Eastern Europe

Romania vies with Bulgaria as the cheapest destination in Europe. The latter has an edge in most respects, but Romania is still a terrific value at all budget levels, from backpacker to luxe. If you’re looking for the European cafe culture in summer or want to stay in a nice historic village after a day …

Most travelers don’t see much of the Buda side of Budapest when they visit Hungary’s capital. Few make it any further than the Fisherman’s Bastion and maybe Buda Castle. It’s understandable as most of the bars, restaurants, and hotels are on the flat Pest side. But Buda has the greeenery—and the Children’s Train. I probably …

I’m making my way through the cheaper countries of Europe right now, finding good values all over compared to their neighbors to the west. Next stop, Romania.  I spent most of my time in Transylvania, which I’ll discuss without mentioning any mythical creatures of the night. This is the area where most travelers gravitate to …

There are a lot of good reasons for visiting the Moravia area of the Czech Republic, which gets about 1/100 the crowds of the country’s capital city. My previous Czech trip posts were on rural Czech prices, the sleepy town of Znojmo, and what it’s like to go cycling through Moravian wine country. Of course …