These Guides Are Dollar Stretchers

Looking to stretch your budget? A variety of foreign tourist offices produce publications specifically for young visitors.

For example, the city of Munich, Germany, publishes an excellent 20-page, English-language booklet, “Young People’s Guide to Munich.”

Copies are available for a small fee (about 30 cents) from the city’s tourist office, which is inside Munich’s main train station at the Bayerstrasse exit.

The booklet is packed with practical, helpful information.

It starts with a map of the central rail station and gives details on where to find luggage storage, currency exchange, mail pickup points and long-distance telephone services, which are open 24 hours a day.

It also covers details on budget accommodations, from youth hostels and pensions to a 400-person tent operated by the city and open from June through August.

You’ll find information on medical services, do-it-yourself walking tours, economical eating and entertainment, public transportation, bank and store hours, and where to find Laundromats, bicycle rentals and agencies that match drivers and riders (hitchhiking by appointment).

Britain also publishes a special 31-page guide for young travelers. It’s free and available in the United States.

“Young Visitors to Britain” is designed to help with plans for study, work and group or independent travel.

It covers information and contacts for exchange programs, volunteer and au pair positions, pen friends, transportation, emergency assistance and accommodations ranging from camping and hostels to bed and breakfasts and university residences.

The booklet offers details on how to contact groups such as the 54-member British Universities Accommodations Consortium, or the 61-member Higher Education Accommodation Consortium, each of which have thousands of beds available to travelers during holiday periods.

One section of the guide offers specific addresses and rates for budget accommodations throughout Britain, from hotels and residences to a “Tent City,” on the outskirts of London, which offers young travelers beds for about $7.50.

Copies of “Young Visitors to Britain” are available from the British Tourist Authority, 350 S. Figueroa St., Suite 450, Los Angeles 90071, (213) 628-3525.