Welcome, budget traveler!

If you’re looking for ways to make your upcoming trip to Europe more affordable, you’ve come to the right place. Since 2001, EuroCheapo has been helping travelers save in Europe. It’s what we do.

On the following pages we’ve compiled our top budget travel advice. It’s organized into 10 quick chapters about ways to save on the big items in your travel budget: the flights, hotels, train tickets, rental cars, sightseeing, using your smartphone and more.

But let’s be clear: These travel tips aren’t only about spending less on your trip. They’re also about having a better experience when traveling in Europe.

We believe that the best budget travel is also about slowing down and traveling in step with the locals. If you can do that, and if you’ve learned a couple tricks of the cheapo trade, the savings will follow. And, in the end, you’ll have a richer experience. We’ll get into all of that below.

A quick note about us — and why we can help you save in Europe

My name is Tom Meyers and I started EuroCheapo back in 2001. I quit my job in New York and moved to Berlin and hand-coded the first version of this site that launched that June. Honestly, I had a blast — I spent the year hunting down the best small, budget hotels in the center of Europe’s most expensive cities. I felt like every day was a treasure hunt.

Since then, I’ve been joined by a team of writers and editors who have kept up our hotel picks (like these in Paris and Rome), but who’ve also written nearly 3,000 articles about simple ways to save on every aspect of your trip, from booking flights and train tickets to cheap eats and saving on sightseeing.

In the following pages, I’ll be sharing these tips with you in the first person, although many of these tips have been plucked from the thousands of posts published on our blog. I’m thankful to the dozens of fabulous writers who have shared their expertise with us on the site over the years and continue to write for us. You can read more about them if you click their names on any of the blog posts we link to.

I hope that you’ll find these budget travel tips helpful and that together, we can help you spend less while improving your travels in Europe. If you have questions or feedback on these tips, send me an email or leave a comment below. And please join us on Facebook.

Thanks — and bon voyage, Cheapos!

Our guide to saving in Europe

Chapter 1:  When to go to Europe (for the best bang for your buck)

If you have the flexibility to choose the timing of your next trip, you’re in a good spot. Which season makes the most sense for your schedule and for your budget? Is there a better time to go?

Cheapo Tip: If possible, travel during low season or “shoulder season” for the best deals.

Chapter 2:  Building an affordable itinerary

Travelers, especially those from North America, tend to overbook their trips to Europe. We can’t help it. Resist the urge to “see it all”, and you’ll save time and money — and probably have a much better travel experience.

Cheapo Tip: We like to spend at least two nights in each spot. It helps our budget… and our sanity.

Chapter 3:  Finding cheap airfare to Europe

Flying to Europe is expensive — in fact, it’s probably the largest expense facing many American travelers. How can you actually find great deals on airfare to Europe? Here are some tips to help you fly the cheapo skies.

Cheapo Tip: Airfare alerts are your friend. So are “open jaw” flights.

Chapter 4:  Saving on hotels in Europe

Whether you’re planning to travel for two days or 20 days, where you stay can have a major impact on both your budget and your trip experience. Here are some tips for booking the right hotels for your trip — and at the best possible price.

Cheapo Tip: Small, family-run hotels can make all the difference on your trip. But you have to find them.

Chapters 5-8: Coming soon!

Stay tuned — we’ll be publishing our guides to saving on train tickets, rental cars, sightseeing and more in the coming week!

Now… where are you going?

Once you’ve read through these quick chapters, you’ll have a great grasp on many of the top budget travel strategies that work today. But wait — there’s more!

Now comes the fun part: It’s time to start researching ways to save in the countries and cities that you’ll be visiting. It’ll probably come as no surprise that we have a lot to say about that, too.

See our top budget travel advice for:

Top Cities:

Amsterdam | Barcelona | Florence | London | New York | Paris | Rome | Venice

Top Countries:

France | Germany | Italy | Netherlands | Portugal | Spain | Switzerland | UK

The post How to Save on Your Trip to Europe appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

When putting your travel itinerary together, try to remain calm and realistic. If possible, give yourself a minimum of two nights at every stop in order to minimize travel expenses and keep everyone happy.

Note: This is Chapter Two in our Ultimate Budget Travel Guide to Europe.

The trip planning experience can be exhilarating. You know that you have a set number of days (or weeks!) to travel, and you look at a map with all the lip-smacking excitement of a kid in a candy store. Where do you want to visit? Where don’t you want to visit?

Imagine that you’re putting together an itinerary for a 10-day European trip. You could start in Paris, head to Amsterdam, then take a train to Salzburg, Venice and Rome? Wait, maybe start in Madrid instead, then drive up to Barcelona, Nice, Milan, Munich and then Amsterdam? But hold on. What about Prague?!?!

If you’re only traveling for 10 days, either of those options is certain to cost you dearly (in transportation costs alone) and, without question, lead to grumpy and exhausted travelers.

My epic misadventure

I know, because I’ve been there. In a state of unabashed enthusiasm, I once rented a car for about 10 days and drove with friends from Berlin to Paris, then to Madrid, Lisbon, Seville, Barcelona, Aix-en-Provence, Nice, Locarno, Tubingen and back to Berlin.

Sounds great, right? It certainly started out with a blast–and ended with silence, as nobody talked in the car for the last day.

I had made a classic mistake: I’d overbooked us. When I had mapped it all out beforehand at my kitchen table it all seemed like so much fun. It worked, technically. But in practice, it meant that we spent far too much time sitting in a car (or, in my case, driving the car), and not nearly enough time exploring the cities we slept in or the tiny towns we raced by.

We ended up resenting that we had to keep on driving past places we wanted to visit. And if we did stop to check out the scene, we’d end up arriving late at whatever hotel I’d booked (months beforehand). We’d have time for a late dinner, then wake up and start over. There was never any time that wasn’t in motion–we could never actually relax.

A note to first-time American travelers to Europe

I grew up in the great state of Ohio and spent many wonderful summer breaks cruising from state to state in the family van. We took in a lot of territory during our one- and two-week family jaunts, often spending much of day taking in the scene from the air conditioned comfort of the big old Ford. Sure, we’d stop for meals, photo ops and major tourist sights (Grand Canyon, Old Faithful, a day at Disneyland), but much of the adventure was the drive itself.

Many travelers from the US approach their European travel planning with a similar mindset. Why not jump from town to town every day, taking in the landscape, driving through cities and finding fun spots for dinner along the way?

Add to our inherent “road trip” instinct the fact that we get the fewest days of vacation each year of any industrialized country, and the high cost of flights to Europe in the first place, and you’ve got a situation where American travelers understandably want to pack in as many experiences as possible during their European trips.

Nobody’s going to stop you from doing this, of course, and you might have a grand time. However, you’d be missing out on a lot. Many of the cities that you’ll be passing through have histories that go back more than a millennium. A region that you could speed through in an hour probably has its own cuisine worth sampling, wine worth tasting, and dessert worth gobbling. It’s worth slowing down to experience it.

Step one: Slow down!

I’ll get off my soapbox now, but you get my point: When pulling together your perfect itinerary for your upcoming trip to Europe, my first piece of advice is to slow down.

There’s a budget upside to slowing down, too. Aside from your sanity and the happiness of your travel companions, slowing down can also lead to real savings. Read on…

Gas is expensive.

Slowing down means less gas. Gasoline in Europe is far more expensive than in North America. If you’re planning to rent a car and drive like crazy, you’re in for a real shock at the pump.

Don’t believe me? As I write this, the average cost of gas in the US is just over $3. As you can see on this European gas tracker, it’s currently $6.59 in France — and higher in Italy.

Slowing down means fewer train tickets.

Zipping from city to city on Europe’s high-speed rail network is an experience in itself and is highly recommended. You can speed from Florence to Rome in 90 minutes on the high-speed train (and for as little as €20 off-peak if you book directly in advance!).

However, those seats (and those on France’s TGV, Germany’s ICE, and Spain’s Renfe) can be expensive in high season. Save on transportation costs by scaling back your itinerary. Not to mention that if you speed from one city to the next day after day, most of your trip memories will be of train stations and cafe cars.

Tips for creating the perfect Europe itinerary

Now, let’s start putting the trip itinerary together. How many stops? How many nights in each stop? Here are some thoughts:

Where are you starting?

You probably already have an idea of where your trip is starting, and, in some ways, the scope of the trip. Is this a trip to France? Italy? Ireland? For most travelers (especially those flying to Europe from North America, Asia or Australia), you’ll be flying into the capital city or a major airport. And thus, many itineraries will start here.

Check out these suggested itineraries:

• 10-day itinerary for Italy (Rome, Florence, Venice)
• 10-day itinerary for Portugal
• 10-day itinerary for Spain
• 5-day itinerary for Switzerland
• Weekend in Bruges

Rest up before taking off

Of course, some adventurous travelers might feel compelled to immediately hop in a car or train upon their arrival, and head off on the road.

One word of warning: If you’re taking a long, international flight to get to Europe, you will arrive tired. Boarding a train (or connecting flight!) and heading off for another part of the country is certainly doable, but I’d caution against hopping immediately behind the wheel of a rental car.

Again, I speak from experience, in this case that of a close friend (who shall remain anonymous). Ever the optimist, he picked up a car immediately after arriving on a red-eye flight into London Heathrow, and then headed south for Brighton, only 2 hours south by car.

Perhaps it was the “left side of the road” driving. Or maybe it was the fog. But let’s just say that his rental car had suffered significant scrapes before the day was done, the result of a silly parking lot mishap. I’ll speculate that this would never have happened had he rested for at least a day before heading off on the road.

Minimize the one-night stands.

Try this: When building out your itinerary, don’t allow yourself any one-night stops. Unless you’re really on a mission to get somewhere, give yourself at least two nights in every hotel you book.

This little tip will force you to slow down and take in your surroundings a bit. But on a more practical note, it will relieve the hassle of schlepping your bags from hotel to hotel, packing and unpacking, checking in and checking out. All of that busy work can be a time-waster and add stress to your trip.

I recently helped a friend plan a trip to Normandy from Paris. His instinct was to drive up from Paris to a small B&B near the American cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, spend the night, and then head back to Paris the next day.

What was the problem with this plan? It didn’t leave any time to actually visit the beaches, cemetery, or surrounding towns. He might have been able to see a few things, but not take the time to really take it in. Fortunately, he booked two nights, and he greatly enjoyed exploring not only the beaches and cemetery, but the surrounding villages. He later told me about an unforgettable experience he had going to mass in a small village church–something that certainly would have fallen off an over-packed itinerary.

Use your two-day stops as bases for exploration.

If you do take my advice and give yourself at least two-day stops along your trip, use those stops as bases for exploration. This way you can wake up, not have to pack things up, head off to explore, and feel relaxed that you can come back to your “home base” whenever you please.

You also have the added bonus of exploring a territory that your hotel owner will be very familiar with. He or she will be able to offer all kinds of inside advice for activities not to miss, restaurants to try out, and views to take in.

A few years ago my partner and I were married in France. For our honeymoon we headed to the Greek island of Crete. During the planning stages, we were both so excited about experiencing the island that, in typical fashion, we planned to move from town to town each day, making our way around the island over the course of the week. There were so many things to see on the east coast, and amazing villages in the west, and great beaches along the south… and the ancient Minoan ruins in the north!

And then something happened. We remembered that this wasn’t a race: It was our honeymoon. At the last moment, we booked one amazing mountainside hotel in the southeastern part of the island, and used this as our home base. We checked in and unpacked for the week. Although we had brought along a travel guidebook, some of the best advice we received was from the friendly hotel manager.

From here, each morning, we took off to explore the beaches, the ruins, the villages, and the amazing restaurants. And every night, we came home, relaxed, and happy that we didn’t have to pack up in the morning.

This is an extreme example (it’s a honeymoon, after all), but I bring it up as it’s one trip where I forced myself to overcome my instinctive “go, go, go” trip mentality. And, in the end, the trip was more relaxed and full of surprises.

Prefer one night stops? Cut back on travel time.

I know that the (minimum) two-day stop isn’t going to work for everyone and for every trip. Sometimes you’re on a mission — you’re just trying to get from Venice to Paris by car, an 11-hour drive. Some will be tempted to just do the whole thing in one epic day on the road.

Do a search on Google maps for the route and you’ll see several halfway marks that would be perfect for an overnight. (I would recommend either Lyon or Geneva.) If you’re on a mission, I probably won’t be able to convince you to spend two nights in either city. (Even though either would be amazing. You could explore the vineyards of the Cotes-du-Rhone during your day off in Lyon, or search for the perfect cheesy raclette in the mountain villages surrounding Geneva!)

However, I would at least recommend an overnight in one of these towns, or at countless smaller villages along the way. The point is to break that 11-hour trip up into smaller, manageable trips. For this example, I think at least two overnights would be better. Three or four hours of driving every day will still give you time to explore the territory.

You don’t always need to drive in circles.

When you’re checking around for flights to Europe for your trip, remember to check “open jaw” flights that allow you to fly into one city and home from another. (For example, a flight from Boston to London, and then a return flight from Amsterdam to Boston.)

Increasingly, these flights cost about the same amount as flights into and out of the same city. “Open jaw” flights can have a big impact on your itinerary, as they can free you to plot your trip in a straight line, avoiding that end-of-trip requirement to circle back to your city of arrival.

For example, say that you’re flying from Chicago to London, then heading by train to Paris, and then down to Nice before heading home. Check flights from Chicago to London, but with a return from Nice to Chicago. There’s no need to make the mad dash from Nice all the way back up to London. So many travelers do this, and it can add unnecessary stress and expense to the final days of your trip. (Wouldn’t you rather be hanging out on the beach for another day than hustling back to London?)

One caveat: These “open jaw” flights might not work for you if you’re renting a car. (You’re in luck if you’re moving around Europe by train or by one-way flights inside Europe.) Renting a car in one European country and dropping it off in another can be quite expensive, as the company usually tacks on a fee to go fetch the car and bring it back home.

Your trip itinerary

Now, back to your drawing board (or kitchen table). Try plotting out your destinations, giving consideration to all the stops along the way. Play around with your itinerary and see what it looks like if you trim a couple of stops, and double up the nights on others.

And remember, by building more time into each step of your trip, you’re giving yourself more time for surprises and serendipity. You don’t need to know what you’re going to do on your day off in southern Spain. You’ll find something tasty, we promise you!

The post Europe Itinerary: Creating the best trip for your budget appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

Related: 7 Ways to save now on next year’s trip to Europe

For most of us traveling from North America, the flight to Europe is our biggest budget obstacle. While it can be easy to find great bargains on hotels, it takes a bit of effort and research to uncover cheap flights across the Atlantic.

There are airfare flash sales that come and go, but those are hard to nab if you don’t act quickly. However, before you give up hope on finding a good price for your next flight, try some of the tips below. Before long, you’ll be “humble bragging” on Facebook about the incredibly low airfare you just scored for your European vacation. Good luck!

Note: Looking for a little budget travel guidance? Check out the current EuroCheapo package deals for great discounts for US travelers heading to Europe. We book your airfare, hotel, and rental car all at once, and pass along the savings.

Example flight

For the tips that follow, we’ll use a sample itinerary. We’ll say that we’re based in Chicago and want to visit London, Amsterdam, and Paris. We’re looking for a flight from Chicago to London. After spending a few days in London, we plan to take the train to Amsterdam (via Lille) and wind up in Paris. Then we’ll head back to London to fly home to Chicago.

So how can we save on this flight?

Set up alerts so you can get the latest prices on your route.

1. Set up an airfare alert.

If you know the exact route that you want to fly, you should set up airfare alerts to be notified of flight deals immediately. Websites like Kayak.com and Airfarewatchdog.com will email you when they notice a deal on the route that you’re planning to fly.

In this example, we can go to these websites and create a flight alert for Chicago to London. But wait…

2. Don’t forget about “open jaw” flights.

Pardon us if this is too basic, but many travelers don’t realize that flights into one city and home from another are often just about the same price as flights into and out of the same city. Furthermore, you can save lots of money on transportation (trains, buses, ferries, etc), as you won’t need to circle back to your city of arrival. This tip can not only save you money but allows you to save time, so you can see more of Europe.

In our example, instead of a round-trip to London, fly into London and home from Paris. It’s a good idea to also research the round-trip fares from London (after all, you might snag a cheap deal), but we would certainly focus on flights from Chicago -> London, and then Paris -> Chicago.

Even if that flight turned out to be a bit more expensive, chances are it would be less expensive than paying for a trip on the Eurostar (or a flight!) back from Paris to London (and probably an extra overnight in London, too).

Paris in May can be just as beautiful (and a lot less crowded) than the summer. Photo: Loïc Lagarde

3. Be flexible with your dates.

Flexibility is a budget traveler’s best friend (in so, so many ways!). In terms of snagging a good deal on flights, if you can bump your travel dates around a bit, you may end up saving a lot on airfare.

If you have the possibility, try pushing the trip back a week or up a week to see if you can find a deal on airfare. You might be surprised—there might be something happening (a big convention, sporting event, Madonna concert…) in one of your cities that is throwing off the airfare.

Related: When is the best time to visit Paris and Amsterdam.

In our example, say that we find that our flight seems strangely expensive. In fact, the hotel prices also seem quite high—but only for Paris for our dates. This could indicate that Paris is booked up with some special event (such as a giant conference or the annual Fashion Weeks). If you have some flexibility, push your trip dates around and see if airfare drops. Hunt for a deal–you might just find it.

4. Avoid weekends if possible.

Flights tend to be more popular and more expensive for weekend travelers. If you’re able to travel midweek, chances are you’ll be able to snag a better deal. Play around with your dates — you’ll probably see cheaper airfare on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Related: Planning a trip to Europe? Avoid these 10 costly mistakes

Heathrow is a major airport in London, but did you know there are several others? Photo: Stefan Kellner

5. Be flexible with your destinations or itinerary.

Conversely, you can play around with your destinations. Is there another airport nearby that you haven’t included in your search? Could you add another leg to your trip that includes a less expensive airport to fly into? Can you juggle your itinerary a bit to avoid a momentarily expensive city?

Back to our example, if Paris is booked up (and flights expensive) because of the fashion show, perhaps we could invert the trip, landing in Paris (the week before the fashion show), visiting Amsterdam and then departing from London. This would allow us to avoid not only more expensive flight costs, but higher hotel rates, as well.

You should also double-check and make sure that you’re including all area airports in your search. In our example, don’t just search for Heathrow (LHR) and Charles de Gaulle (CDG). Make sure to search for the city code, “LON” and “PAR”, to see all area airports. A lot of European cities, even smaller ones, have secondary airports that might be new to you.

A final option is to “hub it.” For example, say you find an incredible flight deal from Chicago to Dublin on Aer Lingus. It might be worth booking the flight to Dublin and then searching Europe’s budget airlines (like Ryanair and easyJet) to get a fare from Dublin to London.

Don’t overlook nearby airports. Kayak has a function to let you easily search for them.

6. If at all possible, avoid the peak travel season.

We know, for many travelers, the timing of the trip has been established long in advance (often dictated by academic schedules, holidays, or growling bosses). However, if you do have a bit more flexibility and are looking for ways to save, consider pushing your trip away from peak summer months and global holidays, and into “shoulder season” or even low season.

For spring travel, instead of June, try early May or late April. Looking for a fall visit to Europe? Push your plans back from September to October to save a bit more. If you’re able to travel to Europe in the early spring or late fall, you will almost certainly be rewarded with lower airfares, shorter lines at top attractions, and lower hotel rates.

7. Know when to snag international airfare deals.

According to a study by the airline experts at Kayak.com, booking 34 days prior to departure is approximately 4% cheaper than booking six months in advance. That said, if you see a great deal many months out, don’t hesitate to book it!

WOW Air is just one of a handful of budget airlines offering super cheap flights to Europe. Photo: Alec Wilson

8. Don’t forget about “budget” international airlines.

In the past few years, a number of new budget-conscious airlines have started flying between North America and Europe. These airlines have made it possible to snag a one-way ticket for jaw-dropping prices, and their fare calendars make it easy to browse prices over the course of a few months.

WOW Airlines, which trumpets $99 one-way flights to mainland Europe (with a connection in Iceland) is certainly worth a search. Note, however, that this price is hard to find and doesn’t include extras such as checked baggage (which can add up fast, see our chart), seat assignments, or anything to nibble on. (Read our article on Wow Air to get more details.)

In 2016, it might be easier to fly WOW as they’ve recently announced a new route from Los Angeles and San Francisco to Europe, and that they’ll be expanding their schedule from Boston, Baltimore/Washington DC, Montreal, and Toronto. Hopefully, they’ll fly out New York in the near future as well!

Norwegian is another budget option that has been offering super cheap fares from North American to Europe. They fly non-stop from New York to London, and we’ve found some excellent deals on Norwegian in the past. Read our guide to making your trip on Norwegian more comfortable.

And the newest player to enter the transatlantic discount flight market is Primera Air. They are kicking off service to Paris and London in the spring of 2018.

Will you score a $99 one-way flight to Europe? Probably not, but it’s still worth it for budget travelers to look for deals on Wow! Airlines, Norwegian Air, and Westjet (from Canada).

Search now!

Ready to look for flights? Do a search with EuroCheapo’s flight search!

Your tips

How do you keep it cheap when searching for airfare to and around Europe? Share with us in the comments section below!

The post 8 Tips for finding cheap flights to Europe appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

We’ve also compiled a list of the best books on Barcelona, so Cheapos can pick something up to read on the train or in your hotel room to get a deeper understanding of one of Europe’s greatest cities.

Altaïr
Gran Via Corts Catalanes, 616

This is THE spot for travel guides, travel novels, travel gear and meeting fellow travelers in Barcelona. Like all the shops on this list, most of the books here are in Catalan or Spanish, but you’ll also find some English goodies. Altaïr’s bulletin board allows travelers to meet other folks who are globe-trotting solo and want company.  I always marvel at their listings, and I have a friend who has gone on several exotic voyages after meeting people through the Altaïr board. You never know!

Laie
Pau Claris 85

There are quite a few branches of this bookshop around the city. A favorite of mine is on Pau Claris under Cafe Laie. Here’s how you visit: browse the bookshop, purchase a title that catches your eye and read it upstairs over a cup of coffee.

FNAC

Pl. Catalunya 4

A biggie and definitely not indie, but it’s still worth mentioning because of their enormous selection of English titles and frequent special events. You want a best seller for the beach? You’ll find it here. Also, FNAC is easy to locate. It’s right on Plaza Catalunya in the center of town. Apart from books they’ve got music, technology, a cafe and a convenient concert ticket sales counter. Plus, check their calendar, because they often put on art exhibits, offer free concerts, and invite authors to read at the store.

Garb a book off the shelf and then head upstairs to the cafe at La Central. Photo: Garret Ziegler

La Central
Elisabets, 6

An exceptional choice for books on art and hipster guides to the city is La Central. With several stores in Barcelona and Madrid, count on spending at least a few hours flipping through their offerings. I recommend the shop in El Raval.

Recommended Barcelona Reads

Now that you know where to get your guides, novels, and non-fiction, it’s time to grab a book off the shelf and read up on Barcelona. Here are a few titles I recommend in a more or less chronological order. Leaf through these publications listed below before or during your trip to Barcelona to get a deeper look into the city.

Start with: “Cathedral of the Sea” by Ildefonso Falcones for some page-turner historical fiction.

Then try: “Shadow of the Wind” by Carlos Ruiz Zafónto to get an idea of what the Gothic Quarter and Tibidabo were like. Again, this is high-drama fiction and a best seller.

Next up: “As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning” which is a beautifully written biography by Laurie Lee.

Finally some classics: Hemingway’s “Fiesta: The Sun Also Rises”, Orwell’s “Homage to Catalonia”, a must-read, and Richard Wright’s “Pagan Spain” for another view.

The post Barcelona’s best bookshops, and a reading list for travelers appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

Mainstream versus the offbeat

All well and good, if you are staring at the Mona Lisa or the Taj Mahal. But we wonder whether Google Goggles will be quite so adept at recognising a particular spot on the Russian steppes, the Hungarian puszta or on a remote stretch of Scottish coastline. Catching the essence of landscape, and indeed of most places we visit on our European travels, is about more than merely accessing a gigabyte of data on major landmarks.

What makes a place tick?

Guidebooks are certainly going through a tough time – facing competition from the more critical travel websites. The more innovative publishers are reinventing their products for a web-wise generation. But appreciating a particular place (or even a whole country) needs more than just facts, data and listings.

So it is interesting to note that while the sales of print guidebooks decline, narrative travel writing has gone from strength to strength. The reading public evidently has a considerable appetite for well written prose that really helps us understand what makes a place tick. Iain Sinclair’s London Orbital gave us a completely new take on the M25 freeway that encircles London, just as Alice Albinia’s Empires of the Indus introduced us to 2000 miles of river and 5000 years of history, while Ian Thomson’s The Dead Yard opened our eyes to Jamaica.

The spirit of landscape

We still think it worth browsing a guidebook or two before leaving home. And casting an eye over some travel websites for information on accommodation and to get a feel for the range of reactions to a place is always helpful.

But for really getting under the skin of a region or country, some well chosen narrative travel writing is essential. Travel through southern Russia without a guidebook if you really must, but don’t so much as even think of venturing to the region without having read Philip Marsden’s The Spirit-Wrestlers. Here, we think, even Google Goggles might have met its match.

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