It seems like I keep reading about how now is the time to go to Europe. This is mainly due to the Euro falling close to a 1:1 exchange rage with the US dollar.

According to an article from The Guardian, “the euro has lost 35% of its value since last May“. It also fell “below $1.06 for the first time since April 2003” on Wednesday.

While the dollar is catching up to the euro, some countries and cities must still offer a better deal than others.

Smarter Travel took a look at Europe’s Cheapest Cities This year.

Smarter Travel chose the cities which made their list based on the Europe 3-Star Traveler Index from PriceofTravel.com.

The average price of a city is based on one night in a 3 star hotel (in a central location with a solid review), a couple of cab rides per day, one attraction per day, three meals & three beers (or wine) per day.

Here are the cheapest cities to visit in Europe along with the average price per person per day.

• *Bucharest, Romania– $43.80 per day
• *Sofia, Bulgaria– $44.71 per day
• Kiev, Ukraine– $46.35 per day
• Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic– $49.10 per day
• Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina– $50 per day
• *St Petersburg, Russia– $50.48 per day
• *Budapest, Hungary– $51.06 per day
• Krakow, Poland– $52.36 per day
• *Belgrade, Serbia– $53.52 per day
• Split, Croatia– $62.08 per day
• Zagreb, Croatia– $64.92 per day
• *Vilnius, Lithuania– $65.88 per day
• *Bratislava, Slovakia– $68.39 per day
• Santorini Island, Greece– $69.49 per day
• *Riga, Latvia– $69.94 per day

I’ve been to eight of these cities. I’m not surprised that most of the the list are cites in Eastern Europe and the Balkans. These regions are always known to be cheaper than the rest of Europe.

We loved traveling in these regions. They are typically not as busy with Western tourists and give you the feeling that you are traveling back to another time.

Even when we visited Russia, we were surprised by the prices. I had always heard about how pricey Russia (and especially Moscow) was but if you look you can certainly find food for reasonable prices and if you have the points, some great deals on hotels. Overall, we didn’t find Russia to be much pricier than other places we’ve visited in Eastern Europe. (FYI- We visited in March 2013.)

Do you choose where to travel to based on it being a cheap place to visit?

Find out about each of the places in Smarter Travel’s slideshow here.