Europe a la Carte Blog

Welcome to my blog, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

The Hungarian National Tourist Office is running a Winter promotion where some Budapest hotels offer the third night free you if you pay for 2 nights or the fourth night free if you pay for three nights. More than 60 hotels are taking part in the promotion. Unfortunately I couldn’t ascertain which hotels had which offer until I searched at each hotel individually. The offer is available for stays from 1 November 2008 to 31 March 2008.

Romantic Budapest

Although the three nights for the price of two offer sounds good it’s always worth checking hotel prices with a hotel price comparison site such as HotelsCombined.com. I had quick look and there appear to be quite a few hotels for around £25 a night for a double room.

The Budapest Christmas Market runs from 29 November until 24 December 2008, so you could justify the trip as a Christmas shopping foray.

Budapest is another destination which is on my “would like to visit” list.

Sofia the capital of Bulgaria is being tipped as the next hot city break destination in Europe. Sofia is one of the oldest cities in Europe and the foundations of the city walls have been dated back to the the 7th century BC. The city is great value for money, there are plenty of historic attractions and a good nightlife.

Sofia

Easyjet are already flying from Gatwick to Sofia and flights from Manchester will commence on 11 December 2008. Wizzair fly from London Luton to Sofia.

I’ve only really heard about holidays from the UK to Golden Sands on the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria and most feedback from that was pretty negative in that the holidays weren’t that cheap and the standard of accommodation was poor. Have you visited Sofia, how would you rate it?

In the incredibly flat plains of the Normandy coastline, Mont St Michel is stunning. This island of rock, topped by a monastery and ringed with a medieval village rises far above the landscape, visible for miles. It stands off the shore, surrounded by floodplains with nothing nearby to distract from its beauty.

Mont St Michel

The island has a history going back to the 6^th century, but the first incarnation of it as a place of worship happened in the 8^thcentury, when St Aubert received instructions (and a hole in his skull apparently) from the archangel Michael to build a church upon it. It appears in the Bayeux Tapestry, was repeatedly attacked, rebuilt, turned into a prison and received a constant stream of pilgrims over the centuries. The causeway joining the island to the mainland is a now permanent road, which has adversely affected the flooding of the area. The island is rarely fully surrounded by water these days, due to the silt build up from the causeway, but there are plans to replace this with a bridge which will bring back the island’s original isolation.

The Abbey at the top of the island can be visited for 8.50€. This includes a guided tour – highly recommended in a place with such a long history. The Abbey, balanced on the pinnacle of rock at the top of the island is built upon a series of crypts as foundations. These haven’t always been successful, and parts of it have collapsed in the past. The tour will take you through the church itself, the monk’s refectory, the crypts underneath and the hamster-wheel construction which was used to bring supplies to the top of the island.

A guard tower, as seen from the Abbey courtyard.

Below the Abbey is the town. Tiny roads, tinier buildings and now full of tourist shops and plate glass. As with most things in such a tourist destination it is an expensive place, full of tacky souvenirs and horrifically crowded in the summer months. There are several hotels in the town if you would like to stay overnight, although ones back on the mainland are significantly cheaper, as are the restaurants which accompany them at the beginning of the causeway.

You can get to Mont St Michel by rail and bus, but the easiest is by car. There is a giant car park at the end of the causeway – it costs 4€ and signposts will inform you whether your car is likely to be swept away. Mont St Michel is a perfect day trip, requiring only a few hours to see it all, although you may want to take a bit more time to enjoy the view.

HotelShop are offering 3 night family breaks at the Quality Hotel in Newcastle upon Tyne for only £249 per family until 30 September 2008. This rate includes breakfast, dinner and lunch for 2 adults and 2 kids (aged under 14)., which is great value at £83 per night for full board for a family. This rate was available for any three day period over the next few weeks when I checked on the Hotelshop site.

I think that Newcastle is a great location for a family break. I spent a few days there with our sons when they were young. There’s lots to do and see such as the Seven Stories the National Centre of Children Books and The Centre for Life. You can buy a Metro off peak day travel ticket for £3.70 per adult and £1 per child (aged under 16) or for £3.70 for the whole family on a Sunday.

You can buy a return Sail Rail ticket to Dublin for only £54 from UK cities such as London and Newcastle. Sail Rail is a partnership of British and Irish ferry and train operators. The ferry crossings used are Fishguard to Rosslare, Holyhead to Dublin, Stranraer to Belfast.

I did a search for a Sail Rail ticket from Edinburgh to Belfast on 27 July, in 2 days time and found a single ticket for £26.

I think that is a really good offer as it appears to be available even at peak times and without having to book months in advance. You also have to consider that you don’t have the hassle of getting to and from the airport, the train will take into the city centre. You can also take as as much luggage as you like.

Have you used Sail Rail?

Desperate for a weekend getaway to get some peace and quiet, a colleague of mine suggested Aachen. Aachen, I said? Where? As it turns out, this quaint getaway – perched precariously on the German, Dutch, and Belgian borders – was once the political centre of an empire and more recently caught in the crossfire of World War II. Today it’s a sleepy German village with some wonderful and inexpensive sightseeing. My favourites include:

• Cathedrals: lavish furnishings and geometric stained glass reflect the storied history of Aachen; the main cathedral was the first German building to be included in the UNESCO World Heritage list.

Cathedral stained glass window copyright Andrew Hayes

• Public Art: the city is dotted with a number of public art installations and fountains, from the whimsical to the bizarre. Try walking the city centre and see how many you can find.

Public Art Scene in Aachen copyright Andrew Hayes

• Baths: the Romans bathed here, and so can you. There are a number of spas located in or near the city, each with various types of spa offerings. I chose the Carolus Therme with its multitude of themed sauna rooms, indoor/outdoor pools, and sunbathing garden. It is an excellent way to spend a morning or afternoon. Be forewarned: most spas have nude-only areas!

Aachen is easily accessible via car or train from nearby cities Maastricht, Dusseldorf, Cologne, or Liege. Whether it’s just for a relaxing weekend or a stopping point, it is definitely worth a closer look. Find out more about Aachen on the city’s website.

Travelodge will be offering 1000s of additional rooms on their £19 advance booking, non refundable Saver rate, available for booking from 06:00 tomorrow, 3 April 2008 until 7 April for stays during May.

With two Bank Holidays coming up in May, this could be an opportunity for a budget short break. Family rooms at Travelodge can sleep up to 2 adults and 2 kids.

Ramada Jarvis has Leisure Breaks from £59 per night for a double/twin room including full breakfast at a selection of their 40 UK hotels. You need to stay for a minimum of 2 nights and the offer is subject to availability.

North Inch, Perth

There’s a fair selection of rooms at the £59 rate including Perth and Glasgow in Scotland, Hatfield and Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire and Ealing in London.

BT are running an online competition for UK residents with a weekly prize of £1000 worth of Travelcare vouchers to spend with Superbreak.  The best entry every Friday from now until 4 April 2008 will win the vouchers.    All you have to do is answer the a question about who you’d phone and why you want to keep in touch with them.   So get on your thinking caps and come with an original, unique, funny or heartwarming entry.

I came across this article about quirkly Easter events in UK with themes such egg jarping, hare pie scramble and coal carrying. So if you’re looking for something a bit different to rolling your egg down a grassy bank you now have some inspiration.

Easter Egg Mosaic by annapi_78

The Easter weekend in the UK is very early this year, the 21 - 24 March 2008. The clocks don’t even go forward to Summer Time until the following weekend.

What are your plans for Easter? Some hotels do have good deals over the Easter weekend. I had a quick look at Laterooms to see what was on offer in the UK.