From what I've heard from people who have gone Eastern Europe really isn't the "affordable" destination it used to be. The prices are moreso like "acceptable" now or slightly lower than your typical Western Europe destinations.

Also my GF's mom and aunt had quite unpleasant experiences in Budapest last month. A lot of the old timers and shop owners they found to be super pushy and if they were not with a man they were borderline threatening. One shop owner asked "what would happen if you didn't make it back to the ship?" To them when they refused to by a carpet.

I think a lot of the old timers and ones who do not accept the new change coming have much more of a middle-eastern outlook on society than European

Most of Pasta's post is great advice, but I would strongly disagree with the last part of what I have quoted. He is right that there are many pickpockets operating in (all) train stations in Europe (along with any other busy place), but having just gotten back from a month in Europe, I don't believe you'll have any problem whatsoever if you are alert.

The trains are much more convenient as the stations are typically in the city centres, they are much more comfortable, cheaper, and often with how long you need to budget for the junk that surrounds flying (security, etc.) they are not much slower than flying as a lot of European destinations are so close.

The other benefit is some of the countryside is absolutely stunning. The train ride from Munich to Budapest passed through some beautiful countryside and we were so glad we took the train. Pay the often nominal upgrade for a first class ticket, then upgrade on the train to business class (15E paid on the train, but includes a free drink) for a super comfortable and very nice way to travel.

I would HIGHLY suggest train over airplane between close countries - there is a reason most Europeans travel this way! Just keep your eyes open and you will be totally fine.

-Mark

On my last trip, I spent a month in Turkey, and this trip spent some time in several prominent touristy cities in Europe with the girlfriend - London, Paris, Lyon, Munich, Budapest, and Vienna. Budapest was shockingly cheaper than everywhere else, but that's mostly because everywhere else is pretty spendy.

Food is what we used as the most common gauge of how expensive cities were, and we basically ate in every city at the top rated Tripadvisor restaurants, so they are all a bit more expensive than the average from just walking into a random place on the corner.

Budapest was noticeably cheaper than eating in Vancouver. Tasting menus, typically 4-6 courses were $25-30cdn (all inclusive, unlike Canada + tax, + tip) and mains were very seldom over $12-15cdn. You could buy a beer for around $2.50 in a restaurant and a VERY expensive bottle of wine is around $25cdn with many options at half that price or less.

Vienna, Paris, London figure on 3 times this amount for a top rated casual restaurant (not Michelin starred or anything like this).

I found Hungary and Turkey to be the only places that were cheaper than Vancouver, with everything else ranging from comparable (Munich, Lyon) to more expensive (Paris, London, Vienna).

Hope that helps,
Mark

I tell people this all the time but when I was in Budapest four years ago I saw Don Giovanni at the State Opera House (We're talking 19th Century baroque stage - gorgeous) - for $2 .

Granted they weren't the best seats but luckily it wasn't full and during intermission I snuck down for better seats

Check out SANDEMANs NEW Europe | Home of the Famous Free Tour

When I used to work in Europe, I would visit the cities in this site and take the tours. You will traverse to the top destinations in the city in a short time. Then, just go back to that spot on your own to spend more time in such sites.

Btw, there is the Fall Arteryx Sale this weekend as usual. If you need backpacks (50L+ capacity), I bought mine in the sale couple years back. I bought the arcteryx tango backpack (57L capacity) for $200 (Regular Price $600)

I still use it for my backpacking trips.

i got the Arcteryx Altra 65 last boxing day for my euro trip, best travel investment i've ever made

problem is that the 65L is a little big for anything but backpacking but i got a steal of a price on a pricing error on boxing day

Went to Europe for 3 weeks in August. Went to London, Amsterdam, Berlin, Barcelona and Paris; we pretty much used the free tours everywhere we went. they have awesome tour guides that really knew their facts as well as the ins and outs of the cities. During the tour they also "advertise" other tours that they offer for a reasonable price. For example in Paris they had Garden of Versailles, boat cruise tickets and Paris city tour for about 55 euros. They also offer pub crawls.

As for flights between cities, triple check which airport you are flying to and from and how far it is from your hotel and your attractions. At one point I had to book a bus (25euros) that took us from an outlying Paris airport to downtown (about 1.5h ride). theres usually tons of airports and economy airlines like Ryanair usually only fly to the outlying airports.

Bump

I'm planning a trip to Italy for 3 weeks. We're currently thinking of flying into Milan to start our journey there even though there isn't anything we want to see in Milan. Is this advisable? It's a bit cheaper than flying into other cities in Italy.

Milan is a decent spot to start, we went though milan on the way to switzerland from Florence.

It's a decent hub and direct trains to other hubs like Genoa etc. Make it fairly easy to move around. It's a bit from from Rome etc though

I cant do the backpacking, hostel style travelling.

Was wondering if you guys had experience with AirBnB in europe and how the experience was?

Any recommendations on wine or food tours in Florence? Also looking for fun cooking classes in Italy!

While we were using backpacks, we stayed exclusively at airbnb places lol

Fantastic experience all around staying at 4 different apartments. My parents had the same experiance using airbnb in Paris, Rome, the cinque terre, and Barcelona shortly after we went as well.

It's all about the reviews and knowing how the location relates to what you want

I want to catch an opera show at the Verona arena and then go to Venice, but the show doesn't end until midnight. Is there a night train to Venice from Verona past midnight?

From what I can recall, no. I believe the last local trains leave Verona around 10 or so. I only know that because I almost missed the last train of the night when I was attempting to leave Verona. You can find taxi companies that will do the drive, but it wont be extremely cheap. The other thing is that even if you can find a mode of transportation back to Venice, their Night Ferries only do runs every hour or so... unless you're moving between the Rialto and Piazzale Roma, in which case it runs a bit more often.