Is anywhere in Europe cheap anymore?

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boogaloo

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Hi,

Trying to book either a city break or a beach/sun break for Summer 09 - probably off peak in early June or else late September.

Is there anywhere in Europe that is good value for money? In particular, for eating out, good sightseeing, cheap transport, reasonably priced hotels? I've been to Barcelona a few times and find it has really gone up in price to eat out in the evening there.

Any suggestions? Oh, and preferably that I can fly to direct from Ireland, though not absolutely essential, if I have to do a stopover I'd cope.
 
Thanks for prompt replies.

Re Krakow, roughly how much would you be talking about to eat out in the evening, 3 course meal with bottle of wine between 2 people?

Same question for Portugal really I suppose, and also any particular part of Portugal?

What about hotels, how much would one want to budget per night for a 3* or a 4*?

I passed through Girona in Spain 2 years ago and found their tapas to be good quality & cheap (much cheaper than in Barcelona), though I'm not sure if there'd be enough there to hold my interest for a week.
 
I can't flesh out the Portugal picture too well. My experience was a short visit to Lisbon (good city to visit) and a general perception that our money went a long way compared to home. But I'm the sort of person who couldn't tell you the price of a meal out in Ireland; my retention of details like that is fairly poor.

To check accommodation prices for any destination, delve into tripadvisor.ie.
 
Well...
in Spain recently .
Had a lovely chinese 3-course meal with a bottle of wine and sitting outside enjoying what sun there was and the cost was euro6.75 each!
Had some very good spanish 3-course menu del dias with a full bottle of wine for euro8 each.
This was in the Valencia region of Spain.
 
My humble experience in varoius capital cities, is that there are good food restuarants available at cheap (irish prices) - if you know where to find them!
I know places in Paris, Nice, Rome etc - all regarded as non-cheap cities, where I can eat good meals at very low prices and they are not kips or deep fried joints.
Ask around here or elsewhere when you have selected a City and Im sure some people will provide suggestions.
 
Turkey for a sun holiday.

I have not been for a few years but it has loads of history, sun, great food - imho better than greek and apparently very cheap this year as Turkish Lira is suffering against the Euro. Personally I would stay away from Bodrum and Marmaris just too over developed. I love the Med coast Fethyie, Kas, Kalkan along to Alanya - only problem that airport transfers from Dalaman can be lengthy.

Istanbul was an intersting place if a tad frenetic at times with traffic - go to Spice Market and underground water cistern - amazing architecture.
 
boogaloo said:
Thanks for prompt replies.

Re Krakow, roughly how much would you be talking about to eat out in the evening, 3 course meal with bottle of wine between 2 people?
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Click to expand...

Four of us went and we paid 80-100 Euro mostly for 3 course with minerals. I had some lovely food there one place Miod ?? had "Peasant Soup" which was wild mushroom soup which was served in a square pan loaf of bread with the top cut off and the inside bread taken out - there was ating and drinkin in it. All places I ate were very nice and soups were always lovely, I had bacon and cabbage soup,beetroot soup and garlic soup. One dessert I remember was Pear and black pepper with an orange sauce. I have mentioned where I stayed before and would recommend Hotel Europejski also in the same area is Andels.
 
Larger or renowned cities are almost always going to be more expensive even if the cost of living in that country is fairly low.

My own experience: apart from the odd city break we try to get two weeks in the sun once a year and usually go with a package deal (more out of convenience than anything else) somewhere in Spain - not all of the package locations are tacky/spoilt etc.

But as there aren't great choices for the more off the beaten track package holiday we decided to organise our own this time. Just the other day, after about 3-4 hours web searching, we managed to book flights and a villa in a part of Spain we really wanted to go to and at the time of year we wanted.

  • Flights are not at some ungodly hour like many package deals.
  • Villa itself is much nicer than those generally offered in package deals - and is complete with fridge 'welcome pack' as well
  • Villa owners have offered to collect from the airport!
but mostly...
  • The whole thing cost us about 30% less than an equivalent package holiday
Have to say we are delighted with ourselves!
 
Yes there are plenty of offers out there for the taking. In the space of 10 minutes I found the following:-

Return flight from Dublin-Spain €200.00 inclusive of taxes per person (Ryanair) early June
2 bedroom quality apartment €700.00 2 week rent (incl of sunbeds etc)
Car Hire 2 weeks Ford Fiesta €230.00

Therefore 4 people holiday costs €1730 + food + petrol - You can't argue with that.

The resort (in Falcon brochure) has many restaurants where 3 course dinner can cost from €10.00 per person in deent restaurants(€6.00 per person if you like Chinese). Petrol costs not included here.

Yep those deals are out there, you just have know where to find them.
 
Was in Portugal last summer (Cariviero) - breakfast at the local cafe, 2 x Lattes + Orange Juice (Fresh), Ham/Cheese Roll + Croissant = €6,00. Evening meal for 2 + Wine varied depending on the restaurant but approx €30,00 - €35,00, Excellent food in most cases.
 
went to bratislava direct from cork last year ,this city is based in Slovakia
i did'nt find alot of tourist guides on the place before it , but the price of flights was v. good at the time
very good value for money.
and if u wanted to use it as a base to travel to budapest or vienna its v. handy
example we got the bus from there to vienna which is about an hour and a half away , for 14 euros
meals out ranged in price for us any way from €10 for a main course up to €15 for a main course. of course this all depended if u went to a touristy place like the irish pub for food or if u went to one of the local restaurants. it was always handy going to places and u'd see the locals having their dinners there.
I thought that place was lovely , of course it was'nt in the euro zone last year , it went into the euro zone this jan 2009 so the prices will prob go up a bit
but either way it has been one of the most relaxing breaks i went to .
places to see , u could say it does'nt have the highest number of tourist attractions but if u are into visiting the castle which is lovely , doing day trips ,
i researched the place before i went online on places like virtual tourist , http://visit.bratislava.sk/en/ -
My friend in dublin went there direct from dublin as well
i know with cork anyway the flights don't run all year round i think they start from march onwards

we stayed at Hotel Kyjev because of the price,it is very central next to a huge tesco, it is from the communist times and was v. popular hotel before. however with age it has been neglected, does need painting , rooms themselves are sparse." the hilton it ain't ." But u had a huge breakfast which was lovely. u were into the right centre of bratislava within 5 min,
and the main bus depot if u were going to take outside trips v. close as well.
 
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Krakow definitley. Was there in Oct 2006 and literally could not spend my money. Day trip to Auschwitz/Birkenau with our own driver for the day for 4 people was E15 each. Large beer was about E150. Great city.
 
I travel to Portugal once or twice a year. Meal prices are extremely variable -- I've found it ranges from €15 to €75 per head for dinner. The high prices are in or near the expensive golf resorts. As with everywhere, there is value if you go looking. If you like apartment living you can do things on the cheap. I bought a bottle of wine in the supermarket which I had bought the night before in a fancy golf resort restaurant for 500% of the supermarket price.
 
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