Maiden's Tower at sunset. Photo by Audrey Sykes.

By Audrey Sykes—

It’s unsurprising that a city like Istanbul, with a population of about 12.6 million, offers an endless list of sight-seeing must-visits. Considering that even small expenses can add up, here are five pointers to help keep your budget in check.

Transport: Use one-ways wisely

Getting around Istanbul can be tough to figure out. One of the most important things to know is that the city’s public transport fares are one-way. The driver will charge about 1.5 Turkish Lira each time you hop on. In short, plan a destination route from Point A to B as directly as possible before boarding the bus or tram. This will help avoid frivolous spending, getting dumped in an unfamiliar spot, and developing a serious headache.

Bazaar Tip: Shop outside the Bazaar’s center

Istanbul’s Bazaar is full of flavorful smells, sights, and sounds… most of which is available for purchase. Bargaining is common, although prices can start high and flexibility might not be as loose as desired. The best way to find a cheap price is to venture through the 60+ alleyways that cut through the heart of the Bazaar. In the end, finding the “local’s corner” can mean finding scarves for one-fourth of the price quoted in the Bazaar’s center.

On the Bosphorus: Regular ferries are the cheapest

Many boat companies advertise similarly-routed tours along the Bosphorus at high prices. The best price, however, for a few-hour’s journey along the strait will be found by simply taking the local ferry. For 7.50 Turkish Lira (roundtrip) take the ferry from Eminonu leaving at 10:35 AM (winter and summer), noon, and 1:35 PM (summer only). The ending point is Anadolu, a scenic area from where the Black Sea is visible.

Nightlife: Head to Taksim for moderately-priced Istanbul fun

Forget about finding affordable meals and deals near the Sultanahmet area. Head to Taksim to experience a lively nightlife scene to which the city’s locals flock. Nargile cafes, restaurants, and a slew of clubs are packed into the district, and prices won’t shock your budget. Places along Taksim Square and the major shopping street are still costly and lack the local flavor found within alleys and side streets.

A Breather: The easiest escape for peace and romance

In-between the Europe and Asian side of Istanbul is the Maiden’s Tower (or Kiz Kuelsi), a small island smack dab in the middle of the Bosphorus ideal for gazing at sunsets and panoramic photo ops. At the bottom sits a restaurant a bit on the steep side; on top you’ll find a more modestly priced café. Ferries frequently run back and forth from both sides of the city (7 Turkish Lira roundtrip). It’s an overall incredible view of Istanbul’s sparkling city landscape in a quiet, tranquil setting.

About the author: Audrey Sykes hopped across the pond from the US three years ago for a Masters degree in global journalism. Since then, she’s lived all over Europe, reporting and editing for music sites, snowboard mags, and travel media.

Popularity: 4% [?]

The Guggenheim Bilbao. Photos by Alex Robertson Textor.

By Alex Robertson Textor—

The unveiling of Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum in 1997 may have inserted Bilbao into international hipster consciousness, but the Basque city on the river clearly knew it was cool long before Gehry’s agenda was realized.

Bilbao is an immediately attractive city with green parks and a pleasingly well-heeled atmosphere. There are so many exciting things going on in Bilbao that it’s hard to know if the focus should be on the new or on the old.

Architectural draw

Santiago Calatrava's Campo Volantin Footbridge.

The city has become a magnet for those thrilled by contemporary architecture. Gehry’s museum is a masterpiece, and Santiago Calatrava’s imprint on the city is also undeniable. His Campo Volantin Footbridge is a marvel, and Bilbao’s Sondika Airport, also designed by Calatrava, is dramatic and grand.

But lovers of older styles shouldn’t sit Bilbao out. The city’s Casco Viejo (Old Town) is dripping with old world charm. The Gothic Catedral de Santiago, at the center of the Old Town, is gorgeous; elsewhere, there are plenty of Neoclassical and hybrid eclecticism buildings to admire.

A touch of tension

Yet despite Bilbao’s palpable prosperity and many charms, there’s tension in the air. Upon observing a protest adjacent to the Arriaga Theatre led by men and women in their sixties and seventies, many holding signs written in Basque, I asked a local what the protests were about. I assumed that the protesters were holding a vigil for those murdered by separatist terrorists.

Bilbao's Casco Viejo (Old City).

In fact, the man on the street told me, the silent protest was not for the victims of Basque terrorism at all. Those holding signs were the parents of convicted terrorists demonstrating for the transfer of their children to prisons inside the Basque Country—away from the prisons, elsewhere in Spain, where they are currently housed.

All of this, while very interesting, no doubt gives a misleading impression of the placid and quite wealthy city. In fact, Bilbao is very safe. The various skirmishes over language, culture, and politics in the Basque Country are mostly invisible to visitors.

What tourists see is an omnipresent Basque language, as well as tourist shops selling Basque flags and t-shirts.

Bilbao on a budget

Here are five tips for saving money in Bilbao.

1. Cheap savories.

One word: pintxos (pronounced “pinchos”), or: the Basque version of tapas. Pintxos come in all sorts of forms. There is a lot of cod, shrimp, and mayonnaise involved. All good, and all pretty cheap. Three pintxos and a glass of wine shouldn’t set you back more than €7. Stroll the Casco Viejo (Old Town) to find a pintxos popping perch.

2. Cheap sweets.

Refuel with cheap and filling pastries. Try the local rice tart with coffee. We like the old school feel of New York Café, at Calle Buenos Aires 12.

Take the Bilbobus!

3. Hubbing it.

Bilbao makes a great hub for exploring other cities in the Basque Country and beyond. The exquisite city of San Sebastián is about 90 minutes away by bus (roundtrip around €18), while Santander in the neighboring region of Cantabria is roughly the same distance to the west (roundtrip beginning at €13).

4. Museum switch.

We can’t seriously recommend that you not visit the Guggenheim. But if innovative interiors are less important to you than broad permanent art collections, restrict your explorations of the Guggenheim (admission €13) to the remarkable building’s exterior and check out the Museo de Bellas Artes (admission €5.50) instead.

5. Cheap sleeps.

Bilbao has a good range of affordable beds. We like Hotel Sirimiri, right next to the Atxuri tram station, where a double room runs just €60. The word “sirimiri” means a faint yet continuous mist, a type of precipitation common to Bilbao throughout much of the year.

About the author: Alex Robertson Textor is Editor-at-Large at EuroCheapo. He writes travel stories for the New York Post, New York Times, and Rough Guides, among other publications, and he also maintains Spendthrift Shoestring, a blog on budget travel and culture.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Plage de Pompierre, Terre-de-Haut.

By Alex Robertson Textor—

The island of Terre-de-Haut in the tiny Les Saintes archipelago just south of Guadeloupe is a little slice of Francophone heaven in the midst of the Caribbean. But unlike St. Barts, another tiny French Caribbean isle, Terre-de-Haut isn’t so French that it doesn’t also feel as if it’s part of the region. Terre-de-Haut marries its Frenchness and its Caribbeanness in a hybrid that can only imperfectly be described as idyllic.

Terre-de-Haut, you see, gives new meaning to the word “lovely.”

Welcome to Terre-de-Haut.

Its one village is quaint, full of tourist shops, bakeries, markets, and restaurants. The buildings are mostly diminutive. There’s a distinctly rural French fishing village feel to the place, which no doubt has something to do with the island’s settlement history. Fishermen from Brittany and Normandy were among the island’s first settlers, and today fishing remains a big part of the local economy. In the late evening, fishermen gather on their porches to mend their nets.

Terre-de-Haut is not a shoestring destination, but it provides very good value. More developed Caribbean islands—we prefer not to name names—offer much less in terms of charm, physical beauty, and grub, yet charge much more for beds and meals. Terre-de-Haut, while not dirt cheap, is a wonderful mid-range option for travelers who want great cuisine and astounding physical beauty, yet balk at the Caribbean’s price index.

Getting There

Here’s the rub: It’s not easy to get to Terre-de-Haut.

From North America, there are two main routes: air travel via St. Maarten or San Juan to Guadeloupe’s Pointe-à-Pitre, followed by a very pricey plane to Terre-de-Haut or a less expensive ferry ride (€22 roundtrip.) We recommend the latter, of course, and we recommend leaving for Terre-de-Haut from Trois-Rivières, not Pointe-à-Pitre, in order to shorten the journey and limit the risk of terrible sea turbulence.

(Trois-Rivières is also a far more charming spot for an overnight than Pointe-à-Pitre. We recommend a fab little gîte called An Tikaz La, where a rustic double room runs €49 per night. You’ll fall asleep under a mosquito net to the scent of ylang-ylang. Proprietor Mi-Marie, originally from the Jura, will make you feel right at home.)

The beaches of Terre-de-Haut

What to Do 

In crude shorthand: 1. Go to the beach. 2. Eat.

First, beach. The beaches on Terre-de-Haut are beautiful. There’s Pain de Sucre, a miniature version of Rio’s Sugar Loaf, a perfect arc of a beach best in the early morning and late afternoon when the day-trippers from Guadeloupe aren’t around and the water is stunningly clear.

The island’s most popular beach, Plage de Pompierre, is studded with coconut trees. It is typically full of people (and goats!) but is so expansive that neither really disturbs. It’s also blessed with a one-woman baguette machine, an entrepreneur at the beach’s entrance who assembles delicious sandwiches. If you’re lucky, she’ll have fish in vinaigrette on hand.

Which brings us to food. Terre-de-Haut is a place to eat well.

At Le Triangle, a reasonable beachfront restaurant, the three-course menu is €17. The fish is fresh and delightfully seasoned, and it comes with a dreamy plantain mash. If you’re polite, your meal will close with a digestif. Up the price chain at La Téranga, Auberge des Petits Saintes, or La Saladerie, one can eat extraordinary meals starting around €40 per person for dinner. The island’s cuisine is hybrid French/Creole, and there are lots of good fresh fish dishes on offer.

Where to Stay

We love Hôtel LôBleu, a stylish, mid-range charmer run well by Maxime Naffah and his friendly staff. Doubles with a view of the village begin at €68 in low season (late May through the end of July; October) and top out at €110 in high season (mid-December through late May).

The Upshot

We’ll repeat our earlier dictum: Terre-de-Haut is not a backpackers’ destination, but it is a good midrange Caribbean holiday destination. Hotels are reasonably priced, with most offering double rooms for €80 in high season and €60 in low season. There are also a handful of gîtes on hand with even cheaper nightly rates. Restaurants are not exactly full of bargains, but nothing is outrageous or dramatically overpriced.

About the author: Alex Robertson Textor is Editor-at-Large at EuroCheapo. He writes travel stories for the New York Post, New York Times, and Rough Guides, among other publications, and he also maintains Spendthrift Shoestring, a blog on budget travel and culture.

Popularity: 9% [?]

The author in Speyer, Germany, birthplace of the pretzel.

Munich—Wandering Cheapo Reinhardt Suarez just finished up a stint living and working in Tuscany. He’s now traveling through Europe. Here, he shares his insights for traveling light à la Cheapo.

How have I made the most of my limited budget abroad? It goes without saying, “Prepare, prepare, prepare!”

Research and development

Although down-to-the-minute planning can be limiting, doing some research on the best hotels and hostels, and the best modes of transportation, is the key to saving your money later. If you can do research about your intended destination before you even get on the plane, all the better.

For me, the preparation began the day I realized I wanted to get the heck outta dodge and head back to Europe.

Through some crafty internet research and a few phone calls, I was fortunate to get hooked up with an artist residency that paid for my room and board while I was there. But I was expected to work an eight-hour day on a farm. (In my next post, I’ll explore ways that the average Cheapo can find similar kinds of set-ups.)

Here are my most important tips for a budget-friendly European experience, Wandering Cheapo-style:

1. One big meal a day is plenty.

Budget for cheap breakfasts (unless you’re in Ireland, and then that can be your big meal), grocery-store lunches (I love the sandwiches at Tesco in London), and then wolf down a bigger dinner if you like. This is especially important if you are going on a longer trip. Your money will drain fast, especially if you’re stopping here and there for bottled water, snacks, and aperitifs.

2. Make a budget for yourself that is weekly on a longer trip, daily on a shorter one.

Sometimes, you arrive in a city and find that there are great tours and museums that cannot be missed (Please don’t leave Paris without visiting the Louvre). Admission charges will quickly eat into your budget. But don’t fret. On a longer trip, think about your budget in terms of weekly caps. That way, if you go over your budget on one day, you can compensate on another day. Have fun, but keep disciplined at the same time.

3. Always have a notebook and pen handy.

Sometimes you’ll want to take notes on a place, or you’ll want to jot down the location of a cheap restaurant that you come across and want to check out later. You may need to get the e-mail of your new best friend in, say, Latvia, or the phone number of a good hostel that doesn’t offer on-line booking. Try to find a notebook with a pocket so you can collect train tickets, pamphlets and brochures, and other helpful info easily.

4. Talk to everyone.

I know that this may not seem like a budget tip, but it definitely can be. When you talk to other travelers, you find out where to go and when to go, what to spend time and money on. And when you talk to locals, you find out all sorts of money-saving insider tips about a place. You might even snag a free meal or a night’s lodging just by engaging someone’s interest. (It goes without saying, use your gut and follow your instincts along the way. If you feel uncomfortable around someone, think twice about accepting their hospitality.)

5. Everywhere you go, ask about discounts.

There are thousands of discounts to be had in Europe. If you’re a student, you’re pretty much set. Those of us who are late-blooming travelers need not worry either. Some museums and sights are cheaper - or FREE - on certain days of the week. Restaurants offer fixed-price menus at certain times of the day, often including a free beverage. Sometimes by picking up the right piece of paper in a city, or maybe a magazine or flyer, you can snag discounts on stuff. Ask, ask, and ask again. “Do you offer discounts of any kind?” You will often be happily surprised.

For more about Reinhardt’s travels, visit his blog: The Pork Chop Express.

Popularity: 9% [?]

MADRID, Spain—EuroCheapo’s “Wandering Cheapo” Kari Hoerchler arrived this week in Madrid, where she’s spending the week strolling about town. While there, we asked her to snap some shots of everyday life in Madrid on her fancy new iPhone.

While touring the city yesterday, Kari realized that orange and red, typical fall colors, show up in the most beautiful, and sometimes surprising, places in Madrid.

Sign promoting the Rembrandt exhibit at the Prado museum.

Block north of Teatro Real facing Plaza de Oriente east of Palacio Real.

Block south of Teatro Real facing Plaza de Oriente east of Palacio Real.

Entrance to Museo Taurino, at the northeast arc of the Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas, the museum to accompany Madrid’s bullfighting ring.

Guard’s chamber at Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas, the bullfighting ring.

Fountain along the Gran Via at the northeast end of the Plaza de Espana.

Many thanks to Kari Hoerchler for the colorful photos of Madrid in the fall. Enjoy the rest of your trip!

Also see: Our recommended budget hotels in Madrid.

Popularity: 9% [?]