Newcomers to London are often shocked at the price of accomodation. A single room in a three-star hotel could easily set you back £100 – or more. The Independent gives a rundown of the five best budget accomodation options’ that London has to offer.
The Guardian spends 48 hours in Ã…lesund, Norway
“The town is set on a fish-hook shaped peninsula more or less midway between Bergen and Trondheim. Bound by the sea and the impressive Sunnmore mountains, the main part of Aalesund occupies a narrow tongue of land while residential neighbourhoods have spilled on to outlying islands”
Recent blog posts on Alesund:
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Budget Travel Online has a series of budget travel guides to Europe; here, they provide some suggestions for a day trip to Utrecht, in The Netherlands.
“Ignoring the tacky 70s mall that houses the Utrecht train station, press through the narrow medieval streets to the Oudegracht, the “old canal,” dug around a thousand years ago. It’s lined with bookshops and restaurants with terraces directly on the water.”
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The New York Times spends a weekend in Florence, and finds art, religion … and food.
Florence is just an hour and a half away from Rome on the Eurostar Italia, so if you’re looking to get away from the constant noise and traffic of Italy’s capital, it might be a good choice.
While you’re there, consider a day trip to Pisa.
Recent blog posts on Florence:
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The past two years has brought enormous change to Russia’s capital city. The New York Times takes a look at some of the changes.
“The city fathers have torn down the old Rossiya Hotel, a giant Brezhnev-era hulk that few will miss, and commissioned a new hotel and entertainment complex by the British architect Norman Foster. The Rossiya’s demise has opened the airspace around one of Moscow’s most historic places, Varvarka Street.”
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The Independent has an article about the UK Youth Hostelling Association closing down a number of hostels in order to fund improvements to others.
Apparently more and more travellers, these days, want private en-suite facilities, It would be a shame, however, if the large bunk rooms and communal eating areas disappeared forever…
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The New York Times has a wonderful article on the historic city of Krakow, in Poland.
Thanks Julie!
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The Irish Independent takes a look at Bremen, in Germany, and finds that there is more to the former Hanseatic city-state than just depressing weather.
Bremen can be reached by direct trains from Hamburg, Hannover, Zurich, Vienna, Munich, Paris and Brussels. For a less direct route, consider taking a train to Groningen, in the north of the Netherlands and then regional trains to Bremen, via Leer.
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A brief guide to Milan, from The Age. So brief, in fact, that they do twenty-four hours in just eight and a half.
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The Amsterdam/London Express was, for several years, the most hassle-free method of getting between the two cities. One ticket would get you from London Liverpool Street Station via train to Harwich, then on a fast hydrofoil to Hoek van Holland, and then finally on another train to Rotterdam, The Hague or Amsterdam, in around six hours.
Sadly, the hydrofoil was removed at the beginning of 2007, but the service remains, now using ferries, and renamed as the DutchFlyer; possibly in jest, as the service takes twice as long as it did previously.
However, it still remains one of the least problematic methods for getting to the Netherlands, since there’s no annoying airports to deal with. And, as The Guardian explains, you can travel with a clear conscience, too.
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