It’s not easy to choose a place to stay, specially when you are choosing an European destination that has historical places and modern buildings.

If you are staying at a big city, you are probably looking to a good trade off between location, quality and price. However that is not an easy task, I would say it is an impossible trinity and according to you budget you may explore locations with good public transportation, which may be very easy to find in the major cities.

Public transportation means two things, you will spend more time between places and more money on the transportation. If you want to make sure you are definitely paying less, make a budget before.

If location is really valuable, you may consider lowering your standards regarding quality, maybe choosing a two star hotel or an hostel, but be careful, since low quality may mean weird places.

Now let’s concentrate on some tips:

• Being a member of a loyalty program. There are some special discounts very often.
• Choosing an apartment, from Airbnb, Flipkey, HomeAway and so many others…
• Staff rates for airliners and military. Or maybe senior discounts.
• Hotel official websites may offer worst rates than travel agencies, specially the big Online travel agencies.
• Shopping early is also an advantage. Most special rates are available if booked months before, and since they are non-refundable it is very unlikely they will appear again.
• Check for reviews before booking. Even if you read some fake reviews, there are always some truthful reviews that will help you.
• Check the pictures available online, some were published by the owner, but there may be others by fellow travelers.

Location

When checking the best location for your hotel, take a look at the places and restaurants you want to visit. Do a little research using Maps by Google or similar, and see if it is a good walking distance between the several points.

Also research the safety of the neighborhood, you do not want to go to your hotel by night and find yourself in a dangerous situation.