Tips and life hacks for traveling. Visa-free regime: what do you need to know to travel around Europe inexpensively? Universal Swiss knife

We have prepared material with all the tips, life hacks and tips that will help you discover holidays in Europe inexpensively and conveniently.

1. Flight

Example:

If you wanted to go to, but tickets cost €200, then why not visit, for example, if you can now buy tickets there for €133? At the same time, planning a visit to Madrid next year and 60-70% cheaper.

Another way to travel around Europe cheaply is to look at flights not only to the main airport, but also to nearby ones. For example, a flight from Kyiv to Kiev usually costs €140-180, and to Bratislava – several times cheaper. And not everyone knows that you can get from Bratislava to Vienna by bus in an hour and about €10:

2. Accommodation

With the visa-free regime, the number of trips for weekends or several days has naturally increased, especially to excursion cities. Previously, for any European trip you had to collect documents, pay a consular fee and wait for a visa, but now you can find cheap tickets and easily fly away for the weekend, for example, to or. Typically, on such trips, travelers try to get maximum impressions in a minimum of time, and therefore only come to hotels to spend the night.

Is it worth booking an expensive hotel in this case? We advise you to save money on accommodation and choose a simpler option: guesthouses and apartments are often cheaper than hotels, and in a hostel you can find a double room just as good, but for much less money.

Example: weekend in Budapest in September for two

The cost of 2 nights in a 4* hotel will cost you €222 for a double room - this is already a price with a 28% discount.

At the same time, for these dates you can rent an entire apartment for only €70 - three times cheaper!

3. Food

To get acquainted with national cuisine, you can choose a good establishment, but in general, if you are going to an expensive place, it is better to immediately find out about inexpensive chain cafes. Let's say, in Spain, dinner in an average restaurant will cost €15-20 per person, but in Sweden or Norway you will have to pay €35-40 for it. There are also always supermarkets that will help you save a lot on food - by the way, they often sell ready-made food.

4. Excursions and attractions

It’s one thing if you want to discover a new city by simply walking around it and enjoying the atmosphere, and another thing if you have a whole list of excursion sites that you would like to visit. It makes sense to select several objects to begin with and not try to go through everything at once. The cost of entry to many large European museums can reach up to €20 - for that kind of money you will probably want to take a closer look at everything without rushing.

Always find out in advance about specific places that interest you: many cities have museum days when you can visit a particular object for free. The same may apply to holidays and private promotions.

Example:

Every first Sunday of the month there is free admission to state museums, and on the last Sunday of the month you can visit the Vatican Museum for free.

Popular tourist cities have so-called City Cards, which help you save on transport, excursions, visiting attractions and other leisure activities.

Example:

The Vienna City Card (red card) costs €13.90/€21.90/€24.90 (for 24, 48 or 72 hours) and includes free travel on the metro, trams and buses and more than 210 discounts on everything – from landmarks to traditional establishments. For comparison: only a ticket for 1 journey on Viennese transport costs €2.2.

And the Vienna City Card + Big Bus Vienna (red card) costs €28/€31/€35 and includes over 210 discounts, a guided city tour and a 1-day Hop On Hop Off tourist bus ticket. For comparison: just a 1-day ticket on the Hop On Hop Off bus costs €25.

If this is your first time in the city, then find out about free excursions - Free Walking Tours, which are often organized in popular cities. Typically, such a tour lasts 1-3 hours, during which you are told basic information about the city and taken to the main places - you couldn’t imagine a better way to get to know the city for the first time.

Be prepared to be asked at the end for a small fee for the guide - and it will still be cheaper than a paid excursion.

5. Communication

Call Uber, arrange a trip with a local guide, call and find out the operating hours of a particular place, call friends or family - all this requires mobile communications and the Internet abroad. Of course, some tourists manage to solve all their problems using the free Internet in the hotel, but it is better not to limit yourself to this. Especially if there is an emergency and you urgently need communication, it is better to have a phone at hand than to frantically invent a way to call somewhere.

Choose the method of communication abroad depending on where you are going - you need to familiarize yourself with local tariffs, travel-sim tariffs and compare with your operator’s roaming to understand what is more profitable.

Example:

A SIM card from a local operator will cost you about €30 (a little more than 870 UAH) - but you need to be prepared for the fact that when buying a SIM card in Italy you will definitely need a passport, and activation of all services may take 1-2 days - yes, No one is in a hurry here, get used to it.

For comparison: the roaming service from Kyivstar is activated automatically when crossing the border. Subscribers pay only for those mobile communication services that they actually use. By actively using 3G Internet and calling friends and relatives in Ukraine, a traveler will spend only about 300-350 UAH (less than €12) in 5-7 days. All the same services with TravelSIM, which is popular in Ukraine (15 minutes of calls and 100 MB per day), in Italy will cost you about 900 hryvnia (a little more than €30) for a week’s trip.

If your hotel or hostel does not have the best Wi-Fi quality, you can always use your mobile Internet in the evening to post all the best photos from your trip to social networks, surf your favorite resources, or develop an action plan for the next day.

My favorite service for finding tickets. It is possible to choose the cheapest month of flight for any destination, choose the cheapest destination in the country. For example, flights to Hamburg are not cheap. You can fly to Cologne and get to Hamburg by bus/train: it will be cheaper and you can see the country.

Just a site for searching bus/train tickets in Europe. You can also buy a ticket there.

And - simply excellent resources for finding life hacks, tickets for airline promotions, many assemblies with visits to several cities and countries. You can search for flights not only from Moscow, but also from other major cities.

Finding accommodation with locals. You can rent a room on the outskirts of the city with a host for almost free, a nice apartment in the center with decor in the national style, or a luxurious villa on the ocean. In addition to looking for housing, you can also choose the so-called “Impressions” - excursions with locals to secret places in the city, joint sports activities, many master classes in cooking, sewing, dancing and a lot of other interesting things.

A service for finding people from all over the world who offer absolutely free help and overnight accommodation while traveling, you can also find a company to organize a joint trip and practice your language.

There are a lot of resources for finding all kinds of life hacks, I have listed the main ones that I use myself.

1) Air tickets need to be purchased 8 months or more in advance, monitoring sales. These tickets are non-refundable, but here's the arithmetic: let's say tickets to the place you want cost 200 euros, you bought them long in advance for 100. If the trip is canceled, you will lose 100 euros. But if you buy for 200, you in any case lose the same 100 euro difference (200-100). But, firstly, the difference is usually more than double, and secondly, trips are rarely disrupted. Not a single one has failed us yet. That. Non-refundable cheap tickets are profitable to buy.

2) Rent housing on the website airbnb.com, this is a service for renting out your own apartments for short periods. There are two huge benefits here:

a) it costs much less than hotels,

b) these apartments have kitchens and utensils, which means you can cook yourself by buying food in markets - this is also a big savings.

3) Rent a car right at the airport and settle down some distance from your destination - sometimes the difference will be simply huge. In Paris, during the season, an overnight stay costs from 70 euros per person, but 50 kilometers away you will find the same accommodation for 30. 30 kilometers from the coast, accommodation costs 3 times cheaper - you will go to the beach (or to the center of Paris) in the morning by car - the rental will pay for itself many times over. Just look for convenient parking in advance.

4) If you rent a car at the airport, you can fly to another airport altogether. For example, you go to Vienna, but take tickets to Budapest, and then 3 hours on the autobahn. Or vice versa :) This makes it much more convenient to catch good tickets. Well, in general, with a car you will be able to see and do more.

5) Well, read travel forums for the place you are interested in in advance - you will find a lot of useful information about a specific place, incl. and what you can save on in the area you need.

Comment

1. Think carefully about travel. Ideally, much in advance, snapping up the cheapest train/plane/bus tickets and places in hotels and hostels. In this way, you can save tens of thousands of rubles without making any special changes to your usual lifestyle while traveling.
2. Travel in a group. You can often save money by renting multi-bed rooms or apartments. Costs per person in this case can be much less than if he took a separate room, and sometimes even cheaper than a bed in a hostel. Likewise, in some countries and regions it is more convenient and cheaper to travel by car because you spread the costs as a group. Well, and all sorts of little things like the fact that in some places there can be hellishly huge portions in cafes and restaurants and two people can be satisfied with one dish.
3. Carefully study discounts for various groups of the population in restaurants, shops, museums and other places. Make sure in advance that you have documents confirming your right to such benefits, the same ISIC for example.
4. Eat meals prepared by yourself. In Denmark, for example, self-prepared breakfasts cost us significantly less than going to even cheap fast foods, not to mention a cafe in the center with 12 euros for a sandwich.

This is something that will allow you not to break yourself too much, not to disrupt your usual lifestyle and save money. There are also options that not everyone decides on, but which allow, again, to reduce spending:

5. Spend the night in tents. In some countries, this is significantly cheaper and more convenient than staying in hotels, apartments or hostels. For example, in Iceland. But here, of course, you need to prepare in advance, study the legislation of the countries you are traveling to, as well as the location of campsites and the conditions in them. Sometimes there is hot water with a shower and a kitchen and electricity and dry closets.

6. Hitchhike. But there are nuances here. In Europe this is quite common, however in some countries, for example, cars cannot stop on the side of highways, etc. Research this issue before your trip, and if this is your first time doing this kind of thing, it’s better to take an experienced hitchhiker with you. It will be easier this way. Some of my friends, for example, hitchhiked from Moscow to Italy and back.

7. Use couchsurfing, servers and other similar services and communities. This way, you can stay with complete strangers.

For example, a couple of my friends spent a week and a half traveling in Belgium and France, using couchsurfing, and spent about 400-500 euros on the entire trip (including air tickets).

P.S. Walk! This is useful. Nice. Saves money. Allows you to get a comprehensive picture of where you are now.

Maria Bystritskaya

30.09.2014 | 1251

Are you dreaming of a vacation, but don’t believe that a budget vacation is real? We'll tell you how to save money and travel cheap.

Many married couples do not go on vacation for several years in a row for one simple reason: the prices for tourist packages “bite” and force them to choose a summer house. In fact, traveling doesn't have to be an expensive endeavor, especially if you try these smart ideas.

1. Travel by car

The times when an airplane was considered the most economical way to travel long distances are long gone. Today, when airlines are trying to include as many mandatory fees as possible in the ticket price, the cheapest way to travel is by car.

If you are going to spend your entire vacation traveling, you can plan a road trip of several thousand kilometers and have time to see several countries. Otherwise, choose vacation spots relatively close to your home.

2. Be flexible

If you do decide to fly, don't try to find flights for specific dates. This will reduce your chances of finding cheap flights. Start looking for tickets several months in advance to find the best travel dates.

The most expensive days to fly are Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Try to travel during the week.

3. Rent a motorhome

Believe it or not, a caravan, or motorhome, is an economical holiday option. Caravans have long ceased to be a curiosity that can only be seen in foreign films. Now they can be rented for a very reasonable price.

Please note that the motor home has not only sleeping places, but also a refrigerator and, preferably, a small electric stove. If you have to cook outside, this will only add to the charm of the trip: imagine that every evening will end by the fire under the starry sky.

Travel in your own vehicle

4. Take a vacation during the low season

Everyone knows, like twice two, that beaches are popular in summer, and mountains in winter. Try breaking the rules:

Ideal time for holiday at sea– May and September-October. Prices are sometimes several times lower than in summer, and there are practically no tourists.
If you are not going to snowboard, but just want to breathe in plenty of clean air, go to mountains in summer or warm autumn. At this time it is no less beautiful there than in winter. And, besides, the weather is conducive to hiking.
Are you going to excursion to a major city? Go there for a weekend in the summer. Most often, at this time of year, hotels are occupied mainly by those who come on a business trip. On weekends, hotels are usually empty. By planning a trip on Friday-Sunday, you can find favorable discounts on accommodation.

This, of course, does not apply to the most famous tourist destinations, which do not lose their popularity all year round. For example, Prague or Paris.

5. Rent a home with a kitchen

If you want to really save money on your vacation, cook your own meals. It’s no secret that the main expense item after travel and accommodation is food in restaurants and cafes.
There are plenty of options for accommodation with a kitchen: this can be a rented apartment, aparthotels or hostels, which often have a fully equipped kitchen (if you are traveling as a couple with your spouse, you may be offered a room for two).

The most convenient option is, of course, a rented apartment or aparthotel (which is essentially an apartment building with a reception desk on the ground floor). In this case, you can expect many bonuses: from a balcony and patio to your own pool in the yard.

6. Try camping

Are you in the mood for a real adventure? Then try staying in campsites. Modern tourist sites (especially when it comes to European ones) offer all conditions for living: a bathroom, electricity and even the Internet. And all this for a reasonable price!

If you wish, you can rent a cabin on site or come with your own tent and sleeping bags.

Agree, waking up and falling asleep in nature is much more pleasant than in a noisy city!

7. Stay away from tourist areas

Accommodation in cities popular among tourists can cost you a pretty penny. That is why it makes sense to stay in nearby settlements, where prices can be two or even three times lower. If you are traveling by car or there is a well-developed transport network between cities, an additional half hour on the road will not create any inconvenience.

Try staying in campsites away from major cities

8. Buy souvenirs in advance

If you are used to bringing souvenirs from your trips to friends and relatives, it is not at all necessary to buy them in the most expensive tourist places: in the city center or in an amusement park. Let's be honest: most of the souvenirs we take home are made in China, so your friends won't feel any difference if you buy gifts online in advance.

If the fact that the souvenir belongs to the place you visited is important to you, try going the other way: don’t buy postcards, but make them yourself - from your own photographs taken on the trip. Your loved ones should love this!

Well, or at least try to buy souvenirs away from places favored by foreigners. For example, buy postcards not on the main tourist street, but at the post office.

9. Travel together

Seriously consider going on vacation together with a couple you know: relatives or friends. The more people, the more pleasant experiences, right? In addition, this will help reduce expenses on housing and food, because you will be able to divide all expenses equally.

Tourist entertainment is, of course, very exciting, but always very expensive. Explore local forums and the press, ask for advice from your landlord or receptionist to find out about little-known places that are loved by locals. The prices are lower there, and the atmosphere is unforgettable.

11. Look for free entertainment

You won't believe how much free entertainment you can find in popular destinations!

Almost every major city offers free walking tours of the historical center. As a rule, they are conducted in English.
All museums have free days, and some do not charge admission at all.
Don't forget to check the cultural poster of the city you are visiting. During this time, festivals or folk celebrations may take place there with free admission.

Don't be afraid to travel, because you don't have to have a lot of money to do it!

Based on materials from sheknows.com

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The school year is ending, and all the parents I know are counting down the days until the holidays begin. The longed-for freedom is coming soon! And although many have long ago planned their vacations and summer trips, there are still those who have not fully decided. And since the exchange rate has dropped significantly, you can even dream about going abroad...

Last summer we took a trip abroad for the first time in our lives as a family, with four children. Not a beach holiday, without your own car and without the ability to rent one there, a full two-week trip with visits to various attractions (in two countries). I was the initiator, organizer and brain of the whole enterprise, and naturally, during and after the trip I noted all the pros and cons for the future. And I mentally compiled a list of useful life hacks. Perhaps those who want to travel with children, but are afraid of not being able to plan on their own, will find my observations useful.

So, our trip was conceived as an introduction to another country for children; the goal was to visit both cultural and natural sites. And to be honest, I really wanted to see Bastei in Czech-Saxon Switzerland with my own eyes. Prague was also a must-visit; it’s impossible not to show children such a fairy tale. The entire trip was focused on these two objects. The route was as follows: Berlin - Dresden - Teplice - Prague - Berlin. I’ll say right away regarding the financial part: subjectively it was very expensive for us, objectively - two times cheaper than the cheapest tour (if we count the Czech Republic, Germany would have been even more expensive). Our trip lasted two weeks and we saw much more than the usual excursion program.

If any kind of organization is not for you and you have a lot of money, you can safely stop reading right now. Because the trip required a lot of mental strength and organizational actions from me, both in order to save as much as possible, and in order to make it interesting and yet comfortable. True, all actions were carried out without leaving home, using the Internet. Finding information, tickets, accommodation, creating a program - everything is here on the computer. I did this gradually, for about six months, but now I understand that the same thing can be repeated a month before the trip. Probably even faster, if you're lucky with tickets. Especially if you are not eight people, but three or four, for example.

So, first-transport.

In our case, Berlin was chosen as our point of arrival and departure, where you can get there for little money and without transfers. From Berlin it was possible to quickly get to the points we needed by train. And then my task was to find train tickets from point A to points B and C, the most convenient and cheapest. It is better to buy them on the “native” website, and not through intermediary companies.

For example, Deutsche Bahn is quite convenient, the main thing is to have a bank card with which you can pay for everything via the Internet. True, there are tricks here - before buying tickets, it is worth studying the different types of transport in the countries you are visiting. This will save you a lot and make your trip easier and more enjoyable. On the Internet you can find any information, from the schedule of pleasure boats to the price of tickets in any season and the cost of tickets of preferential categories. And in Russian.

Life hack first - It is better to travel on “sedentary” trains. The distances are short, the trains are comfortable, and the ticket prices are much cheaper. Moreover, a direct trip on such a train may be cheaper than transferring from train to train. And sometimes the bus turns out to be even cheaper and more convenient, the main thing is to find the necessary information. For example, when we needed to move from Germany to the Czech Republic, the local commuter bus turned out to be much more convenient, faster and cheaper than traveling by train.

Life hack second- study in advance how the cars on trains are numbered. Our first experience was tough - not finding our car, we got into the last one and spent a third of the trip making our way to our seats. Because in the aisles of all the cars there were the same suffering foreigners, making their way into their compartments. And all this with suitcases, backpacks and children. Well, one more thing - be sure to book your seats, even though it costs extra money. Otherwise, you will look for free ones, and for a family with children and luggage this is very inconvenient.

Life hack third- in Europe, family and group day tickets are available almost everywhere; this is much cheaper than paying for travel for each family member. Within the same country, but in different cities (and regions) they may differ. For example, in one city this is a ticket for two adults and everyone children under 14 years old, and in another - only for three children. Plus, there are group tickets within the region, sometimes even covering several types of transport and neighboring countries.

For example, in the region of Bohemian-Saxon Switzerland there is a Labe-Elbe day ticket, which gives the opportunity to travel within a large area in a group of up to five people on all types of transport. By the way, similar family tickets are available in museums, zoos and other places. And all this can be found out in advance, at home, just by typing the desired query in the search.

Second - housing and everything connected with it. For example, we acutely felt the disadvantages of the location of the housing we rented in transit points. These were great apartments in a nice location, but too far from the station.

Life hack first- if you are passing through some points in transit, staying in them for no more than two or three days, you need to look for accommodation as close to the station as possible. Because it’s easy to get to the desired excursion site without things from anywhere in the city (especially for a Muscovite who is accustomed to huge distances), but trudging with all your things and children from the station and to the station in a today-tomorrow-the day after tomorrow mode is much more unpleasant and difficult.

Life hack second- when booking an apartment, be sure to find out the details and do not be fooled by the view from the window, especially at transit points. If you spend a night or two there and be away from home most of the day, the main thing is that you have all the amenities you need. We didn’t bother to inquire about the presence of a washing machine (we were sure that it was always there) and severely regretted it. Eight people in the heat with two moves in five days, with a limited number of things - and no washing machine! Can you imagine...

Life hack third- you need to negotiate with the owners about handing over the keys as precisely as possible, so as not to sit at the door. From our experience, I realized that renting apartments from the owners is much more convenient and profitable than living in hotels. At least because of the washing machine and kitchen. Well, the savings are significant, especially when there are a lot of you.

Third is nutrition.

Life hack first- find out which shops and cafes are near the rental property. A large supermarket nearby is very helpful and saves a lot of money. If you have a developed program and know which cities you intend to visit, you can look at home in advance for reviews and recommendations from travelers about places where you should have breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Life hack second- just don’t laugh - if you are traveling with children, or you yourself have some special food preferences or diet, and you don’t care what to eat, take a small supply with you. For example, oatmeal is very useful to us - we always have a good healthy breakfast at hand. And also cocoa and tea.

Fourth – excursion program. This is where you need to be prepared for anything. I distributed our big exits (outings) over the entire trip at once. But, of course, unforeseen circumstances occurred, and everything did not work out as planned.

Life hack first- a clear choice of objects that you want to see will give a solid skeleton to your trip. Be sure to find out in advance what days and hours it is open, and whether it is possible to get there without a tour. Of course, unforeseen circumstances still happen. For example, we stayed in Berlin for a couple of days to see a panda at the zoo, but it turned out that she died a couple of months ago. We calculated our time and energy so well to visit all the beauties of Czech Switzerland - and it greeted us with thunderstorms and downpours.

Life hack second- choose routes based on the physical capabilities of the weakest participant in the trip. And think over the possibilities of relaxation during the excursion and sightseeing. Surprises always happen - for example, we unexpectedly found ourselves in a magical museum of nativity scenes, although we had not planned it. And this was very useful not only for the weakest participant.

Life hack third- You can always split up! This is especially true for those who have children with a large age difference or with different interests. For example, develop a route, part of which everyone walks together, and then one of the adults and children goes on vacation, while the rest continue the journey. True, it may turn out that someone will be envious. For example, we split up in Dresden - I went with the elders to the Dresden Art Gallery at their insistence, and dad and the younger ones went to the children's railway and to the zoo. In the end, I was jealous - they were petting lemurs!

And fifth-your strength. Don't overestimate yourself, leave time for rest between excursions. With my insatiable thirst to see as much as possible, I slightly tortured my companions. And she managed to turn even a day of “rest” into a climb up a local mountain. Still, we must remember that any family trip should be primarily a vacation, and it is impossible to see everything. And the main thing on such a trip is peace and joy, and not whining and swearing from fatigue. As you-know-who said, “less is more.”

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There are many “guides” on how to apply makeup correctly, quickly hook up the right guy, or beautifully decorate your home. Do you know about some life hacks used by tourists that will help you travel cheaper and more comfortably?

Buy on Tuesday. Airfare pricing follows a weekly cycle. Everything that is not sold out over the weekend and needs to be sold is thrown away at a discount on Monday; if this is not successful, then “price wars” and forced sales begin on the night from Monday to Tuesday. The conclusion is this: buying tickets from midnight to 15-00 on Tuesday is the most profitable.
"1 passenger." If you are flying with your family or just a large group, look for tickets for one person. Airline websites will try to sell a ticket in a higher class if you typed 2 or more people into the search bar. The difference in price is not always obvious, since you only see the amount for all the tickets and may miss the fact that one or two tickets are of a higher class at a higher price. Type "1 passenger" into the search bar. Find out the minimum price and then make sure that the price of each ticket is exactly that.
The GateGuru app will tell you everything about all airports in the world: where are the ATMs, what Duty free shops are there, where you can have a snack or relax.

Museums. Almost every museum has a free day, which you can find out about on their website. On such a day, it is better to come to the opening to avoid queues.
Buy incognito. If you went to the site just to look at a ticket for the desired date, you liked it and you went to get a payment card - in 15 minutes it will become more expensive. The point is not that all the tickets have been sold out - it’s just that the airline already knows that you came in, were interested in this ticket, it is very necessary and, probably, you are ready to pay more. All this can be avoided if you search for tickets in incognito browser mode. This way, you won’t leave traces on the Internet, and the airline won’t know who “came” to them to buy tickets.
Correct it. If you are traveling and are on a budget, correct mistakes in the menu of a local restaurant. Usually you will be happy to be treated to a delicious lunch.
Save on luggage. Pour liquids into 100 ml bottles, roll clothes into tubes, buy a foldable travel bag. It will take up little space in your backpack, and on the way back you can bring numerous purchases in it.

Save on housing. Stay low with apartment owners found on AirBnB.com and stay for free with couchsurfers. You can check them out at CouchSurfing.com or BeWelcome.org. Be prepared to socialize a lot and stock up on souvenirs.
Take a picture all documents and upload them to Dropbox.com. This way they will be accessible from any device connected to the Internet.
Free wifi at the airport the combination ?.jpg will be provided after the address of any website. You can find hotspots in the Wi-Fi Finder app, and passwords in FourSquare.