Beer, ballet and bed for £170

Visits to London by top-flight European dance companies are few and far between and, when they come, the scramble for tickets can be ferocious. The recent visit in February by Pina Bausch's Tanz Theatre Wuppertal - the first in 10 years - was a case in point. Sadler's Wells sold out weeks in advance of the handful of shows and an army of fans was disappointed.

Cheap air fares, however, make it possible to zip over to Europe, catch a show, and head home after breakfast the next morning - all for the price of a front stalls ticket at Covent Garden and a braised tuna steak afterwards. That's the theory, at least.

Ryanair's website now has a link to a listings service - The Cat's Eyes. With the click of a mouse you can see which shows, art exhibitions and so on are playing in each of the airline's destinations, check ticket availability, and book online.

Within minutes I had narrowed my choice to forthcoming performances by Frankfurt Ballet, the La Scala Ballet in Milan and the Royal Danish Ballet in Copenhagen. I decided on Frankfurt, where a new William Forsythe piece was premiering. A front stalls ticket at the Opera House costs E30 (about £17), less than a third of the Covent Garden price. My return ticket, booked a fortnight ahead, cost £111.

On the day I left, the aircraft departed an hour and a half late. Then it landed at a little airfield called Hahn Airport, almost two hours' drive west of the city, as opposed to Frankfurt International Airport, 10 minutes' drive from the centre. Coaches meet each flight, and for E11 (£6) will deliver you to the Hauptbahnhof, the main railway station - a smooth but uninspiring ride. By the time I arrived at my hotel - about 7.30pm local time - I had been travelling for eight and a half hours. I had to run to make it to the Opera House on time.

I was glad I did. The performance in the modernist blue auditorium had all the surreal smoulder I had hoped for, and Thom Willems's electronic score slammed into us at a volume that would have dislodged the gilt cupids at Covent Garden. And because the Frankfurt Opera House is properly subsidised by the German government rather than reliant on big business, the audience was full of genuine dancelovers rather than corporate stiffs.

The buzzy atmosphere might also have had something to do with the fact that the champagne cost £2.50 a glass, so you could quite sensibly have four, rather than guiltily sneak one for £10, as at the Garden. Afterwards, inspired by the dancers' finely toned limbs, I addressed a plate of pork-belly and fried potatoes at Wagner's on Schweitzerstrasse.

The Hahn coach left at 12.15pm the following day - which gave me just enough time to catch an exhibition before leaving. Would I do it again? Yes, if there was something I wanted to see badly enough. It's possible to do the whole thing - beer, ballet and bed - for £170. You'll need to write off a day each way though. And take a very good, very long book.

Way to go

Luke Jennings flew to Frankfurt with Ryanair (08701 569 569;www.ryanair.com), which flies daily from Stansted, current returns from £12.50 to £149.99 one way. Ryanair's website has a link to The Cat's Eyes listing service www.thecatseyes.com. For further information, contact the German Travel Centre (020 8429 2900), rooms from £30pp a night.

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City guide: Frankfurt
Destination guide: Germany