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Bargain Travel Europe guide to Europe on a budget for unique vacation destinations, travel deals, secret spots missed by travel tours.

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EXPLORING EUROPE FLY, DRIVE OR RIDE THE RAILS?
Hotels, Rail Passes, Luggage and other uncertainties

Take the train? Rent a car? Fly ‘n walk? The options for seeing Europe are many. If you’re thinking of a one week 5 day-4 night visit to a major city trip, an airline-hotel package deal might be the best bet, and arrange for a organized coach tour, or wander around on your own. If you want to see more than one city, or more than one country, you have some choices to make. Fly, drive or take the train.

Flying Europe

To fly between cities in Europe can be an expensive venture, but there are several discount airlines that city hop. The prices can be cheap, but there are luggage restrictions, landing and departure fees, and getting to and from the airport can be an adventure all its own. That £12 promotional ticket on RyanAir from Stansted can turn into a £60 ticket after all the fees are added. Also it takes some searching because one discount airline may not go to all the cities you want, so you might have to go in on one and leave on another, from different airports. But if a particular discount airline goes where you want to go expect a ticket cost between $55 and $120 (see Discount Flight Search) If flying you have to be aware of where your hotel might be. By rail, hotels can often be found walking distance from the station, by air, plan on a taxi ride or hope for a shuttle service, but don't count on a shuttle for budget hotels. And you might think about how you plan to get there before you choose a hotel.

Driving Europe

Driving through Europe and discovering the small towns and countryside on your own is a treat (see Driving European Backroads). Driving in Europe is not that foreign (forgive the pun), at least in the countryside and small towns. You don’t need a special license, but you do have to learn some odd signage. Reading parking restrictions in another language can be a little maddening. And driving into a large city with strange street layouts of concentric rings like Munich, dead ends and one-way streets in all directions like Hamburg, or the madcap lane-less madness that is Paris can make even the most confident driver sweat and swear. Make the wrong turn and it can take half an hour to get back to where you were! Driving in England is a unique right-brain/left-brain experience, and get a smaller car for the narrow one lane country roads. They always try to upgrade you to a larger car in England, but don't do it. stay small, especially if you'll be driving in the countryside. If the cities you want to see are a significant distance apart, fuel prices are very high and tolls on the autoroutes in Italy and France can cause an unexpected drain on your budget. And in Italy everyone will caution you about leaving articles in a rental car, especially if it has another country's license plate. A tempting target.

Many car companies are now offering a buy a tank of gas in advance option so you can return the car empty. Turn it down unless you're sure you can return the car with an empty tank, because they keep the difference, whether the tank is empty or 3 quarters full. On a recent trip I managed to bequeth Avis about 100 dollars worth of gas over two rentals. Trying to figure out how try to arrive with an empty tank can be as much a pain as finding a fuel station on the way to the rental car return. (Though, in Paris at the Hertz Louvre Carrousel check-in the clerk will tell everyone that the tank is only 7-eighths full because he knows how hard is it to find a gas station in Paris). And be sure you know the difference between diesel and gas. Renting a diesel fuel car will save you money in Europe, but if you mistakenly put gasoline into a diesel car, that will end up costing you about a thousand dollars in repair and towing charges, not to mention the inconvenience and embarrassment.

To calculate travel times use kilometers. The speed limits on major European autoroutes is around 120-130 kph (84 MPH), slower around cities. Major nearby cities seem to be commonly about 2 hours apart or a little less. Munich-Stuttgart. Rome-Florence. Paris to Strasbourg on the German border about 4 hours. Munich to Hamburg 8 hours.

Europe By Train

Consider the train for a multi-city wandering journey. Riding the rail system throughout Europe is convenient and comfortable. The main train station in most European cities is right in the heart of the city with easy access to many of the sights you will most want to see. Rail Europe has rail passes and direct city to city booking for high speed trains and the Eurostar between London and Paris through the "chunnel".

One of the tricks to train travel about Europe is handling baggage and finding a hotel. Are you the reserve everything ahead type, who wants to know when you’re supposed to be there, where you’re going and who’s meeting you with the limo, or the more adventurous - get there and see what happens - kind of soul. You can be both with train travel. With a Eurail Pass you can choose when you want to go and where you want to get off. The full Eurail pass which allows you unlimited travel within a specified time costs about $700. With a SelectPass you choose a specified number of days of travel (with time in-between) in specific countries for around $400-$500. With single fares between major cities costing around $100 the select pass can be a good value, allowing side trips to smaller towns when you feel like it. And having a Eurail pass allows discounts on some bus lines, ferries and other services. (See How Eurail Passes Work)

When traveling by train, you’re pretty much carrying your luggage through city streets, so a good wheeled travel bag is essential. Many European train stations have luggage lockers, but they have been doing away with them due to security concerns and instead have baggage check rooms. Once at a hotel you can ask the hotel to keep your luggage if you need to check out, but want to explore until a late departure. And for serial city hopping, locating hotels within walking distance (or short taxi ride) from the station becomes a major issue in hotel searching. I’ve found on most hotel search engines and booking sites, it can be quite daunting to try to discern how far the hotel is from the station and what the neighborhood is like, with a lot of guesswork involved. The hotel site itself may suggest it's rail convenient, but still several very long European city blocks away. How far exactly does .8 kilometers convert to in shoe leather?

Addresses don’t tell you much without a handy and detailed city map and some hotels that are too near the station, while convenient, can be less that the best neighborhood. Google Maps or MapQuest can be very useful, especially with the Earth feature on Google Maps so you can actually visualize the city. While the train station is the center of transportation in a European city, often with nearby tourist services like internet cafes and low cost restaurants, it can also be where a good amount of adult entertainments, whether girly bars, gambling, or out and out “red light” districts can be found, so the neighborhoods can vary a little.

If budget is not a consideration, catch a cab and head off to the nearest InterContinental Hotel, Accor or Marriott. If you’re a more budget conscious traveler a little more detective work may be required. The Ibis, Mercure, Best Western, and Choice Hotel chains usually offer good tourist class or better 3 star properties near most European city centers. Unlike the Hiltons and Hyatts, these hotel properties are usually individually owned under a franchising-like marketing system, so the quality of the individual property may be quite different, but are expected to meet a certain standard level. They can be searched and booked ahead through corporate websites or travel bookers like Travelocity or Expedia. TripAdvisor lets you compare prices from a number of booking engines and also check user ratings. But beware that some travelers can have a good experience at a hotel while others maybe not so good. A 3 star hotel in Italy may have an entirely different feeling than a 3 star hotel in Germany. London hotel rooms in older buildings are notoriously small, many tourist class hotels in France seem to favor rather stiff foam mattresses, and in Italy, attention to upkeep can be a bit lax, or at least you'll find the last update in furniture was a few years ago, like 1978.

If you don’t want to reserve ahead, or just are traveling by the seat of your pants, stepping off the high speed ICE in a strange city and looking around for a place to stay, seems like it might be a scary proposition. But I have to say personally that often the hotel I’ve found this way was more satisfying than some I have reserved sight unseen. Perhaps its just the ability to actually see the hotel for yourself that gives you a better chance to judge. This may not be the best practice if you’re going to say, Munich for Oktoberfest, or Frankfurt during the BookFair, as vacancies may be a little short during a big city event. But in most cities at most times, a vacancy is not that hard to find. And if you want to sleep on the train you can take a hotel train or a night train (see Save on Hotels - Take the Night Train).

If you want to explore the countryside around a city you can rent a car and make “a circuit”. Come back to the same city to drop off the car and continue your rail journey to another city. However, now that many rental agencies in Europe allow you to drop off in a different city (in the same country) without extra charge you can combine your train city jumps with auto segments. Take the train between distant cities or countries, then take a car for intercity travel in a country, especially if you want to go look at castles or explore wine tasting Bed & Breakfasts. The Eurail pass offers a ride and drive car rental option, but I prefer to rent the car separately. The Eurail pass coupon only covers the daily rental rate but no insurances and better deals can be found going direct to the car rental company of your choice. © Bargain Travel Europe

See Also: Condor's German Discount Airline Schedule

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