Are internet cafes everywhere?

I can only tell you reliably about Germany as I have spent four weeks there in the last two years, nowhere else.

Internet Cafes are becoming few and far between as more and more Germans get access at home. Of 14 towns, I only found Cafes in 3 of them. In one more place I sat in a sport's bar through an entire tennis match waiting for someone to get off of the one internet terminal in town. He never got off and I had to leave disappointed. Two places I stayed at actually had available Internet computers; one was in a locked office at night. In seven of the places I stayed, they had Wifi, and I used my netbook for access. In a couple of those places, they said there was an Internet Cafe in the town, but I didn't look for it because I had access in my room.

You will certainly find internet cafes in large cities, but smaller towns are hit and miss. Usually you have more luck if you have a netbook where you can use a wireless signal.

Even in the big cities they're not as plentiful as they once were. When I was in Paris a few weeks ago, I didn't notice a single one in my travels throughout the city. I'm sure that there are some around if you go looking for them, but I remember back in 2000 there was literally an Internet cafe on most every block in the touristy areas...nowadays not so much.

Many hotels have a public-use computer. Internet cafes are more common in the east, but you can still find them everywhere if you look hard enough.

I can speak about Italy. We just got back. We were not in large towns, expect for Turin on the first day of the trip, and Genoa on the last. All of our hotels except the Turin one had internet access, either a computer to use for free, or for a few Euro. We found an internet cafe in Turin,(located in a coffee shop) it only had 2 computers, we were able to use them without a wait.

In two hotels, there wasn't a public computer, but they allowed me to use the computer at the registration desk...as long as I just used it for a few minutes - long enough for me to quickly check email.

What was useful to me this trip was my iPhone. I found access to wi-fi in several places, and in that these cases, the internet use was free. Use was limited to a small area of the hotel, and not in my room.

In Genoa, I paid 5Euro for 12 hours of use, and I could use my iPhone in my room.

I'd recommend taking something like the iPhone that will allow you to access the net as needed, and not rely on internet cafes.

Often guide books, particularly Lonely Planet, tell you where the internet cafes are. I don't know if Rick Steves' books say where the internet cafes are.

There are less and less internet cafes in the UK, but pretty much all public libraries will offer free internet access.

Laura - I too thought that all public libraries offered free access. However, we were visiting Warwickshire last week and found that their libraries charged non-members £2 for half an hour!

McDonalds offered free WiFi.

Just back from Provence and I can tell you that Internet Cafes are not as plentiful as a few years ago. Hotels have some access, one lonely machine with poor response time was what I found, but more often than not you have to reserve in advance or find that the machine is unusable.

Two Internet storefronts in Nice but both closed for reasons unclear!? I have not seen one in Paris the last three years while prior to that they were obvious.

I dont have an iPhone but that sounds nice. My Blackberry did not work in Europe but that was probably due to Verizon, my provider.

Just remembered.....the Internet cafe in the mall below the Louvre just recently went out of business. If an IC can't survive in a location like that, they're definitely headed for extinction everywhere.

To David in Houston....Verizon offers service in Europe depending on which Blackberry you have. The World Edition and Storm, as well as the upcoming Tour, will work all over the world as long as you activate the service. The Curve, Pearl or older models won't.

In Paris each neighborhood seems to have an internet cafe. In the rue Cler/Eiffel area, there is a good one on rue de L'Exposition; I think it is called "Cyber Cafe," and is not far from La Varangue restaurant. For 24 Eu, I bought 5 hours of time which I spread over 3 1/2 weeks in April. At one apartment, the landlord lent me his laptop for the time I was there.

In England I have used free internet access at public libraries in Bath, W. Hampstead, and at the govt building across from St Pancras. If used books are for sale, I buy one or two. In Brighton I found an internet cafe on a main street (in Hove, I believe).

I had trouble finding internet cafes in Paris, but they are around. In Greece this year, saw them most every place we went.

Steve, in London my hotel had a business centre with free internet to print our tickets/boarding pass. I also found more internet cafes in the younger part of town, frequented by university types.

When we were in Switzerland, we used the internet at a Burger King! 1 min of free use for every swiss dollar spent... so a "value meal" got me about 7 minutes worth.

The internet access is available.

In France it seems like most hotels I've stayed at had a public computer, and I never had trouble getting on or using it (unlike a previous poster). They do sometimes have a time limit, so that all guests are able to have a turn, so I'm not sure I'd plan on doing a lot of time consuming research.

I've had no problems finding internet in the UK, Ireland or France, even in many smaller towns. Larger hotels usually have a business center but can be expensive, a number of smaller hotels and B&Bs are now starting to offer it, the library has it (but as noted before, it's not always free for a tourist and they often impose a time limit). You can also stop by a hostel as many hostels have cheap internet kiosks located in the lobby and you don't have to be a guest to use them.

I know others on this thread said they had a hard time finding internet cafes in Paris, but I went to a number of them in different neighborhoods including the Rue Cler area, Latin Quarter, Marais and around Gare du Nord. Prices tended to run between 2 and 5 Euro per hour.

Since internet cafes are not that easy to find anymore use Ibis hotels in France.They are plentiful there and in Itay use Novotel Hotels. Both from the Accor hotel chain. The online website has a great directory. www.accorhotels.com.
I also skip the laptop and manage to find a hotel computer of course for a fee. generally min. $5.00 & up.

We brought a little notebook-style laptop (ASUS Eee pc, weighed ~3 lbs.) and used it for many, many things. We will be bringing it on all future trips. I enjoyed being able to update my blog, upload pictures, confirm flights, etc. in private, but that's just me. :-)

I can't think of a time when I needed the internet that I couldn't find access somewhere. But I didn't use it much. In Rothenburg, Germany the town hall has a free one to use, in London it wasn't a problem finding one, in Prague my hotel had it for free, and in Marrakech, Morocco they were everywhere. I think those are the only cities I used them in. I would think many B&B/guesthouses would have this service available but double-check when you book.

We're taking an Asus netbook on our trip in a few weeks. I'm not happy about the extra weight (even if it is only 2.2 lbs), but I will likely need it for work. If your needs are simple, I'd suggest buying a used smartphone with wifi off ebay. You wouldn't necessarily care to use the phone features; just treat it as an ultralight laptop. I have a T-Mobile Dash, which would work in Europe, and I'm seriously debating whether I can get by with that instead of the netbook. It is a pain to type on, but the netbook isn't all that great. The big advantage of the netbook is the bigger screen -- but I often find myself balancing it in the palm of one hand so I can hold it close to my face so I can read it.

Internet cafes are disappearing, but WiFi is increasing. I would strongly suggest taking a laptop. By the way, it's pronounced WE FEE in France. When all else fails, good ole McDonalds has WiFi in most locations.

Internet cafes are the new traveler's checks...