travel advice & savings
 
SAVE on RAIL PASSES and HOSTELS — Eurotrip GUARANTEES the LOWEST PRICES!
Now use the Trip Planner to:
  • Find and Buy Rail Passes
  • Find and Book Hostels
Already know which Rail Pass you need?
Click here and buy now!
Guaranteed Lowest Prices!
Special Eurotrip Member Savings!

When not to arrive

Posted September 29th, 2008 by VinkoCM

This tip comes from personal experience:

Remember: Don’t arrive in a town or city in southern Europe at Siesta time. This includes countries like Spain, Portugal, Greece and Italy.

In Southern Europe and South America siesta time is a very important time of day for almost everybody rest. The only people that are awake are usually children. Because of this many businesses are closed for siesta. The reason that one should not arrive between noon and 4:00pm is that one may have many problems finding a place to eat, a bathroom or accommodations. Not only may you not find anything, if you do find something it may cost you. You may commit the same mistake as my family and I when we arrived in Ravenna, Italy. We paid 40 Euros for 4 grilled cheese and 4 cans of coka-cola.

So my tip is this: if you are making up your itinerary as you go try to plan to arrive to towns or small cities before or after siesta time. Even if you have to wait an extra hour or two in another city because your train arrives at 4:30pm at the next town, don’t worry. The extra wait can reduce the problems that you may have upon arrival.

Best of Travels

Tue, 11/11/2008 - 02:42
#1
c.guan
c.guan's profile picture
Eurotrip Points: 1
Member: 8202
Joined: 11/11/2008
User offline. Last seen 1 year 18 weeks ago.

Does this include bigger cities as well?

Wed, 11/12/2008 - 09:37
#2
nomad
nomad's profile picture
Member
MemberMember
Eurotrip Points: 113
Member: 2520
Joined: 01/03/2007
User offline. Last seen 3 weeks 5 days ago.

I can tell you from personal experience (i.e. leading tours) that this does not hold true for heavily touristy places – Greek Islands, Athens and major Spanish cities.

Fri, 12/19/2008 - 14:37
#3
Packer
Packer's profile picture
Traveler
TravelerTravelerTraveler
Eurotrip Points: 264
Member: 383
Joined: 01/03/2007
User offline. Last seen 5 weeks 4 days ago.

Always have food and water in your day pack so you do not get ripped off at tourist traps. You can only blame yourself for not being prepared. Plan the day before and stop by a local market and buy snacks and bottle water for cheap prices. Also check the web sites of the cities that you will visit and esp. the web site of your hostel. Print out the free map and directions as well as note the hours for check-in and check-out. Plan your train rides so you arrive at a good time. Store luggage and go site seeing till your room is ready.

Sat, 12/20/2008 - 00:34
#4
krassi
krassi's profile picture
New Member
New Member
Eurotrip Points: 14
Member: 8452
Joined: 12/19/2008
User offline. Last seen 1 year 12 weeks ago.

Soft drinks like Coke are expensive in Europe. I can definitely see how grill cheese and 4 Cokes can add up to 40 euros. The Cokes were probably 5-6 euros each, or at least they are in most EU countries.

Tue, 02/17/2009 - 05:33
#5
Bex12
Bex12's profile picture
New Member
New Member
Eurotrip Points: 36
Member: 10216
Joined: 02/16/2009
User offline. Last seen 1 year 3 weeks ago.

Siestas don’t happen in every town in Europe but normally if you visit the hotter Mediterranean towns they will. For example they do in Spain but not in France. However you will find a lot of the of towns that are not completely touristy will take 2 or 3 hours for lunch, most bakers and shop close 1pm/1.30pm and reopen at about 4.30pm. So beware.
If you visit towns they are a rip off so if you want to sit in a cafe or buy some lunch venture further away from the main square; you can find lots of lost treasures down alleyways which are cheaper and a lot of the time the staff are friendlier