Europe On A Budget

[labadabdab]

I have business trip next month to Germany and might go take a few days off to Rome.

Any tips regarding hotels, places to see, watch, etc ?

 

Kung gusto mo cheap hotels, look for the Dominican Sisters. I think it is near the Basilica of St. Paul. The catch is that there is a curfew. Pero mura.

 

Summer ngayon, medyo mainit. Marami sa Roma nasa vacation houses nila. Medyo kaunti tao. Make sure sa Trevi magtapon ng pera. Effective iyon sa akin.

 

Don't miss the Spanish steps at ang mga tindahan. There is also a flea market every Sunday, pero inggat lang maraming hustler. Sabi nila lahat ng ninanakaw sa Rome for the week, ibinebenta sa flea market sa Linggo.

 

Lasty, invest in a good travel book, lalo na ngayon may sale National o kaya sa Book Fair.

 

Chiao and Happy Trip. Sa totoo lang, inggit ako.

 

:headsetsmiley:

[Mike Chester]

p.s. dont forget to swing by Paris Disneyland. its great! the disney hotels are very reasonable too =) the feel of paris disney is definitely different from LA and florida. somehow its darker and abit more stylish, but disney is disney!!

 

Disneyland is mainly catered for the kids kya kung kasama mo pamilya mo, ok dito. Pero kung thrill and fun ang hanap mo, I would recommend Park Asterix, mas malapit siya sa Paris compare sa Disneyland and although smaller in size comparing to disney, mas marami namang exciting rides.

[chiliman]

p.s. dont forget to swing by Paris Disneyland. its great! the disney hotels are very reasonable too =) the feel of paris disney is definitely different from LA and florida. somehow its darker and abit more stylish, but disney is disney!!

 

Its probably because I haven't been to Disney in LA for almost a decade now and never been to Florida. But last year we went to Disney in Paris and it didn't feel any different from LA. Except of course there were admittedly fewer rides, but at least there had the more "popular/classic" rides and attractions. But like you said, Disney is Disney.... my wife and I were really tired that day.... but my son never lost his enthusiasm from the time the park opened to the time they were about to close.

[chiliman]

For those planning to go to Paris, here is the link of the hotel where we stayed....

http://www.etaphotel.com/etaphotel/ficheho...che_hotel.shtml

The rooms are about Euro55 per night.... and that's already for 3 people! Plus its very accessible from the Metro and theres a grocery almost next to it. The neighborhood is not bad either.

[cool&charming]

i think the best bet still is to connive with a Philippine Tour Organizer with extensive connections & experience in the European country you're going to. There is no over the counter solution because there are trade offs, like a cheaper hotel would mean its far from the center or places you would want to go, hence more transpo expenses. taking the public transpo will be cheaper but for personalized tours & skeds, you would want a private ride, but for a price. Food may be cheaper if you opt for sandwiches & de lata, but what is a european tour if you did'nt even get to sample their cuisine? So know what you want and talk to a trusted & affordable Tour Company.

[hymen4us]

europe on a budget?

 

you must be kidding me

[crossroad]

if youre on a tight budget use trafalgar ( they have a sis company that caters to backpackers) or the likes .that way you can have a better chance sticking to your budget because your itinerary already in place. lean season is around feb cuz its cold... that means cheaper rates and lots of promos...at least you get to use your leather jacket again. book in advance. wait for promos. when eating there some restaurants charge differently when your standing or sitting down, always buy water in supermarket, you dont need to tip waiters, if in package tour it usually includes breakfast...eat your heart out!!

[Zarbor]

Cosmos has excellent escorted budget tours....went on one, was able to visit 5 countries for about $800 excluding Manila-London-Manila airfare

[kanski]

europe on a budget?

 

you must be kidding me

 

 

europe can be had on a budget- a big one

[OmgItsCarmen]

if you want to go to munich, than its better to get a hotel in augsburg. its only 45 minutes to munich but a loooooot cheaper. and augsburg is a very nice city too. over 2000 years old and founded by the romans. also has a very good nightlife. its true, cause i live here. in augsburg we say: Munich is nice... if you live in Augsburg ^^

 

and if you want to see a bit of Bavaria you can buy a "Bayern-Ticket" from the "Deutsche Bahn" (german railway). you can go to every place you want for only 27 €.

[chipmaker]

When in Zurich...

 

DO NOT get a paid tour of Zurich. Definitely not worth it.

 

DO get a ZurichCard or better yet, a ZurichCardPlus. You get free rides on the tram, bus, boat, and rail, but the ZurichCardPlus will also get you in at the museums for free and some great discounts at some shops.

 

if you want to go to munich, than its better to get a hotel in augsburg. its only 45 minutes to munich but a loooooot cheaper. and augsburg is a very nice city too. over 2000 years old and founded by the romans. also has a very good nightlife. its true, cause i live here. in augsburg we say: Munich is nice... if you live in Augsburg ^^

 

and if you want to see a bit of Bavaria you can buy a "Bayern-Ticket" from the "Deutsche Bahn" (german railway). you can go to every place you want for only 27 €.

 

Hi OIC. Are there Adventsmarkts already on your side of the border? I miss Sunday shopping! :cry:

[labadabdab]

In Paris, I strongly recommend Hotel Alcyon, near Bastille. Beside Ledru Rollin Metro. Simple, clean and accessible.

 

:thumbsupsmiley:

[sliderule]

if youre on a tight budget use trafalgar ( they have a sis company that caters to backpackers) or the likes .that way you can have a better chance sticking to your budget because your itinerary already in place. lean season is around feb cuz its cold... that means cheaper rates and lots of promos...at least you get to use your leather jacket again. book in advance. wait for promos. when eating there some restaurants charge differently when your standing or sitting down, always buy water in supermarket, you dont need to tip waiters, if in package tour it usually includes breakfast...eat your heart out!!

 

Hi Crossroad,

 

My budget isn't exactly tight, but not exactly sky is the limit either.

 

So I check out travel websites like Trafalgar or Globus to learn what tour options are available depending on my schedule and tour package type....how much it will cost....iteneraries and all....etc........then whats next..?

 

Sorry if it sounds like a dumb question but I really don't know.

 

To make it a bit tricker, I'll be travelling with family (3 of us) and since we have different ideas of where to go, it will be tough to select a tour package that will cater to all our individual destinations. We don't want to rough it out in backpack type of tours.

[poppinfresh2k5]

kaya on a budget if youre willing to eat shawarma and falafel for each and every meal

 

anyhoo i suggest a whole lot of research. maraming places and tourist attractions sa europe a waste of money. so plan out well but also be flexible for those sidetrips thatll come along the way. believe me youll have a lot.

 

also try looking into getting signed up to the hostel orgs such as the youth hostel foundation or if youre a student, sign yourself up to ISIC. lots of freebies and discounts sa museums, hostels, transpo, shows, etc. plus you get a whole lot of info from these groups as well. very valuable for travelling.

 

with regards to transpo, i suggest getting a eurail pass for flexibility. mahirap sa budget tour buses, limited mobility pati no flexibity whatsoever. mas mahal ang eurail pero for those in the know it can turn out to be the cheapest way to go about europe. for example i got a 15 day unlimited eurail pass. what that means is i can travel 15 times anytime i want (a day of travel means literally that, a day of travel... from this time to this time. if your trip overlaps, sometimes considered one day pa rin depends on the time stamped na umalis ka from an origin). some european countries like monaco you can do in a day. heck pisa in italy you can do in half a day. so ayun. what id do before was for example, i took the ride from paris to madrid gabi to early morning so i got a freebie in terms of lodging plus i get to maximize the day. anyhoo... got to madrid, got a cheap but nice hotel around 15 bucks (i was sharing with 2 people so 45 a night actually). tapos hopped on a 1 hour train to toledo also in spain. went around the whole day sa toledo (lovely place. better than madrid), hopped back on the train to madrid and ayun. i got to maximize my one day train ride. same with monaco. left barcelona late mevening, got to monaco early early morning, ikot monaco the whole day, took the train to rome. got a hotel again around 60 dollars. hopped on for a one hour train to pisa early eveningi. went around pisa hopped back to rome. all in one day yun so thats just one day of my train use.

 

also whats nice with the trains is you can view it as a hotels or hostels if youre in transit sa gabi. some trips will take 6 to 8 hours depending on what type of train you ride. i suggest getting the cheaper older classic trains then just nap sa train. get off the train sa morning then youve got the whole day of going around. oh and theres that eurail trick wherein you can change dates like if you were stamped on for example the sept 7 for rome. tapos youre moving out sa 9th to florence, what you can do is pen the 7th as 9th and you get a free day of travel illegal but it works most of the time. some really scrutinize the tickets and some just barely look at it. to each his own. from my 15 day ticket naka 21 yata ako with this trick. oh and again, they have this cutoff for what constitutes a day, you can play around this as ive said earlier. minsan if you can make it before the cutoff, di magoverlap ang trips mo. like for example you travel in transit early evening and arrive sa destination mo any time in the morning i think, its still considered the previous day and not two days of travel. also if your cant help but leave agad and fear the overlap cutoff... leave late para considered as the next days travel and you dont waste your current day with the next.

 

as to hostels, there are a lot of cheap and nice hostels around. the guide books will be just that, a guide, but it wont give you the real picture. i suggest when you get to a destination, mag tanong tanong. like when i arrive in every train station, i have a hostel in mind, but i go around inquiring sa toursit desks and with people na hindi tourista. they know which places are best kasi mga tiga dun yun. oh and explore explore explore. i once found a quaint 4 star hotel in venice na tago and wasnt listed. 5o dollars a night and can accomodate 4 people to 50 divided by 4 yun. nice noh? what i did was i followed this touristy couple but not backpackers. yung tipong may alam na. so i followed them through the tight and weaving streets of venice until they went inside this quaint resto. the resto had a mini hotel sa 2nd floor. with the hostels, youre going to need a lot of quarters for phonecalls for hostel inquiries. pero sulit. hostels are just really places to sleep. in most cases you wont hang out in hostels unless may pinopormahan ka dun. one caveat though is the shared showers in some. coed showers without cubicles. kahiya

 

i bought my 15day eurail for 500 dollars on a promo kasi sa US and had it mailed na lang through an aunt. tapos spent an average of 30 dollars living a day, (around 18 for lodging and the rest for food and going around), tapos 15 on average pala for train transpo kung gusto mo umupo. a eurail will get you on board a train but not seated in one. you still need to buy a seat. seats are cheaper on old classic trains and more expensive on the super modern super fast ones like ICE. if tipid ka talaga tumayo ka na lang sa baggage area or sa aisle. as to my miscellaneous gimik, if not free, discounted ako with my ISIC and youth hostel memberships. or if youre up to it, find big tour groups and tag along. you get free info from the guides without having to pay for it. sometimes they assume youre part of the group tapos you get into places for free as well pero pagdating sa food nagheheadcount and attendance sila so malabo pag food na. anyhoo ayun in one month i was able to skip through spain, monaco, italy, austria, germany, denmark, netherlands for a 1k USD. 50k pesos lang yun. i was able to go to several touristy cities and off the beaten path but lovely escapes. i was able to go in to the standard toursity fare museums and attractions as well as the not so famous ones. i was able to eat nice food but most of the time i had to bear a falafel and shawarma diet for 25 to 50 cents. id walk a lot and rent bikes, ride subways and trams to travel within a city. id get free maps from train stations and hookup with random people to get further info and sometimes free food and lodging. look for pinoy communities! a whole lot of freebies seriously. in rome nakakuha ako ng free souvenirs and offers for lodging. pero nakabayad na kasi ako sa hotel ko beside the vatican. sayang naman. theres this mall in vienna near a post office thats mostly pinoy tenants. hang out there and youll get offers for food and lodging. in spain naman ride the subways and chit chat a lot. ingat with snatchers though. best if you have a hidden money belt. oh and another budget saving tip, some tourists and backpackers will ask you if they can share the cost of a hotel room with you. fairly safe if youre the adventurous type and even better if youre looking for hookups. there was one girl in pisa who came to me asking if i could split the room she was eyeing. unfortunately pisa for me was a side trip kasi theres nothing there to see basically except the cathedral and the tower. sayang talaga. hot spaniard.

Edited December 10, 2007 by poppinfresh2k5

[Missionary]

kaya on a budget if youre willing to eat shawarma and falafel for each and every meal

 

anyhoo i suggest a whole lot of research. maraming places and tourist attractions sa europe a waste of money. so plan out well but also be flexible for those sidetrips thatll come along the way. believe me youll have a lot.

 

.....

 

 

ey poppin kailan pa to?

planning to do my first euro sa summer 2008...cross fingers sana matuloy..

kaya nga di ako uuwi ng pinas hehe

anyway, im still in the early planning stages...