May is in full bloom and that primal scream you hear is the collective howl of relief and exuberance from secondary school and college students all over North America and Europe. Rite of passage, coming of age travel plans are underway and, indeed, already, the first backpacker hordes have been spotted, from Reykjavik to Riga. With that in mind, a little budget travel guide is in order, if not for the kids then certainly for the parents who fund their spawn’s wanderlust.

Where to Go

Paris

Notre Dame de Paris – Photo credit

It’s a tired travel journalism cliché to go against conventional wisdom, as it were, and include the City of Light in a list of Euro budget travel destinations. But it’s true. The age-old maxim of not eating at Maxim’s still applies. Grab a baguette, a wheel of cheese, some cheap but passable supermarket wine and sprawl under the Eiffel Tower. When the stupor wears off, take advantage of the French capital’s copious museum student discounts.

Budget Paris hotels

Kraków

Admittedly, Poland is less budget-friendly now than during the halcyon late ’90s and early 2000s. Still, the country’s indubitable crown jewel is a perpetual fave among the frugal set. As it should be. Most of Kraków’s UNESCO World Heritage goodness is free and by golly, double pints are comparatively dirt cheap.

Hotels in Kraków

Florence

The open secret on Florence is this: the city’s glamourous side is gratis. That’s because it’s everywhere you look. The capital of Tuscany is the embodiment of eye candy but, thankfully, you don’t have to roll like a Medici to live well here for a spell. The museums are cheap, affordable shops and markets abound, as do cups of premium gelato and wedges of ethereal focaccia. And, like the rest of bucolic Tuscany, you can stay in rustic, countryside lodgings for a song.

Cheap Florence hotels

Porto

Photo credit

Portugal’s second city has solid UNESCO cred, is eminently walkable (if a little hilly in parts) and boasts a wide range of budget options. A perfect city for students to tackle, particularly the port houses across the Douro in Vila Nova de Gaia, where the fortified wine flows freely for minimal fees. Bonus: trips to the gorgeous Douro valley won’t bankrupt you, especially if you volunteer to pick some grapes.

Porto accommodations

Tallinn

In a UK-led, Euro-wide study in 2010, Tallinn scored first as the city with the lowest-priced hotel rooms, on average. The spectacularly charming capital of Estonia packs a ton of heritage attractions and architectural wonders in a relatively tidy package. That it does so at bargain-basement prices is incredibly refreshing.

Best budget hotels in Tallinn

How to Get There

The tried-and-true trifecta of rail passes, opportune bus trips and discount airlines is consistently the way to go in continental Europe. With that being said, car sharing is often the thriftier, overlooked choice. If you can gather several mates together, you’re better off, for example, driving from town to town in France or Germany than riding the rails. For long trips – two months plus – leasing, or buying a car and selling it back, is definitely economical and a widely available option for the resourceful, savvy traveler.