You’ve heard of London, Paris, Stockholm. You might not have heard of Paphos. Three of those cities are hella expensive. One is not.
The summer travel season is about to kick off, which means many American travelers are headed to Europe — croissants, lochs and fjords await. Europe is great. It is often expensive — though the big story across the continent is likely how this is less true, given factors as varied as the fall of the post-Brexit pound in the U.K. to sustained terrorism fears in France and, more positively, the opening of heretofore under-visited regions, largely in the Balkans and Eastern Europe: Poland’s still cheap, Romania and Bulgary are cheap, Ukraine is hella cheap. Get going.
Of particular note? Paphos. The coastal Cypriot city came in tops in an Independent survey of Europe’s best cheap city destinations, beating out also-rans like Riga and Vilnius in the Baltics, Warsaw and Krakow in Poland, and the French cities of Lille and Strasbourg. (Our pick of those? Lille is fantastic, especially during its annual, biggest-in-Europe flea market; Krakow and Warsaw are incredibly inexpensive and extremely delicious.) But back to Paphos: What makes it a winner? A spot on the Mediterannean coast, 300 days of sunshine a year (London cannot beat that) and pages of Airbnb listings that top out (“entire home“) under $30. It’ll be a hassle getting there, given the lack of airlinks from the U.S. — which just means that once you’re there, you’ll have to stay.
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