Russ

Some travelers wear the high price tag of a European stay as some sort of medal; others would just as soon pay less and forego the glory. Count me among the latter.

What are your top 3 tips for saving cash on the continent? With the dollar at 1.25 and higher, frugal minds want to know.

Mine:

1. Leave London, Paris, and nearly major destination in Italy for some future year when the dollar's status is higher.

2. Skip hotels and rent an apartment or a vacation property. (I was recently reminded that last summer, I paid only 26 Euros/double for a comfortable and attractive apartment convenient to the Franconian towns of Wurzburg, Nuremberg, Bamberg, and Rothenburg. Even at 1.25, that's only $33.)

3. Shave down your ground travel. Rental prices and gas are sky-high, railpasses almost as crazy. For diversity of experience, pick a region convenient to other regions - like Alsace, where you can hit Germany, Switzerland, and maybe Luxembourg. Or just see Belgium - mountains and ocean, the French region and Flanders, and pop into the Netherlands or Germany briefly if you like.

Patrick

There was a very lengthy and recent thread with this exact same theme. I suspect a number of us won't be reposting our very long and detailed answers, but if you're curious what they are you could do a search and find all those. Your tip number 2 was also a big one of mine this year by the way -- renting a total of 6 apartments during a European stay of a little over 10 weeks.

kaudrey

Go somewhere else instead - South America, Asia, Africa, Canada, wherever!

Actually, I am going to Spain in 9 days. I booked moderate hotels (average cost for 14 days - $72 a night), plan to eat at reasonable restaurants - and/or eat tapas as dinner, and only buy something if I really, really want it - pictures will be my souvenirs.

Karen

Scooby

Don't always eat in smaller restaurants for lunch. Have a look at the large department stores that usually have self service. Or have a large breakfast there and skip lunch

SalB

Hi, Russ. Try this thread from a month back. It has some excellent suggestions.

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...amp;dirtyBit=1

If you can't get it, I typed "save money" into the search window. It starts with "OK Fodorites . . . "

We really spend a lot of time searching for cheap tickets. If you can get there, the prices are usually better than in the US. We've discovered inexpensive hotels and restaurants in France are much better quality than the US. To get a good meal here, we have to spend big bucks so we don't feel Europe is an "expensive" holiday.

Good luck. You can do it.