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Cheap backpacking / cheap holiday: the bar inside one of the hostels I was in, in Berlin

I this post I will cover:
- How to get to Berlin for cheap
- Cheap and free accomodation
- Eating cheaply
- Free tour of Berlin
- Making some quick cash legally
- How to stay longterm
- More ways to save money whilst travelling

After travelling for 9 months through Europe and the Middle East, I can tell you that Berlin is easily my favourite city. Not just because of the strong, unashamed, non conformist mentality and uniqueness of the people, but also because you can experience it all at bargain prices!

Getting there cheaply

There are a few flight travel websites you can use, but they mostly seem to feature the main expensive airlines.
This site on the other hand only focuses on the discount airlines, you tell it where you want to go and it tells
you which airlines go there: http://www.whichbudget.com

Cheap and free accomodation

Prices keep going up and down depending on demand, so it is difficult/pointless for me to list them. You will more likely benefit from visiting hostelbookers.com and comparing for yourself. The good thing about this booking site is that unlike its main competitor hostelworld.com, it doesn’t charge a US$2 booking fee on top of the 10% deposit. A nice saving in itself.

I can say however that I have stayed at Generator hostel and I enjoyed it. Only problem is it is a bit out of town, but there is a nice bar in the hostel
which generally means it is not a problem.

The other option of course is to join http://couchsurfing.org Berlin group and get free accomodation!

Cheap food
If you are looking for a seriously cheap backpacking experience, most
serious backpackers know already to cook in the hostel kitchen. Berlin
is easily the discount capital of Western Europe with incredibly cheap
supermarkets like Aldi, Lidl, and my favourite – Penny Market. I
bought a loaf of bread, 2 bananas, and a 1.5 litre bottle of water,
for guess how much? Try 1.4 euros! With prices like that, why would
you eat out?

Speaking of eating out, there are plenty of stands in East Berlin with
good sized pizzas for 2 euros.

Or if you want a true cultural experience, why not try eating at a Vokus?
These are located inside artist squats and offer meals for 1-2 euros. The locations are here stressfaktor.squat.net/vokue.php?day=all.

Free tour of Berlin
There is a company called New Europe tours which offer free 3 hour
tours of Berlin everyday twice a day and also in all the major cities
of Europe. How can they be free? you ask, what is the catch?

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