I adore city breaks. I’d happily go on one every couple of months, but that’s just not possible with my student budget. At the moment, I am trying to visit as many of Europe’s affordable cities as possible, then in the future when I’ve finished university, I’ll visit places like Scandinavia and Iceland that I simply just cannot afford right now. In 2015 and this year so far, I’ve visited three affordable European cities: Prague, Warsaw and Berlin. I thought I’d talk about them on my blog today.
Prague
I visited Prague in April for 5 nights with some University friends. We stayed at Hostel ELF, about 25 minutes walk from the Old Town Square and spent our days visiting the tourist attractions, exploring the Old Town and eating traditional Czech food.
On the whole, Prague was very cheap. Even eating in Old Town Square wasn’t that expensive. We ate out every evening and my meals including a bottle of water or soft drink, costed between 180 and 300 CZK (around £6-£10).
The tourist attractions were a similar price: we paid around 150-250 CZK (£5-£8) for each of them. Prague is such an ‘outdoor’ city though, so you don’t have to museum hop and spend lots of money to find things to do. There’s lots of gorgeous parks, squares, bridges and even a manmade island to explore that cost you absolutely nothing! You can get away with spending very little on attractions on a trip to Prague because there’s so many things that you come across, just wandering through the city.
Warsaw
My boyfriend and I visited Warsaw last month for 3 nights. We stayed on the edge of the Castle Square (where my blog header was taken) and were about 10 minutes from the Old Town Marketplace.
Eating out in Warsaw was slightly more expensive than Prague. Although when we ate at restaurant Bierhalle just outside of the old town, my food was only 15 PLN (£3), which was incredibly affordable!
Tourist attractions were much cheaper there. We got to see the interior of the Royal Castle for about £3 and the Marie Curie museum for just over a £1. This is probably because Warsaw doesn’t get quite as many tourists though!
2-3 nights is ideal for Warsaw, you don’t need anymore time to see everything! It’s a lovely city and perfect for a couples break because it’s a bit quieter and you can eat in nice places, without having to spend too much money. It’s definitely a good option for budget travellers!
Berlin
Okay so Berlin isn’t anywhere near as cheap as the others, but for a city in Western Europe, I was amazed by how affordable it was. I was there in April 2015, so over a year ago, but I remember a few restaurants offering ‘beer and burger’ deals: some for as low as 5-6 euros.
The tourist attractions weren’t too expensive either, with the Checkpoint Charlie Museum costing under 10 euros with my student card! You can spend hours here reading about the history, so I was very impressed with the price. Also, the Jewish Museum was only €3 with my student card, which was unbelievably cheap. An adult ticket is €8.
The price of the underground was what stood out for me most in Berlin. A ticket that lets you go anywhere in the city for 24 hours was around 7 euros! For me, this is incredible, when I pay that much to get a single to Cambridge.
I really loved Berlin and can’t wait to go back this September!
What affordable cities have you visited recently?
Thanks for reading my blog today.
Love
Kat
xxxx
I've always wanted to try Berlin as there is so much history there 🙂 Tania xx taniamichele.blogspot.co.uk
Poland is always a fave! Try Krakow if you haven't already.
Check out my blog. http://www.travelsandmore.co.uk xoxo
I was amazed at how cheap Berlin is too, especially compared to Munich. It's also one of my favourite cities too!
http://www.moonandforest.co.uk