(FORTUNE Magazine) – Now that the Cold War is over, the hot season for travel to Eastern Europe is about to begin. Hyatt, Marriott, Sheraton, and some other chains farsightedly opened hotels in different capitals. Besides them, locally owned hotels are plentiful and rate from bumpy to just fine. Jonathan Bodlender, chairman of Horwath & Horwath, the London hotel consulting firm, cites Hungary's hostelries ''good by any standard.'' East Berlin's Hotel Palast gets favorable reviews, as do the Intercontinental franchises in Prague and Budapest. Rates for a double room range from $135 to $200 at the Budapest Hilton and $100 to $185 at the Warsaw Marriott. Getting a seat on a plane may be harder than finding a bed. Eastern Europe's flag carriers, including Czechoslovakia's CSA airline and Poland's LOT, have direct flights from the U.S., but they are usually heavily booked. Among U.S. airlines, Pan Am has the largest number of direct flights: three times a week from New York's JFK to Warsaw and Budapest, and weekly from JFK to Prague. UAL's United Airlines and AMR's American Airlines will start Chicago-Warsaw flights in May, pending Polish permission. U.S. citizens need visas to visit all Eastern European countries.R.J.