one spent in Paris and one in Venice. This was a work trip, during which I visited about 90 hotels for EuroCheapo. I brought along my laptop, but what to do with my iPhone? Was there an economical way to use it in France and Italy? Should I pay for one of the international data packages offered by AT&T? Should I just leave the thing in New York?

When taking a pleasure trip, I usually turn off my phone before blast-off and leave it off until I return to JFK. (This has become increasingly inconvenient, however, in recent years as connecting with friends abroad is obviously aided by sending text messages. Those, however, don’t always work with American cell phones and require international roaming, which puts you at risk of receiving phone calls from home — which will cost you.)

In any case, I realized that my iPhone could be handy. It’s nice to stay on top of emails, download the latest news from the New York Times, and be on my way. But how to do it without going broke?

Advice from AT&T

AT&T, the exclusive US carrier for the iPhone, offers a number of international phone and data packages for Americans taking their phones abroad. The day before take-off, I called and spoke to a customer service representative about my options.

Two weeks later I’m still “processing” that conversation. Let’s just say there are a lot of variables at play, including whether or not you expect to use your iPhone abroad to a) place international phone calls, b) receive international phone calls, c) send and receive emails, d) browse the web, and e) use iPhone applications. Each of these points carries its own possible traps and, of course, AT&T offers a “package” to address each issue.

Just want to make calls on your iPhone from abroad?

If you plan to use your phone to make and receive calls, you can opt for the AT&T World Traveler feature (currently $5.99 month), which gives you a discounted price for making and receiving calls. Using this feature, placing or receiving a call from France and Italy would drop from $1.29 to $.99 per minute. Not exactly cheap.

Don’t forget that receiving a call will also cost you – even if you don’t answer it. If the call connects to your phone, it’s billable.

Important: If you choose to only make and receive calls abroad, don’t forget to deactivate your data roaming. But we’ll get to that…

Sending and receiving emails and browsing the Web from abroad

For sending and receiving emails, browsing the web, and using applications, AT&T advises you to purchase an international data roaming package. Stay with me here. These packages are available in four sizes, from 20 MB of international data transfer (for $24.99) to 200 MB of international data transfer (for $199). (Prices current as of March 2010.)

So, say you go with the $24.99 package. What exactly does that mean? How many emails can you send and receive with 20 MB of “data transfer”? How many web pages can you browse? Which applications can you use? That, of course, depends…

Hence, my headache. I had read horror stories of travelers buying a data package only to find that they surpassed it early in their trip by opening some “heavy” email messages or browsing image-rich websites.

AT&T’s tips for avoiding a billing “surprise”

In AT&T’s customer service center, the carrier offers tips for avoiding these sorts of surprise. The tips, which are quite helpful, include:

1) Turn off data roaming.

You’ll find this under Settings > General > Network > Data Roaming. (To make it easy, the iPhone even says “Turn data roaming off when abroad to avoid substantial roaming charges when using email, web browsing, and other data services.) If you’re using your iPhone to simply make and receive phone calls, make sure you do this.

2) Turn fetch data “Off”.

This prevents your iPhone from automatically checking for emails. To access this, go to Setting > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Fetch New Data. Switch “Push” to “Off” and click “Manually”. Once switched, you’ll have to manually tell your phone to send and receive emails.

3) Consider purchasing an international data package.

As I mentioned above, AT&T offers four data packages, ranging from $29.99 to $199. If you are planning, at any point during your trip, to use a data network to access the web or use emails, you are strongly advised to get some sort of plan. 

4) Reset the usage tracker to zero.

This is interesting. Under Settings > Usage, you can see how many MB of data you’ve sent and received since you last reset the statistics. Theoretically, then, you could reset your statistics, and then track your subsequent bandwidth – perfect for those who have purchased an international bandwidth plan, right?

The only hiccup with this, unfortunately, is that the stats aren’t always up-to-date. It turns out that AT&T can have substantial delays in reporting international data usage (as international carriers are actually providing you with the network and then, later, reporting it back to AT&T). This means, well, that you certainly can’t rely on this metric for tracking your use in real-time.

5) Switch to Wi-Fi instead of data networks.

Bingo.

Airplane is my answer

Having discussed the options to the point of delirium, I basically threw in the towel and chose the most extreme option. Unfortunately, I had this sneaking suspicion that even with an international roaming package in place, I’d carelessly open an email with a dozen photos of my cats and wind up with a $4,000 phone bill.

Thus, frustrated and paranoid, I opted for “Airplane Mode.”

Airplane Mode blocks phone and data networks from going into and out of your iPhone. Wi-Fi networks, however, are accessible. It basically turns your iPhone into an iPod Touch. Airplane Mode is accessible under Settings > Airplane Mode.

Flying solo

The decision to use my iPhone for two weeks in Airplane Mode meant, of course, that to send and receive emails I needed to access a free Wi-Fi network. It also meant that I wouldn’t be able to send and receive text messages or make phone calls. In a separate post, I’ll explain how I went about finding free Wi-Fi networks in Paris and Venice.

Of course, my simple “Airplane Mode” solution won’t work for everyone. Some travelers will obviously need to use their phones to send and receive calls and texts. Others will need predictable email and web service. For these users, I’d suggest calling AT&T, adding some international services, turning off “fetch,” and still using “airplane mode” whenever possible.

However, for Cheapos like me who simply need an occasional connection, consider flying on “Airplane Mode” during your trip. You’ll relax about charges and still have basic services.

Tell us: Have you taken your iPhone abroad? Do you have any tips for avoiding surprise charges? Do you think I’m a big wimp for relying on Airplane Mode for two weeks? Tell us about your experience in the comments section.

Popularity: 4% [?]

A Vaporetto pulling into station. Photo: Tom Meyers

By Monica Cesarato in Venice—

Transportation around Venice can be very expensive—and I’m not even talking about using water taxis, which have a pricing system (yikes!) of their own. I am talking about “public transportation,” which in Venice mostly means taking the “vaporetti” (water bus) up and down the Grand Canal.

A single trip on a vaporetto costs €6.50, whether you take the boat for one stop or for a whole Grand Canal tour. Fortunately, however, there is a system designed for tourists that will help you save some serious money.

Tourist Travel Cards

In the last few years ACTV (Venice’s bus and boat system) realized that they had to come up with a tourist transportation card, so they created seven different types of “tourist travel cards,” each valid for a different period of time.

Travel cards are available for 12 hours (€16), 24 hours (€18), 36 hours (€23), 48 hours (€28), 72 hours (€33), three-day youth card (for people between 18-29 years old - €18), and seven-day cards (€50). (Prices are accurate as of March 2010. Visit the ACTV website for current prices.)

With these travel cards you can hop on and off any vaporetto (including those to the islands of Murano, Burano, and Torcello) and on all buses travelling within the city of Venice (including to Mestre and Marco Polo Airport). These cards eliminate the need to queue every time to buy a ticket and to carry change with you.

The tickets are not exactly cheap, but considering you have unlimited use of the transport system, they are well worth it. Just think how much it would cost you if you wanted to visit Murano-Burano and Torcello and you had to pay for each single trip.

Where to buy Tourist transportation tickets

You can buy these transport passes at any vaporetto stop (there are usually ticket offices at the stops, otherwise you can buy on board and the almost always speaks English), in Piazzale Roma (in the ACTV ticket office), or in any tobacco shop that displays the “ACTV” sign.

Tip: Combine transportation and museums in one pass

In 2009, the Comune di Venezia introduced a combined card for transport and museums that can save you up to 25% on a variety of museum passes. The savings varies depending on the period (low season, high season, special events, etc.).

Unfortunately, the card can only be purchased online and must be purchased more than two days before your arrival date in Venice. So the earlier you book it, the greater the saving. For more information and to buy a card, visit http://www.veniceconnected.com.

About the author: Monica Cesarato runs her own B&B on the Riviera del Brenta, just outside Venice. She also blogs about life in Venice and the Italian lifestyle http://www.monicacesarato.com.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Piazza San Marco, February 25, 2010. Photos by Tom Meyers.

By Tom Meyers in Venice—

February 26, 2010: I awoke this morning at 5:55 to the sound of an alarm. It wasn’t my travel alarm clock, however. It was more of a siren, it was moving in the street, and it was loud. Once I remembered that I was in a hotel in Venice, all worries were cast aside. This could only be one thing: The flooding had begun!

Although excited (a bit like a child on Christmas morning), I had no difficulty falling back asleep, lulled by the steady rainfall. At 9 AM, when I went downstairs to breakfast, I headed straight to the hotel’s front door to check out the scene. Sure enough, the water had come, turning my street, the Calle de Botteghe, into a stream.

A metal water guard.

My hotel is the charming, 10-room Locanda Art Deco just off Campo Santo Stefano, in Venice’s San Marco district. Last night before heading to bed, the receptionist had warned me about the water’s expected arrival. “It should start in the morning and peak at 10 AM, when it hits 1.15 meters [above the water table],” he explained. They really have this down to a science.

I’ve been in Venice all week, visiting about 50 hotels for our Venice guide, updating reviews and scouting out new picks. In between rooms, I’ve had a chance to talk water with the hotel owners. Yesterday, one owner showed me a text message she received during the day warning her of today’s expected flooding. They’re high-tech!

The water hits the city unevenly, depending on elevation. The Piazza San Marco is one of the lowest points in the city, and is thus constantly flooded. I took the photo at the top of this post yesterday in the piazza, while hardly any other streets were flooded. Note the pedestrian walkways the city constructs to help tourists cross the most heavily-trafficked areas.

This morning, I approached the hotel’s front door to find a metal guard secured in the doorway, locked against the front of the building to keep the stream at bay.

The Calle de Botteghe, this morning.

The morning receptionist explained that, in fact, the water wasn’t as bad as expected. “They told us to expect 1.15, but it turns out it will only be 1.05,” she told me, with a bit of a smile and a shrug. That’s nothing, in fact. If it goes over 1.2 meters, the water will enter the hotel’s lobby, forcing them to move all of the furniture (and there’s quite a bit!) up a staircase to the second landing.

Meanwhile, outside on the Calle de Botthege, Venetians sloshed by in their rubber boots, unfazed. A delivery man pushed a cart past the hotel stacked with boxes headed for the wine shop next door. Life goes on.

The water is set to peak at 10 AM (which is, by the way, right now as I write this in my room), and then subside over the next hour. The rain stopped about two hours ago, but it will take that long for Venice’s drainage system to do its work.

As for the city’s tourists, you either stay put and wait, or shove off. A British couple sitting at the breakfast table next to me decided to go for it. With the rest of us watching from our tables, they stood a bit apprehensively at the door, behind the metal guard, “Lonely Planet” in hand, sporting their heaviest shoes (decidedly not rubber boots). And then they took the plunge. The water went up over their feet, and they pushed off down the street.

As for me, I’ll give it a few minutes to drain before I set sail. But alas, the rain just picked up again.

Hmmm. Which pair of shoes do you think…

Popularity: 3% [?]

Genoa's old harbour. Photo by hidden europe.

By Nicky Gardner and Susanne Kries in Berlin—

Arriving at one of Europe’s great port cities other than by boat is a travel no-no. The planners who oversaw the growth of great ports such as Cádiz or Constanta, Venice or Genoa assumed that visitors, be they friend or foe, would naturally arrive by sea.

Yet so many travellers today, in their pursuit of speed, choose back-door routes into ancient ports, and thus fail to get the right perspective on their chosen destination.

Venice: Arriving in style

That’s one of the reasons why we at hidden europe are so keen on the Alilaguna water bus services that connect Venice’s Marco Polo airport with the city centre. Our favorite Alilaguna run is the “blue route” which takes 80 minutes to reach San Marco from the airport, with stops along the way at the island of Murano and the Venice Lido. The final run into San Marco is exquisite, with superb views of the Isola di San Giorgio Maggiore and tantalising glimpses, up beyond the landing stage at San Marco, to the seaward end of the Canal Grande.

Genoa connections

Last week, we hopped along the coast of Liguria by boat, and much enjoyed the forty-minute run from Pegli into Genoa’s old port on a local ferry. This was not one of those posh tourist boats, but rather a humble municipal ferry run by local company AMT Genova.

Pegli is a nice enough spot, worth a visit in itself. The ferry from Pegli quay to Genoa leaves ten times each day (six times daily at weekends and public holidays), and is a great deal. A modest outlay of €1.20 (€2 if purchased on board) will get you an AMT Genova ticket valid on the company’s buses and boat services (and local trains, too) for 90 minutes. Enough to allow you to cruise from Pegli to Genoa and back again if you wish.

Ports for the future

True, if you have time and funds to spare, you could board one of the stylish Grandi Navi Veloci (GNV) ferries in Tunis or Tangier and a day or two later arrive at the modern ferry terminal west of Genoa’s city centre. But the AMT ship, called the “Onda Azzurra,” outsmarts the GNV long distance ferries by sailing right into the very heart of Genoa’s old port. On the way over from Pegli, you’ll see thousands of cranes, skirt the wharves of a busy working port, and then gaze on Genoa at its best—a fabulous medley of palazzi and churches rising in tiers behind the old port.

It would be sheer perfection, had not traffic planners in the mid-sixties constructed an elevated highway that skirts the waterfront, so creating an eyesore that unhappily severs the visual link between the old port and the ancient city it once served. The “Strada sopraelevata” is an environmental disaster, a travesty that mocks a once handsome port, but built at a time when city planners thought that ports were a mere relic of history.

The renaissance of the Porto Antico in Genoa over the last fifteen years shows just how wrong those planners were. Today the quaysides bustle as visitors queue to see one of Europe’s largest aquariums, locals throng waterfront bars and restaurants, and migrants from Senegal tout some of the strangest designer handbags and sunglasses that we’ve ever seen.

About the authors: Susanne Kries and Nicky Gardner are regular contributors to EuroCheapo and together edit hidden europe magazine.

Also see: Our recommended list of budget hotels in Venice.

Popularity: 11% [?]

Glass blowing is hot stuff; photo by dreadpiratejeff

In Venice, land of gondolas and Guggenheims (Peggy, that is), glass artisans have always thrived. In fact, the island directly north of the city center, Murano, is known as “Glass Island.” Since the 1200s, Venice’s major talents in the glass industry have set up shop here, first making one-of-a-kind pieces for royalty and today, offering their services to the masses.

Glass pass

A trip to Murano is easy, but here’s a quick primer: First, we recommend wandering the streets of Venice proper. Get lost (it’s easy to do!) and browse the windows of the trendy glass shops. Chances are you’ll fall in love with a delicate lamp, or maybe a colorful ashtray, or just a pretty set of wine glasses.

Then, instead of paying retail, hop on a vaporetto and head to Murano. Take in a free glass blowing demonstration. If you’re not visiting one of the bigger factories, there’s no need to make an appointment. Simply stop in and start watching. Most artisans will let you walk right into their warehouses while they’re working. If you’re really lucky, you’ll meet and talk to one of the traditionally trained glass blowers or artists.

Next, ask for a sample (this really only applies to those smaller shops, not factories). Sometimes, they’ll hand you a remnant of colored glass free of charge. Most often, you can buy their unique glass art at a discounted cost.

Or, if you’ve got €5.50 (€3 reduced) to spare, take a tour of the Museo Vetrario (The Glass House). For information including restoration projects and opening and closing times, go here (click on the subheads on the left).

Fun fact: The most well known glass blowers in town are Pauly & C (Compagnia Veneto). Visit their web site (in Italian only) for information about the artists that work there.

Mura-no-no

Ok, so it’s true that people in glass houses (or factories) shouldn’t throw stones. But, just a quick and diplomatic tourist trap note: We’ve heard tales that the Vecchia Murano Glass Factory can be pricey once you’re through the front door. As usual, we suggest sticking with the Ma and Pop glass shops and those single artisan stores.

For more on visiting Murano, go here.

Popularity: 15% [?]

Venice pasta selection. Photo by Daneen Vol.

It’s true, you can buy a bag of pasta just about anywhere. However, purchasing colorful pasta in Venice not only carries the stamp of Italian authenticity, but it offers a cheap and tasty solution to a potentially costly dilemma!

Check-out bags of pasta in Venice

Pasta’s story goes way back: The Chinese had noodles in 1500 BC, the Greeks had “lagana” in the second century, and the Arabs may have brought pasta to Sicily. Though the origins of pasta in modern Italy are uncertain, it is clear that local chefs and manufacturers have turned strips of dough into a very profitable trade.

When in the twisty streets of Venice, we suggest starting your pasta search at the iconic Rialto Bridge spanning the Grand Canal. Walk west toward the Pescheria, the fish market, also along the canal. Keep your eyes peeled for food specialty shops of all kinds.

Small bags of rigatoni, farfalle, and pennoni lisci start at around €3. Aliani (Casa del Parmigiano) at Erberia Rialto 214/5 in the San Polo district, near the vegetable market, has been open since 1936 and sells cheese, pasta, and ready-made picnic dishes. To start your mouth-watering research online, check out Gourmet Pantry’s Italian pasta inventory.

While you’re at it…

Tear out of town with a few sheets of marbled paper. Venetians specialize in the art of dipping paper into liquid gum before adding paint to create swirls of visual delight. Alberto Valese-Ebrû at Camiello Santo Stefano 3471 in San Marco uses the marbling technique on fabrics and papers. Prices vary depending on paper quality and craftsmanship.

Popularity: 14% [?]

Locanda Casa Querini
Castello 4388 - Campo San Zaninovo
Venice, Italy

Doubles: €93-197

Venice can be an tricky place to find reasonable accommodations. You dream of a room facing a canal, or at least something with a nice view. And, that will cost you.

Thankfully, there are several hotels in our hotel guide to Venice where rooms with a view can be had at reasonable rates. Take, for instance, the lovely Locanda Casa Querini, where half of the 11 rooms look out onto the surprisingly tranquil Santo Giovanni Novo square.

Benefiting from its prime location minutes from San Marco square, Querini’s rooms sparkle with bright, blue tones. After our visit here, we were screaming, “Love the bedspreads, the curtains, the carpeting! Love all of it!”

Read our full review of the Casa Querini.

Also see: Our full list of recommended budget hotels in Venice.

Popularity: 10% [?]

If you can pull your gaze from the winding canals and floating gondolas, you’ll find there’s plenty of art to see in Venice. Many of the Italian masters, including Titian, Tintoretto, and Giorgione, have artwork on display around the city.

While the biggest museums, such as the Gallerie dell’Accademia and the Ca’ d’Oro charge anywhere from €2.50 to €6.50 for admission, Venetian churches (many of which still hold daily mass) are treasure troves of free art.

Art history at the Chiesa di San Moise

The Chiesa di San Moise, in Venice’s San Marco neighborhood, is a particularly worthwhile example. Built in the 8th-Century, this church has had enough time to acquire extravagant baroque touches-and it shows! Highlights include:

• Facade: Outside, covering the facade, you’ll find a line-up of worthy cherubs and statues.
• Statues: Inside, San Moise is decked out with busts of Italian aristocrats, Tintoretto’s “La Lavanda dei Piedi,” and bronze angels.
• Alter: A depiction of Moses on Mount Sinai graces the altar.
• Organ: An 18th century-organ is occasionally opened for public recitals.

Not bad for one church!

Visiting the church

The Chiesa di San Moise is open daily from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. The church is reachable by vaporetto stop San Marco del Giglio (Line 1). Check out the official site for more info. 

Also see: Our recommended budget hotels in Venice.

Popularity: 12% [?]