For those looking to save some euros, one place to begin your research is by looking at Paris’ free museums and attractions (or those with reduced admission).

It is possible, after all, to take in a lot of the city’s culture without forking over too much cash. Here’s a quick guide to a few of our favorite free museums and tips for finding discounted admission.

Related:
• 47 ways to save on your trip to Paris
• 8 best cheap hotels in Paris for 2025

Always free museums in Paris

Some museums and many public monuments are free every day. This is great to know when you get caught in the rain and don’t want to kill time in a café.

Note that some of these have a (sometimes strongly) recommended “donation” ticket. While giving something isn’t required, it’s certainly a nice gesture.

Free museums include:

• The Musée d’Art Moderne, not far from the Eiffel Tower, is one of two modern art museums in Paris. Its special exhibitions cost 5-12 euros, but the permanent collection is completely free.
• Notre Dame Cathedral, and any church (other than Sainte Chapelle) for that matter, is fair game.
• The Musée Carnavalet in the Marais, allows you to tour the complete history of the city for free. (“Donation ticket” €5.) Temporary exhibitions can cost 10-13 euros.
• Arène de Lutèce, the city’s old Roman amphitheater, is just hanging out in the Latin Quarter waiting for visitors to drop in for a picnic while watching the local children play soccer.
• You can also walk through the courtyards and outer halls of the Hotel des Invalides and check out the canons guarding Napoleon’s tomb without paying to actually go inside.
• The Atelier Brancusi displays the sculptures of Constantin Brancusi just outside of the Centre Pompidou, including the famous sculpture l’oiseau dans l’espace. The workshop is completely free to visit.
• More museums that are free every day include: Maison de Victor Hugo, Musée de la Vie Romantique, Musée Curie, the Shoah Memorial, the Petit Palais – Musée des Beaux Arts, the Musée du Parfum-Fragonard and more. Note that many of these charge admission to special exhibits, but visiting the permanent collection is free.

Along with free fireworks over the Eiffel Tower, Bastille Day means free admission to many of the city’s museums. Photo: Yann Caradec

Sometimes free museums in Paris

If you’re planning your trip like a Cheapo, come to Paris on a weekend for the first Sunday of the month when many national museums are open for free, like the Pompidou and Musee d’Orsay.

Keep in mind that some museums will only offer the free first Sunday per month in the off-season. Look at the “practical information” section of the museum website you plan to visit and it should tell you.

To celebrate the national holiday, Bastille Day, national museums, like the Louvre, are also open for free on July 14 every year. (This could also be to distract the revolutionary-minded from storming any more prisons.)

Discounted with a Paris Museum Pass

Purchasing a Paris Museum Pass (available for 2, 4 or 6 days) will provide entrance to most national museums and monuments, including the Palace at Versailles and the Arc de Triomphe.

If you are a history and art buff, the pass will easily pay for itself. All you need to do is plan your visits in advance.

For example, a two-day museum pass costs €70. If you plan on visiting both the Conciergerie prison (where Marie Antoinette was imprisoned) and the adjacent Sainte Chapelle church, admission will cost a total of €26, if purchased independently. Throw in a ticket to the Louvre (€22), the Rodin Museum (€14), and the Centre Pompidou (€15), and in two days, you’ve saved a bit of cash.

We don’t mean to oversell the pass. However, if you are dedicated to visiting multiple museums, the pass can be a very good deal.

Free for visitors under 26 years old

• EU citizens under 26: All permanent collections of national museums and monuments are free for EU cardholders under 26 years of age.
• Other residents under 26 (with carte de sejour): Many Americans and Canadians may think this law passes them up. But wait! The thousands of study abroad students, au pairs, and English assistants who have legal residency in France or elsewhere in Europe are also covered by this law. So, if you’re under 26, head to the Musée d’Orsay or the Natural History Museum, wave your passport and carte de séjour, and you’ll get a free ticket.
• Children: Children often get into places for free. However, ages vary considerably, so be sure to ask at the ticket window.

And remember that free entry usually only applies to a museum’s permanent collections and often doesn’t cover special exhibits. However, these special exhibitions often offer discounted youth tickets.

Hotel des Invalides offers daily reduced admission rates late in the day. Photo: Jean-Pierre Dalbéra

Discounts and other deals

If a museum’s entrance is not free, you can often find various discounts if you know where to look. Work up the courage to ask if the price seems steep. Youth and “under 18” visitors can usually get reductions even if you don’t have EU paperwork, so visitors can still benefit from reductions.

Also, museums often work in tandem to offer discounts. For example, if you present your ticket to Palais Garnier when you visit the Musée d’Orsay, you’ll receive a discount (if you visit within 8 days). Obviously, right? Check out the offers posted at the ticket booth.

More info

The Paris Tourism Office has a website in English that can be useful for finding up-to-date information for any museum in Paris. Search by museum name, and soon you’ll realize how much money you can save (and how many Mona Lisa mugs you’ll finally be able to buy at the Louvre gift shop!). They even have an incredibly comprehensive list of all free and reduced admission museums and times.

Looking for even more free ideas? Here’s a list of 25 free things in Paris that we love and 7 things in Paris that are always free.

The post Paris: A list of free and discounted museums appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

No matter how much you spend, though, it’s always a good idea to make the most of your night at the theater. Here are our tips to do just that.

Related articles:

• 7 ways to save on Broadway tickets

• Head Off-Broadway for Great Shows and Cheaper Tickets

Read Reviews Before You Buy

The staggering cost of bringing a new show to the stage means complete bombs aren’t nearly common as they once were. Still, you don’t want to waste time seeing a mediocre show when there are dozens of great ones happening all around. You can usually guarantee a good experience by reading reviews before you buy your seats.

Sure, reading reviews can take a little time. But for people who love theater, New York is the world’s biggest and best candy store. Part of the enjoyment is sorting through what will be on the shelves when you arrive — and deciding which ones to sample.

Two particularly helpful sites:

DidHeLikeIt.com is a one-stop roundup featuring top reviewers from the New York Times, Washington Post, Variety and other major media outlets. Click on a show to get a quick look at which reviewers give it a thumbs up, thumbs down or are on the fence. Then, go deeper by reading full reviews, learning what new shows will open before you arrive or signing up to get new reviews by e-mail on opening night.

Time Out New York is a particularly good source. The short, concise format makes them easy to read, the star rating system helps you sort through options and their reviewers cover a lot of ground — including plenty of Off-Broadway productions.

Brave the crowds by the stage door and you may get an autograph from a star like Alan Rickman. Photo: jastrow75.

Meet Stars at the Stage Door

The stage door is literally as it sounds: The place where actors and musicians enter the theater to get backstage. More importantly, it’s where they almost always leave, which gives you a chance to meet the people you just saw perform.

Of course, there are no guarantees. Once in a while, an actor needing to get away quickly slips out another exit. And on two-show days — usually Wednesday and Saturday — they may stay inside between performances. But more often than not, even the most famous take time to sign programs, pose for photographs and maybe even hang around to talk with fans.

What to expect depends on the size of the crowd. The scene was a madhouse when Daniel Radcliffe, AKA Harry Potter, was performing in “How to Succeed in Business.” On the other hand, I’ve seen the entire casts of “Next to Normal” and “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” — two Tony Award-winning shows with Tony-Award winning actors — hang out for a good 30 to 40 minutes with two dozen fans.

To have an enjoyable stage door experience, bring your camera and a Sharpie marker or two (in case one disappears in the crowd). Then, before the show begins, ask an usher where the stage door is located and whether your favorite actor is likely to sign autographs and talk with fans. While some stage doors are obvious, others can be hard to find; one is actually located one block behind the theater’s main entrance.

After the final curtain, move quickly to the stage door. Depending on their obligations after the show, some stars will come out quickly; others may take a while. A member of the theater security staff will usually let you know if your favorite performer is still inside or has already left.

And one more tip: Out of respect, don’t ask actors to sign anything that’s not related to the show they’ve just performed. It’s considered rude and many simply won’t do it. After all, actors are generous with their time because people have taken the time to come see them perform that show.

The post NYC: How to Make the Most of Your Night at the Theater appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

That means almost every night, you have three productions to choose from. They can run the gamut from the usual suspects (yes, Figaro, I’m looking at you) to more obscure choices (this season, we have two separate productions of a modern piece about Carmelite nuns during the French Revolution).

Though the competing directors seem to incessantly complain about budget cuts, all three operas, the Staatsoper, Deutsche Oper and Komische Oper, seem to be thriving, dutifully putting on new productions and old favorites from September through June. Luckily for us, that means there is a glut of seats to fill, so tickets are sold at heavily subsidized prices.

Here’s a guide to divas, deception and drama—all so unglamorously affordable.

Classic Card
www.classiccard.de

If you’re under 30, you’re in luck. The excellent Classic Card lets the cardholder buy any seat in any of the opera houses for €10. That’s right—center orchestra seat, close enough to see the singers quiver. Just one good seat pays for the card, which is €15 and valid for one year. Since it’s also valid at ballets and symphonies, this tiny piece of plastic has saved me thousands over the years. Buy at the box office and start using it right away.

Komische Oper
Behrenstraße 55-57
030 47997400
U-55/S-Bahn Brandenburger Tor or U-6 Französische Str.
www.komische-oper-berlin.de

Young, cool and cheeky, the Komische Oper on Unter den Linden puts on productions that are daring even by Berlin standards. You get individual subtitles, which also come in English, so you can at least try to keep up with the story lines. The cheapest top balcony seats can be had for €8 to €12 (premieres are always more expensive). Except for premieres, students under 30 and seniors over 65 get 25% off all tickets as well.

Staatsoper im Schiller Theater
Bismarckstraße 110
030 202683
U-2 Ernst Reuter Platz
www.staatsoper-berlin.de

While its sumptuous, cathedral-like home base is being renovated, this former East German crown jewel has fled to the West. In its temporary (and smaller) home at the Schiller Theater, tickets can be had for as low as €14, but students and seniors get 50% off all seats; or, they can risk it until an hour before curtain call and grab whatever is left over for €13. But the best deals are for kiddies: for designated children-friendly matinee performances, tickets are €3.

Deutsche Oper
Bismarckstraße 35
030.343 84 343
U-2 Deutsche Oper
www.deutscheoperberlin.de

The West Berlin opera is a mammoth black box of acoustic wonder. Nosebleed seats are €14, and as the theater is much bigger than the other two, you may actually struggle to see everything from up there. Students under 30 get 50% off all tickets one week before the performance, and pay no more than €13.50 one hour before performance.

One word of warning: There are two older box office attendants whose brusqueness is legendary. (I once saw a Spanish tourist reduced to tears.) Don’t take it personally. We’ve all been abused by them, but we keep going back for more.

Extra cheapo tip: Sometimes your opera ticket doubles as a public transportation ticket from and to the theater, so check the fine print on the ticket. If you have Berlin Welcome Card, you also get 25% off certain tickets at all of the three operas.

More unsolicited advice: I once saw a poor thing arrive in what seemed like a very uncomfortable prom dress. This is Berlin, so you really don’t need to dress up. You’ll see society folks in haute couture and students in jeans side by side. So just be yourself and enjoy the music.

The post How to find affordable opera tickets in Berlin appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

Here are a few museum discounts I’ve come across (or have already taken advantage of), followed by some additional Prague art museum and gallery cost-saving tips.

National Gallery (reduced every afternoon)
Various locations (see Web site)
Tel.: +420 224 301 024
Getting there: Malostranska metro stop
Hours: 10 a.m.- 6 p.m. (daily except Monday)
Admission: 80-150 CZK (adult), 40-80 CZK (reduced), free (first Wednesday of the month, 3 p.m.-8 p.m.)
Web site

Comprised of not just one gallery but rather of several, Prague’s National Gallery offers collections from the old masters, along with 19th-century, modern and contemporary art. Housed in some of the city’s most beautiful and historic buildings (works of art in themselves), the galleries offer a reduced price fare for the last two hours of every day (4 p.m. to 6 p.m.) as well as free admissions from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. every first Wednesday of the month.

Among its offerings, the Sternberg Palace—a Baroque landmark—displays European Art from the classic through the Baroque era. Veletržní Palace, the seat of the National Gallery, houses four floors of 19th- to 21st-century European and Czech art. The House of the Black Madonna, designed by Josef Gocár, is one of Prague’s finest examples of cubist architecture and home to the Museum of Czech Cubism.

Prague Castle Picture Gallery (free Monday afternoon)
119 08 Prague 1
Tel.: + 420 224 373 531
Getting there: Malostranska (line A). Then tram 22 or 23 to Prazsky Hrad.
Hours: 9 a.m.-6 p.m. (summer), 9 a.m.-4 p.m. (winter)
Admission: 150 CZK (adult), 80 CZK (reduced), free (Monday from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. during the summer)
Web site

Offering free admission every Monday from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., the Prague Castle Picture Gallery features approximately 100 paintings that were part of the personal collection of Emperor Rudolph II. The roots of the collection go back to the 16th century and include works by Rubens, Titian and Codazzi. It’s a small but sweet collection that’s well worth seeing, and it provides another opportunity to see the famous Prague Castle.

Museum of Decorative Arts (free Tuesday afternoon)
17. Listopadu 2
Tel.: +420 251 093 111
Hours: 10 a.m.-7 p.m. (Tuesday), 10 a.m.-6 p.m. (Wednesday to Sunday)
Getting there: Metro line A, Tram Nos. 17 or 18, Bus 133 to Staromestská stop
Admission: 120 CZK (adult), 70 CZK (reduced), free (Tuesday evenings)
Web site

One of my favorite museums, Prague’s Museum of Decorative Arts offers free admissions every Tuesday from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Housed in a beautiful Neo-Renaissance building, the museum showcases modern-day and historical crafts, as well as applied arts and design.

Just across the street is one of its branch museums, the Rudolfinum Gallery, which displays avant-garde and contemporary international art. The Rudolfinum Gallery is housed in the same buildings as the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra.

A special combined admission price to both the Museum of Decorative Arts and the Rudolfinum Gallery (180 CZK for adults, 100 CZK reduced) offers a significant discount.

Václava Špály Gallery (free Thursday night)
Národní 30
Tel.: + 420 222 356 213
Getting there: Národní Trída metro stop
Hours: Noon-8 p.m. (Tuesday to Wednesday and Friday to Sunday), noon-10 p.m. (Thursday)
Admission: 60 CZK (adult), 30 CZK (reduced), free (Thursday from 6 p.m.-10 p.m.)
Web site

With a concept centered on finding a link between contemporary art and the public, this private gallery offers free admission every Thursday from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Offering some of the most interesting exhibitions in the city, Václava Špály presents the work of mainly Czech artists.

The Golden Ring – City Gallery Prague (free exhibit)
Tynska 6 Praha 1
Tel.: +420 224 827 022-4
Getting there: Metro A/B Mustek or A Staromestska
Hours: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. (Tuesday to Sunday)
Admission: 120 CZK (adult), 60 CZK (reduced)
Web site

One of the six exhibition spaces that comprise the City Gallery Prague, The Golden Ring presents Czech art from the 20th and 21st centuries. As is the case with the other branches of the City Gallery Prague, the gallery offers no special reduced price hours.

However, a new series focused on young and emerging Czech artists—called “Start-up”—is free. You’ll find it on the ground floor of this very unique space, which was originally two medieval buildings, now unified into one.

Bonus Museum Tips

 Most galleries and museums in Prague offer a family discount (you usually have to have one kid and two adults) as well as discounts for students, seniors and groups. Often, children under a certain age can get in for free. Check the Web sites of the museums and galleries that interest you.

The post Prague: Art museums with reduced or free admission appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

A couple years ago, we were not sure if the Barcelona Card really packed enough bang for the buck. In fact, our conclusion was simple: the Barcelona Card? Not for us. This year, we’ve changed out minds a bit, and offer you another look at this discount card.

Barcelona Card. Photo courtesy of the Barcelona Card site.

What to consider before buying

The Barcelona Card is about €28 for a two-day pass, and this includes a paper guidebook that comes with the card.  You really need to ask yourself: How much of an effort am I going to make to use this card?

If you make a point to go to the museums, restaurants, bars, and shows discounted through the card, then yes, you are going to save yourself some dinero. If you simply use it a few times and then lose it or forget about it, then you would be better off just sticking with the Articket (or nothing at all).

Museum discounts

Many of Barcelona’s museums are free with the card—however, some of them that the card lists, are free anyway!

You’ll find some good museums on the Barcelona Card’s free-entry list (Museu de Ceramica, Museu Chocolate, Cosmo Caixa), but none of them are must-see museums. Rather, they are more specialty museums that will appeal to travelers with more time on their hands in Barcelona, or with a certain enthusiasm for say, Spanish and ceramics.

The big dogs of Barcelona museums (El Palau de la Musica and Casa Batllo) are only 20% off with the Barcelona Card, and many other must-see monuments, such as the Sagrada Familia, aren’t covered by the card at all.

Transportation and other perks

One perk that the card does offer is free public transportation around the city and to and from the airport. This part of the card I appreciate.

For ten trips on the Metro in Barcelona, you will pay €8 (if you buy the T-10). A ride to the airport on the airport bus? That’s another €5, one way. So you are looking at €15-20 in transport (depending how long you are in the city and how much you want to walk, of course), which you could deduct from the Barcelona Card price.

The card also offers some nice discounts on the zoo, IMAX theater, and aquarium, so if you have kids it might pay off. I am not impressed by the discounts the card offers at local restaurants or shops, but I do like the 10% off at bars Dry Martini and Gimlet.

Again, it comes down to whether or not you will remember to use the card after two dirty vodka martinis…

The bottom line

To conclude, as a local here in Barcelona, I am neither for nor against the Barcelona Card. It is not something I will insist that my friends buy when they come to the city for a visit, as I do with the Articket. However, if you are going to spend a week in the city, then this card could save you some cash.  And, with the dollar taking a serious beating from the euro, that might be a really good thing.

The post The Barcelona Card Revisited: Is it still worth it? appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

Note: This post was updated with new prices in May 2013.

The Roma Pass is a three-day discount card that gives you free or discounted access to some of Rome’s top museums, as well as free use of the public transport system. Launched to encourage visitors into the museums, the scheme is proving to be a popular one.

But at a cost of €34, will it save you money during your stay or is it better to “pass” and spend your money elsewhere?

What does the Roma Pass include?

· Free admission to the following six museums: Museo della Repubblica Romana, Museo Bilotti, Museo Canonica, Museo delle Mura, Museo Napoleonico and Villa di Massenzio

· Free admission to two additional museums of your choice, picked from among 45 of the most popular in Rome, including the Colosseum, Galleria Borghese, and the Capitoline Museums. In many cases, pass holders have priority and can skip the line.

· Free unlimited public transport (bus, metro, tram and local train).

· A Rome map, including public transport networks.

· A list of participating museums, and an events guide with discount vouchers for exhibitions, shows, and events around Rome.

· Free medical advice from a multilingual helpline.

Where can you buy it?

Deal or no deal?

You can purchase a Roma Pass at any of the tourist information kiosks (PITs) that you find around the city centre, including outside Termini Station and Castel St. Angelo, and at the participating museums.

The pass is valid for three days, and it expires at midnight on the third day after you have used it for the first time. You can also buy it online, although the service is not very reliable.

Is it good value?

Well, if we assume that you are something of a “culture vulture,” rather than a “hotel hermit,” it is pretty much certain that you will take a bus or two, use the metro at least once, and would like to visit at least one museum or monument. Considering that the Colosseum is the most visited attraction in Italy, it is also safe to assume that is high on your list.

So let’s add it up:

A three-day pass to use the public transport system will cost you €11. Standard admission to the Colosseum costs €12. You are still €11 short, but you have one more museum left and a whole host of discount tickets to use.

So with the time you saved not queuing at the Colosseum (pass holders use a special turnstile), you could move on to drool at the wonderful Bernini sculpture of Apollo and Daphne at the Villa Borghese (entrance €9), or admire Caravaggio at the Capitoline Museums (€12)… and still have saved enough for a cappucino and a cake.

Is it for you?

Of course, it’s possible to simply wander around Rome only seeing the outside of buildings and not spend a thing. Yet whilst the Roma Pass probably won’t save you an enormous amount of money, it may get you into places that you may have otherwise missed.

The pass also encourages you to explore a little beyond the centre, with places such as the Appia Antica Catacombs included in the scheme. With your route map and transport ticket, you should be able figure out how to get out and about and see a little more than you would otherwise.

However, if you are happy to spend your time wandering Rome’s narrow streets on foot, and the thought of spending an afternoon in a museum brings out a cold sweat, then the Roma Pass probably would not pass the value test.

For more information on the pass, check out the Roma Pass website.

The post Rome: The “Roma Pass” – Deal or no deal? appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

I’m still giddy with excitement. You see, I’ve just discovered Paris’ route de la soie (“Silk Road”). It’s a road through the less-traveled bargain clothing stores of Montmartre. Follow my lead and you, too, can find high-end clothing at bargain-bin prices.

The Panty Raid low-down

Our search takes place at Les Magasins Sympa Grandes Marques Griffées, or just “Sympa” for short.  Sympa is a bargain clothing store with several outlets in Montmartre. Here you can find lingerie, dresses, blouses, skirts, and coats–all designer seconds from previous collections. These shops are just a stone’s throw from the steps of the Basilique du Sacré-Coeur at Metro Anvers.

Save the more popular shopping districts (rues Rivoli, Hausmann, St. Honoré and de Rennes) for window shopping (or, lèche-vitrine, “window licking” in French). On the racks, shelves, and bins of the Sympa shops, you’ll find the same trendy brands, like Kookai, Jennyfer, Naf-Naf, Pimkie, Printemps, Sinéquanone, and Sandro, but for a fraction of their original cost.

Fancy Pants

The Sympa stores are located along the rue de Steinkerque, a street once notorious for its prostitutes and dance halls. Today, you can rummage through the bargains in these same buildings–under new management, of course!

Imagine the surreal charm of shopping for your “unmentionables” inside the former brothel that Pablo Picasso frequented during his “blue period”! Another Sympa now occupies part of “le bal de l’Elysée Montmartre,” where the famed Can Can star (and famorite muse of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec) La Goulue made her racy debut before defecting to the nearby Moulin Rouge. You can nab your own knickers in the very room where she once flashed hers so fetchingly at the absinthe-quaffing crowds.

If only these walls could speak.

Ah, but at Sympa maybe they do. I recently purchased armfuls of Etam’s exquisite delicacies, trimmed with yards of lace and bows, and each possessing a provocative name like “Extravagante,” “Hypnotique,” “Promesse,” “Malicieuse,” “Offrande,” “Merveilles,” “Amourette,” “Faveur,” “Tentation,” and finally, “Bliss.”

As I sauntered home along the cobblestone streets, still under the spell of my panty raid, I could swear that I spotted Aristide Bruant drift by, whistling at me and looking rather dapper in his black cape and long red scarf. Or was that Monsieur Dalí, perchance?

Tips for Lingerie Shopping

1. First, get fortified with un café or, better yet, une bière.

2. Leave handbag at home. Carry cash in pocket.

3. Don’t forget sense of humor.

4. Hang tough. Own your corner of the bargain bin!

5. There are no dressing rooms. Know your European size numbers.

6. The best deals are always in the exterior bins on the sidewalks.

7. Hate crowds? Shop weekday mornings.

8. Saturday mornings are usually delivery day, but every day is a drastic sale day at Sympa.

Practical Info

Sympa locations:
62, blvd. De Rochechouart, corner of Steinkerque
1 bis, rue de Steinkerque
18, rue d’Orsel, corner of Steinkerque

Days and Hours: Monday through Saturday, 10 AM—7 PM

Metro: at Anvers (Pigalle and Abbesses are nearby, too)

While you’re in the neighborhood…

In the mood for art after your panty raid? Four museums in the quartier de Montmartre:

Espace Dalí (Dive into the convoluted imagination of the surrealist master!)
Days and Hours: Monday through Sunday, 10 AM—6:30 PM
Metros: Anvers, Abbesses
Discounts: children under 8 free

Le Halle Saint Pierre
(Visionaries, naives and outsiders—and a cozy café!)
2, rue Ronsard
Days and Hours: Monday through Sunday, 10 AM—6 PM
(Special August Days and Hours: Monday through Friday, 12 Noon—6 PM)
Metros: Anvers, Abbesses

Musée de Montmartre (Where Impressionism began!)
12 rue Cortot
Days and Hours: Tuesday through Sunday, 11 AM—6 PM
Métros: Abbesses
Discounts: children under 12 free

Musée de l’érotisme (Ooh la lah!)
72, boulevard de Clichy
Métros: Blanche, Pigalle
Days and Hours: Monday through Sunday, 10 AM—2 AM
Don’t miss the permanent exhibition on Montmartre’s famous brothels!

The post Paris Shopping Tip: Designer clothing for less at “Sympa” appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

Two passes in particular, the Schaulust Museen Berlin pass and Berlin’s Tourism Board’s Welcomecard offer particularly good deals for quick trips.  Take a look.

SchauLUST-MuseenBERLIN ticket

With the 3-day Schaulust-Museen Berlin pass, travelers have access to about 70 Berlin museums and collections, for free! You must use the ticket for three consecutive days. The museums pass is not valid for some special exhibitions, so check with the tourism board, or via their web site, for more details. Cost: €19 (€9.50 for students with valid identification).

What museums can you visit?

Highlights of the pass include the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin,  the Preussischer Kulturbesitz (including the Bode Museum), the incredible Pergamon Museum, Egyptian Museum and Gemaldegalerie (painting gallery).

In addition, you can hit up Stiftung Stadtmuseum Berlin, the German Technology Museum, and the Brücke Museum. The 3-day “Museumspass” is available online and at the Berlin infostores.

Berlin’s Welcomecard

Another terrific option is the Berlin Welcomecard. It’s a great value offering free public transportation, a pocket map, and 50 percent off admission to more than 140 museums and city sights.

This year, to help mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Berlin Tourism Board launches a new 5-day Welcomecard (it’s previously only been available in 2-day and 3-day versions).

Cost:  The pass is €16.50 for a 48-hour period, and €22 for a 72-hour period. The new 5-day card costs €29.50. Also new this year, a special card that tacks on free shuttle service to and from Tegel or Schonefeld airport. Prices vary, so check the site for details.

What should you pick up?

If you plan to see museums and also see the city, the Welcomecard could be just the ticket. Since it gives you free transport for up to 5-days (depending on which type of pass you buy), you can jet around freely, stopping in at museums and other sights where you’ll also enjoy a hefty discount.

Our pick? Well, we’re art buffs and we love to ride bicycles and pound the pavenment, so no matter how cold or how far we plan to go, we’re always more likely to opt for the Schaulust-Museen Berlin pass.

Either way, neither card is a bitte pill to swallow. So, get packin’!

If you go, check out our budget hotel picks for Berlin here.

The post Berlin Money-saving Tip: Museum passes and Berlin’s Welcomecard appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.