An online guide to city breaks in Europe, last minute breaks, cheap weekend breaks and short breaks in Europe's best cities
City Breaks Europe
City Breaks Europe for Short Breaks to European City Destinations
City Breaks Europe by Rail
Here are the highlights of four rail networks for city breaks in Europe
Rail Europe
Rail Europe consists of ten high speed trains. They are Eurostar, Thalys, TGV, Eurostar Italia, Lyria, AVE, Inter-City Express (ICE), Cisalpino, Artesia, and Talgo. Eurostar deals include travel through the Channel tunnel and connect you to major cities in under two and a half hours. For example, you can travel from: London to Brussels in 1 hour 51 minutes London to Lille in 1 hour 20 minutes London to Disneyland Paris in 2 hours 15 minutes
Thalys
The Thalys train provides direct links to 17 cities including Paris, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany in over 50 round-trips a day. It can even take you from Paris to Brussels in less than ninety minutes.
The TGV
The TGV is your choice when traveling to France, Switzerland, Germany and Belgium. Lyria – Gives you a spectacular view from the rolling French countryside to the majestic Swiss Alps. Artesia – This high-speed train takes you from the best of France to the best of Italy by day or night, via connecting city pairs of Paris and Rome, Dijon and Milan, Chambrey and Florence and 13 others.
Talgo
Talgo passes through brilliant coastal landscapes moving you from one port city to another in stress-free comfort, such as Montpellier, Narbonne and Perpignan in France, and Barcelona, Alicante, Cartegena, and Valencia in Spain.
City Breaks Europe Price Comparison
A dramatic shift in economic conditions has caused London to drop 18 places in the ‘most expensive city’ list, falling from number two in 2007 to twenty this year, with major deals and promotions on offer to drive consumer spending.
London has always been associated with being an expensive city, but with new figures stating the contrary, we are expecting more travellers to take advantage of London’s tourism offerings, as well as discover other notable emerging travel spots around the UK.
London is a gateway city for other famous landmarks and tourist attractions in the UK, so with a more affordable London, we look forward to receiving more regional travellers looking to take advantage of major events and attractions throughout the country.
The Price Comparison report studied 26 products in 33 different countries across the world. It showed that Oslo was the most expensive city for the third year running.
The report claimed that London is more affordable than Paris, Amsterdam, and Berlin.
London has fallen dramatically down a list of the world’s most expensive cities as retailers slash prices in an effort to stimulate consumer spending, according to a new global study.
The authoritative International Price Comparison annual report compares the average retail price of 26 of the world’s most popular consumer goods in 33 countries.
The latest findings provide the most tangible evidence yet that retail prices in the UK have significantly dropped. In 2007, London was the second most expensive city on the planet but it is now the 14th cheapest out of the 33 countries audited – below the global average for the overall cost of goods. According to the PriceRunner.co.uk London prices have dropped in a number of product categories this year, including a 33cl takeaway coffee (from £1.83 to £1.63); a litre of milk (£1.03 to £0.86); and even a Big Mac (£2.45 to £2.29).
And as retailers continue to drop prices in an effort to stimulate high street spending PriceRunner predicts that – if the trend continues – London may soon earn a reputation as being one of the cheapest cities in the world.
An Industry spokesman said: “London, New York and Paris are often held up as cities with a very high cost of living. While Paris is still the fourth most expensive place on the planet, New York is now the fourth cheapest – and remarkably, even prices in London have dropped below the global average. London is now significantly cheaper than many competitive destinations, including Paris, Dublin, Amsterdam and Berlin.”
My boyfriend and I are looking for bargain city breaks in Europe?
Hi there. My boyfriend and I are hoping to go on holiday somewhere in Europe to have a triple celebration (his birthday/valentines day/our 5 year anniversary). But everywhere I have looked seem to be quite expensive (£200 + for a few nights) and we are on quite a tight budget as you can tell! I have looked on lastminute.com and teletext holidays, along with other websites, but I’m wondering if anyone knows of any package deals/eurostar breaks etc on other sites? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
For £200 it would be a miracle to find a city break for two, as a European break means two return flights, which even with a budget airline company will cost about £120 minimum.
Although Sardinia can be cheap depending on where you stay, the flights there will usually cover most of the £200 anyway. (Eurostar is also extremely expensive which i have never really understood.)
Alternatively, what you could do is drive yourselves to Paris or Rouen (which would be cheaper and close enough to visit Paris during the day). Taking the Eurotunnel will set you back about £70 each way, depending on the time and date you go through it.
Otherwise, you’ll have to loosen the purse strings,
If not, somerset is quite nice this time of year…
BELGRADE CAPITAL CITY OF SERBIA
Financial Times has organized European cities and regions of the future for 2006/07 and, after winning the second round, Belgrade was awarded the name City of the future in Southern Europe.
The awards were also given to London (City of the Future in Northern Europe), Paris (City of the Future in Western Europe), Brno (City of the Future in Central Europe), and Baku (City of the Future in Eastern Europe). These five cities are competing for the final award of being named the European city of the future for 2006/07.
Belgrade-One of Europe’s oldest cities!!! Belgrade’s wider city area was the birthplace of the largest prehistoric culture of Europe.
The historic areas and buildings of Belgrade are among the city’s premier attractions. They include Skadarlija, the National Museum and adjacent National Theatre, Zemun, Nikola Paši? Square, Terazije, Students’ Square, the Kalemegdan Fortress, Prince Michael Street, the Parliament, the Temple of Saint Sava, and the Old Palace. On top of this, there are many parks, monuments, museums, cafés, restaurants and shops on both sides of the river. The hilltop Avala Monument offers views over the city.
There is also Beli Dvor or ‘White Palace’,house of Royal family Karadjordjevic ,open for visitors.The palace has many valuable works from Rembrandt, Nicolas Poussin, Sebastien Bourdon, Paolo Veronese, Antonio Canaletto, and others.
Ada Ciganlija is a former island on the Sava river, and Belgrade’s biggest sports and recreational complex. Today it is connected with the shore, creating an artificial lake on the river. It is the most popular destination for Belgraders during the city’s hot summers. There are 7 kilometres of long beaches and sports facilities for various sports including golf, football, basketball, volleyball, rugby union, baseball, and tennis.
]During summer there are between 200000 and 300000 bathers daily. Clubs work 24 hours a day,organising live music and overnight beach parties.Extreme sports are available, like bungee jumping, water skiing and paintballing.[99] There are numerous tracks on the island, where it is possible to ride a bike, go for a walk or go jogging.
Belgrade has a reputation for offering a vibrant nightlife, and many clubs that are open until dawn can be found throughout the city. The most recognizable nightlife features of Belgrade are the barges (splavovi) spread along the banks of the Sava and Danube Rivers.
Many weekend visitors—particularly from Greece,Montenegro,Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia—prefer Belgrade nightlife to that of their own capitals, due to a perceived friendly atmosphere, great clubs and bars, cheap drinks, the lack of language difficulties, and the lack of restrictive night life regulation.
A more traditional Serbian nightlife experience, accompanied by traditional music known as Starogradska (roughly translated as Old Town Music), typical of northern Serbia’s urban environments, is most prominent in Skadarlija, the city’s old bohemian neighbourhood where the poets and artists of Belgrade gathered in the nineteenth century and early twentieth century. Skadar Street (the centre of Skadarlija) and the surrounding neighbourhood are lined with some of Belgrade’s best and oldest traditional restaurants (called kafanas in Serbian), which date back to that period.
IVO ANDRIC-SERBIAN NOBEL PRIZE LAUREATE;
“…the greatest splendour of that sky above Belgrade, that are the sunsets. In autumn and in summer, they are broad and bright like desert mirages, and in winter they are smothered by murky clouds and dark red hazes. And in every time of year frequently come the days when the flame of that sun setting in the plain, between the rivers beneath Belgrade, gets reflected way up in the high celestial dome, and it breaks there and pours down over the scattered town. Then, for a moment, the reddish tint of the sun paints even the remotest corners of Belgrade and reflects into the windows, even of those houses it otherwise poorly illuminates.”…
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Where can I find true last minute city break?
Lastminute.com used to be great but their true last minute deals all seem to be winter sun now. I’m after a web site that offers last minute deals for places like Berlin, Budapest, Prague, Paris etc. Any ideas?
City breaks and last minute deals do not really go together. The reason is that a week in Tenriffe, say, is based on a charter flight and a contract hotel – both of which are highly perishable products and so it is better to get £10 than £0 for them – hence all the last minute stuff. A city break does not work like that, it is based on a contract rate hotel (which can be cheaper than the normal or “rack” rate) and flights at whatever price they can get. Now, the city break holiday unlike the cheapo Benidorm job is only arranged when someone wants one. If you want to go in the peak season (and now is the peak season for many cities – reason: all the business types are working flat out, conferences, exhibitions and so on) Hence the rather limited special offers.
City Breaks Europe - eurostar deals
Check availabilty for the best Eurostar deals with high speed train and central hotel.
