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Burgundy is a region for meandering. Not surprisingly, the houseboat has gained great popularity. Ten companies have set up rent-a-boat fleets along the rivers and canals. For an average $550 per week, not including food and fuel, in July and August ($300 offseason) a family crew of four can drift through the region at 4 m.p.h., tying up along the way to picnic or sightsee. Local tourist offices list furnished houses renting from $175 to $550 a week for a family of four. Top price for a double room in the Château d'Igée is $45 a night.
Another summerlong delight is France's alpine Department of Savoie, an overnight train trip from Paris. Renowned ski resorts like Chamonix, Megève and Val d'Isére offer competitive prices and an array of music and dance festivals, mountain climbs, arts and craft seminars and the regional cuisine. A bunk in a mountain hostel goes for around $4.50; a room at a fashionable resort for $37 to $52.
WEST GERMANY. Despite deutsche mark dominance, the Strategic Traveler can do surprisingly well. Rooms are not expensive in certain outlying areas that are themselves worth seeing and are close to major cities. An hour from Munich is Augsburg, home of the Holbein family, whose 1,000-year-old cathedral has the oldest stained glass in Germany. An easy train ride from expensive Heidelberg is Würzburg, a city of baroque architecture and prized wines. Another good base is Rüdesheim, convenient to the Rhine and the wine country. A three-hour boat ride from Rüdesheim to Koblenz costs $15 in modern steamers with breath-catching views of castles at almost every bend. A double room in a decent hotel costs between $25 and $35 daily; a pension costs about $10 per person, with breakfast.
Lower Bavaria in the southeast remains largely undiscovered. A lovely old city where the Danube, Ilz and Inn rivers come together, is Passau, a 2½-hour drive from Munich. At the comfortable Weisser Hase a double room with breakfast is $43. Seventy miles up the Danube is Regensburg, Bavaria's first capital, where parts of the Roman wall still stand. The Regensburger Domspatzen (Sparrows of the Cathedral) are considered by many to be the equal of the Vienna Choir Boys.
AUSTRIA. The country is also best explored from small towns and villages near the crowded cities. Rural Austria can be an adventure for city children who think eggs grow in cartons. More than 4,000 farmhouses offer bed, breakfast and participation in farm life, all for between $5 and $8 a day. Village pubs serve solid, inexpensive fare, but some farmhouses allow guests to cook simple meals. The light white Austrian wine goes for $2 a two-liter bottle.
An Austrian curiosity is the 800-year-old Geras Monastery, which offers a wide variety of art courses from icon painting to, yes, nude studies. One-week courses cost between $80 and $100; a double room with shower and breakfast, $18 a night.
DENMARK. The Nordic countries are the most expensive in Europe. Here too, though, one can find $40 hotel rooms and low-priced lodging in pristine country within two or three hours of the capitals.