Posts by author hiddeneurope
Approaching Cologne station via the Hohenzollern Bridge. Photo © hidden europe magazine
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
Aix-en-Provence makes a debut appearance on the Eurostar network in May 2013. Photo: Andrea C.
Eurostar is the slick train service that has for almost 20 years provided a reliable high-speed link between London and two capital cities on the continent: Paris and Brussels. Fair fares and high speed With adult return fares from London to Brussels and Paris currently available from £59 return, budget-conscious British travelers are well aware » Read more
Orthodox architecture on display at the Rila Monastery. Photo: Donald Judge
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
Explore the entire Southern network on trips out from London with a DaySave pass for just 12 pounds. Photo © hidden europe
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
London to Paris for £4 on Megabus. Photo: Eastleighbusman
Last week we looked at how the liberalization of regulations around long-distance coach services is reshaping the transport map of Europe. We noted in particular how big changes are afoot in Germany. Now let’s take a peek at a new network of services linking England with France and beyond. In recent months, budget coach operators » Read more
Britain's National Express coach service may be coming soon to Germany. Photo: Ell Brown
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
Art Nouveau architecture on display in Melilla. Photo: Fenand0
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
Looe in South Cornwall. Photo © hidden europe
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
The recently re-opened Kornhaus Restaurant on the banks of the River Elbe in Dessau. All photos © hidden europe
We have all been affected by Bauhaus. The distinctive school of art, architecture and design developed in Germany after World War I. This essentially modernist movement thrived in the liberal pieties of the period. But those pieties were ruthlessly quashed by the Nazis, who drove many of the Bauhaus leaders into exile. That cruel expedient » Read more
It requires a little patience to purchase tickets for Christmas and beyond due to the timetable change on 9 December. Photo © hidden europe
For travelers well used to booking their European rail tickets months in advance, this time of the year can be frustrating. Following the general precept that many train tickets can be booked three months in advance, you’d have every reason to expect that tickets for Christmas and early January are just now becoming available. New » Read more
Historic ensemble on the main square in Torgau, Germany. Photos © hidden europe
Last month we sung the praises of small towns on the River Elbe, and it was our enthusiasm for that river which last weekend drew us to Torgau. Bypassed by freeways and main rail routes, Torgau catches the flavors of small-town Germany. It is laid-back, unpretentious and inexpensive. Reforming zeal Torgau is a place that » Read more
The Eurostar Terminal in London's St. Pancras Station. Photo ©hidden europe
One of the questions we are often asked is “where do you recommend buying train tickets for journeys from Britain to the Continent?” The good news is that there are many vendors with which we have had very positive experiences in buying tickets (single or return) for journeys that originate in Great Britain. And our » Read more
Wandering and wondering in Bari, Italy. Photo © hidden europe
We have become great fans of less-planned journeys. Cast back a generation and travelers were much less worried about having every aspect of their itinerary planned out in advance. There was a happy spontaneity to travel. That’s changed. Nowadays, travelers view their vacations as investments that need to be properly planned and carefully managed. The » Read more
Meissen on the Elbe River. All photos © hidden europe magazine
With a length from source to sea of over 1,000 kilometers, the Elbe is one of Europe’s great rivers. And in Dresden and Hamburg, the River Elbe boasts two showcase cities that are in the premier league of destinations for travelers to Europe. Smaller is Better Yet to really catch the flavor of Elbe landscapes » Read more
The line of the Wall on Bernauer Strasse. All photos © hidden europe magazine
Ask many visitors what drew them to Berlin this summer and the chances are that they will mention “the Wall.” Odd, is it not, that one of the major attractions of the German capital is a wall that is no longer there? Dark tourism Berlin is a standard stop-off point on Europe’s dark tourism circuit, » Read more
Church and houses in the Bavarian town of Mittenwald. Photos ©hidden europe magazine
Germany is not blessed with much of the Alps, and most of the country’s small Alpine towns live well from tourism. They are not, it has to be said, our favorite spots. Bad Reichenau and Garmisch-Partenkirchen are more resorts than real mountain communities. Oberstdorf has sold its soul to skiing, and Füssen is overcrowded with » Read more
A slow train through the vineyards. Photo © hidden europe magazine
“I really had to cover a lot of miles to make sure I got good value from my Eurail pass.” We’ve heard comments like that often, and you surely have, too. It is a refrain uttered by folk as they return home from a manic dash around Europe, sometimes even covering seven capitals in as » Read more
The capital of the Republic of San Marino on Mount Titano. Photos © hidden europe
Little San Marino, the independent republic in the Apennines, is a gem. And like most gems, you have to take time to appreciate it. Forget the overpriced day trips touted by bus operators, and instead plan to spend two or three days in San Marino. By day This diminutive polity, with its capital (also called » Read more
The European Commission, the Strasbourg Parliament and the Council of Europe have all done their bit to help shape Europeans’ perceptions of their shared continent. But, for many Europeans of a certain age, it was an innovation in rail ticketing 40 years ago this summer that did more than any institution to forge their views » Read more
Athens awaits. Photo: Fernando
Tourism in Greece hasn’t fared at all badly this past year or two. Indeed, in 2011 visitor numbers were very buoyant as travelers who might otherwise have taken vacations in Egypt or Tunisia opted instead for Greece. Greece was a key beneficiary of the Arab Spring. Germany shuns Greece Yet over the past year, Greek » Read more
Americans have been drawn to Florence for more than a century. Photo © hidden europe
A dense web of connections links America with Florence. Some argue it massively invigorates the Tuscan city, while others aver that Florentine life has been distorted by the American impact on the city. What view you take on the American influence on Florence, there is no doubt that the Italian city (as seen through American eyes) » Read more
Girls marching in a Constitution Day parade in Szczecin, Poland. Photo: Wlodi
If you’ve been traveling in Europe this week, were you caught unawares by a spate of public holidays? Over 40 countries and territories across the continent took time out Tuesday for May Day while some countries opted for a double dose of May Day festivities. In Russia, for example, both Monday and Tuesday were public holidays, » Read more
Poznan, Poland is always worth a revisit. Photo © hidden europe
“I’ve done central Europe and have no real interest in going back,” said the traveler we ran into on the train though Spain last month. Cities from Berlin to Budapest had, it seemed, been ticked off as done and dusted. It’s a common view that, as long as there is virgin territory waiting to be » Read more
Seduced by sunshine in Santa Margherita Ligure. Photo © hidden europe
Yes, we’ve been traveling a lot of late. Over the last 40 days, our travels have taken us from Cadiz to Hamburg and from the Alps to the Apennines. We have paddled in the Atlantic and the Adriatic and taken in a few cities too: Florence, Madrid, Paris, Zürich, Poznan and more. It has, in » Read more
An Erzgebirgsbahn train pauses as the Czech village of Potucky. Photo © hidden europe
“What’s the best way from X to Y?” It is a query we’ve read a thousand times here on EuroCheapo, and it comes in various guises on hundreds of other travel forums: from Fodor’s to Frommer’s, from BootsnAll to the Thorn Tree. For those who pose such questions “best” probably equates “cheapest” or “fastest.” But » Read more
