The Insider's Guide to Budget Travel

As much as we love hostels, sometimes we find it hard to convince a few of just how much they have changed. So for all you hostel virgins out there, this week hostel convert Paul Dow explains why he always chooses hostels.

Running from the 19th September – 4th October, Oktoberfest 2009 is just around the corner! Sadly, we’re stuck at home this year! But we’ve still got beer on the brain, and instead of heading straight to the pub, have been scouring the web for some of the best Oktoberfest resources out there.

When you’re on a city break or backpacking around the USA, it’s easy to get sucked into only eating in fast food joints, or paying loads for drinking in tourist trap bars. But why pay more when a cheaper and more authentic option could be right under your nose?

After soaking up San Diego, we head back to Europe for a weekend in sunny Seville. Florence Massey experiences 48 hours on a budget in the capital of Andalucía – the perfect place for a cheap city break to catch the last rays of summer…

More great news for 09/09/09 – YHA are offering beds in the UK for a tiny £9.99 per night throughout September and October.

The Internet is all a-buzz with excitement: today is the 9th day of the 9th month, 2009. This rare anomaly of the calendar is being hailed as a special date around the world for every reason from the mathematical and apocalyptic to the downright bizarre. So here’s our very own celebration of 09/09/09 – a round-up of our nine most popular travel guides from the last 9 months!

Oktoberfest is almost upon us once again, and with so much to see and do at this year’s festival we thought we’d give you a helping hand with your biggest decision of all, ‘which beers to drink?!’ We’ve put together a helpful guide (particularly after you’ve had a few) to give you the lowdown on the best beers you will find in the tents of Munich’s six biggest breweries…