In addition to the ubiquitous döner kebab that is always a reliable choice, you’ll find cheap pizza, traditional Austrian food at excellent prices and more than a few vegetarian options.

Our cheap picks run the gamut from cozy pub grub to pay-what-you-wish Pakistani fare. Here are five of our favorites to keep in mind for your next trip to Vienna.

Related: Our favorite budget hotels in Vienna

5 cheap eats in Vienna

1. Tunnel

Florianigasse 39
Neighborhood: Josefstadt
Website

If it’s an unabashedly young and laid-back vibe you’re after, look no further than Tunnel. This restaurant-live music hybrid offers a large menu with very reasonable prices.

The menu includes sandwiches, pastas, soups and vegetarian dishes ranging from €5 and up. Tunnel’s drink list is equally expansive, with juices, beers and cocktails all about €4. You’re guaranteed to hear a live band nightly (at 9 p.m.), though there is often a cover charge.

2. Esterházykeller

Naglergasse 9
Neighborhood: Innere Stadt
Website

More than your average charming Austrian restaurant, the Esterházykeller offers the added bonus of historic significance. Opened in 1683 and named after the Esterházy noble family, the place was famously frequented by Joseph Haydn.

The restaurant serves typical Austrian cuisine (think plenty of meat) though vegetarian options are available as well. Meals start around €6, and you can order a fine wiener schnitzel for around €11. Wine from the Esterházy vineyard is on the menu, along with apple strudel and other sweets, most under €5.

3. Der Wiener Deewan

Liechtensteinstraße 10
Neighborhood: Alsergrund
Website

Der Wiener Deewan puts a Pakistani twist on one of our favorite restaurant concepts: Take a hip, colorful atmosphere, add a buffet with a pay-what-you-wish policy, and you have yourself a wi(e)nner!

A buffet is served all day with a mix of meat and veggie curries that also comes with fresh nan bread and salad. And yes, you decide the price at the end of the meal. Just pay the cashier on the way out. The restaurant also offers takeaway boxes and drinks are also available, though these come at fixed prices. Stop by on Monday evenings to catch some live music.

4. Pizzeria Mafiosi

Reindorfgasse 15
Neighborhood: Mariahilf
Website

If you want a cheap slice of pizza or a hefty portion of lasagna, this Italian eatery is a safe bet. The topping selection is impressive, and the prices are quite low; nothing on the food menu costs more than €6, and they have a handful of pizzas under €4.

A beer will set you back €2, while a glass of wine can be had for the super cheapo price of only €1.20. The Pizzeria Mafiosi is located south of the city center near the Schönbrunn Palace.

5. Kent Restaurant

Brunnengasse 67
Neighborhood: Ottakring

A local favorite in Josefstadt, the Kent Restaurant has a sprawling menu of Turkish entrees. Choose from variety of salads, kebabs and Middle Eastern sandwiches. They’re all very tasty and very affordable.

A complete breakfast is available for around €5, and desserts (including baklava) are also served. They also have two other locations in Vienna.

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Bakery sandwiches

Bakeries also usually sell sandwiches, which are typically “sub” style on a half or whole baguette. These are called bocatas or bocadillos. Expect to find bocatas with the following popular combos: ham with olive oil and tomato, Spanish omelet with olive oil and tomato, cheese with olive oil and tomato, dried sausage olive oil and tomato…

They don’t do the mustard and mayo combo here much, though you might come across the more standard American-style sandwich (called “sandwich”) in some bakeries. These will have mayo, lettuce and tomato, etc.

Bakeries are a good place to get cheap yet delicious and usually healthy breakfast and lunch food. You could also buy bread at the bakery and then grab some cheese at the market and make your own bocatas to take with you for the day. This is definitely the cheapest option.

A few bakeries I adore are:

Baluard
C/ Baluard 38
Barceloneta, Spain

The best bakery in Barcelona? Not sure, but it was ranked number two by Time Out. It’s fabulous, and on the weekends there’s a line out the door and down the block for its buns. They do bocatas, many sorts of breads, muffins, cupcakes, “pizza,” empanadas and a whole array of mouthwatering desserts.

BoPan
Various locations
Web site

With quite a few locations around town, this bakery is a bit more high-end, offering specialty breads and sweets.

Panadaria Paul
C/ Rosselló, 490
08025 Barcelona

One of my top-five bakeries in which to enjoy a coffee and a sweet raisin roll. It’s a love-hate thing, because Paul has caused me to break my diet routine many a time. Fresh baked bread, morning pastries, desserts with gooey chocolate and fresh berries.

Other options

While these bakeries offer something special, any bakery will do. Wherever you stay, there is sure to be a bakery nearby. If you don’t see one, ask the receptionist, as he probably has one close by that he likes!

I will never understand how Spaniards eat so much bread and sugar and stay so thin…. It’s a mystery.

The post Barcelona: Best bakeries for delicious cheap eats appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

Does Amsterdam offer a fast, cheap, and yummy snack? Yes, and it is called “Febo.”

Febo is a fast-food franchise that serves up its snacks in “automat”-style vending machines. It’s a simple process: You walk up to the window of the tastiest-looking treat, drop the correct amount in the slot, open the door, and take out your snack.

Eat on the spot at Febo.

History of Febo

This famous fast-food eatery had its humble beginnings during the rough, wartime year of 1941. Febo actually started out as a small pastry shop, run by a baker named J.I. Borst. According to Febo historians, Borst learned many of his skills from a boss who was based along the “Ferdinand Bolstraat,” a street in central Amsterdam. The snack shack’s name is thus a tribute to his experiences there.

Before long, people were lining up for Borst’s tasty “kroketten” (potato and meat croquettes). Eventually the quaint bakery was transformed into an automat-style restaurant where eager customers queued up to pull out their favorite fried snacks.

On the menu

Krazy for kroketten! Photo by Febo.

Febo is still best known for its croquettes. Here are a few, yummy meaty recommendations: “kalfsvleeskroket” for those who love beef (€ 1.40), or “kipcorn” for those who crave a bit of chicken (€ 1.40). For the Eastern touch, check out “bami” or “nasi,” (€ 1.40) both kroketten come packed with rice or noodles, as well as vegetables and herbs. If you’re looking for a non-meat option, check out the delicious “kaassouffle,” a fried cheese nugget (€ 1.40).

Febo has also expanded its menu to include other non-croquette offerings, including some Asian-inspired dishes, “pataats” (chips), and a few sweet snacks. They also grill up hamburgers and sandwiches.

Check out the full menu on their website.

Here’s a list of Febo locations in Amsterdam:

– Ferdinand Bolstraat 89B

– Damrak 6

– Stadionplein 20A

– Leidsestraat 94

– Reguliersbreestraat 38

– Oudezijdsvoorburgwal 33

The post Amsterdam Cheap Eats: “Febo” dishes up snacks, automat-style appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

Bilbao is an immediately attractive city with green parks and a pleasingly well-heeled atmosphere. There are so many exciting things going on in Bilbao that it’s hard to know if the focus should be on the new or on the old.

Architectural draw

Santiago Calatrava’s Campo Volantin Footbridge.

The city has become a magnet for those thrilled by contemporary architecture. Gehry’s museum is a masterpiece, and Santiago Calatrava’s imprint on the city is also undeniable. His Campo Volantin Footbridge is a marvel, and Bilbao’s Sondika Airport, also designed by Calatrava, is dramatic and grand.

But lovers of older styles shouldn’t sit Bilbao out. The city’s Casco Viejo (Old Town) is dripping with old world charm. The Gothic Catedral de Santiago, at the center of the Old Town, is gorgeous; elsewhere, there are plenty of Neoclassical and hybrid eclecticism buildings to admire.

A touch of tension

Yet despite Bilbao’s palpable prosperity and many charms, there’s tension in the air. Upon observing a protest adjacent to the Arriaga Theatre led by men and women in their sixties and seventies, many holding signs written in Basque, I asked a local what the protests were about. I assumed that the protesters were holding a vigil for those murdered by separatist terrorists.

Bilbao’s Casco Viejo (Old City).

In fact, the man on the street told me, the silent protest was not for the victims of Basque terrorism at all. Those holding signs were the parents of convicted terrorists demonstrating for the transfer of their children to prisons inside the Basque Country—away from the prisons, elsewhere in Spain, where they are currently housed.

All of this, while very interesting, no doubt gives a misleading impression of the placid and quite wealthy city. In fact, Bilbao is very safe. The various skirmishes over language, culture, and politics in the Basque Country are mostly invisible to visitors.

What tourists see is an omnipresent Basque language, as well as tourist shops selling Basque flags and t-shirts.

Bilbao on a budget

Here are five tips for saving money in Bilbao.

1. Cheap savories.

One word: pintxos (pronounced “pinchos”), or: the Basque version of tapas. Pintxos come in all sorts of forms. There is a lot of cod, shrimp, and mayonnaise involved. All good, and all pretty cheap. Three pintxos and a glass of wine shouldn’t set you back more than €7. Stroll the Casco Viejo (Old Town) to find a pintxos popping perch.

2. Cheap sweets.

Refuel with cheap and filling pastries. Try the local rice tart with coffee. We like the old school feel of New York Café, at Calle Buenos Aires 12.

Take the Bilbobus!

3. Hubbing it.

Bilbao makes a great hub for exploring other cities in the Basque Country and beyond. The exquisite city of San Sebastián is about 90 minutes away by bus (roundtrip around €18), while Santander in the neighboring region of Cantabria is roughly the same distance to the west (roundtrip beginning at €13).

4. Museum switch.

We can’t seriously recommend that you not visit the Guggenheim. But if innovative interiors are less important to you than broad permanent art collections, restrict your explorations of the Guggenheim (admission €13) to the remarkable building’s exterior and check out the Museo de Bellas Artes (admission €5.50) instead.

5. Cheap sleeps.

Bilbao has a good range of affordable beds. We like Hotel Sirimiri, right next to the Atxuri tram station, where a double room runs just €60. The word “sirimiri” means a faint yet continuous mist, a type of precipitation common to Bilbao throughout much of the year.

The post Bilbao on a Budget: Five Tips appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

About ten days ago, during my last day in St. Petersburg, Russia, I experienced an afternoon snack attack. I had spent the day visiting churches, climbing to the top of St. Isaac’s Cathedral, and doing last-minute shopping. I wanted to stop for a coffee and treat, but I needed to get home to pack for Riga.

I took the metro to Chernyshevskaya Station, which was a ten-minute walk from my friend Carl’s apartment. Leaving the station, I walked along the lovely Furshtatskaya Boulevard (home to the US and German consulates), watching my every step as I maneuvered ice, slush, and salt.

A vision of…fried dough?

And then I saw it! There was a little green hut, steaming in the cold, and a powerful smell of fried dough. A squat woman inside the hut handed two policemen what appeared to be hot donuts, wrapped in wax paper. But they weren’t exactly donuts, as they were flatter, much larger, and didn’t have a hole. The officers took their dough, nodded and hurried off, stealing bites as they hustled into their parked car.

An afternoon donut sounded ideal. I approached the window, smiled, and pointed to the stack of donuts draining inside on a paper towel, fresh out of the grease. “One,” I said, holding up my finger and then pointing to the stack.

“Which one?” the woman gestured, pointing from one donut to another.

Was there a difference? They all looked like sugar-coated fried dough to me. But there were three stacks of them. There must be some variation I wasn’t noticing.

I pointed to the first stack. She picked it up with tongs, thrust it in a wrapper, grabbed a napkin and handed it over. She held up a calculator to show me the price… 30 rubles (a little less than US $1.00).

I walked five paces around the corner, pulled back the wrapper, and bit into the donut, bracing for a sweet and greasy sugar rush.

Surprise!

The “donut” was filled with savory minced pork! It took a few seconds for me to register the taste, and then, my expectations adjusted, I devoured the rest of the hot pocket.

Turns out, I was eating pirozhki, meat-filled doughy treats that are fried or baked. Fillings vary, but they’re commonly stuffed with minced beef or chicken, mushrooms and potatoes, or sweeter ingredients (cherries, apples). My version, minced meat, was spiced up with a variety of seasonings.

(Note: Don’t confuse pirozhki with pierogi, which are smaller, stuffed dumplings that are fried or boiled and popular in Eastern European countries.)

Thus, dear reader, when in Russia, I’d recommend indulging in a pirozhki. They’re cheap and tasty. Just don’t expect a sugar rush.

The post St. Petersburg Cheap Eat: Fried pirozhki! appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.