If Rome is representing the "old" Italy, Milan is representing the "new" Italy as being the most modern and important business, finance and fashion city in the country. In Milan, you will not only find magnificant historic structures like the The Duomo di Milan or classical art masterpieces like Leonardo Da Vinci's Last Supper, you will also find the modern Italy with its shopping, fashion, colorful nightlife, football and opera.
At first sight you may think that Milan is a souless city catering to business and finance while having some historic sightseeing in the city center. Although the city center is very well maintained, you cannot say the same for the suburbs. And unlike many historic cities in Europe and Italy, you will not have a historic art piece at every corner.
The most famous building in Milan is The Duomo di Milano Cathedral in Duamo Square. Construction of this building has started in 1386 and today it is not only a must see in Milan, climbing one of the towers and watching Milan view is also a must do in Milan. Other places of interest in Milan would be Saint Mary of the Graces, The Certosa di Garegnano, San Satiro's false apse and Sant'Antonio Abate.
We will cut short into where to stay in Milan question. And instead of suggesting some Milan hotels, we will briefly introduce the Milan districts popular for accomodation.
The historic center of Milan is known as Zona 1 di Milano (Zone 1). This is one of the 9 districts in Milan and geographic center of the city. If you are planning to stay in Milan and looking for a Milan hotel, you should first look at places like Brera, Centro storico, Conca del Naviglio, Guastalla, Porta Sempione and Porta Tenaglia in Zone 1.
Milan is divided into 9 administrative zones and Zone 1 is the geographical and historic center of Milan.
The Duomo Square is in the center of Zone 1.
Duomo and Milan City Center (Milan Centro Storico)
Zona 1 di Milano is the geographical as well as historic center of the city and is the best place to stay in Milan. And in the center of this zone, there is Duomo Square (Piazza del Duomo) and Duomo di Milano Cathedral. One of the oldest surviving shopping centers in the world, historic Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II and Palazzo Reale are also here. To the east of the square you will find colorful Corso Vittorio Emanuele and its shops and to the north you will find infamous La Scala Opera House. Shopping addicts and art lovers would love to head to south of the square where they can find Brera full of art galleries and Via Montenapoleone full of branded shopping opportunities.
If you can find a hotel here within your budget, Zone 1 is the best place to stay in Milan. For hotels and details like room rates here, you can check Milan city center hotels and hotels near Duomo di Milano pages.
Receiving ever increasing Turkish and foreign visitors thanks to its stunning natural beauty, Uzungol is one of the most important tourism centers in Black Sea Region of Turkey and Trabzon. Located in a deep valley and formed by a natural land slide, Uzungol and its surrounding offers lush green forests, great trekking routes and delicious food.
Uzungol is just 99 kilometer away from Trabzon city center and is 1090 meters high from the sea level. It offers a fantastic getaway from the sweating hot weather of summer with its cool (and cold in the night). It is one of the legs of almost all Black Sea Tours and a must see for people visiting Trabzon.
Its oxygen rich and cool weather is a boon for everyone but nature and fresh air is only a few of all the things Uzungol offers to its visitors. The local food is unique and delicious here. Especially the local trout (named kırmızı benekli alabalık) sourced from Haldızen Stream is cooked in many ways and both butter and grill versions are must try.
Let's now answer where to stay in Uzungol question. The signnificant improvements of the roads and resulting easy access created a tourism boom in Uzungol which is translated into a lot of tourism investment. Now you can find many boutique hotels as well as small motels in Uzungol village and in the surrounding hills. Basically you have two alternatives to choose among in terms of a place to stay in Uzungol : you can stay in the village near the lake which offers easy access to the lake and the facilities in the village but is in the middle of everything including the massive crowd pouring into Uzungol during high season, public holidays and weekends. Or you can choose to stay in an Uzungol hotel a little bit up in the hills. Although these hotels are far from the village, they offer fantastic view of Uzungol and are more secluded and relaxed. If you do not have a car though, you will need to walk to the village.
If somehow you cannot find a place to stay in Uzungol, you can also stay in Trabzon and have a day trip to Uzungol but the real deal is staying here.
Uzungöl is one of the poster childs of Turkish tourism and the most popular tourism center in Black Sea Region.
Below, we have given some Uzungol hotel recommendations. If you want to take a look at a more complete list of hotels in Uzungol with details such as room rates, you can visit Uzungol hotels page.
Zeren Pansiyon Uzungöl Mah. Cami Sk.Inonu Caddesi no 7, 61960 Zeren Pansiyon offers large, clean and comfortable facilities as well as a stunning view of Uzungol. The hospitality is very good. It is a little bit far away from the village but it is spared from the crowds of high season and holidays and is a good alternative if you want to stay away from the crowds.
Uzungöl Apart offers a great view, stunning nature surrounding the property and great hospitality. If you do not have a car, it will take 20 minutes to walk to the lake but the nature surrounding the path is amazing and this long distance becomes an attraction of the hotel rather than a negative.
Göbleç Otel Uzungöl Yeni Mah Çaykara, 61960 Uzungöl
Göbleç Otel is just 500 meters from the lake and offers a stay near the lake. The property is a traditional wooden structure and the hotel offers a good breakfast, clean and nice rooms and good service. The rooms have balcony which is a bonus. 500 .
İnan Kardeşler Otel Gölbaşı Mahallesi Fatih Caddesi Uzungöl Çaykara, 61960
İnan Kardeşler Oteli is just 150 meters from the lake and offers a stunning forest view. The accomodation is wooden structures but they offer TV and heating.
Özkan Otel Yeni Mahalle Uzungöl - Çaykara, 61940
Özkan Otel is right next to the lake and its location and lake view are its positive sides.
New York is the most populous and developed city in United States of America (USA) and the most important financial, business, culture, culinary, trade and art center in the world. New York houses the most impressive skyline in the world with the infamous skyscrapers on Manhattan Island.
New York is a very popular tourist destination and New York hotels are expensive. Even hostels in New York charges nightly prices starting from 50 USD and a mid-range hotel in New York would charge 250-350 USD per room per night. And luxury New York hotels like Waldorf Astoria and The Plaza would charge thousands of dollars per suite per night.
Although New York hotels are expensive, you will be spoilt for choices. All the chain hotel groups you know (and probably do not know) have a hotel in New York. Manhattan is the most expensive place to stay in New York and any Manhattan hotel below 200 USD per night would be a tiny cell with a bed, TV and a little more. In New York hotel prices range significantly as well as their quality so check the customer reviews of the hotels online before booking one. Some places like the outer regions of West Side High Way and Queens may offer cheap hotels where main customer group are the customers of the sex workers booking “hourly” for the trade.
New York hotel rooms are usually advertised without taxes added. You would need to pay plus 2 USD + 5.8% hotel tax and 1.5 USD extra. So a New York hotel room advertised as 100 USD per night will cost you around 118 USD per night.
Ok, we may have scared you up to this point but do not worry: It is still possible to find relatively cheap hotels in New York if you follow our tips:
Use online hotel booking sites for the best and cheapest prices as well as discounts. Online bookings will almost always be cheaper than the reception rack rates and there are also significant price differences for the same type of room in the same hotel among different booking sites. We suggest using a hotel meta-search engine like hotelscombined.com which auto compares almost all online booking site prices and lists them for you.
The low seasons for New York hotels are January and February especially the days after the New Year; the last 2 weeks of August; 3 days before Thanks Giving and Sunday’s. If the cold and snow does not scare you, hotels in New York are cheapest in January and February.
Sometimes the airline you use to fly to New York or the travel agent offers “flight + hotel” packages which may provide cheap hotel accommodation in New York.
Instead of staying in a hotel. you can stay in a B&B or private apartment room advertised on sites like Airbnb starting from 50 USD.
So where to stay in New York? Let’s answer this question with some of the most popular places to stay in New York.
Midtown Manhattan
Housing some of the most iconic places in Manhattan such as Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, United Nations HQ, Sixth Avenue, Madison Square Garden, Rockefeller Center, Broadway, and Times Square, M'dtown Manhattan is also the most popular and the best place to stay in New York. The area contains the largest number of hotels in New York and although it is expensive to stay here, its central location in Manhattan makes it the best place to stay in New York.
For hotels in Midtown Manhattan as well as useful details such as room rates and price comparisons, you can check New York City Midtown Manhattan hotels page.
Panaromic view of Midtown Manhattan from the Empire State Building
Central Park and the Upper East Side
Upper East Side is to the north of the Midtown and to the east of the Central Park. It is one of the most affluent neighbourhoods in the city. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fifth Avenue, Jewish Museum, Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, Temple Emanu-El of New York are here. The area hosts some of the most famous museums in the world and the strings of museums along the infamous Fifth Avenue fronting the Central Park is called "Museum Mile" (it was once named Millionaire's Row). Madison Avenue and Second Avenue offers some cool bars while Central Park is a must see in every New Yok itinerary. Also do not miss The American Museum of Natural History on the west side.
With its brown colored stone mansions, green streets and wonderful art galleries, Chelsea is just two blocks to the south of 34th Street. You will love the restaurants, delis and bakeries here. Greenwich Village may be an affluent neighbourhood today but this area below 14th Street has a bohemian past which is still preserved. The Village Vanguard offers fantastic jazz music in the nights while the street musicians on the Washington Square offers a feast of music of its kind. You can find hip clubs and restaurants in Meatpacking District and head to The East Village for a Rock & Roll atmosphere.
You can find the art and fashion center SoHo just to the south of Greenwich Village. Nice restaurants, boutique fashion shops and shopping experience is waiting for you in Broadway and its side lanes. You will find "Little Italy" in Mulberry and Mott Streets while infamous New York Chinatown is just below these two. Canal Street offers electronics, fresh fruit / vegetable and Chinese craft shopping. The Lower East side is very famous with its boutique New York hotels, trendy restaurants and bars.
Both business and leisure travelers are looking for more ways to save their money on upcoming travel to Rome and one of the best way to do that is to stay in a budget hotel in Rome to cut cost on expensive hotel room prices. As a budget conscious traveler blog, we are happy to released a list of 10 Rome budget hotels with below EUR 100 per night room rates. These Rome budget hotels have also collected the best customer reviews and many are located near the city center and/or within walking proximity to metro stations and with their affordable room rates are a boon to both business and leisure travelers.
Although Rome hotels are known to be expensive, travelers can take relief that there are still cheap hotels to be found in Rome.
Hotel De Monti
2-star Hotel De Monti in Rome City Centre is near shopping or the night-life. Set in Latium Wine Region, the hotel provides clean rooms, great location and gourment breakfast for prices starting from 84 Euros per night.
Aurelia Vatican Apartments
Aurelia Vatican Apartments is in Latium Wine Region and 20-minute walk from Valle Aurelia Metro Station. It offers modern and large apartments equipped with a refrigerator, cable / satellite channels and tea and coffee making facilities. Room prices in Aurelia Vatican Apartments starts from 79 Euros per night.
QuodLibet
2 Star QuodLibet in Prati Rome is one of the best budget hotels in Rome with clean room, perfect location and very friendly staff running the premises. Room prices in QuodLibet starts from 99 Euros per night.
At Your Place
2 Star At Your Place in Borgo is in Rome City Centre, a short walk from Castel Sant’Angelo and Via della Conciliazione. Its great location, tasty food and clean rooms make it shine among budget hotels in Rome centre. This bed and breakfast is near many bars, nightclubs and fashionable restaurants. Room prices in At Your Place starts from 70 Euros per night.
Aldebaran Bed & Breakfast
Located near the Porta Maggiore and only metres from various restaurants, bars and shops, The Aldebaran Bed & Breakfast has a gourmet breakfast, which is served on request every morning. Room prices in Aldebaran Bed & Breakfast starts from 70 Euros per night.
Zero6 Guest House Rome
3-star The Zero6 Guest House Rome is in Rome City Center (Prati) near Vatican City and the Ottaviano metro station. Very clean rooms, spacey and comfortable bathroom and a nice little breakfast. Room prices in Zero6 Guest House Rome starts from 80 Euros per night.
Rome Trevi Fountain
Maria Rosa Guesthouse Rome
Well-known for its food with lots of places to eat close by, the Maria Rosa Guesthouse Rome is in Rome City Centre. The location of the guest house means guests can easily access multiple tourist attractions on foot. The guest house is within a 20-minute walk of the Piazza Venezia, the Capitoline Hill and Campo de’ Fiori, and within a 10-minute drive you can find Roman Forum. Room prices start from 76 Euros per night.
Capricci Romani B&B
Located in Rome City Centre, the Capricci Romani B&B is close to Via della Conciliazione and Castel Sant’Angelo. This B&B offers cosy and comfortable rooms and an airport shuttle service. Room prices in Capricci Romani B&B starts from 60 Euros per night.
Papa Vista Relais Hotel Rome
Situated under a 10-minute walk from Ottaviano – San Pietro – Musei Vaticani Metro Station and Cipro Metro Station, the Papa Vista Relais Hotel Rome offers guests an ideal base when in Rome. Ok, this is not a below 100 Euros hotel but it is almost there. The room prices in Papa Vista Relais Hotel Rome starts from 108 Euros per night.
Hotel Villa Duse
4-star Hotel Villa Duse in Parioli is in a lovely quiet location,comfortable rooms close to local ammeties. Although it is off the center, public transportation to the Rome center is nearby. The room prices in Hotel Villa Duse starts from 108 Euros per night.
For a complete list of Rome hotels you can check Rome Hotels pages. For hotels in Rome City Center, visit Rome City Center Hotels page. For a short guide to district of Rome to stay in, check our where to stay in Rome post.
Both business and leisure travelers are looking for more ways to save their money on upcoming travel to Paris and one of the best way to do that is to stay in a budget hotel in Paris to cut cost on expensive hotel room prices. As a budget conscious traveler blog, we are happy to released a list of 10 Paris budget hotels under 100 Euros per night room rates. These Paris budget hotels have also collected the best customer reviews and many are located near the city center and/or within walking proximity to metro stations and with their affordable room rates are a boon to both business and leisure travelers.
Although Paris hotels are known to be expensive, travelers can take relief that there are still cheap hotels to be found in Paris.
#1 – Pavillon Saint Louis Bastille 66 Rue De Charenton, 12. Gare de Lyon – Bercy, 75012 Paris
A few minute’s walk from Gare de Lyon, 3-Star Pavillon Saint Louis Bastille is a budget hotel in Paris in 12. Bercy – Gare de Lyon area. The hotel is quiet, clean and comfortable at a good price. Room rates in Pavillon Saint Louis Bastille starts from 89 Euros per night.
#2 - Hotel de la Porte Doree 273 Avenue Daumesnil, 12. Gare de Lyon – Bercy, 75012 Paris
Although located slightly out of central Paris, 3-Star Hotel de la Porte Doree, is right next to the metro. With clean and boutique Parisian style rooms, the hotel is very cosy and comfortable. Room rates in Hotel de la Porte Doree starts from 100 Euros per night.
#3 - Terminus Orleans 197 Boulevard Brune, 14. Montparnasse – Porte d’Orléans, 75014 Paris
With its clean and comfortable rooms, next to metro station location and helpful staff, 2-Stars Terminus Orleans, is a very nice budget hotel in Paris with room prices starting from 99 Euros per night.
#4 - Elysees Opera Hotel 17, rue de Turin, 08. Champs-Elysees – Madeleine, 75008 Paris
3-Star Elysées Opéra Hôtel is located in 08. Champs-Elysees area close to Gare St. Lazare and Metro Stations. This is a no frills hotel that offers a clean, comfortable room at a good price. Room rates in Elysees Opera Hotel starts from 99 Euros per night.
#5 - Hotel Audran 7 Rue Audran, 18. Montmartre – Pigalle, 75018 Paris
2-Star Hotel Audran in Montmarte area is within 2 minutes walk to Abesses Metro station and from there almost all attractions are within 15 minutes – 20 minutes away. With its perfect location, 79 Euros ++ room prices and clean rooms, Hotel Audran is a nice alternative for budget conscious travelers.
You can find most of the budget hotels in Paris in Montmarte area.
#6 - Hotel Luxelthe 13 rue Houdon, 18. Montmartre – Pigalle, 75018 Paris
1-Star Hotel Luxelthe offers a descent place to sleep in a very convenient location in Montmartre. The metro is super close and the staff is nice in the hotel. Room prices start from 79 Euros.
#7 - Eden Hotel Montmartre 90, Rue Ordener, 18. Montmartre – Pigalle, 75018 Paris
Another budget hotel in Montmartre, Eden Hotel Montmartre is near MRT Station, some nice restaurants catering to different budgets and overall provides a clean place to sleep (breakfast at extra cost). Room rates in Eden Hotel Montmartre starts from 75 Euros per night.
#9 - Timhotel Montmartre 11 rue Ravignan , Place Emile Goudeau, 18. Montmartre – Pigalle, 75018 Paris
Overlooking a pedesterian square in a small village like environment, Timhotel Montmartre offers small but decent rooms (most complaints about this hotel are about its very small bathroom and shower) for 77++ Euros per night.
#10 - Hotel Regyn’s Montmartre 18 Place des Abbesses, 18. Montmartre – Pigalle, 75018 Paris
2-Star Hotel Regyn’s Montmartre is another budget hotel in France with a great location near Abbesses’ Metro station. Room prices start from 84 Euros.
#10+1 - My Hotel In France Montmartre
My Hotel In France Montmartre is located near abesses metro station (3 minutes by foot) with a nice breakfast and friendly and helpful staff. Room prices start from 61 Euros per night.
For more information about locations to stay in Paris and familiarize yourself with the districts in the city, you can check our where to stay in Paris post.
With its 5 kilometers of sandy beaches, waterfront restaurants and bars, Turgutreis town is a very popular holiday destination just 20 kilometers away from Bodrum. Named after Ottoman Admiral Turgut Reis who was born here in 1485 is also quite near to Greek islands of Kos and Kalimnos and is one of the important seaside resorts on Turquoise Coast of Turkey.
Turgutreis has some nice hotels especially on the waterfront. Swissotel Resort Bodrum Beach is one of the best hotels in the town. The 2-storey hotel with 66 rooms and suites offers spacious rooms. There are large villas and duplex terraces in front which house 60 serviced apartments that are 120-240 m2 in size. The bars and restaurants are created as places of entertainment where the ambiance is formal or casual and dishes are prepared with the finest local produce. With indoor & outdoor pools and Purovel Spa & Sport facilities, Swissotel Resort Bodrum Beach provides you with a wide variety of sport and leisure opportunities.
The hotel features 66 guest rooms, as well as 72 residences. At each Swissôtel, a wide selection of cleverly conceived accommodation choices are offered – the common denominator is that each bedroom provides all the services and conveniences needed for travellers to make business away from home a seamless experience. From the Swiss Advantage rooms to the luxurious suites and apartments, Swissotel can provide the appropriate accommodation for all guests. Swissôtel properties have an imaginative modern design, state of-the-art technology, exclusive amenities and timeless elegance.
Swissotel Resort Bodrum Beach
A variety of restaurants and bars make sure that business travellers and leisure guests enjoy their time at Swissôtel Resort, Bodrum Beach. Dining at award-winning Swissôtel Hotels & Resorts exceeds your expectations time and time again. The bars, restaurants and meeting spaces are created to be places of entertainment, where the ambience is formal or casual and dishes are prepared with the finest local produce, served to perfection every day. Whichever special occasion you may be celebrating, we will ensure that every detail is attended to.
Ultra-modern meeting and conference space provide the flexibility to accommodate delegates and different sized events. When it comes to your conference, experienced organizers and state-of-the-art technical facilities help make every day run smoothly.
Pürovel is a distinctive group of deluxe spa and fitness facilities located within Swissôtel Hotels & Resorts worldwide. Catering for both the discerning business traveller and local clients, Pürovel provides the Alpine-inspired solution to healthy living within a stylish and contemporary environment.
One of the best getaway destination from Istanbul for a short break is Lake Abant Nature Park. The lake and densly forested surroundings offer great natural beauty and is easy accessed by car.
Abant has two major hotels right next to the lake: Buyuk Abant and Taksim International Abant Palace. Buyuk Abant Hotel offers fantastic lake view from its rooms facing the lake and is especially a great place to stay when the lake is frozen and it is snowing. 45 of its 197 rooms offer lake view and they are quite in demand and more expensive than forest viewing rooms. Both Buyuk Abant Hotel and Taksim International Abant Palace offer indoor swimming pool which is a great place to swim in hot water while enjoying the snowy lake view.
If you plan to stay in Buyuk Abant Hotel try to book delux or lake view rooms on or above 3rd floor to get a clear view of the lake (lower level rooms have trees between lake view and them). This hotel is also very famous with its restaurant.
The room prices in these two Abant hotels are quite dependent on the season and the days of the weeks you are staying. Expect to pay double the weekday price during weekends. And book online where you usually find better prices than directly booking with the hotel. You can check the room prices in these hotels here: Buyuk abant Hotel and Abant Palace.
To enjoy Lake Abant, you do not need to stay right next to the lake. The 21 km road going to the lake from main Istanbul-Ankara motorway has many hotels and motels catering to all budgets. Actually, you can even go to Abant without staying there. There are many daily Abant tours from Istanbul.
If you have visited Abant before in winter/summer, try to visit it in summer/winter because it is quite a different experience in all four seasons. It is best to visit Abant during winter and it is probably one of the most romantic places in Turkey to visit.
Lake Abant Natural Park in winter. Every season offers different and fantastic natural beauty but it is still best to visit Abant in winter.
How to get to Lake Abant?
If you have your own transportation you can easyly access Lake Abant by car through a 21 km road leaving from the İstanbul-Ankara motorway O-4 E80 or the highway D.100 at the level of Mount Bolu. Lake Abant is three hours’ drive from Istanbul and Ankara.
Istanbul is a huge city and it is quite expensive to go everywhere by taxi. Using buses and rail systems like Istanbul Metro is a cheaper and sometimes the most convenient way to go around in Istanbul given the heavy traffic of the rush hours.
Istanbul Municipality has devised a common payment system for all kinds of transportation, including sea buses, ferries, trams, metro, metro bus, public buses and even nostalgic trams in Istiklal Street of Taksim. This key-size button, named Akbil, can be bought and reused by loading credit inside. Now it is not possible to buy a ticket inside a public bus as you could do in many tourist cities in Europe.
AKBIL is now phased out into a proximity card Istanbulkart, which is being used for many years in Istanbul, and that’s the cheapest way to use all kinds of public transportation. Istanbulkart does not only have a regular price, but also you’ll have the opportunity to have a reduced price on transfers in 2 hours starting from your first trip. Akbil, even it’s still valid, now not sold anymore (but if you have one, you can still load it) and turned into a recent technology, a credit-card like RFID proximity card, Istanbulkart.
You can buy Istanbulkart for 6 Turkish Liras from large stations and airports and load credit on it. The card itself is non-refundable but if you have some credits inside and you want that money back, you can withdraw it from large stations as well.
Istanbulkart
You can reload your card by using automatic vending machines all around Istanbul, ticket offices and kiosks with the sign “Akbil Dolum” or “Istanbulkart Dolum”. It’s better to reload before you have inadequate credit, since it’s not possible to load inside the public buses so you would have to get off the bus to load it.
It’s possible to use an anonymous card for multiple people. That saves money for having the card, but you’ll miss the opportunity to have the reduced price on transfers, which is not little: The first usage in many lines is 1,95 TL at the date of this article, and the first transfer in 2 hours is 1,25, the second one is 1,00, the third one and so on is 0,75 TL. Suppose that you’ll use transfers for a few time you’ll stay longer than a few days, it should be considered to buy a card for everyone.
f you bought one already, you can keep it for long time, 2 years without loading any credit. So, you should better keep your card for your next trip to Istanbul.
Here are some interesting facts about Turkey, the country:
Why Turkey (country) is called Turkey (bird)? Actually, opposite is true. The bird Turkey takes its name from the country named Turkey. Turkey (bird) is native to Americas and when Europeans first encountered them, they incorrectly identified these birds as a type of guineafowl (Numididae). At that time guineafowl were also known as turkey fowl (or turkey hen and turkey cock) because they were imported to Central Europe through Turkey. The name turkey fowl, shortened to just the name of the country, stuck as the name of the North American bird.
The largest and best-preserved Neolithic site found to date is in Turkey. The place is named Çatalhöyük and is in southern Anatolia. The settlement existed from approximately 7500 BCE to 5700 BCE! 9,000 years ago, at a time when most of the world’s population were wandering hunter-gatherers, Catalhoyuk was one of the world’s largest settlements with a population of 10,000. The settlement is composed of domestic buildings an was home to 10,000 people at some time before being abandoned before Bronze age. Many in Turkey think this place is the oldest settlement ever found but this record probably goes to Jericho (Israel) where earliest settlements goes to 11,000 years back!
Troy, the legendary city best known for being the setting of the Trojan War described in the Greek Epic Cycle and especially in the Iliad, is in Turkey. It is located in located in northwest Anatolia, southeast of the Dardanelles and beside Mount Ida. So basically, the famous Trojan Wars took place in Western Turkey. There is an urban legends circulated in Turkey which hints Turks relate themselves to the people of Troy: According to the Turkish writer Sabahattin Eyüboglu’s book “Mavi ve Kara” (Blue and Black), Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, told an officer besides him “We’ve got revenge of Troy at Dumlupinar”. Dumlupinar was a war between Turkish army and Greek army which was invading Anatolia after WWI.
Santa Claus was born in the town of Patara on the South West coast of Turkey between the years of 260 and 280AD. Technically, the republic of Turkey was not formed until 1923 so if you want to split hairs, Patara at that time was under Lycian rule. 2 – The true name of Santa Claus was Nicholas and in adult life, he became the bishop of Myra which was a town further up the coast from Patara. It is now called Demre.
Another interesting thing is that, the trojan horse built for the famous 2004 movie Troy is currently in Canakkale city in western Turkey near Ancient Troy.
Istanbul, the largest and the most famous city in Turkey, is the only city in the world built on two continents. The city lies both on Europe and Asia and two sides are connected by 2 large bridges (and a 3rd one is under construction).
No, Istanbul is not the capital of Turkey. Istanbul was the capital of the Ottoman Empire and still the cultural, economical and social capital of Turkey but it lost its title as political capital to Ankara when Turkey was founded.
According to IMF, Turkey has the 18th largest economy in the world in terms of nominal GDP.
You will see a lot of "things to do in Istanbul" or "top 10 things to do in Istanbul" kind of lists everywhere. Here we are giving a counter list. It is easier to write a to-do list for Istanbul for travelers, but every city has its own culture and rhythm that some disappointments may happen while visiting the city. As a resident of Istanbul, it is my duty to warn people in advance, before they come to avoid do these things which anyone can easily do..
1) Do not take Metrobus at rush hour
Metropolitan Istanbul is a huge area and millions of people travel inside the city each morning and leave it in the evening to arrive their work or home. Tens of thousands take the metro-bus, a speed bus service which has it’s own lane on the motorway. It is a great option to pass through Bosphorus and commute from Asian side to European side or opposite, since it can effectively bypass the heavy bridge traffic. It’s way too far being kind at rush hour since you just leave yourself into the human stream and find yourself inside the bus. It’s mostly difficult, sometimes impossible to get off the bus when you get to your station.
Believe me, it is not a nice and comfortable experience. Just look at the photo below, you will see why.
Metro-bus and the rush hour crowd. Source - Istanbullies
2) Don’t expect drivers to stop for pedestrians
Istanbul is suprisingly safe for its size and chaos but the most dangerous aspect of it is still there to watch out : the traffic. Drivers in Istanbul, like the others in Turkey, would not stop because you’re about to cross the road. Stripes are useless, drivers are unfortunately ignorant about this. I hope this will change in near future (cross your fingers!). Even if it is green for you, check twice if there is a car still coming.
Are you thinking to use a bike in Istanbul? Just another not-to-do in Istanbul! (I do it regularly but if you don’t have time to get used to, just don’t do it)
3) Don’t buy souvenirs without bargain
What you've heard is true, Turkish people are so friendly and most of the time, they offer everything they have; except professional relations. I mean, if you’re in a shop, the owner will probably overcharge you because you’re a tourist. The same person, with the same reason, will help you to the end if you need help on the street. (Well, like you do in your hometown, be aware of forgery and bad behavior!)
First advice: Don’t buy souvenirs from the main tourist areas! But if you have to, do bargain! I’ll write another entry about how to bargain with Turkish people, but for a brief explanation, I can surely say that the price of many things is twice of the real price.
4) Don’t wear one layer clothe on season change periods
Weather of Istanbul is super unpredictable. This is especially true in spring and autumn, it can change from 10 degrees to 28 degrees during the day, it may rain, shine after and then a wind storm may begin. Worse, it may snow in Sultanahmed while it is quite shiny and warm in the Northern parts of Bosphorus (at the same time!)
It’s best to wear a t-shirt, then a sweatshirt, then a thin jacket and if you’re going to stay out at late night, it’s better to have a coat with you. Of course you can check weather forecast but you’ll thank me after you experience a day out in April.
5) Do not wear the colors of big football clubs
Istanbul is home to the biggest football clubs in Turkey and a minority but significant number of their supporters are hooligans and can be dangerous for people dressing the colors of other clubs. Since it is common for a hooligan mind to attack first and judge later, they may just attack you because of the colors you wear look like rival club's colors, long before realizing that you are just a tourist.
6) Do not fall into tourist scams.
When it comes to tourist scams, Istanbul can easily play to top 10 in the world. Some common scams are Blue Mosque scam "guides", taxi scams, overpricing, bar/club scams, accounts of bar/club scams, Lira/Euro scams and shoe brush scams. Here in Wikitravel Istanbul Travel Guide page, you can find an updated list of these scams as well as some establishments to stay away.
7) Don’t think that Istanbul is just Sultanahmet and Taksim
Even though old town of Istanbul is amazingly beautiful and Taksim area is full of fun, there are many districts of the city which has lots of attractions to see. Never skip Asian side, which has a more authentic lifestyle and a cool youth. Uskudar will offer you a historical atmosphere with a nice Bosphorus coast. If you want to experience a boat trip and a nature walk, don’t miss out Prince Islands.
8) Disrespect to Turkish Flag
Well, you probably know that disrespecting a countries flag in that country is quite a stupid idea, but in Turkey some "normal" behaviour for you can still be considered as disrespect such as wearing a flag as a part of your clothing.
9) Do not bother with Taxis
You will ofcourse need taxis a few times but try to minimize this. Other than overcharging problem and various scams, with the heavy traffic in Istanbul, this is a slow way of transportation. If you plan your commutes outside rush hour and use rail system (which now even connects Asia and European side) as well as buses and boats, you will probably go around faster.
10) Don't pay everything with 50 TL
Many Turkish shop owners and taxi drivers will love to keep extra change as "tip", if you pay them 50 TL for something worth 10 TL or a little more. Keep 10 TL, 5 TL and 20 TL notes in your pocket and pay with them, whenever possible (especially in the taxis).
Many tourists think and directed to Istanbul’s old city (Sultanahmet) and its historic bazaars like Grand Bazaar for shopping in Istanbul. These places are great (mostly in price sometimes in quality) to buy some classic souvenirs to bring from Turkey but Istanbul offers much more to international visitors in terms of modern shopping experience. If you are looking for branded international and Turkish products and air conditioned shopping malls, you need to head to what we can call Istanbul shopping center belt, a chain of modern shopping malls located on the Istanbul Metro Line from Taksim to ITU Ayazaga.
City’s Nisantasi, Istanbul Nisantasi, Turkey’s most expensive shopping street in terms of lease prices, itself can be thought as a large open air shopping mall with the stores of world famous brands, popular cafés, pubs, restaurants and night clubs. Walking distance away from Osmanbey Station of Istanbul Metro, City’s Nisantasi offers brands like Versace Jeans, Jean’s Paul Gauitier, Class Roberto Cavalli, Trussardi, Baldinini, Cerutti, Pal Zileri, Pura Lopez, Point Zero and Cache Cache.
Istanbul Cevahir Shopping Mall
Completed in 2005, Istanbul Cevahir Shopping Center is the largest shopping mall in Europe and the 6th largest shopping mall in the world. Highly famous among Middle Eastern tourists (the shopping mall is quite heavily marketed there and it has already built a strong word of mouth reputation), it offers many attractions and shopping opportunities to all international tourists. The mall has its own Tax Free Services where you can claim your VAT refund immediately after shopping.
You can reach Cevahir Shopping Mall very easily from the Şişli Station of the Istanbul Metro (there is a direct link from the station to the mall) and find many brands like Adidas, Bata, Benetton, BSB, Converse, Debenhams, Divarese, Dockers, Dorothy Perkins, Esprit, Evans, Fornarina, Gloria Jean’s, Guess World, Jack&Jones, Kappa, La Senza, Levi’s, Lotto, Massimo Dutti, Miss Selfridge, Mothercare, Nine West, Peacocks, Reebok, River Island, Topshop, Top Man, Vero Moda, and Zara. Other than food outlets like Burger King, Mc Donalds, KFC, Pizza Hut and many local chains, the mall has a large stage for shows and other events, 12 cinemas, a private theatre, a cinema for children, a bowling hall; a small roller coaster; and a small amusement park with several other entertainment facilities.
Istanbul Cevahir Shopping Mall
Kanyon Shopping Mall
Kanyon (meaning canyon in Turkish) is a unique multi-purpose complex in Istanbul’s upscale neighborhood and business district Levent which is constructed as a dramatic architectural “canyon”. In summer, the shopping mall is open air and you can find many shops offering
Kanyon Shopping Mall is more upscale compared to more famous Cevahir Shopping Mall and can easily be reached from Levent Station of the Istanbul Metro (there is a direct link from the station to the mall). Mothercare, Natalys, TeknoSa, Sony, Apple, Mandarina Duck, Accesorize, Paşabahçe, Harvey Nichols, Vakko, Bally, Network, Tiffany&Co, Georg Jensen, Machka, Max Mara are some of the 160 stores you can find in this shopping mall. There is also a cinema and several dining options popular with both locals and foreigners. The mall is infact a multi-purpose complex and has a 30-floor office tower and a 22-floor residential block with 179 residential apartments.
Since the location is perfect to access metro and two of Istanbul’s most upscale shopping malls, you may want to stay here. There is a luxury hotel right on the other side of the road, The Edition Istanbul.
Metrocity Shopping Mall
Opened in 2003, MetroCity in 1.Levent is another upscale shopping mall in an upscale neighbourhood of Levent. The mall has direct underground connection from Levent Metro Station and other than shopping mall section, the compound has 27 floor office building and two 31 storey residence buildings.
Metrocity Shopping Mall has 140 international and Turkish brands, a very large restaurant and cafe level and an MMM Migros supermarket.
Istinye Park
The northern-most of the shopping malls of the Istanbul’s shopping belt is another upscale shopping center (more upscale than Kanyon) called Istinye Park. This Istanbul shopping mall is unique with its enclosed and open air sections where the open air section offers street side shopping. The park offers a cinema with IMAX 3D screen, Hillside Sports and Leisure Club and Funtime, the kids’ entertainment center is around 1,500 sqm as well as many famous international and Turkish brands like Armani, Benetton, Beymen, Boyner, Calvin Klein, DKNY, Dolce & Gabbana, Enzo Angiolini, Ermenegildo Zegna, GAP, Louis Vuitton, Levi’s, Lee Cooper, LC Waikiki, Marks & Spencer, Nike, Pierre Cardin and Ralph Lauren.
Both business and leisure travelers are looking for more ways to save their money on upcoming travel to Barcelona and one of the best way to do that is to stay in a budget hotel in Barcelona to cut cost on expensive hotel room prices. As a budget conscious travel blog, we are happy to released a list of 10 Barcelona budget hotels with below EUR 100 per night room rates. These Barcelona budget hotels have also collected the best customer reviews and many are located near the city center and/or within walking proximity to metro stations and with their affordable room rates are a boon to both business and leisure travelers.
Although Barcelona hotels are known to be expensive, travelers can take relief that there are still cheap hotels to be found in Barcelona.
#1 – Casa Gracia Barcelona Hostel
Passeig de Gracia, 116, Gràcia, 08008 Barcelona
Just metres from Avinguda Diagonal and within 300 metres of Diagonal Metro Station, Casa Gràcia is a modern hostel at the top of Barcelona’s Passeig de Gràcia, 300 metres from Gaudí’s La Pedrera. The location and friendly atmosphere is complemented by the beautiful building and spacious rooms. Nightly rates in Casa Gracia Barcelona Hostel start from 44 Euros per night.
#2 - U232 Hotel
Comte d’Urgell, 232, L’Eixample, 08036 Barcelona
Located in L’Eixample, U232 Hotel offers stylish, air-conditioned rooms with flat-screen TV and free Wi-Fi and a location just 150 meters away from Hospital Clinic Metro Station. Spacious rooms, comfortable beds and luxurious atmosphere adds up quite well. Room rates in U232 Hotel start from 68 Euros per night.
#3 - Hotel Denit Barcelona
Estruc, 24-26, Ciutat Vella, 08002 Barcelona
Located in central Gothic Quarter close to Plaza Catalunya Square and the Ramblas, Hotel Denit Barcelona has a great location which is walking distancefrom major tourist attractions. The quiet, clean and comfortable rooms, free WIFI and service offers a very acceptable price-to-value ratio. Room rates in Hotel Denit Barcelona start from 101 Euros per night.
#4 - Condado Hotel Barcelona
Aribau, 201, Sarrià-St. Gervasi, 08021 Barcelona
200 metres from Barcelona’s Diagonal Avenue, and a 10-minute walk from Diagonal Metro Station, Condado Hotel Barcelona offers a very good location in addition to lovely rooms, nice facilities and modern-helpful staff. Room rates in Condado Hotel Barcelona start from 82 Euros per night.
#5 - Aparthotel Acacia
Comte d’Urgell, 194, L’Eixample, 08036 Barcelona
Acacia Suite is located in Barcelona’s Eixample district. It is just 50 metres from Hospital Clinic Metro Station and offers a comfortable and value for money stay in Barcelona. Room rates in Aparthotel Acacia start from 87 Euros per night.
Sagrada Familia by night
#6- H10 Itaca Hotel
Avenida Roma, 22-30, L’Eixample, 08015 Barcelona
10 minutes’ walk of Sants Train Station, the AVE High-Speed Railway, Plaza España and the FIRA Exhibition Centre, H10 Itaca Hotel is slightly out of town but Metro makes everywhere accessible. H10 Itaca Hotel offers good sized room and bathroom for 99++ Euros per night.
#7 - Four Points by Sheraton Barcelona Diagonal
Diagonal, 161, Sant Martí, 08018 Barcelona
Located 350 metres from Glòries Shopping Centre, in the modern 22th district of Barcelona, Four Points by Sheraton Barcelona Diagonal has easy access to city center thanks to public transportation (ten minutes walking to Glories Metro station) and 20 minutes walking distance away from Sagrada Familia. Room rates in Four Points by Sheraton Barcelona Diagonal start from 77 Euros per night.
If you want to experience the local life in Barcelona instead of the tourist character of city center, these apartments located in the residential neighbourhood of Sarrià-Sant Gervasi (10 minutes from Plaça Catalunya) will work for you. The metro is near so accessing tourist attractions is not a problem. Room rates in Aparthotel Bonanova start from 70 Euros per night.
#9 - Hesperia Presidente
Avenida Diagonal, 570, Sarrià-St. Gervasi, 08021 Barcelona
10 minutes walk away from Diagonal Metro Station, Hesperia Presidente is yet another Barcelona hotel offering budget stay with a very accessible location. You can reach Gaudi’s La Pedrera and fashionable Passeig de Gracia by a short, 15 minutes walk. All in all, the hotel is just great value for money. Room rates in Hesperia Presidente start from 70 Euros per night.
#10 - Hotel Barcelona Princess
Avenida Diagonal, 1, Sant Martí, 08019 Barcelona
4-Star Hotel Barcelona Princess is 10-minute walk from the beach in the Barcelona’s Forum area. The pools, Desigual Bar on 23rd floor, an excellent Sky Gym on 3rd floor and free mini bar complements nice and clean rooms. Room rates in Hotel Barcelona Princess start from 83 Euros per night.
Ok, we know this is a list of “below 100 Euros per night” hotels but we cannot exclude this one below even if the room rates are around 120 Euros per night. So this is our bonus hotel:
#10+1 - Hostal L’ Antic Espai Barcelona
This 2 star hostel in Barcelona has a great decor and atmosphere with its old, elegant and artisan furniture. The lovely outdoor terrace with plants and birds is great for breakfast or a drink and the hotel is in the centre of Barcelona where almost everything is within walking distance. Amazing breakfast and fantastic staff are also big pluses here. Room rates in Hostal L’ Antic Espai Barcelona are 120 Euros per night.
If you want an introduction to Barcelona’s neighborhoods, take a look at our post titled Where to stay in Barcelona?
Batumi is a major tourism city in Georgia and Caucasus Region known for its beaches, casinos and colorful night life. This small seaside city’s tourism life revolves around a long street named “Bulvar” near the beach. In the morning, Bulvar is full of families and kids and in the night young couples and party animals fill the space. There are nice restaurants and bars a little inside the beach and this street, which was built in 1881, offers a very nice Black Sea seaside experience.
For most men traveling to Batumi, Batumi means night life and Batumi night life means 2 things: gambling and sex. In the Black Sea region of Turkey, from where most Turkish “tourists” hail from (since 2011 Turks can enter Batumi without passport), Batumi is known as Sin City and because most men from Turkey comes for commercial sex and gambling, they are not respected in Batumi so much.
These “tourists”, who are mostly there for “business” if you buy it, are mostly coming for casinos which are not legal in Turkey. Batumi is also known as The Las Vegas of Black Sea and Turks are not the only ones coming there to gambling. According to local sources, 70% of the tourists are coming to Batumi for gambling and half of this crowd comes from Turkey.
Some popular casinos in Batumi are Sheraton Peace Casino, Casino Iveria, Radisson Blue and Grand Palace Intourist Casino.
The second most popular “attraction” for Turkish tourists in Batumi is sex tourism. Discos and night clubs are full of sex workers and they are now becoming number one reason Turkish men travel to Batumi. The discos, night clubs and the girls are not comparable to the ones you will find in Istanbul but Istanbul is much far away to Rize and Trabzon compared to Batumi.
For these reasons, Batumi is increasingly becoming a big problem for families in Turkey. Many men lose a lot of money to casinos and sex workers there and at the end ruins their family life.
Sheraton Batumi Hotel also houses one of the most popular casinos in Batumi, Sheraton Peace Casino.
Where to stay in Batumi?
Thanks to its increasing popularity among well heeled visitors from Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and Central Asia, Batumi hotel stock is steadily increasing. The emphasis is on luxury hotels and casinos but you can also find cheap hotels in Batumi. The hotel rooms prices in Batumi hotels will also be based on the proximity of the establishment to the beach, neighbourhood as well as service standards. If you are looking for a hotel in Batumi you can take a look at Batumi Hotels page.
How to get to Batumi?
Georgian Airways operates flights to Batumi from Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kiev-Boryspil, Moscow-Domodedovo, Odessa and Tbilisi. Other than these flights, there are flights to Batumi operated by Aerosvit (from Kiev-Boryspil), Belavia (from Minsk), Turkish Airlines (from Istanbul-Atatürk) and Pegasus Airlines (from Istanbul-Sabiha Gökçen).
One of the most expensive item you purchase in your holiday is your hotel. You have many ways to save on this cost but it is not easy to find the optimum solution : staying in a place as good as possible while paying as less as possible. Even if your travel budget can land you in expensive and luxury hotels or you have already decided in which hotel you would stay, you would still want to find the cheapest of the rooms in these hotels or cheapest of the same room.
You may ask "what do you mean by cheapest of the same room". Surprisingly, the same type of rooms in the same hotels at the same dates are usually sold with different prices through different channels. The rack rate (full price at which rooms are sold to customers before discounts and usually the price at reception) are much higher than what you can find online. Don't underestimate the difference. I know a hotel in Singapore's Chinatown whose rack rate is 200 USD per night while the rooms for this budget hotel goes for 80 - 100 USD in online booking sites. But even the prices in online booking sites as well as discounted rates in some hotel's own web site are quite different.
An important factor effecting the room price is the negotiation power of the online booking site in the region. For example Agoda.com is traditionally powerful in Asia - Pacific region and they usually negotiate the best price in this region (and is also one of the best options to check first).
So if you are planning to book your hotel room online either you need to spend a considerable time to cross check prices on multiple web sites for multiple hotels or book a room and most probably pay more. Even if you do your time consuming cross - check you will probably miss out the prices on direct hotel sites (yes, occasionally these prices are better than aggregated booking sites).
The solution to this problem is simple. You can find cheap hotel rooms or the cheapest hotel rooms by using hotel meta-search engines. For example, hotelscombined. This web site is a meta-search engine which partners with all the most visited travel websites to build the world's largest hotel price comparison search engine.
Sample hotels combined search result.
HotelsCombined.com is not an online travel or hotel reservation web site. It searches the travel websites such as booking.com, hotels.com, agoda.com, in real-time to show travelers availability and the optimal hotel deal. You can then click directly through to partner websites to book. Its web site is served in 39 languages and 120 different currencies.
One of the most important feature of the web site is that it also aggregates data from hotel's own web site (for some hotels only). The direct web sites are usually overlooked by travelers in the expense of travel sites but they sometimes offer the best deal with significant discount.
Sample search result for Crown Plaza Singapore Changi Airport hotel. Note that the hotelscombined has also searched the direct hotel deals from hotel's web site.
The capital and the largest city of France, Paris, is a cosmopolitan metropol with 12 million souls living in it. Located on both sides of Seine River is not only one of the largest cities in France, but it is also one of the most beautiful and romantic one. Known also as The City of Lights (La Ville Lumière) and The Capital of Fashion, Paris is the motherland for many luxury brands such as Chanel, Dior, Yves Saint-Laurent, Guerlain, Lancôme, L’Oréal, Clarins, etc.
Historic center of Paris is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and houses almost all the iconic tourist attractions in Paris such as Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame Catedral, Louvre Museum, Moulin Rouge, Lido etc. All these makes Paris the most popular tourist destination in the world with 45 million tourists visiting it every year.
Where to stay in Paris? The answer to this question depends on your budget and the reason you are visiting the city. If you are in Paris as a typical tourist the best place to stay is the historic center of the city. If you are in Paris for Disneyland Paris, then you should stay in and near this amusement park. And for the budget: although Paris is an expensive place to stay, you can find a wide range of accomodation ranging from B&Bs and hostels to luxury boutique hotels or hotel chains.
Historic center of Paris is divided into 20 districts (arrondissement) which can be seen in the below Paris map. If you look at the map carefully, you will see that the twenty arrondissements are arranged in the form of a clockwise spiral, starting from the middle of the city, with the first on the Right Bank (north bank) of the Seine which divides the city into two. The city started on Île de la Cité, the island that houses Notre Dame De Paris in Arrondissement 4 (Hôtel-de-Ville). But the geographical center of the historic city center is Arrondissement 1 (Louvre) where you can find The Musée du Louvre, the Jardin des Tuileries, Place Vendôme, Les Halles, Palais Royal, Comédie-Française, and Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel. Arrondissement one is a great starting point for travellers.
Historic center of Paris is divided into 20 districts (arrondissements) Source : www.parishotels-discount.com
Each arrondissement of Paris have their own distinctive culture and lifestyle. Usually, the Left Bank (South) of Seine and Latin Quarter is known to be the area of/for artists, intellectuals and students and Left Bank (North) of Seine is known as the place of business and wealthy people.
Here, we will give some information on the popular areas to stay in Paris so you can choose the best area to stay in Paris suiting your own requirements.
Paris Latin quarter – Saint Germain des Prés (Arrondissements 5,6,7,13 )
The banks of Seine river from Eiffel Tower (Arrondissement 7 - Palais-Bourbon) to the end of Arrondissement 13 (Gobelins), especially the area surrounding the Latin Quarter (Arrondissement 5 and 6) is known for for its student life, lively atmosphere and bistros. The Latin Quarter area is named after Latin Language because Sorbonne University is here and in middle ages Latin was spoken in the university world.
With its narrow streets, cafes, restaurants and shopping options catering to young people, this area is closed to many Paris attractions and you can walk (or take public transport like Metro) from here to every central district in Paris.
If you would like to stay in this lively area of Paris, you can check the list of hotels, room prices and special deals and discounts at Paris Latin Quarter Hotels page.
La Sorbonne
Paris Montmartre – Sacre Coeur (Arrondissements 18,19,20)
If you are looking for a romantic place to stay in Paris, do not look somewhere other than Montmartre. Named after the 130 meter high Montmartre Hill, the area’s most famous building is Basilica of the Sacré Cœur (see the photo below). Although we have said it is romantic here, Montmartre is also known as the night club area of Paris and those looking for naughty night life will find it here.
Montmartre has a fantastic view of Paris. France’s National Day Fireworks (14th July) is best watched from here. Although in the historic center, you will encounter wine yards and wine houses here.
Montmartre and its surrounding area was popular among painters such as Renoir Toulouse, Lautrec and Picass. Today you can see many painters in Tertre Square (and most of them are just there to earn your tourist money).
Montmartre is not near the main tourist attractions in Paris. So, why do we suggest here? This is because first of all with the fantastic public transportation in Paris, the distance is not a big deal, especially if the area saves you a lot of money. Montmartre houses many relatively cheap Paris hotels and is the most hotel concentrated place in Paris. This makes it an ideal place to find something for all budgets and tastes.
Montmartre is the best place to stay cheap in Paris. If you would like to stay in Montmartre , you can check the list of hotels, room prices and special deals and discounts at Paris Montmartre Hotels page.
Paris Montmartre
Le Marais – Le louvre (Arrondissements 1,2,3,4)
If you are in Paris for shopping or smell the new trends in the Fashion Capital, Le Marais and surrounding area is for you to stay. Here you will find 16th century historic buildings face to face with steel and glass facade of Pompidou Museum. The area is known as the aristocratic district of Paris and hosts many outstanding buildings of historic and architectural importance. The Marais is known as one of the main centers in Paris for art galleries and it is home to many trendy restaurants, fashion houses, and hype galleries.
Do not get scared with this “aristocratic ” word because you can still find something for your budget here. Even if you do not stay here, spend time to visit this area. Le Marais is a very central location and you can walk to many tourist attractions from here.
If you want to take a look at your hotel options in Paris Le Marais, take a look at our hotel list here : Paris Le Marais Hotels.
The Louvre or Louvre Museum, one of the largest museums in the world, requires no introduction. The areas around Louvre, Arrondissement 1 is geographically the center of Paris and is the best area to stay in Paris if you are planning to discover Paris on foot (the best option) or spend a lot of time in Louvre Museum (it may take several days if you want to see everything displayed here).
Many tourist attractions like Arc de Triumph, historic buildings, super expensive Champs Elysees Avenue is here in Champs Elysees. Avenue houses many big luxury brand names and their main stores: Cartier, Lancel, Hugo Boss and Louis Vuitton (1800 metersquare giant shop). A definite heaven for shopping wifes and a hell for paying husbands. Still a must see for all visitors to Paris.
Champs Elysees and Trocadero are the most expensive but exclusive places to stay in Paris. To check how high the prices can go and how luxurious and comfortable the hotels are check Paris 08: Champs Elysees Hotels page.
Avenue des Champs Elysees from Arc de Triumph
Disneyland Paris
Many tourists visit Paris just for Paris Disneyland. This magical land is 32 kilometers south, in Marne-la-Vallée’de and if your main reason to visit Paris is to go to Paris Disneyland (previously known as Euro Disneyland or Disneyland Resort Paris), you should stay in and around the amusement park.
The Disneyland Hotel at the main entrance of Disneyland Paris is the most expensive but the most convenient hotel to stay here. It is walking distance to the park. The Newport Bay Hotel with its big balconies and large swimming pool is one of the best hotels to stay in Disneyland Paris especially during hot summer days.
Disney’s Hotel Cheyenne with its wild west theme is a little off the amusement park and requires shuttle bus to arrive to the park. But it is a budget hotel with a very basic setting but very good food. Disney’s Hotel Santa Fe is probably the cheapest hotel you can find around Disneyland Paris.
Rome, the capital and the largest city of Italy, is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Europe offering fantastic Italian food, 2,800 years old history, great art collection and a very good modern tourist necessities such as a colorful night life, shopping and entertainment.
The answer to the question-title where to stay in Rome is quite straightforward. In Rome, you should stay in the historic city center or centro storico. Although there are several different centers of Roman Empire, Ressienance and 19th century, Rome’s historic center is not a very large area. The historic center, the area with almost all the tourist attractions, only covers 4% of modern city of Rome.
But again although it is not a very large area, it is a very very large open air museum and you will need to spend at least 2 days and better 3 days to enjoy a bit of every major delights the city offers. Staying in the center will save you time you would spend to reach there from outside and note that the traffic in Rome is not very good.
Rome is divided into administrative districts known as Rioni of Rome. Rione I (District 1) is Monti, part of Roman Empire time historic center of Rome. In this post, we will look at the answer to where to stay in Rome questions from the perspective of Rioni’s.
Source : Wikitravel
Rome Modern Center
Rome’s night life and shopping experienced in centered in modern center. Rome’s most famous and expensive street Via Venetto (official name is via Vittorio Veneto ) is here as well as the current official residence of the President of the Italian Republic, historic Quirinal Palace is here. If you go to Rome this area is probably where you will stay.
Modern center is the area to the east of Termini station. Castro Pretorio district next to Termini offers many smaller hotels. Via Cavour and via Nazionale host the larger hotels full of group travelers. And for those with deep pockets, Via Venetto offers some of the most expensive hotels in Rome.
Trevi Fountain in Rome
Old Rome
The most attractive part of Rome is the old Rome, the center of Rome in the Italian Renaissance era. Beautiful squares (piazze) and more beautiful streets and back alleys are full of pretty cafes, restaurants and lots of historic structures. Old Rome is the area around piazza Navona, Campo de’ Fiori, the Pantheon and the Ghetto.
Fountain of Neptune at the centre of piazza Navona
Colosseo
When the city in question is Rome, there is older center than the old center : Colosseo. This is the center of Rome in the antiquity during mighty Roman Empire. Coloseeum, Roman Forum, Capitoline museums as well as the Imperial Fora, the Markets of Trajan, the Capitoline hill and lots of museums.
Here there are some nice hotels. Hotel Forum with 300++ EUR per night is the super expensive option with a fantastic roof garden restaurant with super view. On the other hand of price spectrum Nicolas Inn (85 EUR) offers large bathrooms and a very nice dinner other than a comfortable stay.
Vatikan City
Independent city state Vatikan and the Roman areas around it like Borgo, Prati and Monte Mario probably house more historic artifacts than any place on the planet. Vatikan is a must see of course but if you are not high in Catholic spiritual ranking you will not stay in Vatikan. Still, there are many hotels to stay near Vatikan in Italian soil. For hotels near Vatikan you can refer here.
Vatikan City
Trastevere
On the opposite shores of Tiber River w.r.t Old Rome and south of Vatikan lies Trastevere, a center for Rome night life. Trastevere is full of pubs, night clubs and restaurants and houses the most of expat population living in Rome. For hotels here refer to Trastevere hotels.
With its history, culture, delicious Spanish food as well as colorful night life, Spain’s capital and largest city Madrid is one of the most interesting places to see in Spain. It offers a very comprehensive metro network (second largest after London’s) so the public transportation and accommodation is not a big problem.
In this article we will try to answer where to stay in Madrid question. Instead of giving individual Madrid hotel recommendations, we will introduce popular places for accommodation.
Madrid’s central district is known as Centro. La Latina neighbourhood here is the oldest area in Madrid, the Islamic citadel inside the city walls, with narrow streets and large squares. But the most popular central area is called Puerta del Sol (Gate of the Sun). The origin of the name is interesting. Puerta del Sol was one of the gates in the city wall that surrounded Madrid in the 15th century. The gate was in the east and sun rised from here so the place got its name. Today, this place is the heart of Madrid and is the centre of the radial network of Spanish roads. Plaza Mayor and Plaza de Santa Ana (Plaza means city square) are very near.
Puerta del Sol is also the heart of Madrid’s night life. To the north of Puerta del Sol you will find GrandVia, luxury shopping street of Madrid. Grand Via is known as “Broadway of Spain” and houses one of the most colorful night life scene in Europe. Grand Via is home to many hotels, restaurants, bars, pubs and night clubs.
Madrid Grand Via houses one of the most colorful nightlife scenes in Europe.
Plaza de Espana and Opera
To the west of Sol is a historic area named Opera. Elegant Plaza Isabel II and Madrid’s large opera house Teatro Real is here. Royal Plaza and Plaza de Oriente are littered with sculptures and are a short walking distance away. Madrid’s center is not very large and hotels in this area are quite near to historic attractions like Plaza Mayor.
At the west and of Grand Via, you can find Plaza de Espana. Here is an important tourist destination and two highest buildings in Madrid, Torre de Madrid and Edificio de España are here.
Madrid’s Plaza de España. Behind Cervantes monument with bronze sculptures of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza.
Retiro and Prado
To the east of Madrid’s center from Calle de Alcala, Madrid’s Art Triangle and the large boulevards around it starts. Famous Madrid museums Museo del Prado and Centro de Arte Reina Sofia are here. To the north, you will find Paseo de Racoletos and its countless cafes. The Buen Retiro Park behind Prado museum belonged to the Spanish Monarchy until the late 19th century but is now a large public park with beautiful sculpture and monuments, galleries, a peaceful lake and host to a variety of events. Retiro Park is one of Madrid’s premier attractions.
