Not only is it lovely — think picturesque canals, old brick buildings and historic museums and churches, to name a few — it’s also quite affordable!

Luckily for Cheapos, Bruges is filled with small, family-run hotels that do not fall short on character and service.

More reading on Belgium:
• The perfect budget weekend in Bruges
• 5 super cheap hotels in Brussels
• Antwerp: Visiting this Belgian gem on the cheap

Our top budget hotels in Bruges

Here are five of our favorite budget hotels throughout the city with friendly owners, a unique atmosphere, and convenient locations.

Asiris

Neighborhood: St. Gilles
Doubles from $102

The Asiris is a no-frills spot focused on what’s important: clean, comfortable rooms and top-notch service. The hotel has 13 rooms and faces St. Gillis Church to the south, plus it includes a charming garden area guests can enjoy.

Rooms are simply designed, instead placing the focus all on the views surrounding the hotel. A few of the rooms face the church, while most face the garden. If you’re willing to climb some stairs, you can be rewarded with excellent views from the two rooms on the top floor.

Read the full review

We love the rooms with wood beams at Martin’s Brugge.

Martin’s Brugge

Neighborhood: Markt and Burg
Doubles from $130

The popular Martin’s Brugge sits behind the belfry tower at Markt Square and is a popular spot for convention attendees and tour groups. Booking ahead, and outside of any convention dates, is your best bet for scoring a great deal here.

The hotel offers accommodations akin to large boutique hotels: neutral, comfortable rooms, modern amenities and kind, professional service. Guests can also enjoy the hotel’s chic lobby, lovely outdoor terrace and excellent cocktail bar.

Read the full review

The entrance to Groeninghe Hotel.

Groeninghe

Neighborhood: Markt and Burg
Doubles from $113

The family-run Groeninghe is a stylish spot in a calm part of the city. Despite the quiet street its on, this hotel still boasts an excellent location near Markt Square. To get around the city, you can also rent bikes here, making it even more of a convenient place to stay.

The rooms — some adorned in earth-tones, others in deep reds and purples — offer lovely views through large windows. We loved the room tucked into the former attic, which offers cozy accommodation and skylight views.

Read the full review

The lobby at Fevery Hotel.

Fevery

Neighborhood: St. Gilles
Doubles from $118

If you’re looking for a home away from home, the Fevery is just that. The owner is kind and caring, and the hotel sits in a quiet, residential neighborhood. Rooms are simple and clean, and the hotel is labeled as European Eco for its efforts toward sustainability.

Rooms come complete with televisions, phones, safes and alarm clocks, plus free Wi-Fi. All 10 rooms include private bathrooms, most of which include bathtubs.

Read the full review

Enjoy the classic view from Botaniek Hotel.

Botaniek

Neighborhood: Minnewater & Astrid Park
Doubles from $151

Each spacious room at the Botaniek is charming with antique touches and plenty of natural light. An 18th-century mansion houses the hotel, and it sits just a stone’s throw from the city’s canals, which are lovely.

Charming furniture and decor outfit the rooms, and second-floor rooms feature high ceilings. Rooms on the top floor come highly recommended, as they offer the best views. No matter your room, you’ll find private bathrooms, free Wi-Fi, flat-screen TVs and kettles.

Read the full review

More hotels in Bruges

For even more choices, check out our guide to cheap hotels in Bruges with more than 20 hotels.

The post Belgium: Top-notch budget hotels in Bruges appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

Weekends pass slowly and satisfying as people embrace the feeling of this 14th century sleepy Flemish town. Plus, there’s no lack of affordable hotels and hostels in town starting at $47.

But where do you begin to figure out how to spend your time here with a range of good neighborhoods? Have no fear, because we’ve assembled a perfect Cheapo weekend in Bruges.

Day 1

Grab breakfast at a supermarket like Delhaize (they’re stocked with fresh baked goods) and enjoy the view of the Markt before the tourists arrive. On Wednesdays there’s an open market here well-equipped with locally made jams and a dozen chocolate praline stands. Unless it’s already high on your list, you should probably refrain from the €50 horse carriage ride—Bruges is extremely walkable and best absorbed by foot.

Exploring the scenic canals of Bruges is a fun and free activity. Photo: Audrey Sykes

Sightseeing and strolling the affordable attractions

For some great sightseeing in town (and on the cheap), you could start at the center Burg Square. Skip the €8 walk up the Belfry clocktower—you’ll get a city view later. With a casual stroll south, through alleyways and cottages, you’ll wind up under the Gentpoort gate. Hang in the sun by the canalways at Minnewater Park. Nearby is the Bruges photo-op Begijnhof, a peaceful garden with romance written all over it.

Window shopping for free

Window shopping might sound like an obvious to do when on a low budget, but Bruges is great for it. Small lace boutiques, Belgian waffles and chocolates are on window display like glamorous stiletto heels. Tiny handmade toys, a glistening array of Belgian beer glasses and even private houses show off quirky collections on their street facing windows.

Related: Cheap Bruges hotels in Markt and Burg

Indoor activities for cheap

Hitting the town on a rainy day? Try a visit to the Dali museum for €10, and upgrade the experience for a few extra euros—€13 gets you a glass of Cava and a Belgian chocolate. The Basilica of the Holy Blood is an ornate chapel said to house a vile of Jesus Christ’s blood, while The Church of Our Lady houses the Madonna and Child statue by Michaelangelo. Both churches are free, although viewing times of Chirst’s “blood” is an extra €2.50 donation.

De Halve Man brewery tour

Despite the hundreds of beers bottled around Bruges, there’s only one working brewery in the city. De Halve Maan (meaning The Half Moon) is family-run brewery known for their smooth Bruges Zot blond and brown beers. Their 45-minute tours happen every hour, both informative and entertaining, with a chance for a great city view, and ending with a beer to enjoy in their authentic Belgian beer cellar café. Even better, they cost only €7.50 and run all day from 11 AM to 5 PM.

Café Vlissinghe is the oldest tavern in Bruges dating back to 1515. Photo: Audrey Sykes

A wallet-friendly evening out

Cheap eats out are best found at restaurants that don’t have menus in a rainbow of languages. You can always stick to frites and waffles, but it’s not difficult to find local fare. Ribs ‘n Beer have all-you-can-eat specials for €18 on Monday (daily for groups of six or more), or a more healthy bistro Hashtag Food (€13) and fast Pasta Delizia (€6).

Turn your walkabout day into a café beer hopping adventure. Some great and authentic favorites include Le Trappiste, De Garre and T’ Brugsch Bieratelier. Many Bruges cafes hold over 300 assortments of beer. If the weather is warm check out the beer garden at Bruges oldest pub Café Vlissinghe (circa 1515!). More lively late night pubs are brought by backpacker bars like Charlie Rockets and Lybeer Traveler’s Hostel.

Day 2

If you didn’t splurge on dinner, then you should have some money left over for a tasty start to your next morning. A good patisserie or bakery in Bruges is a cheap alternative for eating a pricey breakfast. Some favorites are the Gingerbread Tea Room (€10), Patisserie Academie (€4), Books & Brunch (€12) or La Baguette (€4).

Biking around Bruges for €10

If bicycling in Amsterdam was too intimidating to try, Bruges is the best place for a round two attempt. Pick up a bike for a day at Bruges Bike Rental (€10) or Bicycles Popelier (€12) and head out of town.

Get out of town for a quick jaunt to Damme by bike. Photo: Audrey Sykes

Exploring Damme and beyond

There are bicycle signs around Bruges, and many of them point to Damme. From downtown follow the Potterierei along the canal. Once you exit town you’ll be on DamseVaart-Zuid. It’s a an easy two-mile bike ride along the river to Damme, a tiny port town from the 1400s. The bike ride offers a sweet sample of the Flemish countryside, while Damme is the perfect place to picnic for the afternoon.

A slightly more challenging bike ride north of Damme will reward visitors with the Belgian beaches of the North Sea. Towns like Blankenberge and Knokke-Heist are modest seaside towns with small sailboat harbors and windsurfers. Blankenberge gets extra points for a nice pier and a marine life park.

The post Bruges on a Budget: The perfect weekend itinerary appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

In Belgium, it is Brussels that pulls the crowds, and we certainly find the city a great spot to while away a day or two. It can be pricey, so it’s good to remember that rates for the more business-orientated hotels in Brussels plummet on weekend nights.

Beyond the capitals

But there’s more to the Low Countries than merely Brussels and Amsterdam, and we find that the smaller cities in this region better capture the flavor of their respective countries.

Here’s a handful of smaller cities in the Netherlands, any or all of which make a great overnight stay:

+ Middelburg
+ Delft
+ Gouda
+ Utrecht
+ Maastricht

Hop over the border into Belgium, and the following trio really deserves a day or two:

+ Bruges
+ Ostend
+ Spa

Creative travelers can devise smart itineraries, hopping from one small town to the next through the Low Countries. Flanders, Zeeland and Holland are much too good to just speed through on the fast train. These regions boast gentle landscapes of delicate beauty which powerfully influenced local artists from Pieter Bruegel the Elder to James Ensor.

An Amsterdam-bound alternative

European Rail News this week published our preferred route for Amsterdam-bound travelers coming from Paris and London. With a few days to spare, travelers with a zest for adventure can ride from Lille to Amsterdam by local train, bus and ferry, stopping off along the way at three of the small towns mentioned in our list above: Bruges, Middelburg and Delft. Indeed, with only modest detours off that route, one can also take in Ostend (a real heaven for fish lovers) and Gouda (good for more than merely cheese).

Taking time for smaller communities always makes sense. Accommodation is often cheaper than in the bigger cities favored by most tourists, and the chances are that in a smaller place you’ll get a warmer welcome from the locals.

And just now there is very good reason to by-pass the main tourist trail from Brussels to Amsterdam. The posh new train service called FYRA, launched last month to bring high-speed style to that route, has ground unceremoniously to a halt. Apart from the premium Thalys service (which carries hefty supplements for rail pass holders) there are at present simply no direct trains from Brussels to the Netherlands. Good reason, therefore, to think about inventive alternatives.

The post Holland and Belgium: Consider smaller destinations beyond the capitals appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

Here are a trio of tips for budget travelers who don’t want to book their rail journeys months in advance.

1. Check for local and regional travel passes.

Global pass options (such as those marketed under both InterRail and Eurail schemes) can be a wonderful value if you are really making long hops by rail across Europe. If your geographical horizons are more limited, it is always worth checking for local passes that cover your intended travel area. The target markets for such passes are often budget-conscious locals rather than well-heeled visitors.

Many areas of Europe have such passes. Here are just three examples from among the hundreds of offers available.

Italy: The Mobilcard Alto Adige allows unlimited travel on selected mainline and mountain railways, buses and cable cars in the Südtirol area of northern Italy. There are various options, but the top-of-the-range seven-day pass is just €28.

Britain: The Derbyshire Wayfarer is a rover ticket allowing unlimited travel on trains and buses in much of the scenic Peak District. Its validity extends beyond merely Derbyshire, for it can be used on journeys from Derbyshire to selected points in five adjacent counties. It costs £11.10 for a day.

Germany: The Bayern Ticket is valid on most trains and buses in the German State of Bavaria (as well as on selected cross-border journeys to neighboring German states and into Austria). It costs €22 for one person for a day (with each accompanying traveler paying just €4 extra).

2. Think about return tickets.

If you are buying tickets as you go, rather than using a rail pass or pre-booking discount rail fares, bear in mind that a return may not cost much more than a single. Here are two examples:

Belgium: The regular one-way fare from Brussels to Bruges is €13.50. But a weekend return (valid from 7 p.m. Friday and anytime Saturday and Sunday) costs just a fraction more at €14.40.

Britain: Roll up at Kings Cross station in London at mid-morning on a busy weekday, expecting to travel at once to Scotland, and you will pay mightily for the privilege of traveling so spontaneously. The single fare to Edinburgh will set you back a hefty £125.70. But for just one pound more you can bag a return ticket from London to Edinburgh.

3. Consider stopovers.

On many journeys across Europe by train, it pays to buy a ticket through to the most distant point and then make use of any break-of-journey privileges that might apply to that ticket.

Take the case above, where we showed how on many long-distance journeys in Britain you can often pay just one pound extra for a return rather than a single ticket. The return half of such tickets is generally valid for a month and it is perfectly possible to stop off along the way. So there is no reason why you cannot break your journey from Edinburgh back to London with a night or two in Durham and then again in York. Indeed you can even vary your route: for example speeding north from London direct to Edinburgh via the East Coast route, but returning back to London via the West Coast – breaking your journey, for example, in the Lake District.

Think creatively about how you can map stopovers into your journey. A Berlin to Vienna ticket, for example, will usually allow you to break your journey at no extra cost in both Dresden and Prague. Do get specialist advice, though, when you buy the ticket. The rules on breaks of journey are famously complicated. With some tickets you may need to specify the place and duration of any break of journey at the time of purchase.

Happy traveling in 2013.

The post 3 Rail Tips for 2013: Consider regional passes, return tickets and stopovers appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

But for many journeys by boat to and from Britain there are some credible alternatives which deserve a look. This week we explore shipping routes across the North Sea.

Dutch Flyer

Stena Line offer twice-daily sailings from Harwich to Hoek van Holland (a Dutch port that Brits still colloquially refer to as “The Hook”). One of the two services is by day, the other an overnight crossing. The ferry terminals at either end of this shipping route are well served by trains, so this makes an excellent rail-sea route linking London with Amsterdam, Rotterdam and northern Germany.

A Dutch Flyer ticket from just £39 allows you to travel from London Liverpool Street (or more than 160 other train stations in eastern England) to anywhere in the Netherlands. The fare covers the rail journey to Harwich, the 7- to 8-hour journey on the ship and then the onward train ride from Hoek van Holland to any train station on the Dutch network.

This really can be tremendous value. Rail fares in the Netherlands can be pricey, but with the Dutch Flyer ticket you effectively get onward travel within the Netherlands at no extra cost. Travelers using the overnight ferry option will need to pay a modest supplement for cabin accommodation.

Directly to Denmark

A prime choice for travelers bound for Scandinavia or the Baltic region is the DFDS service from Harwich to Esbjerg. The 18- to 19-hour crossing is a real chance to relax. Fast trains to Harwich from London connect with the late afternoon departure of the ship. From Esbjerg there are convenient same-day train connections on to Copenhagen and Hamburg.

One-way fares for the ship start at £49.

By ship from northern England

If you are based in Scotland or northern England, it is a long haul down to Harwich to catch a boat across the North Sea. But there are three long-established daily shipping routes direct from the North to the continent. All three are overnight services.

They are:

1. With DFDS at 5 p.m. every afternoon from Newcastle (North Shields) to Ijmuiden on the Dutch coast. DFDS lay on a connecting coach service which will speed you from Ijmuiden to the middle of Amsterdam.

2. A 6:30 p.m. P&O Ferries ship from Hull to Zeebrugge in Belgium, perfectly placed for access to Flanders. A bus collects foot-passengers from the ship in Zeebrugge for a shuttle transfer to Bruges railway station.

3. A second P&O Ferries daily departure from Hull, this one at 9 p.m. bound for Europoort in Holland. P&O offer real cruise-ferry luxury on this route. This route offers a choice of onward bus connections from the Dutch port of disembarkation: a direct express coach to Rotterdam and one to Amsterdam.  You can link onto the Dutch rail network in both cities with same-day onward connections to destinations across central Europe.

Our view is that these North Sea shipping routes offer an imaginative way to make journeys from many parts of Britain to the eastern Alps, the Rhine Valley, central European capitals and much of eastern Europe. They are all certainly a lot more fun than shuffling through long lines at airport security.

The post From Britain to the Continent: North Sea Ferries appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

From beach cruises to picnic pedaling, here are my “top five” alternative bike tours that are offered in and around Amsterdam.

Culinary bike tour
Cost: €32.50 (all inclusive)

Brought to you by Orange Bike, this three-hour tour tickles your palate with authentic Dutch snacks. Food ranges from classic Dutch cheese to the traditional herring plate, with fine drinks to wash it down at old cafes along the way. The real question is: Are your taste-buds up for the ethnic challenge?

Countryside bike tour
Cost: €22 (€19 for students and seniors, €5 off if you have your own bike)

Get out of the city and take in the relaxed atmosphere along the Amstel riverside. You’ll pass scenic fields and houseboats as the Countryside tour makes its way to an authentic clog and cheese factory (free cheese tastings included). As a bonus, a pit stop is made at a traditional windmill, just to round out the overall Holland experience. Brought to you by Mike’s Bike Tours.

Amsterdam beach tour
Cost: €22.50

That’s right, Amsterdam has a beach. Orange Bike offers four-hour tours along the Ij River towards Ijburg, a fun and energetic man-made beach full of city dwellers sunbathing and swimming. The tour passes through neighborhoods that offer interesting old and new architecture, and pedals around spots that are ideal for a dip, or just relaxing to cycle around. The tour ends with a drink on the terrace overlooking the sparkling Ij Lake.

The eight-day two-country bike tour
Cost: €900 (including meals and lodging for eight days)

Feeling adventurous? This eight-day voyage by Bike Sherpa begins in Bruges, Belgium (also known as the “Venice of the north”), makes a stop in Ghent and reaches Amsterdam as its final destination. The 205-kilometer path goes through the wetlands of Zeeland in South Holland, and offers a scenic escape of windmills, castles, and beautiful pastures. If that wasn’t enough, accommodation is included on a canal barge.

The Beerbike tour
Cost: €350 for two hours, €430 for three (for 10-22 people)

Cycling through the city on a bike that holds 10 to 22 people along with a 30-liter beer keg? Only in Amsterdam. Beer Bike is a bar on wheels where everyone pedals together while sipping Dutch brew. (Luckily, the tour includes a non-sipping driver responsible for steering.) This fun and social bike tour lasts two to three hours, and turns heads throughout Amsterdam as it cycles forth.

The post Amsterdam Bike Tours: 5 tours with fun themes appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

In our 29 city guides, you’ll find more than 1,200 reviews of budget-friendly hotels, each one inspected and photographed by one of our editors. Some are listed simply because they’re cheap and clean. Others, however, boast something else. They might be blessed with an incredible locatieron. Or perhaps they have a surprising theme or impressive style.

These hotels offer travelers something unique and yet they still manage to be affordable. We believe they deserve a little special attention.

Choosing the “Cheapo 100”

Thus, this year we created the “Cheapo 100,” a ranking of our five favorite properties in 20 cities. In each city, we chose one winning hotel for the following five categories: “Super Cheapo,” Best Location, Most Unique, Best Budget Style, and Best B&B or Guesthouse.

Selecting the winning hotels was not easy and resulted in lively debate here at EuroCheapo headquarters. In certain circumstances, we had three or four great contenders for one award.

And then there was the question of preference. After all, how do you define the “best location” in a city like Paris? Is it facing Notre Dame (Hotel Esmeralda) or steps from the Place des Vosges (Hotel Jeanne d’Arc)? Oh, wait – what about next to the Eiffel Tower (Eber Mars)?

You might say we suffered an embarrassment of Cheapos. But fear not, all hotels will have another shot for next year’s awards.

Without further ado, EuroCheapo proudly presents the 2010 “Cheapo 100”:

Amsterdam

Hotel Museumzicht

The following hotels were selected from our Amsterdam guide:

Best Location
Hotel Museumzicht
Doubles: $70 – $149
When the museums are this close, you need not limit yourself to admiring them from your hotel windows.

Barcelona

Hostal Goya

The following hotels were selected from our Barcelona guide:

Super Cheapo
Hostal Centric
Doubles: $56 – $133
This hostal is simple and appeals to the young backpacker as much as it does the more conservative traveler.

Best Location
Hosteria Grau
Doubles: $84 – $125
Located at the intersection of two bustling pedestrian streets in the center of the city, the Grau is an island of tranquility surrounded by constant action.

Most Unique
Hotel Peninsular
Doubles: $78
This former monastery features an interesting web of twisting balconies, zigzagging stairwells, and full-on sensory stimulation.

Best Budget Style
Hostal Goya
Doubles: $107 – $125
All rooms at the Hostal Goya follow the same contemporary-meets-opulence style imperative.

Best B&B, Pension or Guesthouse
Hostal Fernando
Doubles: $72 – $90
An easy central location? Check! Roomy, clean space, and helpful staff? Check and check!

Berlin

Hotel-Pension Dittberner

The following hotels were selected from our Berlin guide:

Super Cheapo
Circus Hostels Weinbergsweg and Rosa-Luxemburgstrasse
Doubles: $51 – $63
If Mitte’s long-running Circus Hostel had a tagline, it would be: “budget-friendly and stylish aren’t strange bedfellows.”

Best Location
Hotel Taunus
Doubles: $90 – $118
Sitting pretty in the bulls-eye of Mitte, the Hotel Taunus offers surprise-free rooms that won’t break the bank.

Most Unique
Michelberger
Doubles: $90
“Kitschy-cool,” “flea market-chic,” and “gritty-glam” are the top contenders for describing this 2009 addition to the city’s design hotel scene.

Best Budget Style
ackselhaus & bluehome
$179 – $203
The ackselhaus and bluehome are exotic escapes in the heart of Berlin.

Best B&B, Pension or Guesthouse
Hotel-Pension Dittberner
Doubles: $116 – $159
The 21-room Pension Dittberner stands out from the pension crowd with its museum-like breakfast room, old-fashioned library and and art-filled rooms.

Next Page: Bruges, Brussels and Copenhagen

The post The Cheapo 100: Our favorite budget hotels in Europe appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

The French National Railway, SNCF, announced today discounted train tickets on the Thalys line from Paris to a select number of cities for travel between July 5 and August 27, 2010. Tickets must be purchased online before June 30, 2010. Other destinations include Rotterdam, Bruges, and Liege.

Example fares:

Paris – Brussels: €25, one-way.
Paris – Cologne: €29, one-way.
Paris – Amsterdam: €35, one-way.

Important: The tickets must be booked through the SNCF website in French.

You do not need to be French to book these tickets. Reserve the seats (in French), pay with your credit card, print off your confirmation emails, and, if picking up your tickets at the station, bring the same credit card with you that you used to make the reservation. (You will use that card to retrieve the tickets from a machine or hand it to a ticket agent at the station.)

For much more on this subject, read our primer on how to book tickets on the SNCF Web site in French. Also, if you have Google toolbar installed on your Web browser, you could try the Google translator for help with the French.

Note: If you click through to the English-language version of the site, you will not see the same special offers. Stay on the French site.

Testing, testing…

We just tested out the fares with a trip from Paris to Amsterdam on Tuesday, July 20, returning to Paris on July 27. We found fares, both ways, for €35. Our total price was €70 roundtrip.

Just for fun, we also clicked through to the English version and tried the same dates. We were able to reserve seats on the same trains for $47, which is just a few dollars more than the French version. However, the English site insisted on mailing the tickets to us, which tacks $18 onto the order. The total amount is $112, or €93, roundtrip.

Get moving

We definitely encourage you to take advantage of this offer while the promotional fares last. Once the promo-fares are gone, you can still book seats on the trains, but at higher prices.

The post French Train Sale: Cheap train tickets from Paris this summer (reserve before June 30) appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

But there’s just one small problem: It’s the summer. And you’re planning on going to, say, Paris, and are freaked out that all the good spots are already booked and your dream vacation is starting to feel a whole lot more stressful. What’s a Cheapo to do?

Don’t worry, we’re here to help! Take a deep breath and follow these five tips to find affordable hotels in any city.

1. Location, location, location.

First, get to know the layout of the city you’re visiting. Do you know where you’ll be spending most of your time? Are most of the sites you’re visiting in the same area or are they spread throughout the city?

While finding a hotel near your favored attractions is an obvious first step, it’s also important to consider neighborhoods that can serve as convenient “hubs” for reaching museums, landmarks and restaurants in disparate areas.

Staying near the Eiffel Tower makes it easy to also visit the Musee d’Orsay, Les Invalides and go cafe hopping in nearby St-Germain-des-Prés. But if you’re more interested in experiencing the Marais, visiting Pere Lachaise (and especially if you happen to be arriving into Gare du Nord), you may wish to consider the budget-friendly Republique neighborhood.

We often hear from travelers who book the cheapest hotel they can find only to realize it’s an inconvenient schlep to the areas they want to visit. This can cause an undue expenditure of both time and money, but fortunately it can be avoided with advance planning.

2. Re-order your schedule

For travelers who plan on visiting more than one city (or those in the midst of some RTW backpacking), flexibility on the sequence of city visits can help save money. For example, hotel rates in Brussels are always higher during the week than on weekends, so why not visit Bruges from Wednesday to Friday and Brussels on Saturday and Sunday? The rates are cheaper and the line to see Mannekin Pis will be shorter.

Likewise, keep an eye out for regional and national holidays or major conferences that can cause rates to spike. Just this past week we noticed hotel rates in Milan were particularly high even for typically lower-cost properties. Digging a little deeper, we realized it was the annual Milan Furniture Fair, which caused most centrally located hotels to sell out… sounds like a perfect time to visit Florence!

3. Go window shopping

Once you’ve narrowed your list down to a handful of hotels that look good, always compare rates. Hotel owners frequently use more than one reservation agency to manage their bookings, but can charge different room rates depending on the commercial terms of their contracts. So shop around, Cheapos, and compare prices to make sure you’re getting the best deal.

An easy way to do this is by using a hotel search engine that receives up to the minute prices from multiple reservation agencies. There are many excellent sites that feature this type of price comparison, including Kayak, Mobissimo and (you guessed it) our very own EuroCheapo.

4. Consider what amenities you really need and skip the ones that are just nice to have.

When is the last time you had a truly delicious breakfast at a hotel? While they do exist, we recommend skipping them altogether and starting your day at the cute café down the street. Breakfast fees at hotels can be notoriously high, yet the quality can be exquisitely sub-par. Skip it, pay less elsewhere and save yourself some euros.

Also, think about the room amenities that you really need to enjoy your visit. Is a satellite TV really a necessity? Do you need air-conditioning in Vienna in early June? The difference in comfort between a one-star and a three-star hotel might be more noticeable in your wallet than anywhere else.

5. Don’t forget about hostels and apartments.

You’ve probably already heard this before but it’s worth restating: Consider booking a private room in a youth hostel to save money. Most hostels offer both private and dorm-style rooms, and many have gone to great lengths to shed their image as a lair exclusively for round-the-world backpackers (editor’s note: not that there’s anything at all wrong with RTW backpacking, of course).

Hostels also add an extra dose of convenience, frequently offering on-site laundry facilities and kitchens to guests. There’s also the undeniable social element that’s hard to find elsewhere.

Similarly, you might wish to consider booking an apartment that includes some of the same cooking and washing benefits beyond what is offered at a standard hotel. A wide selection of short-term rental apartments can be found on sites like Roomorama, airbnb and, of course, Craigslist.

Tell us what you think! Do you have any special tips for finding cheap hotels to share with your fellow Cheapos? Leave a comment below!

The post Travel Planning: Five tips for finding a cheap hotel during summer appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

Bruges’ Underground Church

Back around 900 AD, the city built a fort to protect itself from pesky Vikings who were raiding the city. Not long after, the very large and central St. Donatian’s Church was built on top of the fort and remained a place of worship until Napoleon ripped it down in 1799. Soon after, parts of the church were auctioned off.

Jump ahead to 1982, when the city’s Crowne Plaza Hotel was built on the site of St. Donatian’s. During the construction and excavation process, parts of the ancient fort’s foundations were discovered. Structures from the church were also uncovered, including the choir gallery, which was excavated in 1988.

The hotel has converted the basement into conference and reception rooms, lined by the ancient walls, and lit with a touch of drama. They’ve also put on display various relics unearthed in the area, many of which belonged to the church. Paintings show St. Donatian’s in all its glory.

Touring St. Donatian’s

As long as there isn’t a conference in session, visitors can tour the ruins simply by asking at the Crowne Plaza’s front desk.

When we visited recently, a nice porter led us downstairs and turned on the lights. We checked out the ancient walls, drawings, and other relics. Granted, the fresh carpeting, new ceiling, and conference tables can detract from the history on display, but just turn your attention to those walls!

Also see: Our recommended budget hotels in Bruges.

The post Bruges: Underground church visit for free appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.