Posts by author Tom Meyers
When planning your trip to New York, it’s easy to forget to pack your bathing suit. (After all, not many affordable hotels are blessed with swimming pools.) However, the city’s Downtown Boathouse offers kayak rides in the Hudson River throughout the summer and fall… for free! The all-volunteer boathouse has been getting New Yorkers (and visitors) into the Hudson for » Read more
The Museo Nacional del Prado is Madrid’s most famous museum. Opened to the public in 1819, today it boasts a world-class collection of European artwork, including more than 7,000 works spanning from the 12th century to the early 19th century. At any time, about 1,300 pieces of art are on display. The museum started out as a royal collection of art, » Read more
Update: Copenhagen decommissioned the free bike program in 2014 in favor of a new bike share program. Read our article on Bycyklen and how to use it for all the details. Things can get pricy pretty quickly in Copenhagen, but you can still grab some wheels for free. The city’s free bike program, called “Bycyklen » Read more
Don't miss your chance to see a show! Photo: baldeaglebluff
Prague boasts a world-class music scene, with concerts, operas, and ballets performed throughout the year in the city’s famous theaters. Best of all, tickets to these events are within even a Cheapo’s reach, as they cost a fraction of the going rate in other capital cities. You may even be able to score one for under $10. If you’re planning » Read more
Cheapo’s traveling to (or living in) New York City, take note: On Wednesday, June 18, the city’s first IKEA opened in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn. It’s notable (and controversial) for many reasons, but right now we’d like to focus on the budget travel implications of the new store. The store offers a free water taxi service » Read more
EuroCheapo in 2001. Love that look! Please excuse the self-congratulatory and very personal manner of today’s post. Next week, we’ll be back to budget travel advice. However, tomorrow, June 14, is EuroCheapo’s seventh birthday. The site launched on June 14, 2001 from my apartment in Berlin, where I spent the year living and traveling on the cheap. The first » Read more
It’s undeniable that an increase in flying is contributing to the degradation of the environment. In Europe, news reports about the effects of low-cost airlines on the environment are a regular occurrence. We’d be remiss if we didn’t acknowledge that low-cost flights in Europe are undeniably contributing to global warming. But what can you do about it, » Read more
Some items of note that flashed across our screen this week… Cheap eats in Roma It turns out we’re not the only ones blogging this week about cheap eats in Rome (read our post). Budget Travel’s blog is talking up cheap lunches in the Eternal City. Erica Firpo writes from Rome that we should say » Read more
Who IS that girl? Identify her and win “The Rough Guide to Europe on a Budget.” We’re not procrastinating, but… We were just gazing out of our window at Broadway and Houston in New York and realized that a new billboard is being painted right before our eyes! But who is she? The first comment » Read more
The gorgeous streets of the Gothic Quarter. Photo: Naval S on Flickr
A reader asks: “In Barcelona, we’re thinking of staying in the Gothic Quarter to be close to everything, but we’re worried that it’s not safe. Is this area sketchy at night?” Regina WB responds: Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter has the Cathedral, Plaza del Rey and many other fabulous sites that most visitors want to ‘oohh and » Read more
With budget airlines, you can fly between European cities for startlingly low prices. But, is there a hitch to that €20 flight from London to Venice? Maybe. Here’s our quick recap of budget airline advantages and disadvantages. Some pros 1) You can fly for cheap, especially with advance planning. How? There are many ways to fly » Read more
Let’s wind down and settle into our weekend, shall we? Even on a rainy Friday morning, we’ve found inspiration this morning flipping through some other sites. For example: The web has been busier than the Dublin airspace with stories about Ryanair. Our favorite budget travel rebel at “Less than a Shoestring” last week continued to explain “Why I » Read more
Like us, many of our readers are American. And regardless of nationality, probably all of our readers are aware of the unfortunate exchange rate currently greeting US travelers abroad. Today, for instance, the euro costs US $1.58. Yet we’re still traveling to Europe. Newspapers and magazines have been abuzz lately with articles about stretching the dollar abroad. » Read more
As previously mentioned, Pete, Mere, and I returned from Europe on Monday afternoon. After attending the ITB travel conference in Berlin, we drove to Brussels (ha! more about that later) and started the “hotel hunt” part of the trip. Pete and Meredith took on Brussels and I took the train to Bruges, where I spent five » Read more
Alas, after two weeks of traveling to Berlin, Brussels, and Bruges, these three Cheapos at Work had to fly home on Monday. Pete and Mere flew from Paris, and I returned from Brussels. Before I get into my “you won’t believe what Continental served us for breakfast” stomach-turner, I must apologize for not blogging during my » Read more
At long last, Tom, Pete, and Mere are heading off to Berlin today to attend the ITB conference through Saturday. It should be quite an event, throwing together national and city tourist boards, travel writers, travel agencies, and other industry types for three hectic days. The organizers of the event sent off a press release on Monday » Read more
Should you zip around Florence on a rental scooter? Photo: Alex Kuruz
Ah, Florence, Renaissance city of artistic treasures, architectural icons, and mouth-watering delicacies. And throngs of tourists. And locals zipping up and down tiny streets on scooters and motorcycles. If you’re an adventurous traveler, you might consider seeing the city like a local — on a cute little euro-scooter. But should you? Pros Renting a scooter in Florence makes » Read more
We love Paris. We love classical concerts and operas. And we love saving money. Thus, we combined our loves and put together a list of five ways to do culture in Paris a la cheapo. Free classical music Pick up a Pariscope, the weekly listings guide (in French), at any magazine kiosk and flip to the classical » Read more
Tourist discount cards can provide great value and a major convenience. But, they can also create a major headache when trying to evaluate their value. Today, we turn to Barcelona… The Barcelona Card The city-run Barcelona Turisme office issues the Barcelona Card as a two-day pass (€25), three-day pass (€30), four-day pass (€34), and five-day » Read more
If you’ve ever visited the fabulous Uffizi museum in Florence, you probably know that your first hour (or two) there can often be spent waiting in a long, slow ticket line. And, that’s if you’re lucky. After all, the museum puts a daily cap on total entrants, so if you arrive on really busy days or after » Read more
You’ve found a great budget hotel in Paris and you’ve searched around on CheapoSearch for the best rates from different booking agencies for your dates. And then it hits you: How can there be different rates for the same dates in the same hotel? And why are these small hotels offering booking with online agencies, anyhow? » Read more
Running in Paris. Photograph by Tudre
Visiting Paris as a tourist usually means long days of hiking across town, climbing steps, and carrying a backpack. With so much physical activity, you can just forget about the need to hit the gym, right? Well, for us it also means days that begin with a butter croissant (268 calories) and end with a creme caramel (759 » Read more
If you’re the kind of Cheapo who prefers a rollicking “hostel environment” to a quiet mom-and-pop hotel, you should consider a Busabout bus tour of Europe, if you’re traveling during the summer months. What is it? Busabout operates a “hop on hop off” bus line that shuttles young and indie travelers along “loops” of major European cities. » Read more
Alas, with Roman hotel rates higher than ever and the dollar at depressing lows against the euro, it can be difficult to find any budgetary relief for tourists in Italy’s capital city. Or is it? This morning we were doing a little research on the value of “all-in-one” tourist passes in Rome, when we » Read more
Yes, you can find affordable coffee in London! Photo: Jeremy Keith
While walking to the office this morning, coffee splashing out of our coffee cup sip-top, we started wondering: If we were in London right now, where would we grab a morning cup of joe and how much would it cost? When last we pounded the pavement researching hotels in London for our guide, we remembered » Read more
