Aug 21, 2007
A passing comment on the frequent claim that all of Europe has become fiendishly expensive
There are hotels in big U.S. cities charging $500 a room, and restaurants charging $100 a meal. There are even chain cafes charging $3.15 for what is, essentially, a cup of coffee (their name is Starbucks). If I were to cite those examples in a blog about travel in America, I could easily make the case that our country has become impossibly expensive.
A somewhat similar distortion appears in most articles about Europe. Without drawing a distinction between some European countries and others, numerous travel writers have indicted the entire continent as impossibly expensive.
In actual fact, there are only two regions of Europe in which the price structure has become truly oppressive: Great Britain and Scandinavia. Elsewhere (and with the possible exception of Paris), prices are generally no higher than you'd encounter in several major U.S. cities: New York, Boston, Washington, D.C., Chicago or San Francisco. Although western Europe is no longer a bargain to Americans (the low exchange value of the U.S. dollar has eliminated the "steals"), the lodgings and meal costs in Germany, most of France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Switzerland, and elsewhere on the continent are no higher than in key U.S. cities -- and are sometimes less.
Travel writer Charles Leocha (whose work I have often admired) recently produced a price list of common items on sale in a popular Spanish city (six packs of beer, a box of teabags, bus transport from the airport into town, dinner at a popular restaurant, and so on) and found that while none of these items was sold at bargain rates, none of them was any more expensive than you'd pay in a major U.S. city. I endorse his conclusion that most of Europe -- focus on that word "most" -- is still quite affordable.
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A somewhat similar distortion appears in most articles about Europe. Without drawing a distinction between some European countries and others, numerous travel writers have indicted the entire continent as impossibly expensive.
In actual fact, there are only two regions of Europe in which the price structure has become truly oppressive: Great Britain and Scandinavia. Elsewhere (and with the possible exception of Paris), prices are generally no higher than you'd encounter in several major U.S. cities: New York, Boston, Washington, D.C., Chicago or San Francisco. Although western Europe is no longer a bargain to Americans (the low exchange value of the U.S. dollar has eliminated the "steals"), the lodgings and meal costs in Germany, most of France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Switzerland, and elsewhere on the continent are no higher than in key U.S. cities -- and are sometimes less.
Travel writer Charles Leocha (whose work I have often admired) recently produced a price list of common items on sale in a popular Spanish city (six packs of beer, a box of teabags, bus transport from the airport into town, dinner at a popular restaurant, and so on) and found that while none of these items was sold at bargain rates, none of them was any more expensive than you'd pay in a major U.S. city. I endorse his conclusion that most of Europe -- focus on that word "most" -- is still quite affordable.
Write and read comments about this post.
Labels: money
Fifty years ago, 
Arthur Frommer is generally acknowledged to be the nation's foremost travel authority. He is the founder of the
