Cheapest Country in Europe?

baz15

I am thinking of going somewhere in europe for a weekend with ryanairs new cheap flights mostly for shopping (clothes etc) and to see the sites and I was wondering what place do people recommend?
My only requirment is that the place is cheap.
Any help would be much appreciated.
Also how cheap is poland at the moment in comparison to Ireland as Gdansk is one og the cities I am thinking of going to.

silverside

portugal and spain are both pretty cheap for food/drink away from the tourist streets - Madrid and Lisbon are both interesting places, though neither would be my first choice for shopping -

Prague is cheap (again away from the tourist areas) but i thought the main strip was very commercialised, like O'Connell St used to be, and i didnt like it.

Eastern Europe may be a bit grim this time of year...

flipovic

ireland in a years time. its gonna be cold this time of year, I'd pick a southern europe destination if i was booking flights.

luckylucky

silverside wrote: »

portugal and spain are both pretty cheap for food/drink away from the tourist streets - Madrid and Lisbon are both interesting places, though neither would be my first choice for shopping

Well I can vouch for Lisbon being an interesting city also - and Portugal is very cheap to eat out away from the tourist spots. I also wouldn't say Lisbon is a great city in terms of shopping. Anyway Ryanair(Aer lingus do) don't fly from Ireland to Lisbon last time I looked, think they only fly to Porto which would be a cheap enough city to stay in I think, though it's rundown from what I hear.

BraziliaNZ

Lisbon was really interesting and not too touristy, all those little windy streets can be scary and fun at night. I went to Lisbon and Ericeira, ridiculously cheap, a euro for a beer etc, cocktails for 3 or 4 euro.

Benedict XVI

baz15 wrote: »

I am thinking of going somewhere in europe for a weekend with ryanairs new cheap flights mostly for shopping (clothes etc) and to see the sites and I was wondering what place do people recommend?
My only requirment is that the place is cheap.
Any help would be much appreciated.
Also how cheap is poland at the moment in comparison to Ireland as Gdansk is one og the cities I am thinking of going to.

Kosovo and Albania are fairly cheap, not sure what the shopping is like though

spurious

baz15 wrote: »

Also how cheap is poland at the moment in comparison to Ireland as Gdansk is one og the cities I am thinking of going to.

Poland for anything that is imported is slightly cheaper than Ireland, but you won't save a fortune. Anything made there works out very good value.

Gdansk is a lovely choice - even better in summer though. Chilly enough there at the moment.

KTRIC

spurious wrote: »

Anything made there works out very good value.

Like PC's :rolleyes:

too early ??

Ponster

luckylucky wrote: »

though it's rundown from what I hear.

That's kinda the whole point of Porto actually
The 'run down' center of town is an UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Interesting city and perfect for a 'get away from it all' holiday. You can spot families washing clothes together outside like Ireland in the 1950's yet have a mini-TGV train linking Lisbon and Porto bigger/faster than anything we have in Ireland.

baz15

What would Germany be like this time of year?
Would it be expensive?

WooPeeA

baz15 wrote: »

What would Germany be like this time of year?
Would it be expensive?

Similar climate to Poland. Cold now, snow in most of the places..

Germany is much cheaper than Ireland, I paid €1,50 for pint beside Berlin and less then 1 euro in the store.

Poland can be even cheaper, and imo nicer..

Hot Dog

Berlin is a very cheap place, and they all speak English - could be an option!

KTRIC

WooPeeA wrote: »

Similar climate to Poland. Cold now, snow in most of the places..

Germany is much cheaper than Ireland, I paid €1,50 for pint beside Berlin and less then 1 euro in the store.

Poland can be even cheaper, and imo nicer..

Really depends on the region. I'm living in Munich, even though its the most expensive city in Germany its still no where close to Dublin.

baz15

Ok Ive pretty much decided on Frankfurt-Hahn as Ive been there before and I liked it.
However I was thinking of staying in Frankfurt itself for a few nights so does anyone know any good hotels in Frankfurt City preferably near the train station?

RATM

baz15 wrote: »

Ok Ive pretty much decided on Frankfurt-Hahn as Ive been there before and I liked it.
However I was thinking of staying in Frankfurt itself for a few nights so does anyone know any good hotels in Frankfurt City preferably near the train station?

Frankfurt is a pretty soulless place IMHO. Why not try Berlin, its got some excellent shopping, is cheap and the locals are dead friendly. Nightlife there is awesome as are the sights.

baz15

Know any good hotels in Berlin so?

sadhbhc15

I really enjoyed Frankfurt! Stayed in a hostel though so don't know about hotels. I was there in June, lovely buzz around. Nice, clean city with good shopping and a great public transport system.

jester77

baz15 wrote: »

Ok Ive pretty much decided on Frankfurt-Hahn as Ive been there before and I liked it.
However I was thinking of staying in Frankfurt itself for a few nights so does anyone know any good hotels in Frankfurt City preferably near the train station?

You don't want to stay around the train station, that's the worse part of the city. Head down to Heidelberg or over to Mainz or Weisbaden. Much nicer area's.

Soladx

Romania is one of the cheapest countries in Europe.
Sibiu is full of history and heritage (European capital of the culture in 2007). Sighisoara as well. Vama Veche on the coast is a vibrant summer place for students.
Some examples:
http://images.google.ie/images?q=sighisoara&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi
Have fun,
Solange

bills

krakow in poland is a really nice city & cheap but beware very cold at this time of year, about -10 so you need to wrap up warm.