Where the Bargains Keep Rolling Along
Joshua Kurlantzick, The New York Times, 5/27/2008 (excerpted)
Looking for a bargain in Europe this summer? Forget hotels, restaurants and most forms of entertainment — the costs of which are rising into the stratosphere with the dollar near its lows against the euro and still weak versus the pound.
But there still remains one pretty good deal in most European cities: the relatively cheap, comprehensive public transit systems.
LONDON
The fiercely expensive British capital, where a short taxi ride could easily cost the equivalent of $50, offers the far-reaching Underground as an inexpensive and efficient alternative. Despite Londoners' grumbles about delays, the Tube generally keeps to its schedule and covers a wide swath of this sprawling city. You're rarely more than a five-minute walk from an Underground station in central London — though stations become sparser the farther out you go.
Unfortunately, in part because the lines are so deep and the system generally lacks air-conditioning, trains can be extremely hot in summer. (Five years ago, the mayor of London offered a £100,000 prize to anyone who could suggest an effective cooling strategy. Thousands of ideas produced no solutions.) Bring water and avoid peak transit hours if you can.
To save more money, buy the pay-as-you-go Oyster card, which stores value and provides discounts on each trip. Even if you are only taking one Tube trip, said Mark Smith, founder of seat61.com, a comprehensive site on trains, still buy an Oyster card for a deposit of £3.50 pounds (about $7 at $1.98 to the pound) and a £1.50 credit. Then, he suggests, return the card at the end of your trip to get back the deposit so your ride costs only £1.50. “Who says smart cards make things simpler?” Mr. Smith asked.
THE BOTTOM LINE: The Tube runs until about midnight on weeknights and around 12:30 a.m. on weekends. Single adult fares cost £4 for rides in Zones 1 through 6.
PARIS
The Métro, which opened in 1900 with a train linking Porte de Vincennes and Porte Maillot, matches London for its size, ease of use and comprehensive coverage of both the city center and outlying neighborhoods. And despite the subway attendants' reputation as somewhat surly and unhelpful, I've found most of them exceedingly friendly and well-versed in English.
THE BOTTOM LINE: Like the London Underground, the Métro offers not only one-trip passes for 1.50 euros (about $2.40 at $1.58 to the euro) but also multiride passes, which start at 5.60 euros. But Sara Bostley, a member of theVirtualTourist.com advice network who focuses on France, said to skip the various passes and buy a package of 10 Métro tickets (a carnet), which you can share among your fellow passengers if you are traveling in a group.
BARCELONA
Befitting a city that considers 10 p.m. time to start ordering appetizers, Barcelona 's metro runs late — nonstop on Saturdays, 5 a.m. to 2 a.m. on Fridays and 5 a.m. to midnight all other days. Be prepared for rush-hour type crowds in the wee morning hours.
THE BOTTOM LINE: Single metro tickets start at 1.30 euros, and a 10-trip pass, a better buy because it doesn't limit use to one or two days, starts at 7.20 euros.
BERLIN
Berlin's subway, known as the U-Bahn, dates back over a century, but it has weathered its age far better than the Tube, and many parts still look shiny, almost new. Don't rush through the U-Bahn's stations; some are architectural achievements in their own right. At the Alexanderplatz station, wander through the long pedestrian arcade under the soaring glass walls, or stroll into the Wittenbergplatz station's entrance, designed by the modernist Swedish architect Alfred Grenander. The U-Bahn runs all night on Friday and Saturday on many lines and until around 12:30 a.m. all other nights. Across the city, the U-Bahn connects with the above-ground S-Bahn urban rail system.
THE BOTTOM LINE: Adult single-ticket fares start at 2.10 euros (short-trip fares are slightly less), and a one-day pass for adults starts at 6.10 euros.
ROME
Rome's metro, known to locals as the Metropolitana, is hardly the model of efficiency. Trains often run late, and the transit system does not reach all parts of the city. (On a trip to Rome last winter, I waited for nearly half an hour for one train, sitting at a depot covered in graffiti and trash while bored Italians napped all around me.) As in London, bring plenty of water on the hot cars, and remember to validate your ticket at the station before you get on the train for the first time. The two main metro lines both start running at 5:30 a.m. daily; Line A ends at 10 p.m. daily, while Line B ends at 11:30 p.m. Sunday to Thursday and 1:30 a.m. Friday and Saturday nights.
THE BOTTOM LINE: One thing the Metropolitana has going for it is that it's cheap: single-ride tickets cost 1 euro, and a one-day pass starts at 4 euros.
