The February issue of Perceptive Travel is out, with more of the best travel stories from book authors on the move.

Once again it’s fair to say “best travel stories” because for the third year in a row, the publication I edit placed for “Best Travel Journalism Site” in the annual awards from the North American Travel Journalists Association. We got the Bronze this time, but first was National Geographic Traveler’s website and I think theirs is actually produced in a real office with a water cooler. (Two of our stories won too—see the home page for details.)

This month we travel to three distinct places and go beyond the usual tourism brochure fluff.

Chris Epting has a story on where the Rolling Stones spent their early years while touring around the U.S. David Lee Drotar finds the dark side in Costa Rica, looking at what all that tourism and real estate development is doing to howler monkey habitats. I’ve got a piece on a place few people seem to visit, but should get onto their radar: the eastern half of Slovakia.

Susan Griffith highlights new and noteworthy travel books, including a biography of legendary travel writer and adventurer Redmond O’Hanlon. Laurence Mitchell is back to spin some new world music albums worth checking out from troubled Mali; Persia via India; and Bollywood and Havana via Canada.

As usual, one of our readers will get something new by entering the monthly gear contest and winning. Last month’s winner is getting decked out in a travel clothing outfit from Mountain Khakis. This month we’re giving away a small portable battery pack for your quick-dying iPhone or other gadgets. If you’re on the monthly newsletter list, you already got your chance to enter. If not, sign up here for next time and get a shot at this month’s by following Perceptive Travel on Facebook.

And between new issues, don’t forget to check out the cool PT blog!

The 4th edition of The World’s Cheapest Destinations goes into production phase this week and will be out in January. Here’s a sneak peek at the front cover.

Lots of things have changed in the world since I released the first edition a decade ago, though not all that much since the 2009 edition. Most of the big price changes came about from currency fluctuations and a rising middle class in developing countries. Thailand, India, and Indonesia have a far larger percentage of people doing more than just getting by than they had even three years ago, but in India’s case prices haven’t budged much at the low end because of currency declines.

Prices have risen at the budget end in some countries (like Morocco and Thailand), but have stayed roughly the same for mid-range travelers on vacation. In others, major line items for backpackers have actually gone down because there are more hostels/guesthouses serving budget travelers and more buses plying the backpacker routes. Competition is usually a good thing, so that has opened up more good choices at a good price in Cambodia, Laos, Romania, Hungary, and Nicaragua.

Welcome Slovakia!

As far as in/out changes in the book, I replaced Turkey with Slovakia, removed Argentina, and gave Cambodia a full chapter instead of it being an “honorable mention.” Acting like a mutual fund portfolio manager, when the price gets too high relative to value, I have to get out. Turkey and Argentina are still good values for mid-range travelers, but they’re getting too pricey for long-term backpackers. Argentina’s fiscal house of cards could implode any month now though, so if that happens it’s 2001 all over again.

If you’d like to get some perspective on which countries are the cheapest places to travel in the world (and are worth visiting too), see this interview with me that Gadling published last week. Looking back, I visited eight of the countries in this 4th edition just in the last eight months. Whew!

Despite using the euro, Slovakia is a good enough value that it’s taking another country’s place for the Europe section of the next edition of The World’s Cheapest Destinations.

I used to think that the Czech Republic and Slovakia split up after the fall of the Soviet Union because of big national pride issues. In reality, it was mostly the politicians that wanted the split. People I’ve met on both sides of the line say had it been put to a referendum, the split would have failed miserably. The citizens of the two countries still think of themselves as one, but this way there were double the number of jobs for the people in power.

Unfortunately for Slovakia, much of the big business money and tourism stayed on the Czech side. There was already more industry there as the Slovak side was more agricultural. And the Czechs had Prague, which was 10 times more interesting to visit than Bratislava. So Slovakia is like the plain sister who is constantly overshadowed by her flashy older one.

Typical wine prices in euros: 2.5 to 6.5

The good news for you is, that makes it a better value for travelers overall. Bratislava has somewhat higher restaurant costs because of it being a river cruise stop and part of some coach tours, but it’s still far less expensive than Prague. The real values are in the lesser-visited but more interesting eastern part of the country, anchored by the beautiful small city of Kosice, pictured at the top. The whole main drag is pedestrian-only all day every day and it’s filled with cafes and restaurants with a view of the opera house and cathedral. From here you can get to dozens of interesting places, including the High Tatras Mountains, in 1-3 hours. Castles, great manor houses, caverns, monasteries, wineries, national parks with good hiking, skiing, rafting, cycling, and lots more.

Everything is priced in euros, but I’m doing the math for my fellow yanks to put it in dollars, at the current rate of 1 euro = $1.30.

Accommodation in Slovakia
Not many backpackers make it here—heck not many travelers from the west period do—so outside of the capital there’s not the bustling backpacker infrastructure you find in the northern Czech Republic or Budapest with dozens of hostels to choose from and day trip tours going out regularly. So lodging tends to be a better deal for mid-range travelers than shoestring ones as almost nothing is over $100 per night. It’s far easier if you’re a couple and not a single as hostels are rare. Camping is easy and cheap though and around the hiking areas you can rent a simple mountain hut for two for under 10 euros/$13.

Camping at Slovakian Paradise national park – $8 one person with tent, $12 two.
Mountain hut here or in High Tatras mountains – $6-$10 per person
Hostel bed in Bratislava – $17 – $25 per person
2- to 4-star hotel or pension – $26 – $70 double, usually incl. breakfast
Apartment for four with kitchen – $69 to $90
Best hotel in Kosice – often $120 standard double (Doubletree by Hilton)

Typical pension prices in Kosice

Food and Drink Prices in Slovakia

This is where the real bargains are. You can eat well and drink well (the wine and beer are both excellent) for a fraction of western Europe prices. This is one of those countries where a soda can cost more than a beer or wine, as can coffee. You can drink the tap water though.
Set meal 3-course lunch $3 to $8
Soups – $1 to $2.50
Main dishes – $1.50 to $6
500ml beer in a bar – $1 (happy hour) to $2.50 (nice place), average in the middle
500ml beer in a store – $0.60 to $1
Good bottle of wine in bar/restaurant – $6 to $12
Good bottle of wine in a store – majority $3.50 to $8, premium $8 to $20
Glass of house wine in a bar/restaurant – $1 to $2.60
Shot of local fruit brandy – $0.60 to $1.60
500ml of local honey – $5 to $7
Kilo (2.2 pounds) of seasonal produce – $0.75 to $2
Local cheese 100 grams – $0.40 to $2
Rolls and baguettes – $0.20 to $0.90

Transportation

There’s not enough demand here for any kind of tourist shuttle system, so bring a phrase book and a map or guidebook to figure out where you’re going. Trains cover most of where you’d want to go, but sometimes you’ll need a bus.
Long train ride (Bratislava to Kosice) – $24 2nd class, $35 1st class, 1/2 price for students
Short train ride (Kosice to High Tatras hiking point) – $8 2nd class, $12 first class
City bus ticket – $0.60 to $1
Short Intercity bus ticket – $2.25 for 40 kms
Long Intercity bus ticket – $22 for 400 kms
Taxi ride – $0.80 to $1.30 per km, Bratislava center to airport $14 to $18

What I got for 2 euros at the supermarket

Other costs in Slovakia

Some attraction places hit you with an extra charge for using your camera, so either leave it in a locker or be stealthy with a phone.
Admission to castles, manors, and castles – $2.60 to $6.50
Admission to monasteries & churches – free to $3.90
This boat trip on the border with Poland – $13
Bike rental in same town – $6.20 half day
One-day ski pass – $17 to $36

For some reason this Euro26 card seems to be more commonly known here than the ISIC card, but either should get you a discount of 50% off most attractions and trains if you’re a student.

When I told people my first stop in Eastern Europe was Slovakia, I usually got a blank stare. Or a question meant to gain understanding of what exactly was there. Why travel to…where were you going again?

Older people know it as the latter half of Czechoslovakia. As in the order of the words, it’s to the east of Prague. I’ve been basing myself in Košice (photo at the top), which has one of the most attractive city centers you could wish for in Europe. Pedestrian-only and almost no tour groups in site. Most tourists you do see are Czech, Polish, or Hungarian.

And you find castles like this all over the Kosice region.

Plus there are some great parks and protected areas where you can take in nature through hikes, cavern exploration, or boat rides.

As for prices, which I’m checking out for a book update, it’s a mixed bag. Overall, Slovakia is significantly cheaper than the U.S., which you can’t say for anywhere in Western Europe right now. The best deals are on what you consume: restaurant food, wine, and beer especially. This is a country where you can still get a big lunch and a glass or two of wine or a beer for less than US$10.

You’ll seldom pay more than 6 euros for admission to anything and usually it’s more like 2. Transportation is reasonable, but not all that well set up for English speakers. There’s not much of a backpacker infrastructure, so this is a country where I would definitely advise carrying a guidebook—and a phrase book.

Over the holidays one uncle of mine talked wistfully of a motorcycle trip he took in Mexico “a while back” and went on about how incredibly cheap it was to eat out, swill tequila, and follow it up with a few Mexican beer chasers for a buck or two. He has lost track of time, like we often do, and is looking back at a bygone era. A time before NAFTA, before liquor conglomerates snatched up every tequila company with more than two employees, before the whole Mexican beer industry consolidated to just two companies with half-foreign ownership.

I’ve overheard the following phrase applied to places where the bargains are long gone: “It was so cheap there—you’ve gotta go check it out!”

Next time someone tells you that, be sure to ask, “When did you go?”

Ask any war vet grandpa about his weeks on leave and depending on how old he is he’ll tell you great stories about how he spent $5 on a whole weekend with a Bangkok hottie and eight bottles of Mekhong, or how he bought wine for 50 cents a gallon in Italy and you could buy four movie tickets with a Hershey’s bar. (Unfortunately, today’s troops are caught in barren lands with no booze or babes, so their “you shouldda been there” stories are gonna suck badly decades from now.)

So where am I going with all this? Well last month there were some stats in one of those 1999-2009 wrap-ups that blew my mind. This story was about rising affluence around the world. The illustration at the top of this post is internet penetration growth during the decade, with the small circles being 1999 and the large one being last year. Go check it out for a minute and look at Vietnam and India. I cropped it to just show Europe and Asia, but it’s the same dramatic explosion in countries like Mexico, Colombia, and Brazil. More knowledge, more education, more opportunity, a higher standard of living. Too bad for you, shoestring backpacker, as it means you’re no longer the only one with two pence to scratch together—or an ATM card.

But in a small column at the side in this newspaper article was something even more dramatic. Here’s the change in the portion of population in these countries with a disposable income above $10,000, in percentage points. In other words, 84.2 % more Slovakians earn at least $10k above basic living expenses over the course of a year compared to just a decade before. That’s huge.

Slovakia – 84.2%

Romania – 76.7%

Czech Republic – 75%

Hungary – 70.9%

Croatia – 68%

Poland – 56.8%

So next time someone tells you about how you can eat a five-course dinner in Eastern Europe served by guys in tuxedos while drinking two bottles of vodka and having a 20-piece orchestra play in the background for $8 apiece, you might want to ready a follow-up question. “When did you say you were there again…?”

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