Service With a Little Oom-Pah-Pah

Germany is making it easier for youthful voyagers with “Exploring Germany--Pocket Guide for Young Travelers,” a 216-page publication from the German National Tourist Office. It is packed with information about Germany’s different regions, sights, politics and culture. Practical tips on night life, dining and shopping, and details on public transportation are included.

You won’t find specifics on where to stay cheaply, but you will find details on many other helpful services, such as where to find emergency assistance, tourist information offices, transportation, university cafeterias and lost-and-found services. You’ll also find regional and city maps of Hamburg, Bremen, Berlin, Cologne, Dresden and Munich.

For a free copy, contact the German National Tourist Office at 11766 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 750, Los Angeles, CA 90025; telephone (310) 575-9799.

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Trip researchers who are hooked into the Internet can now access budget travel information for Russia. The St. Petersburg International Hostel and its budget travel agency, Sindbad Travel, now have a Web site at https://www.spb.su/ryh. Both organizations are accredited members of Hostelling International and Russian Youth Hostels.

The St. Petersburg International Hostel, a joint Russian-American project, is in a renovated 19th century building with modern facilities. Travelers share rooms with two to five beds. It’s located in the city center, a five-minute walk from the train station.

Continental breakfast is included with each night’s stay. You’ll find an English-speaking staff, nightly movies and a hostel library. Guests have 24-hour access to the hostel.

The hostel is at 3rd Sovetskaya Ulitsa, 28, 193036. The Sindbad Travel office is located on the ground floor of the hostel.

Information is also available from Russian Youth Hostels at 409 N. Pacific Coast Highway, 106/390 Redondo Beach, CA 90277; tel. (310) 618-2014.

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When you visit Copenhagen you can get a free bike to use around the city. Copenhagen’s City Bike program, which has been running for a year, operates year-round. According to one recent visitor, though, the bikes are getting more difficult to find.

The program was created to help reduce motorized vehicles in the city. About 120 bike racks with 1,000 bikes are scattered around the city. To release one, you simply insert a 20-kroner ($4) coin deposit into a box on the rack. When you’re finished using the bike, you return it to any rack and your 20-kroner coin is refunded.

The bikes have been described as clunky, but their condition may help deter residents from keeping them. They are easily identifiable by special features, such as the lack of spokes (they’ve been replaced with a solid sheet of metal).

Keep your eyes open for them. For the budget traveler, it would be an economical way to get around an otherwise expensive destination.