Holidays in the east of Europe are becoming more and more popular. The fantastic exchange rate and lack of package tourist development means that everything is affordable and also unspoilt. Unlike tourist traps like Magalluf or Majorca the east has a long history of trade and communication meaning that hotels and restaurants are well versed in customer service as well as food that is influenced not only by fast food but also by cultures such as Turkey, Persia and Russia.

When we think of the East we think of a stereotype where dour grey cold cityscapes are populated with dour grey people in dour grey suits. We tend to think of it as being always cold and miserable with a soundtrack of funereal music. Muttering about személyi hitel or gyorskölcsön készpénzben into their cabbage soup. Of course the reverse is true, in Bulgaria Burgas and Varna are popular holiday resorts on the Black Sea attracting tourists from all over the former Soviet republics as well as tourists from the rest of Europe looking for cheap new places to visit. Once you’re in countries such as Hungary and Romania the languages they speak sound very Russian but the alphabet is Latin. If you find yourself in Budapest and you need a hotel, don’t go to the place with a sign outside saying Hitel or Hitelek as these aren’t hotels but loan shops! Hotels in Hungary are known as Szallas instead.

Hungary lies on the same parallels as central France and northern Italy, in reality the climate is quite temperate. The cities in Hungary have been mostly unharmed since the country’s heyday in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The Hungarian Army fought in the First and Second World Wars, however, unlike France or Belgium to the west or Ukraine or Russia to the east, not a great deal of fighting took place on Hungarian soil. This meant that much of the antique architecture survives to this day so it hosts some of the best examples of central European mediaeval and post renaissance architecture and art there are left in the world.

If you are there on holiday you might be better off if you to try and avoid town centres at night. As the countries have opened up to foreign visitors from outside of the former Soviet Bloc and while prices as well as local wages remain low then the major cities attract stag parties from further west who often end up creating a lot of trouble for the local police.