Europe stretches from Africa and the Atlantic in the west, to the Arctic and Pacific in the east. From the popular, metropolitan cities of London, Paris, Amsterdam and Istanbul to the un-mapped hinterlands of Russia or the step back in time to Moldova, Europe really does dazzle with diversity.
Highly developed infrastructure in most of western and central Europe provides mainly hassle-free travel, with many open borders and several countries using the shared currency of the Euro adding to the ease of getting around. That said, in most places, an hour’s train ride will have you scoffing different cuisine while reaching for another language to communicate with your waiter.
There’s no shortage of budget travel advice for Europe travel, but much revolves around eating cheese and baguettes. There’s no problem with this, as long as you really, really like cheese and baguettes!
More interactive and interesting ways to save money is to investigate the cost of low-fare flights alongside train or coach travel, look into hostelling or — even cooler — the couchsurfing network for accommodation, and travel independently instead of on tours.
Europe has plenty of small businesses and licensed independent or small tour operators. Take advantage of their unique offerings, while paying back directly into the local economy. Many history students also offer walking tours of European cities for a tip: make sure you tip well and keep this burgeoning and interesting experiment in indie tourism running.
Europe travel podcasts
Travel destinations in Europe
Where are you heading? Check out our country pages for Austria, the Baltics, Bulgaria, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Scotland, Spain, and Wales, or browse the articles below.