There's no better time to travel than during a global financial meltdown. Price wars between airlines have led to plummeting ticket prices, and posh hotels are practically giving away their beds. Promotions on all kinds of products – ranging from hot chocolate to haute couture - make it possible for even unemployed bankers to get a taste of the good life. We asked our local bloggers to uncover the best deals, and to tell us about the simple and inexpensive pleasures that can always be found in their cities. With cheap tickets and insider advice, there's no reason why a shrinking economy should stop you from expanding your horizons.

Berlin

Almost every headline these days shrieks of the latest financial catastrophe or corporate meltdown. The gutters of Wall Street and Main Street are overflowing with the red ink of failed riskmanagement strategies, but here in "poor but sexy" Berlin not much seems to have changed. Today’s city has none of the prewar manufacturing industry that formed its urban core in the 19th century, instead the city’s complex history and its reputation as a vortex of contemporary art and urban culture has led to sightseeing and tourism being the city’s main source of revenue.

So, while the local papers keep themselves busy with warnings of the German government’s incompetence in the face of global economic collapse, the rest of us continue to muddle through as ever. But where there is smoke there may be fire, so this past Sunday I took a stroll down one of Mitte's most popular streets, searching for clues to our approaching doom.