Henk Bekker's Blog
Posted by Henk Bekker
In recent months, many travel writers have recommended that Americans book the cheapest transatlantic flight to Europe and then continue on budget airlines to their destination of choice. On occassion I have offered similar advice and although it is often a sensible option, my recent experience with an intercontinental flight and a European connection on Lufthansa led me to rethink.
Our flight from North America was delayed by two hours. Without asking, Lufthansa offered us a meal voucher, rebooked our missed connection from Frankfurt to Geneva, and checked our luggage through to Geneva. Around $15 in Mexico City Airport buys a decent Italian meal with salad, pizza, and two frozen margaritas (although admittedly the second margarita was almost certainly due to the cheaper children`s meals).
The second consideration is costs. Adding the connection from Frankfurt to Geneva added just over $50 to the cost of the Mexico - Frankfurt ticket despite Lufthansa's practical monopoly on the route. A quick check showed about the same charge if flying via Paris or Amsterdam. Although the Frankfurt to Geneva flight took less than 50 minutes, Lufthansa managed to serve me for free a cheese sandwich, muesli bar, a plastic cup of wine uncouthly filled to the brim, a glass of water, and a wine refill. I pocketed around €10 worth of German and English newspapers Lufthansa offers for free to waiting passengers in addition to the two Swiss papers offered on the plane.
If I booked my second flight on a budget airline, I probably would have missed it and a new booking at short notice on low-cost airlines can put full fares on regular airlines to shame. Furthermore, the second checked suitcase would have cost a fortune.
As before, the best advice seems to be using several reservation engines and compare before committing yourself.
Posted by Henk Bekker
The freedom offered by having your own car is one of the most pleasurable ways to explore Europe, especially when traveling off the main roads. However, to get from cities to rural areas, it is usually necessary to use highways. Never mind the fees many countries charge for using their highways, come summer vacations these roads are packed and progress often slows down to a crawl if not a complete standstill.
In summer, forget all about no speed limits on some German autobahns. I enjoy pushing my car to its 200 km/h (125 mph) top speed as much as the next crazy driver but being able to progress in summer at 100 km/h (60 mph) would be a feat worth shouting about. Far too often traffic radio warns of a dreaded Stau (traffic jam) ahead.
Things are not much better elsewhere. The first Saturday in August 2008 saw traffic jams in France stretching for over 700 km (435 miles), or more or less all the way from Paris to the Mediterranean. August 2008 still has a few weekends to break last year’s record traffic jam of 842 km (523 miles).
A few tips on avoiding traffic jams:
- Believe the advertisements – trains do not get stuck in traffic and is a relaxing way to travel long distance even during the high season.
- Fly – low-cost airlines were still advertising cheap fares even for traveling during the hot summer months (but double-check those hidden fees!)
- Avoid driving on summer weekends – especially going towards the Mediterranean and Alps on Saturday.
- Avoid country lanes parallel to highways – they will be packed and often even slower.
- Travel in June or September – the weather may be great and the traffic will be light.
Posted by Henk Bekker
Any major German city has a Hauptbahnhof (Main or Central Station) from where railway passengers can take trains in any direction. Travelers to Paris are less fortunate – all mainline train stations in Paris serve as an end terminus (terminal) on opposite ends of the city center. French TGV and SNCF long-distance trains do not cross the French capital. This is no real problem when Paris is the destination but traveling from say the north of France to the south or east usually require train passengers to connect from one main-line station in Paris to another by bus, metro, or suburban RER train.
Paris has the following mainline SNCF stations:
- Gare du Nord – Eurostar trains to London, TGV Thalys trains to Belgium, the Netherlands, and Cologne (Köln), TGV trains to Northern France, and RER trains to Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG).
- Gare de l’Est – TGV trains to Alsace, Strasbourg, Luxembourg, Germany (Frankfurt, Karlsruhe, Stuttgart, Munich), and Switzerland (Basel, Zurich).
- Gare de Lyon – TGV trains to Southeastern France (Lyon, Provence, French Alps), Italy, and Switzerland (Geneva, Lausanne, and Bern).
- Gare de Montparnasse – TGV trains to Southwestern France (Tours, Nantes, St Malo, and Bordeaux).
- Gare de Bercy – night trains to Italy and non-TGV trains to Burgundy.
- Gare d’Austerlitz – non-TGV trains to the Loire Valley, Southwestern France, and Spain
- Gare St Lazare – non-TGV long-distance trains to Normandy and Brittany.
Transfers between Gare du Nord and Gare de l’Est are easiest on foot. Gare de Lyon (adjacent to Gare de Bercy) and Gare d’Austerlitz are also close to each other but on different banks of the Seine. Transfers between other stations are best done by metro, RER trains, or bus.
Posted by Henk Bekker
Despite high oil prices, driving remains by far the most popular way of traveling when on vacation in Europe. When traveling on longer trips with two small children, I generally prefer the flexibility and ease of driving myself even though driving in Europe is often not particularly cheap especially when using highways.
Germany’s famed autobahns remain free to private cars but bear in mind that fuel consumption increases dramatically once a car reach the top 20% of its potential top speed. Gas is expensive everywhere in Europe but currently cheapest in Switzerland and Luxembourg. French highways mostly require tolls proportioned to the distance traveled while many tunnels, passes, and bridges in Europe require additional user fees.
Both Switzerland and Austria require an Autobahn Vignette to use highways:
- In Switzerland, the only option is an annual vignette valid from December 1 up to January 31 fourteen months later. It cost CHF40 / USD40 for fourteen months. Using it only for a day or two? It doesn’t matter – it still cost CHF40. Fines for non-use are CHF100 plus, if caught on the autobahn, the immediate purchase of a vignette.
- In Austria, Autobahn Vignettes are available for 10 days (€7.70 / USD $ 12), two months (€22.20 / USD35), or a calendar year (€73.80 / USD117). Driving on an Austrian Autobahn without a Vignette can result in fines of up to €3,000 (USD4.750) although first time offenders are usually “only” €300 (USD475) out of pocket.
In addition, don’t forget to budget for the cost of parking overnight in major cities – in some German cities that is a worry only if your car displays a sticker to actually allow it to enter the Low-Emission Zones (LEZ) in the town center.
Posted by Henk Bekker
UNESCO currently has 878 properties inscribed on its popular World Heritage list. Too few then, fortunately, for an honest Thousand-Sites-to-See-Before-You-Die book but enough to keep travelers keen to visit all UNESCO-listed sites rather busy for a couple of years.
Reading random travel-related discussion boards will usually reveal people keen on visiting all UNESCO-listed sites. My first reaction is usually to ask why. Why go and see a site simply because it is on the list, or alternatively not visit a site because it is not listed? If UNESCO goes ahead and scrap for instance Dresden from the list because it is building a bridge over the Elbe, will Dresden be less worthy a trip than twelve months ago? I don’t think so.
I have, for example, seen almost all UNESCO-listed sights in Germany but the few I missed are simply because I’m not interested in them even though I may agree that their preservation has outstanding universal value. Life is too short and traveling too expensive to see something simply because it is on a list rather than being of particular interest to me or traveling companions.
For the record (and travel planning for some) the new Western European sites added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in July 2008 are:
New UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Sites in Western Europe:
- Fortifications of Vauban (France)
- Berlin Modernism Housing Estates (Germany)
- Rhaetian Railway in the Albula / Bernina Cultural Landscape (Switzerland and Italy)
New UNESCO World Natural Heritage Sites in Western Europe:
- Swiss Tectonic Arena Sardona (Switzerland)
- Lagoons of New Caledonia (Non-Continental Overseas France)
Western European countries with UNESCO World Heritage listed sites include Austria (8 listed sites), Belgium (9), France (33), Germany (32), Luxembourg (1), the Netherlands (7), and Switzerland (9).
Posted by Henk Bekker
For summer 2008, Paris will again convert the banks of the Seine in the La Villette canal basin into a free summer beach to citizens and travelers to the French capital. Paris Plages 2008 will see the beach area double in size compared to 2007.
This year, the Paris Plages Beach project will have more added attractions than ever before while two events will mark the opening of the beach:
- A free performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony by the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, conducted by Sian Edwards and accompanied by a 120-voice choir, in front of the Paris City Hall at 6 pm on July 21.
- A 3-km (2-mile) long picnic in the Voie Georges Pompidou to formally kick off the beach opening also on July 21 at 7 pm.
Modern music will feature in free concerts in the Fnacindétendances festival series held on various evenings between July 25 and August 16 near the Pont de Sully Bridge at the heart of the beach area.
Although Paris is not as deserted in summer as it used to be, even the high number of foreign tourists do not make up for the great exodus of locals to the beaches of the Mediterranean. Paris does not close down for the summer but it is worth checking in advance if specific sights, restaurants, or concert venues will be open in summer.
Booking Parisian hotels is often a gable – some are simply too outrageously expensive while others are suspiciously cheap. Play it safe by checking out some of the following hotel reviews before making reservations:
Posted by Henk Bekker
Europe’s high-speed trains such as the French TGV and German ICE trains can compete with planes over shorter distances. However, ticket prices on these trains are often far from cheap – especially if one-way trips are taken. Fortunately, for leisure travelers, special discounts are available to those willing to work through the myriad of restrictions and limitations that accompany the best discounts. Savings are generally big enough to make it more than worth the effort of finding the best deals.
The best savings are generally offered on national railways only. Railteam, which increased the cooperation between high-speed train operators in Western Europe, has promised a website by 2009 that will make international bookings with discounts possible on-line but this will still only be for the expensive high-speed trains.
All European countries have their individual savings options but the basic ones usually involve buying an annual rail card that gives discounts of 25 or 50 percent on all long-distance train travel. These rail cards are very good deals for local residents as well as foreigners frequently traveling to the respective countries. Some rail cards extend the savings to neighboring countries too. Further savings are available for return journeys, children, youths, students, families, and groups.
Both Germany and Austria gives excellent discounts to small groups traveling together on slower, local trains only. Discount passes are also available for travel in specific regions.
Savings and discount fares are often not available on one-way tickets. For long-distance, one-way travel, a rail pass generally offers the best value. Internationally, the Eurail Pass is the best known but also fairly expensive. Cheaper alternative options are the InterRail pass and country-specific passes such as the German Rail and Swiss Pass.
Posted by Henk Bekker
For the budget conscious traveler, European cities can be a very good deal during summer months when hotel prices in some cities drop to mid-winter levels. Getting a three-for-the-price-of-two-nights deal is not particularly difficult in many cities. City hotels that mostly aim at business travelers may lower prices even mid-week to attract leisure travelers in the absence of their usual well-heeled clientele.
Not all hotels in all cities participate in such deals so I usually find it worth the effort of using a few different online reservation services to compare what deals are available in a specific city. It often pays too to check rates over a longer period than the actually planned hotel stay. If my traveling dates are flexible, I can rework my plans if hotel prices suddenly drop or increase due to a festival or trade show in a particular city.
I frequently recommend staying in smaller towns as a way to save money but during summer, the reverse is often true. Trains are usually available to take travelers fast from European cities to countryside sights. It is easy to take day trips from Dresden to Moritzburg or to the lovely nature of Saxon Switzerland, or from Salzburg in Austria to the picturesque town of Hallstatt.
- Sleeping in the city allow travelers to hike in the countryside during the day but enjoy the cultural attractions or bar scene of the cities at night.
Some popular cities such as Paris, Amsterdam, Munich, and increasingly Berlin too do not see a significant drop in summer hotel rates. However, even here, prices tend to be somewhat lower in mid-summer than in autumn when many Europeans like to take city breaks.
Posted by Henk Bekker
During the past decade, traveling in Western Europe has generally become easier, faster, and cheaper. Low-cost airlines made flying cheaper while international cooperation in the form of Railteam allowed high-speed trains to travel out of France and Germany into neighboring countries.
However, driving remains by far Europeans favorite way of travel when on vacation. Although there are no more highway queues at Europe’s open borders, gas prices are hitting drivers directly in the pocket.
Despite the good gas mileage most European cars achieve, higher gas prices certainly are putting a damper on driving. Prices vary widely between European countries due to different tax regimes and in this respect, the times certainly are a-changing. Two years ago, I made sure my car was filled to the brim before crossing from Germany into Switzerland – even the surcharge of the autobahn gas station was small in comparison to the then price of diesel in Switzerland.
Currently, the high-octane fuel that most new cars in Europe require is around €1.20 (US $1.86) per liter (or US $7.04 per gallon) in Switzerland. In Austria and Luxembourg, it is minimally more expensive but in France expect to pay around 25c per liter more, in Germany and Belgium around 35c more, and in the Netherlands up to 50c per liter more.
- Driving or renting a diesel? Avoid filling up in Germany where diesel recently broke the €1.50 per liter mark. In Switzerland diesel is around 10c per liter cheaper, while Luxembourg has the cheapest diesel at €1.30.
Out of the Western European region, prices tend to be cheaper in Eastern Europe and Spain and dearer in Italy and Scandinavia.
Posted by Henk Bekker
It is estimated that through the centuries around 20,000 castles were built in Germany. Although the majority is now in ruins, or completely disappeared from the landscape, literally hundreds in varying states of repair can still be visited. Castles are amongst the most popular tourist sights in Germany.
Castle can be translated into German as Burg or Schloss. Burg is generally used for fortresses built during the Middle Ages while Schloss is used for buildings erected from the Renaissance onwards. However, the distinction is not always clear as many a Schloss was built on medieval foundations. A Schloss is often more palace than castle and better translated by the French château.
German castles range from ruins to modern reconstructions. Castles were particularly in fashion during the late Middle Ages. Castles were frequently destructed during wars – many castles in the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage listed Middle Rhine area were destroyed by the French during the War of Palatinate Succession.
Other castles fell into disrepair after the Middle Ages as the upkeep was expensive and the nobility increasingly preferred more comfortable palaces in cities. Many castles in Germany were rebuilt during the nineteenth century as incorrect, romantic notions of what medieval castles were supposed to have look like.
Great medieval castles in Germany open to visitors include:
- Burg Eltz near Koblenz – possible the most romantic castle in Germany.
- The Wartburg in Eisenach – described as the most German of all castles.
- Schloss Neuschwanstein – the medieval-look, nineteenth-century castle built by Bavarian King Ludwig that probably inspired Disney.
Lesser-known castles and castle ruins are even more romantic and often more fun to visit than the overcrowded popular ones. Several good examples are in the Palatinate on the German-French border.
Posted by Henk Bekker
As the dollar continues to weaken, foreign travelers are increasingly advised to take the cheapest flight available to Europe and then explore the continent by using European low-cost airlines.
However, non-European travelers should note that low-cost airlines are quite imaginative at adding charges for services often taken for granted on flights in other parts of the world. The following charges by Irish low-cost airline Ryanair are fairly typical for the industry:
- €10 per checked bag of only 15 kg if booked online – deciding or being forced to check-in a bag at the airport will cost you €20 for the first bag
- €20 each for a similarly light second or third bag
- €5 for checking-in at the airport – free online check-in with free priority boarding is not available to non-European Union residents
- €5 for priority boarding
- €4 for paying with a credit card – it is best to have cash at hand because having to use that credit card again at the airport means another €4 charge!
On the upside, Ryanair guarantees no fuel surcharges – one of my pet hates. Somehow, Ryanair manages to work fuel prices into the ticket price together with paying the pilot, fitting tires, and other costs of business.
- Tax refunds are available on missed flights but you can forget about getting back any airline charges.
Always compare low-cost airlines and alternative routes. Generally, no discounts are given for return flights so open-jaw routings and using different airlines often save money.
On shorter routes, high-speed trains are not necessarily cheaper but do cut out the hassle of using airports. Moreover, you buy your ticket and may drag for free onto the train whatever you can carry.
Posted by Henk Bekker
Cruising has long been popular with American travelers especially to the Caribbean Islands and Alaska. Although cruises have been available in the Mediterranean and to a lesser extend the Baltic Sea, European cruises have mostly been a very minor part of the cruising calendar of American-focused cruise lines.
However, cruising in Europe is increasingly popular with both European and American travelers. This is at least partly due to dollar weakness and exchange rate uncertainty. Cruises have the advantage that most costs are included upfront and much of the extras can be calculated in advance.
Many independent travelers scoff at the idea of cruising as a vacation to explore destinations. However, for travelers with limited time and the desire for an all-inclusive package, cruises offer a viable alternative to traditional bus tours. Cruise prices, especially with early-booking discounts can be very price competitive and there is generally no reason to worry about the standard of the hotel or the quality of food on offer. Unpacking once has its appeal too.
Royal Caribbean reckons that around 15% of Americans have tried a cruise while the figure for Europeans is only 3%. Many American-based cruise lines have increased their presence in Europe – both to capture the dollar-paying as well as European market.
It seems Europeans are also appreciating the luxury and endless attractions available on the new mega-boats to the cheaper European lines with often cramped cabins and average food. On some “American” boats, Europeans will be in the majority this year to lend an authentic European air to these cruises.
Posted by Henk Bekker
The German National Tourist Board’s comprehensive statistics makes for interesting reading. In the first place, it confirms that tourism in Germany is booming with huge increases in both domestic and foreign travelers.
More interesting to me is that tourists’ behavior is surprisingly rational. Whether by luck or through rational thought, foreigners travel to places in Germany that offer the best value for money.
- More than half of foreign visitors to Germany sleep in the major cities. A good choice – although hotels in smaller towns and the countryside can be even cheaper, hotels in German cities are often bargains. Hotels in Berlin are generally half the price of similar hotels in Paris or London.
- The busiest months for foreign visitors to Germany are July and August – not a bad choice as German tourists generally head abroad during these months and the tourist premium in German holiday areas is much lower than in other West European countries. During these months, hotel prices in German cities such as Dresden and Leipzig can be as low as in mid-winter. Four nights for the price of three or even three-for-two are not hard to find.
Between 1993 and 2007, the annual number of overnight stays in Germany increased by 50 million. In Berlin, the overall increase was 248% an in Dresden an incredible 380%. For travelers, Munich (München) remains the most expensive city in Germany but with 4.5 million annual travelers, Munich is only second to Berlin’s 6.6 million overnight guests.
It is predicted that overnight guests in Germany will increase from 361 million in 2007 to 400 million in 2015. Now is a good time to visit Germany while prices stay sane and queues at cheaply priced tourist attractions short.
Posted by Henk Bekker
Since March 1995, when the Schengen Agreement came into force, millions of travelers have been able to cross borders in Europe without the need to slow down at customs and immigration. Cumbersome and time-consuming border controls have been eliminated making traveling between different European countries as simple as going from say one US state to another.
Originally, only five countries (France, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands) signed the agreement but presently virtually all Western and Central European countries participate in this open border scheme. Notable exceptions are the United Kingdom and Ireland; for travelers, Switzerland is will join November 2008.
Border crossings in Western Europe have generally not been a problem when traveling by train. Immigration officials would get onto the train at the last stop in a country and check passports while the train continued to the first stop in the next country. Individual passports were often not checked or stamped – although I cannot recall ever having crossed the Swiss-French border by train without French immigration officials dragging some unfortunate soul off for further investigation.
Europe’s open borders are best appreciated when traveling by car. On weekends and during holidays, long queues no longer form on either side of the border. The only question is – should you slow down or not simply because the traffic signs still call for a major reduction in speed.
Although the border posts are open, the immigration buildings are still in place, if usually unmanned. The Schengen Agreement allows countries to impose border controls again for short periods and many countries do during major events.
- Germany will probably reinstate border controls between Bavaria and Austria during the UEFA Euro 2008 football tournament in June 2008 – a good enough reason to travel by train.
Posted by Henk Bekker
For almost three decades, the French Train à Grande Vitesse (TGV) has brought the countryside into day and weekend trip reach from Paris. In Germany, sleek white Inter-City-Express (ICE) trains provide fast services between all major German cities.
These fast trains now also operate on international routes. French TGV-based trains are crossing the borders into Belgium, the Netherlands, and Switzerland while the German ICE trains can be seen in the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, and Austria. More recently, TGV trains have made it into Germany (Cologne and Stuttgart) while ICE trains go to Paris.
Eurostar trains go from London to Paris and Brussels and could actually operate on the full TGV network. Persistent rumors that German Railways want to send ICE trains through the Chunnel all the way to London are constantly being denied. A pity, as competition will almost certainly bring prices down.
Just because you are seated inside an ICE or TGV train does not mean the train is actually going at high speed. Trains can slow down significantly on older tracks especially once outside Germany or France.
More than once, on the four-hour ICE journeys between Frankfurt am Main and Amsterdam, I have experienced going flat out at 300 km/h (186 mph) between Frankfurt International Airport (FRA) and Cologne (Köln) just to have the train slow down and outrun by shorter commuter trains once inside the Netherlands.
Fortunately, tracks are constantly being upgraded throughout Europe to speed up journeys. Railteam reckons that business travelers prefer trains to planes if the rail journey is less than four hours while leisure travelers will ride the rails for six hours before low-cost airlines are seen as an alternative. Those numbers sound about right to me.
Posted by Henk Bekker
Getting to UEFA Euro 2008 football championship matches in June 2008 will be easy. Match tickets also serve as public transportation passes in both Switzerland and Austria on match day and on the return route up to noon the following day.
I prefer public transportation when going to major events including sports matches, special festivals, and shows. That way I don’t have to deal with unfamiliar roads, or even worse, find familiar shortcuts blocked off for the day. Furthermore, the walk from the train station to the stadium is usually shorter (and not through the mud!) than the trek from the special overpriced parking lots.
For the UEFA Euro 2008 football championships, special transportation passes, valid only during June 2008, will be sold to entice soccer fans to see more of Switzerland and Austria than just the football stadiums and adjacent bars and restaurants.
- The UEFA EURO 2008™ Half-Fare Card (Halbtaxabonnement) gives 50% discount on any rail journey on Swiss and Austrian trains and buses. It cost CHF39/USD39 (CHF59/USD59 if bought in June).
- The UEFA EURO 2008™ General Abonnement allows for unlimited travel on the Swiss transportation network and 50% discount on tickets on Austrian railways. It is CHF299/USD299 in second class and CHF459/USD459 in first class (CHF399/USD399 and CHF599/USD599 respectively if only bought in June).
The above cards are available to all travelers and are valid on virtually all trains, buses, and ferries in Switzerland (including most private lines) and Austria. However, note that the ICE train from Salzburg in Austria to Switzerland via Munich and Lindau goes through Germany and requires a rather hefty CHF82 / €50 surcharge one way.
The Swiss public transportation system offers several further passes and discount tickets that are valid year round.
Posted by Henk Bekker
Museum Nights when museums remain open until late at night, is a recent but increasingly popular cultural phenomenon in Europe. In German it is usually referred to as Lange Nacht der Museen (Long Night of the Museums), while in French the term Nuit Blanche (White Night) is often used.
The first Lange Nacht der Museen was on February 14, 1997 when 12 museums in Berlin remained opened until after midnight. It was an instant hit. Nowadays, hardly a town in Germany with a museum misses the opportunity to stage a museum night.
The exact dates and composition of these museum nights differ from city to city but most involve a varied cultural program including music, lectures, and guided tours. Museums generally stay open from around 7 pm to 2 am. Sometimes museums are free but more common are special passes for the night that include admission to all events, shuttle buses between museums, as well as unlimited use of local public transportation.
Having annual museum passes for several German cities, I’m in for a busy couple of weekends. For me, the cultural programs are the bigger attraction as I prefer visiting museums on weekday mornings when both the museums and their coffee shops are quiet.
Some major German cities that will stage a Lange Nacht der Museen during 2008 include:
- Frankfurt – April 26 (and a “short night” on September 5)
- Hamburg – April 26
- Leipzig – April 26
- Dresden – July 12
- Berlin – August 30
- Munich – October 25
- Cologne (Köln) – November 1
Other European Museum Nights during 2008 will be in:
- Paris, most of France, Belgium, and Luxembourg – May 17
- Zurich – September 6
- Austrian cities including Vienna and Salzburg – October 4
- Liechtenstein – October 4
- Amsterdam – November 3
Posted by Henk Bekker
Even in an era of globalization, eating foreign food is one of the joys of traveling in Western Europe. France is famous for fine dining (26 Michelin three-star restaurants) and the availability of excellently prepared food even in the smallest of neighborhood bistros. How does the rest of Western Europe stack up in comparison? Is it only fries in the Netherlands, waffles in Belgium, and bratwurst in Germany?
Luxembourg and Belgium are close enough to flaunt the French culinary influences. My French teacher, who hailed from Brussels, defines Belgian cuisine in four words: French cooking, German portions! Even to her, it may come as a pleasant surprise that Germany with nine Michelin three-star restaurants is only second to France in terms of fine dining.
True gourmets won’t regret heading to the countryside – Michelin defines a three-star restaurant as worthy of a journey anyways. The small village Baiersbronn, population 16,000, in the German Black Forest alone sports two three-star restaurants while the two three-star restaurants in the Netherlands are in the internationally renowned towns Sluis and Zwolle. In Switzerland, for three-star dining pleasure head straight to Brent or Crissier.
Three-star dining in Europe is even harder on the wallet than on the waistline. When on a tight budget, save money by making lunch the main meal of the day and order the daily specials. These are usually the best value and served fastest. Cafés from Vienna to Berlin serve smaller meals at reasonable prices too.
- Considering lunch a waste of valuable daylight sightseeing time? Most bakeries sell cheap sandwiches made of local bread, fresh produce, cheese, and meats that can be enjoyed as a picnic lunch on a bench in a park or old town pedestrian zone.