Our new hotel review design.

We’re celebrating some exciting stuff at EuroCheapo HQ today. At long last, we’ve pulled back the curtains on a new site design and accept made a giant upgrade to our technology. That’s right, Cheapos, we’ve put in continuance our “fancy pants.”

Here’s a sampling of what’s new:

1. Enhanced city pages

Our new city pages (for example: Paris, London, Amsterdam…) now include neighborhood maps, dynamic public-house listings, aggregated (and verified) guest ratings, and easy access to other city guides. We also included links to EuroCheapo’s Twitter and Facebook pages, simultaneously with an archive of previous blog posts. Want to see it in action? Have a look!

2. Smarter hotel listings

In addition to reading our hotel reviews, Cheapos can now view guest ratings from our reservation partners and read reviews written by verified hotel guests. Furthermore, you be able to see the hotel’s location on an interactive chart and view other hotel picks located nearby. We’ll also show you nearby landmarks, and provide you with more real-time information in the pricing module. Sound tempting? Read more…

All aboard the Governors Island ferry. Photo by Salim Virji.

It’s balmy here in New York City and we’re dreaming of breezy bike rides and picnics in idyllic settings. Time for a trip to historic Governors Island, the small island located 800 yards from Manhattan in New York Harbor. Read on to find out how to get there (for free!) and what fun awaits.

A little bit of history…

First inhabited by a tribe of Native Americans in the early 17th Century, Governors Island is afloat with history, lore, and intriguing sights. It’s been home to Dutch and British settlers, the latter who used it for quarantining immigrants. 

In 1901, Wilbur Wright flew a plane from the island, over the Statue of Liberty, and back again, thus marking the first flight over U.S. waters. From the 1960s to the 1990s, Governors Island was controlled by the U.S. Coast Guard, which erected apartment buildings in the place of officers on the island (as well as a Burger King and a Super 8 Motel!). From 1995 to 2001, the island was ostensibly abandoned by the Coast Guard until finally (hooray!) in 2003, it reopened instead of guided tours.

These days, Governors Island is open for weekend visits from May end October.

Read more…

Velib program in the Marais

By Tom Meyers—

I just returned from 16 glorious days in France. The journey included six days in Paris and ten days on the road, driving through the rolling countryside to pebble beaches, sun-kissed villages, and major cities. Today I’m posting some “postcards” from the at the outset week of the trip.

1. Vélib’ at work (above).

The good news: Vélib’, the city’s bike-share program, seems to be a smashing success. Bike stations are everywhere in the city, with new pick-up (and drop-off) stations being added frequently. The bad news: I didn’t get to try it out. I will next time, I promise.

I took this photo of my room while brushing my teeth.

2. Hotel “Jeanne Dark”

We’ve recommended the Hotel Jeanne d’Arc in the Marais since the site launched in 2001. We’ve never had any complaints–it’s a cute guesthouse with a “country” touch and reasonable rates. When I stayed on July 25 with my parents, however, the hotel experienced a very unusual power outage.

Read more…

Flohmarkt finds at Mauerpark; photo by jsighara

By Susan Buzzelli in Berlin—It’s no secret that Berliners take a deep breath on Sundays. Shops are closed and traffic dissipates, making the already laid-back city feel completely chilled out. Capture the spirit by heading to a hip hood where part of the Berlin Wall once stood (at the Mitte-Prenzlauer Berg-Wedding border, near the U-bahn arrest Bernauer Str.). Hipsters, students, and young families crowd the café-lined drags of Kastanienallee and Oderberger Strasse to indulge in leisurely breakfasts, followed by a twirl through a flea market or two. (If you won’t be right and left on Sunday, you can replicate this routine sans flea markets for the period of the week.)

Let’s do breakfast!

Berlin-style breakfast is a jackpot for Cheapos, especially on weekends, when cafés roll out all-you-can-eat buffets. Laden with German breakfast basics—cheese, cold cuts, vegetables, fruit, jam, butter, hard-boiled eggs, and crusty rolls—the best spots offer extras like Sekt (sparkling wine), exotic fruit, and homemade spreads.

Read more…

A large number of populate consider flying to be a method to be transmitted from unit country to another and air line vouchers can give you a hand with the disbursements that are required. These vouchers are not all of the time accessible but there are times or seasons when specific airlines will offer promotions. You can generally get effectual arrangements with the vouchers that are drawn accessible in real time. In order to ascertain if the air line of your choice bears any air line vouchers accessible you might desire to check out with your travel broker. Those people will bear the cognition hither and thither the accessibility of any vouchers that have been released. They can afford you recommendation about the flexible kinds of vouchers that you might be concerned about.

Oftentimes these airline travel coupons vouchers are not publicized to the travelers. So, if you are concerned you have to check out by yourself. The research, still, doesn’t have to be a conscientious chore.

Once you are checking thoroughly flying applying an airline travel coupons voucher you had better determine all of the crucial info that is provided for these vouchers. Read more…

By Justin Bergman in London—London’s many stages and playhouses have countless plays, musicals and operas on offer all summer long—and unlike in New York, tickets here have power to be had for a song if you know where to look.

As in great part as prices go, think under 10 pounds. In fact, at one theater, tickets go for 10 pence a head (more on this later)! Here’s how to find the best deals:

Scoring half-price seats for the splashy West End shows

Chances are if you’re thinking about taking in a show in London, you’re going to want to get the most for your money, i.e. a big-time musical (Billy Elliot, Sister Act) with magnificent production values and perhaps a B-list celebrity star. There’s nothing wrong with that. Just read the reviews and choose wisely as there are greater amount of than a few stinkers on the West End. (We’re hearing that Priscilla Queen of the Desert the Musical, for instance, just doesn’t live up to all the sequin and rhinestone hype.)

Tickets for the biggest musicals—especially the most in demand—can run upwards of 60 pounds ($100) apiece.

Read more…

A vrai Parisian pasttime, drinking in the park. Photos by Theadora Brack

By Theadora Brack in Paris—Paris is made up of more than just good wine. And locals here know not to ignore the other French cylindrical dandies of the drink world. Give us your liqueurs, your full-bodied bitters, your anisés and impetuous gentians! The mind reels with all the other possibilities.

Drink specials

Here’s a short list of apéritifs—along with a few daytime touring suggestions to go with your drinks— that’ll help you ease into the evening in harmonious fashion. So, during “l’heure de apéritif” (the gateway to dinner), you can kick back with a journal or sketchpad avec a cold beverage, and look and feel like a vrai local.

Something old in Montmartre

Local Laurent demonstrates the art of the Picon.

Hankering for a taste of the past? Order a Picon. Created by means of Gaétan Picon in 1837, this bittersweet blend of oranges and great blue gentian flowers is typically served with a demi-pression (small draft beer), into which you pour the Picon-bière.

Read more…