Try and avoid visiting in the one week in four when the European Parliament is sitting - it means there are hardly any hotel rooms available!

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Hotels in Strasbourg can be expensive and in short supply when the EU Parliament is sitting.

Try booking a hotel in just over the border in Germany. Make contact with your EU Member of Parliament and arrange a free private tour around the parliament.

Get to know them before you travel and who knows you might get them to take you to lunch or dinner.

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Try to visit in August when you should get a fantastic hotel deal in any of the hotels near the European Parliament (usually not sitting then).

You can enjoy the beautiful park nearby with its resident stork colonies or take a leisurely stroll along the river to the historic centre.

Another bonus of a summer visit is that there are free Son et Lumiere shows and street theatre at various riverside locations in the evenings.

For lunch,with the money you have saved on your hotel room,treat yourself to a special meal at one of the seriously good restaurants.

Or if you are like us and fail to read the small print, be embarrassed by only being able to afford starters and a bottle of wine in the evening.

The waiters didn't bat an eyelid and we were treated with exactly the same charm (and complimentary nibbles and aperitifs!) as the other diners.

Maybe we were lucky, but it did seem one of the friendliest, least stuffy 'significant cities' we have been lucky enough to visit.

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