Affordable Europe: London

A good rule of thumb is "if it costs a dollar in New York, it costs a pound in London" (though, of course, there are nearly two dollars in a pound). In fact, perhaps the best advice of all is: Don't do the math while spending pounds; it will only make you queasy. Nonetheless, you can still ferret out a few bargains.

Where to Eat Cheaply

The S&M Cafe. No, really. This homegrown minichain serves up mix and match plates of sausages and mashed potatoes (hence the name), classic English breakfasts and low-priced wines. There are several locations in London, including 4-6 Essex Road in Islington, 48 Brushfield Street in Shoreditch and 268 Portobello Road in Notting Hill. A meal for two with a glass of wine each is about £20 (roughly $35 at $1.78 to the pound).

For upscale dining, as in New York, one way to take the edge off of London's prices is to aim for a leisurely lunch rather than an evening meal. Marcus Wareing's Petrus in the Berkeley Hotel (Wilton Place, Knightsbridge, 44-20-7235-1200), with a Michelin star, can cost £80 per person at dinnertime, but the restaurant does a £30-a-person lunch that includes a choice of three appetizers, entrees and desserts.

Lodging for Under 100 Euros

Pay 100 euros, or about £69 a night for a double room in some spots in London, and you run the risk of being infested with bedbugs, beer-chugging students or both, so do very careful research in this range. A clean, well-situated spot is the Kensington Close, on Wrights Lane, 44-870-751-7770, near the shopping mecca of Kensington High Street. Booking it through www.londontown.com gets you a rate of about £60 a night for a double room in April.

Best Deal on a Cultural Event

An extension of the largess above, London's giant museums sometimes hold evenings that combine music, dance and temporary art exhibits, which are free to enter (they even serve cheap drinks!). The V and A's "Friday Late" and the Tate Britain's "Late at Tate Britain" present dance and live music through the spring.

Best Things to Do Free

Thanks to the British government's largess, entry to nearly all the largest, most famous museums in Britain is free (though you may need to pay extra for special exhibits). They're often housed in wonderful buildings with forgotten-feeling corners — like the Natural History Museum, which includes a dusty stuffed bird collection with a very Victorian feel. Entrance to the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Tate Modern and Tate Britain, the British Museum, the Museum of London, the National Maritime Museum and a wealth of others is free. See www.24hourmuseum.org.uk, a government-financed site, for details on some lesser-known museums.

Best Money-Saving Tip

Buy an Oyster card, London Transport's answer to the MetroCard. You pay £3 for the card itself before loading it with money, but every trip you take on a Tube or bus is about half price — it shears £1.50 off a Tube trip in central London, for example, so it pays for itself after two trips.

(πηγή: www.iht.com, 23/4/2007)