With that in mind, we did a little research for getting to Eastern Europe for as cheap as possible. Many times Ryanair might fly into a different country than your final destination in these alternatives. But don’t let that stop you. It may seem out of the way, but in these cases, the ground transportation makes them all very accessible. Here are a few examples of Ryanair-inspired routings to points further eastward if you’re going to:

St. Petersburg, Russia

Alternative: Lapeenranta, Finland
From Dusseldorf Weeze, Barcelona Girona or Milan Bergamo, you can fly to this smaller airport in Finland.

Ground transport
From Lapeenranta, catch the train or bus to St. Petersburg.

Lvov, Ukraine

Alternative 1: Rzeszow, Poland
From Birmingham, Bristol, Dublin, Eastern Midlands, Barcelona Girona, Glasgow, Luton, London Stansted, Manchester, Oslo Rygge or Trapani you can fly direct to Rzeszow.

Alternative 2: Lublin, Poland
You can fly to Lublin from Dublin, Liverpool or London Stansted.

Ground transport
From either destination you can catch a train or bus to Lvov.

Moldova or the Black Sea

Alternative: Constanta, Romania
You can fly here from Milan Bergamo or Pisa.

Ground transport
Travelers can take a bus, train or even a ferry northward or southward to their final destination.

Locations in the Balkans

Alternative 1: Osijek, Croatia
From London Stansted you can reach this small Croatian city. Then you can easily connect onwards to points in southern Hungary, Serbia or Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Alternative 2: Podgorica, Montenegro
You can fly from Brussels Charleroi or London Stansted and then connect via bus to Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia or even southern Croatia.

Budget Airline Tips

Do you have any shortcuts you use when flying budget airlines? Let us know! And for more information on cheap airline travel, we have a plenty of handy articles including an introduction to low-cost carriers, a budget airline FAQ and the pros and cons of flying cheap.

The post Flying for less to Eastern Europe: Using Ryanair’s obscure destinations to your advantage appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

The caraway-flavored liqueur Allasch is too sweet for our taste, but it has become over the years the signature drink of Leipzig—even though its origins go back to Latvia. There is plenty of Allasch in Leipzig shops, but we do wonder if these days it is purchased mainly by tourists.

The Finnish liquor Minttu is a minty spirit that pairs well with hot chocolate. Photo: trontnort

Baltic favorites in Latvia, Estonia and Finland

Latvians may have lost their taste for Allasch, but Riga Black Balsam is still going strong. It has been made in Riga for over 250 years. Its distinctive ceramic flagons are a Latvian icon, but you will also run across Black Balsam in maritime communities across the Baltic region.

Vana Tallinn cannot claim the heritage of Black Balsam, as it is a child of the sixties, when Estonians realized that cheap Caribbean rum could be improved through the addition of a cocktail of spices. It comes in a medley of styles, some verging on the bizarre. Vana Tallinn Chocolate Cream is one to ponder.

Moving north from Tallinn across the Gulf of Finland, you might run across Minttu, which is as minty as the name implies. We think it is made only slightly more palatable by mixing it with hot chocolate, just as Finns often do in winter. Another Finnish favorite is Lakka, made out of cloudberries. Take it straight, on ice or mixed in with coffee.

Patxaran is a traditional Spanish spirit made from sloe berries. Photo: Pablo Arroyo

Further flavors

Here’s a handful of other local drinks to tickle your taste buds as you travel around Europe:

1. Patxaran – Spain

Made from sloe berries, this drink comes from Navarre in northern Spain, but it’s also a firm favorite in the Basque region just to the north.

2. Cantueso – Spain

Brimming with thyme flavors, a bottle of this is hard to find once you get beyond the Alicante region of Spain.

3. Noyau de Poissy – France

Crafted from apricots, this regional drink is a specialty of Poissy, a community on the bank of the River Seine just downstream from Paris.

4. Becherovka – Czech Republic

This spirit comes in distinctive green bottles which are found everywhere in Karlovy Vary in the Czech Republic. The town even has a museum devoted to the history of its signature drink.

5. Danziger Goldwasser – Poland

Intimately associated with the Polish city of Gdansk, we suspect that nowadays it is mainly German visitors to the city who splash out on a bottle. It is a herbal liqueur which has wafer-thin flakes of real gold floating in it. Devotees of this oddball drink debate how far the gold inflects the taste.

The post Sipping your way through Europe: The geography of regional drinks appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

Szeged in Hungary, Bergamo in Italy, and Lund in Sweden all ooze that distinct welcoming feeling. They are spots where you roll up expecting to stay just one night and three days later you are still in town.

A Finnish revelation

Tampere in Finland is another such town. We arrived in Tampere on a summer evening, the dipping sun reflecting from the windows of the city’s striking red brick mills. It is an instantly appealing place, with the city center gathered around the fast-flowing Tammerkoski waterway. River walks, some strikingly well-preserved industrial landscapes and spacious parks and boulevards all contribute to Tampere’s magic.

Industrial heritage

Where other cities have ripped out abandoned industrial buildings, Tampere’s city fathers had better ideas. They left them in place, redeploying them to new uses, creating stylish space for cafés and bars, museums and a galaxy of workshops and studios that now underpin Tampere’s buoyant arts scene.

The town exudes some of that same slightly Bohemian urban buzz that makes Manchester so appealing. No surprise perhaps that in its industrial heyday, Tampere was often dubbed “the Manchester of the North.”

The Tampere Theater in the city center.

The city’s status as Finland’s industrial powerhouse was due to one man, a Scottish Quaker industrialist named James Finlayson, who had established mills in St. Petersburg. In 1820 Finlayson was encouraged by Tsar Alexander I to expand his business to the Grand Duchy of Finland — which was then part of Imperial Russia, as indeed it remained until the Bolsheviks granted Finland its independence shortly after the October Revolution in 1917.

Socialist credentials

Tampere happens to have played a star role in Europe’s socialist history. Lenin decamped to the town after the 1905 Revolution and Tampere hosted a number of early meetings of the Bolsheviks, including the late 1905 meeting when Lenin met Stalin for the first time.

The town’s Lenin museum recalls those heady days and provides a very fine account of the importance of Lenin’s thought in advancing the political development of Europe.

The post Tampere, Finland: A town with a buzz appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

This is a minor single track railway, and the unstaffed station at Retretti is as small as they come. On the platform stands an oversized sculpture, an apt welcome to a community, hidden away amid the lakes and forests, that is utterly devoted to art.

Matti Kalkamo’s "Silent Dialogue" sculpture (2006) being installed at the Retretti Arts Centre

The Art Centre

The Retretti Art Centre is in the premier league of European galleries. And it is unique in that the majority of its display space is underground in a series of caves.

It is a chance to immerse oneself in art in a space that is distanced from the here-and-now. Over the years the Retretti summer exhibitions have featured such celebrated artists as Ilya Repin and Marc Chagall.

The 2011 season

Retretti’s 2011 season kicked off last week with a summer program featuring artist-couples from the mid-19th to the early-20th century, so covering the heyday of Finnish Romanticism through to early Modernism. “Masters and their spouses,” you might say for in most cases it was the husband who enjoyed the premier reputation of the two.

Also at Retretti this summer are lithographs of Carl Barks’ Donald Duck comic strip, a children’s art workshop with African flavors and many other displays and installations. In a sneak preview last month, we were especially impressed by glassware from the avant-garde Kyösti Kakkosen collection and the striking photographic installations of Maija Pirilä and Petri Nuutinen.

Art apart

Retretti stays open until August 28. Art apart, the surrounding lake and forest landscape is magnificent. If you are bound for Savonlinna, famous for its summer opera festival, then definitely make a stop at Retretti. It is four hours by train from Helsinki to Retretti, and from there just a further half hour on to Savonlinna. There is also a useful boat connection from Retretti to Savonlinna that operates when the arts center is open.

Where to stay

As to accommodation, you will find more choice in Savonlinna than immediately around Retretti. When we were in the area last month, we stayed at the Hotel Hospitz on the shore of the lake in Savonlinna. Get one of the lake-view rooms with a balcony if you can (they only have two). It is a first-class location, just a short walk to Savonlinna’s imposing castle.

Savonlinna in summer is Finland at its very best. Throw in Retretti too, and you have a first-class destination.

Air links

The train journey from Helsinki to Retretti and Savonlinna is a very fine introduction to Finland. At one point it skirts the Russian border. But if it sounds too remote, Savonlinna does have its own airport, with Finncomm Airlines offering twice daily direct air service from Helsinki in just 85 minutes.

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With the journey time slashed to 3 hours 36 minutes, it is no surprise that cross-border excursions are suddenly in vogue as folk on both sides of the border want to try the new Allegro service. To meet the new demand, train frequency on the Allegro link from Russia to Finland will double with effect from next Sunday.

Accommodation in Hamina, Finland

Throw in the new St Peter Line overnight shipping service to Helsinki, which started operation last year and this week moves to a new terminal in St. Petersburg, and one might well wonder why anyone still takes the bus from St. Petersburg to Finland.

Bus links

The bus takes longer than the train, but it’s cheaper, and we really think it can make sense. The Allegro train is great if speed is of the essence, and the ship is fine for those wishing to sleep on an overnight voyage to Finland.

But between St. Petersburg and Helsinki lies one of Europe’s most profoundly interesting areas, a region where Russian, Finnish and even Swedish interests have delicately intertwined to create very distinctive histories, politics and cultures.

A visit to Hamina, Finland

The scheduled bus takes about eight hours and stops along the way in the cities of Vyborg and Hamina. The latter is a superb introduction to Finland.

Hamina is an old fortress town, a place that in the past has been variously Swedish and Russian. Being little more than half-an-hour by bus west of the Finnish-Russian border, it is a popular spot with Russians making short forays into Finland for shopping. Yet Hamina’s picture-perfect octagonal square is a fine piece of early 18th-century design and a great spot to linger.

Where to stay

We stopped in Hamina last week and stayed at Pormestarintalon Pihakammari, a super little garden house in a peaceful setting behind the graceful wooden villa that for many years served as home to Hamina’s mayors. Our stay came towards the end of a long journey exploring remote Karelia, and after some wilderness days sedate Hamina was a happy re-engagement with civilization.

How to get there

For travelers coming from St. Petersburg, there is a convenient direct bus to Hamina at 3:40 p.m., which arrives in Hamina at 7:40 p.m. The one-way fare is €30. For those continuing the next day, after the overnight stop that Hamina deserves, to the Finnish capital there are frequent onward buses–generally hourly.

Fares and schedules for bus services in Finland (including many cross-border services to and from Russia) can be checked online.

The post From St. Petersburg to Helsinki, by bus appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

1. St. Peter Line to Russia

The news last week that over 60 ships were trapped in thick ice in the Baltic for some days is probably no great incentive to go and book some ferry trips. But Baltic spring ice does melt–eventually–and this year sees some interesting new options for Baltic travel by ship.

Cypriot-owned St. Peter Line last year launched a thrice-weekly service from Helsinki to St. Petersburg and back. And next month the company expands its offering with twice-weekly sailings from Stockholm to St. Petersburg (on Wednesdays and Saturdays) and a weekly departure from Tallinn to St. Petersburg (on Sundays).

2. Brittany Ferries to Bilbao

French operator Brittany Ferries has long been one of the most adventurous operators in the Western Channel with a raft of routes linking England and Ireland with northwest France. Later this month, the company opens a new service from Portsmouth to Bilbao in Spain, so reviving a long established ferry connection that abruptly disappeared when P&O pulled off the route last September.

Last Saturday, Brittany Ferries also reinstated its Poole to Cherbourg service. This is a very useful short link from England’s south coast to Normandy’s Cotentin peninsula. At the moment, Brittany advertise sailings just to October, so the long-term future of the route is still in doubt.

3. Maltese Connections

Virtu Ferries are one of several operators serving the Maltese market. The company had a welcome dose of free publicity in late February as Virtu’s smart white catamarans were featured on many news reports as the vessels evacuating foreign workers from Libyan ports. Virtu operates a year-round fast-ferry link between Pozzallo in Sicily and Malta. This year the company will also offer a Saturday catamaran service from Catania to Malta, starting on May 7, 2011.

Virtu’s latest Australian-built catamaran hit the headlines in September 2010 when it encountered Somali pirates on its delivery voyage to Malta. Virtu prides itself on speed, and reports say that the pirates were easily outpaced.

4. Scotland-Northern Ireland: Kintyre Express

Not for many years has there been any direct ferry link across the North Channel between the Mull of Kintyre (in western Scotland) and Northern Ireland. The last operator to offer a service was the splendidly named Argyll & Antrim Steam Packet Company which turned out to have rather flaky finances, and the service stopped in 2000.

Now Kintyre Express will fill the gap with a new fast passenger ferry from Campbeltown to Ballycastle. Services start on May 27, 2011. The route will be operated by fast RIBs with a heated cabin, so the 90-minute crossing is surely going to be a whole lot more fun than the average ferry journey. We reserve judgment on whether this is an inspired idea by Colin Craig, the man behind Kintyre Express, or whether perhaps it might be the balmiest idea in the history of European ferry transport.

We hope it is a great success, but Kintyre Express really needs to get its act together in terms of publicity and having a functioning online booking system on its website. This new ferry link creates a raft of new travel opportunities allowing visitors to Kintyre and Islay to make an easy hop over to the most beautiful part of the coast of Northern Ireland. The Antrim Glens and the Giant’s Causeway are both within easy reach of the Ballycastle ferry terminal.

The post European Ferries: 4 interesting new options for 2011 appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

Remember, of course, that local and regional train services are often bookable but not reservable. So, although you can book tickets, you’ll not be able to reserve a seat.

The three-month-rule

There are minor variations in how that three-month-rule is interpreted. For Thalys train services, linking Brussels with Amsterdam, Cologne and Paris, tickets become available three months to the day before travel. For bookings on the Deutsche Bahn website, each new day’s wave of bookings is released at midnight (Central European Time), 92 days before travel.

Eurostar services: Four months ahead

For services linking London with Lille, Paris and Brussels, Eurostar accepts online bookings four months in advance of travel. But if you want to use Eurostar’s direct services from London to Avignon in the south of France, you’ll find that Eurostar is already accepting telephone bookings for journeys up to September 10, 2011.

Looking east

For journeys to and from Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, trains are usually bookable 60 days in advance, although we have noted that for journeys within those countries, the forward booking window may be only six weeks.

Finland works on a sixty-day-rule for services into Russia but domestic trains may be bookable longer in advance. For example, they are presently accepting bookings thru late April. Finland is unusual in that its online booking system closes down at night.

Early birds get the deals

Remember that for long-distance trains in Europe, it really pays to book just as soon as you can firm up your plans after bookings open. That one-way fare from Salzburg to Amsterdam for just €39 may be there for the taking 92 days in advance, but a week later may have crept up to €69. Leave booking till just one month prior to travel and you may have to pay €99 for the same journey. Early birds get the best deals.

Rail pass options

Interested in seeing a full list of rail pass options? Visit our booking partner, Rail Europe, to compare rates, destinations covered and see their latest promotions.

The post When Should You Buy Train Tickets in Europe? The three-month rule appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

During a day or two in a small town in the Czech Republic this summer, we noticed a local gently chiding two tourists for smoking while standing at a bus stop in a small village. The lady’s reprimand was delivered in the politest possible way, and clearly no offence was taken. The two visitors promptly stubbed out their cigarettes.

A smoke-free Europe?

It was a quiet reminder that European practice with regard to smoking in public places and on transportation still varies widely. And it made us realise just how hard the whole area is for outsiders to fathom. The Czech Republic allows smoking in bars but not at bus stops. In Lithuania it is vice versa.

National exceptions

Hop onto many Finnish long-distance trains and you’ll still find a spot where you can smoke. True, it’ll not be an especially comfortable corner, more like a padded cell with industrial-strength exhaust ventilation. But Finland is very much an exception, for across much of Europe smoking has been banned on all trains for many years. Indeed, Norway banned smoking on all public transportation way back in 1988.

Differences within a country

Trains are one thing, but stations quite another. Try and light up on a Swiss train and the chances are that you’ll quickly be told to desist. Yet you can smoke to your heart’s content on Swiss station platforms. Shift to Germany and the smoking ban extends to most areas of railway stations too, yet some German trains (smoking banned on them too of course) make special stops at obscure railway stations so that smokers can puff away for ten minutes on platforms where in theory lighting up is banned.

Law vs common practice

This little tale highlights just how complex the topic is. The rules vary widely between different European countries, and even between different parts of the same country. And the law and popular practice often differ too. The smoking ban that is sacrosanct in one country is widely ignored elsewhere. The only sound advice we can really give to smokers is ‘If in doubt, ask.’ But the trend is very definitely towards a smoke-free Europe.

The post More than Hot Air: European Smoking Laws appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

Where to go, you ask? Well, read on, because we’ve got you covered with some Cheapo-friendly ways to soak up the sun in Helsinki.

Suomenlinna Fortress
Web site
Open year-round (last ferry leaves from Suomenlinna at 2 a.m.)

The Suomenlinna sea fortress, a popular tourist attraction year-round, is ideal for a summer outing. Once a military base used by first the Swedish and then the Russians, today the sea fortress is best known for its museums and its open-air theater. However, you don’t need to spend a euro to enjoy Suomenlinna’s expansive views of the Baltic.

Take a ferry or waterbus to reach the fortress and then wander around among the stony walkways and look out at the sea. Bring a picnic to enjoy outside or stop by one of the restaurants or cafés on the island.

Getting there: Take the Suomenlinna ferry (€3.80 for a 12-hour ticket) from Market Square or the J-Line waterbus near Esplanadi Park (€6.50 for a round-trip ticket).

Seurasaari Open-Air Museum
Nervanderinkatu 13
Hours: Varies throughout the year; see site for details
Admission: €6 (€ 5 reduced)
Web site

Seurasaari Island is a green, peaceful area located a few kilometers from the city center. The island’s main attraction is the Seurasaari Open-Air Museum, which boasts 87 well-preserved Finnish cottages from the 18th and 19th centuries.

Among the museum’s highlights are a wooden church and a manor house from south-western Finland. A leisurely stroll past these rustic buildings, combined with the mild summer weather, is a perfect way to escape the urban environment for a few hours.

Midsummer celebration
Seurasaari Island and throughout Helsinki

Seurasaari is also known for the annual Midsummer bonfire held off its coast. Midsummer in Finland falls on the first Saturday after June 19 (for 2010, June 26). If you’re lucky enough to be in town on this date, make sure to head out to the island to take part in the celebration.

The Swimming Stadium
Hammarskjöldintie 1
Admission:€3.80
Hours: Monday-Saturday, 6:30 a.m.-8 p.m.; Sunday, 9 a.m.-8 p.m. (pool open May 10-September 19)
Tram: 3B, 3T, 4, 7A, 7B, 8, 10
Web site

We love the indoor Yrjönkatu Swimming Hall for its 1920’s architecture and its authentically local vibe, but we think Helsinki’s outdoor pool, located on the north side of town near the Helsinki Olympic Stadium, is the perfect summertime option. The Swimming Stadium is part of a larger athletic complex, and it offers plenty of lanes for some leisurely laps.

Tell us

Have you been to any of these attractions? Tell us about your experience — or recommend another budget-friendly activity in Helsinki.

The post Helsinki: Cheapo-friendly summertime attractions appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

Ice skating at Railway Square

The Ice Park right outside Helsinki’s central train station is one of the city’s most popular skating venues. The rink is open from November to March, and it offers a variety of programs and performances in addition to open skating. (On Thursday evening, for instance, you can participate in an ice skating aerobics class!)

Admission costs €5, and skate rentals are another €5. The Ice Park also has a café serving warm drinks and pastries.

A swim and sauna at Yrjönkatu Swimming Hall

The Finnish love of saunas is by no means limited to the coldest months of the year, but winter is a perfect time to warm your bones in one. For an extra-special experience, take a trip to the city’s iconic Yrjönkatu Swimming Hall. The institution dates back to 1928, and it boasts both an impressive pool along with private and group saunas.

Men and women have separate hours, so make sure to check the schedule online. Once you’re in, go for a swim (bathing suit optional) and admire the striking Classical architecture. When you’re done with the water, head to the sauna and relax. You’ll find plenty of locals doing the same.

Admission costs €2.20, and a locker costs €4.40. The swimming hall is open year-round; check the website for hours.

Taking in the music scene

Helsinki is sprinkled with dozens of über-hip clubs where both indie and well-known musical acts play. After a day of swimming and skating, settle down with a drink and get ready to dance.

Located in the happening Kallio hood north of the city center, Kuudes Linja offers live (usually underground) music and DJ sets nightly. Most shows costs less than €10.

If you’re looking for a less trendy, more traditional scene, head to Rymy-Eetu, a Finnish-German restaurant with hearty fare, plentiful beer, and folksy live music. The restaurant sits on the bar-lined Errotajankatu in central Helsinki, and it offers a “two for the price of one” discount on main courses from 2-5 PM daily.

To find more music clubs and bars, visit the city’s nightlife listings page.

The post Helsinki: Warming up in winter—on the cheap! appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.