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Kacper Pempel / Reuters
Tourists ride in horse carriages Nov. 12, 2011, in the Old Square in Krakow, Poland. If you're planning a trip to Europe this year, Krakow is one of the best bargains.
Budget travelers of a certain age may remember guide books of some years ago that helped them plan vacations in Europe on $5 and $10 dollars a day. But the 21st century may have its own version: the European Backpacker Index 2012, an online listing in its second year that rates 40 major European cities by price.
Released earlier his week, the new 2012 listing rates Sofia, Krakow and Budapest as the cheapest major tourist cities in Europe, while Zurich, Oslo and Stockholm are rated as the most expensive.
“At least right now, Europe is a little bit cheaper than the last few years,” for Americans, said Roger Wade, who researched and complied the list. With a strong U.S. dollar and favorable exchange rates, budget travelers can save even more on their next European trip.
Wade is founder and editor-in-chief of Price of Travel, a website and database of travel costs launched in 2010 to help travelers compare typical expenses in more than 110 cities around the world to ascertain the best values.
Wade began the site because he couldn't find any comprehensive resource that rated cities based on affordability. “Websites and books tend to not list prices because they fear they will be out of date soon,” and will be a burden to update, said Wade, who insisted the list is not just for college-age students and 20-somethings.
“I’m always looking for value,” said Wade, who is 47 years old and has been traveling for the last two years, and spoke to msnbc.com in a phone interview from Kas, Turkey. The same amount of money for a three-night stay at a higher-end hotel could cover two weeks at a lower-cost hotel or hostel. “That’s what I’m going to do every time,” Wade said. The trade-off is worth it, he said. If you go cheaper, you can go for longer.
The list is not meant to discourage travel to certain cities, but to help figure out which cities to hurry through or linger in. Based on this year’s list, visitors could spend five times longer in Sofia, Bulgaria than in Zurich, Switzerland. The Daily Backpacker Index daily rate for Sofia is $23.71 a day; for Zurich, it’s $118.78 a day.
(This list will be updated when currencies fluctuate, the site states, but the most current information will always be on the city-specific pages; links are at the bottom of each city listing.)
Any surprises on this year’s list?
“Poland in particular seems to be gaining in popularity, especially Krakow, which has become a hotspot,” Wade said.
Ratings are based on average costs for accommodations, public transportation, attractions, food and drink in each city. “It’s quite scientific,” Wade said. “Most are exact prices, except for food, which can be variable.” Those estimates are based on “the cheapest meal you can get.”
Here are the detailed criteria:
- One night in the cheapest bunk at the least expensive hostel with a good location and good reviews. (The rating must be over 80 percent, Wade said.)
- Two public transportation rides per day.
- One paid/famous attraction per day. (Every city is loaded with free things to do for budget-conscious travelers, but the average cost of a major attraction in each city for each day is used.)
- Three “budget” meals per day. (The minimum meal price, plus 20 percent to make it more realistic for a longer trip.)
- Three cheap, local beers (or wine) each day as an “entertainment fund.” Non-drinkers might have dessert and coffee or attend a local music performance instead, so this is a general benchmark that should be proportional for each city.
Are lists like the European Backpacker good predictors?
Experience the grand cities, amazing architecture, cultural attractions and natural beauty of the Old Continent.
For Americans, it’s a great time to travel to Europe, said Reena Aggarwal, professor of finance and business administration at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business. “I think the dollar will continue to be strong for the next few months, and tourists should take advantage of the opportunity.”
Aggarwal said she did not expect the exchange rates to change markedly anytime soon, but other factors should also be considered when planning an international trip.
“Obviously it is not all about dollars,” said Aggarwal, as things like safety are also important. But lists like the European Backpacker Index, which help travelers have a better understanding of comparative costs, “are a good starting point.”
For budget-minded travelers, a critical factor will also be the price of airfare and availability of low-fare seats between the United States and Europe, said Henry H. Harteveldt, a travel industry analyst and co-founder of the Atmosphere Research Group, a market research company.
“We're seeing some expansion of budget airlines entering the U.S.,” Harteveldt said. “XL Airways of France just announced it will add summer season Paris-San Francisco flights, and carriers like Air Europa and Air Berlin tend to up frequencies and capacity in the peak summer season. Air France, however, has announced it will suspend flights between Paris and Newark, to focus instead on its service in/out of JFK.”
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Leave a Comment:
Traveling to Europe would be great. It's the airfare there and back that stops the deal.
I would say that airfare is the cheapest it has been in awhile. I found a roundtrip fare clt - lhr for less than $700 the other day....thats insanely cheap!
Insanely cheap? Compared to what?
You can cross the US for much less and thats about the same distance as London and Paris.
Puhleez. Back in 2005 I went to France R/T for $453. And that was common. These prices are purely outrageous. Screw Europe. I am spending my dollars here in the states visiting cities I have never seen before. Europe has never done anything to help our economy so why should we help theirs?
When I was going to school in England in 2001-2002, my rt air fair from west coast to London Heathrow was under $500. Now, I'm seeing it around $900.
In 1998 we honeymooned to Paris and home from Madrid and the round trip airfare was $400 each. The luxury train car from Paris to Madrid was about $200 - we had our own cushette and fine dined in the dining car, all included.
European fares these days can't even get close to those deals. We, too, are focusing on US travel. Our kids are 9 & 10 and we are hitting the National Parks on a mission!
No animosity to Europe,...just not into spending all my vacation dollars on airfare.
This is terrible article to read. I wanted to know the cheapest cities in Europe to travel to and instead I am playing a game of hide and seek.
Europe on the cheap? Check out the east. Maybe not as cosmopolitan, but a great deal of unadulterated culture.
Looks like someone didn't do their homework for this article. Poland is hosting the Euro 2012 Cup this June/July so if you are lucky enough to find accommodations since much of Europe will be descending on the country, they'll likely to be very, very expensive. I'd take Poland off this list, at least for this year.
Went to London, Kiev, Ukraine, Minsk, Belarus, and Warsaw, Poland. London was by far the most expensivie. Belaurus was cheap in comparison. We had a great time.
This is for backpackers, so for most "normal' tourists, this list doesn't quite correlate.
Its always possible to find deals to some big travel hubs for $700, then you can transfer to cheap short haul earopean companies and get to destination for $50 (that's what it cost me to do London-Prague and Berlin-London). Doing a direct flight when I went there would have been more than a $1000 dollars. Of course, there is the hastle of transfering, but if you set up the transfer day correctly, you can get 2 good days (in and out) in those transfer cities (like London, Paris, Brussels) without having to sleep there (which is the biggest cost usually, and yes, London, even for a backpacker is very expensive unless you book way ahead).
Who has the time? It is not safe anyways. I will go to Epcot instead plus hopefully help the economy here.
I don't understand your article. Is the slideshow the list of economical cites? If so you guys are out of your minds. You listed London and that is one of the most unreasonble cities in the world to visit. I've had to pay over $200 for a room that was smaller than my smallest bedroom at home. Over $200.....! I've walked out of hotels in London when the $200 room was ridiculously small, like 6' wide...!
Google hotels in London and tell me it's a cheap city to visit. Lousy reporting if I'm reading it right.
Who cares about the size of the room? You're not supposed to go to London and spend the whole time in your hotel room.
You can go to Europe cheaply, but you need to be EXTREMELY flexible in your dates and as some of the commenters said, who has the time? Between the 8 hour flight there and back and the measly 2 weeks vacation (if you're lucky) that we Americans get, you'd be racing through cities so fast you wouldn't remember what you've seen. If you've got say 3 or (even better) four weeks to take alternate means of transportation (trains, buses, car), then you can see 4 or 5 cities and do it reasonably. That said, I flew into Amsterdam (from NC) for about $500 and from there took a fast train to Brussels, Paris and Rotterdam. It can be done, it takes a little research and flexibility.
The dollar is still way too weak to make Europe a worthwhile trip...restaurants, hotels in western Europe will still be a shock for most travelers. You can have a better quality vacation applying the airfare and weak dollar to a domestic trip this year.
I say ,,I say ,, Your riiiiiiiiight good post , oh and love foghorn leghorn him and that dang dog crack me up.
why would you want to visit the cheapest cities? i much prefer visiting cities and grand hotels based on service, shopping, dining, spa treatments, etc...
it's vacation! don't worry about money! i love europe!