While it used to mean eurorail, hitch-hiking or taking the bus, with the event of the free skies agreement, Cheap Travel to Europe more and more means FLYING. Yes, flying is CHEAPER than the other options in a lot of cases these days! What do I mean? I mean you may pay more for the shuttle bus to and from the airport than you do for the airplane ticket to another part of Europe. Honestly.
The purpose of this post is to tell you what those places are, so that you can start planning your travel time within Europe. I have already told you how to search for Cheap Travel to Europe and I hope that those hints will help you get to a great gateway city to start taking advantage of the amazing opportunities for cheap travel in Europe. And you don't even have to stand by the highway for hours on end with your thumb out. (Did I ever tell you about the time I hitch-hiked to the Winter Olympics?? But I digress...)
OK, so where do you go to get cheap travel in Europe i.e. the cheapest way to travel around Europe these days- FLYING around Europe!?! Amazingly, there is not just one airline that's doing it all, although I would say that there are one or two doing the lion's share. The fad has spawned several copy-cats, but hey, competition is good for the customer, right?
So, here are some sites to go to when you want seriously cheap travel in Europe. (Disclaimer: I don't currently have a business deal with any of these and don't make anything off this advice. If I figure out a way to do it in the future, I might try... =)
Ryanair.com is one of the best. I have flown them a few times and am pretty impressed. They get you from A to B location at the absolute cheapest price. Their site is actually bloomed into a Travel Cheap in Europe cornucopia of information. I haven't noticed, however, that they are great at finding cheap hotels and rent-a-cars. Flights are their specialty. They often even have 1 penny flights. That's cheap travel anywhere, but especially in Europe! Don't think you just have to transfer 1 pence, though. The taxes will usually run a minimum of 30 Euros each way. But still, flying from the continent (in my case) to England for a long weekend for 60 to 80 Euros is a real steal! They have a few main airports, that have more destinations and then they have a lot of destinations that they fly in and out of once a day or even a couple times a week. The site is pretty easy to keep looking for a flight the next day, so it's not difficult to find cheap flights in Europe this way.
Ryanair operates a lot out of Stansted airport in London, which is quite a distance from the city center (about 90 minutes to Victoria station, if I remember right). They also have over 50 destinations at different times during the year from Dublin, Ireland. If you haven't read one of my previous blog posts, feel free to do so. In one post I found cheap travel to Europe by flying ORD (Chicago O'Hare) to DUB (Dublin) on Aer Lingus (non-stop!) If you did that, you could assumably then go with your cheap travel into Europe on Ryanair.
A couple notes on Ryanair. They often fly to a destination seasonally, so you need to check that out on the website. For example, they will fly to beach destinations only in the summer and they will fly to ski destinations in the winter. They still have a lot of destinations that are year-round, so you will have to check it out.
None of the airlines I mention here will probably be luxury liners to compete with the concord, but I've always thought the concord a big rip-off anyway.
The next one that I can personally recommend is wizzair.com. This airline also has a lot of cheap flights in Europe. They use both Budapest and Katowice/Krakow Poland as hubs and have quite a number of destinations at reasonable rates. They do cater to business travellers so weekdays may have a higher pricetag, but I have found rates that rivaled Ryanair and combined to get the exact dates I wanted between the two airlines.
Some others to check out:
skyeurope.com has a lot of good deals. Vienna and Bratislava are their main hubs and they even run busses between the two airports as part of their service, so you can catch the cheapest flight to either city and then bus from there.
Germanwings.com is a good one. They have several hubs including but not limited to Berlin, Budapest, Stuttgart, and Munich. Currently are advertising some 20EURO plus tax flights around Europe.
smartwings.com is one that is based in Czech, I think. They have a lot of flights from Prague and a few from other Czech cities (Brno, Ostrava) to beach destinations including Greece and Spain, amoung others.
You can play around on easyjet.com They have good deals quite often too, usually out of London to vacation destinations.
Now for a couple you may have never heard of: flyniki.com is based in Austria and serves that market as well as the Spanish market quite extensively.
Air Berlin has some cheap travel in Europe. It also has flights to/from the USA to/from Vienna via Dusseldorf (NYC, L.A. Vancouver, BC, and Miami, FL). These flights may not always qualify as cheap travel to Europe, depending on your dates.
Also try: TUIfly operates Cheap travel in Europe from northern destinations to Southern climes, such as Turkey, Egypt, Italy and Spain.
Italian budget airline WindJet flies from ten airports in Italy, three in Russia (Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Rostov), and a smattering of other destinations in Romania, Spain, France, and Greece. Forlì and Catania are WindJet's primary bases.
Clickair flies A LOT in Spain and has several connections from other countries.
Several of the above mentioned companies have cheap flights to Russia (mainly Moscow, but also some other options).
If you have suggestions or questions, please add them to the questions or email me at cheaptraveleurope on the big gmail. I will see what I can do as long as you let me post it as a case study for others.
Fasten your seat belts and tighten your money belts!
09 February 2009
04 February 2009
Cheap Travel to Europe Cheap Skiing
Hi everybody,
I probably shouldn't call myself a cheapskate. But cheap ski, now there's a label to be worn like a badge!
I would have written sooner but I went skiing (actually it's been a few days now). I know that you want cheap travel to Europe and I don't blame you. I don't know how long you're staying and what you'll be doing in Europe, but I like to ski. I'm not that good at it, but it's great to just be out there in creation and enjoy the mountains, forests and snow. So if you like winter sports and you are looking for cheap travel in Europe in the winter (which is a cheap time to look), you might want to check out some (downhill) skiing. But skiing is not a poor person's sport, right? Well, it can actually be pretty affordable. I have a three or four year old pair of skies that I bought used from a ski shop owner's dad in Maribor, Slovenia (just south of Graz, Austria), so I usually don't have to rent. But keep reading if you have to rent, the principles apply.
Here are a couple quick tips for you if you are a cheap travel to Europe freak who skis:
before we start, Disclaimer: If you are an awesome skier who needs REALLY challenging slopes, you may have to pay the big bucks to get them.
1. Stay away from the really big resorts! If you are like me and just enjoy the ride (and aren't in Olympic shape either), look for a smaller ski center that is adequate. It will be cheaper for everything from lift ticket to ski rental. Even in parts of Europe that I would usually avoid because of the expense (see tip 2 below), there are little resorts, often very family friendly (baby lift, sled runs on one side, ski on the other) that will suit you fine and save you beacoup Euros! I may have more details on this soon. I am going to do some cheap travel in Europe of my own and go to a little place in Austria and I'll try to let you know how it goes.
2. Go EAST, young person. Yes. Your cheap travel to Europe may start you in London, but if you want to ski, go EAST! Yes, go past France and Andorra, and definitely Switzerland and probably even Austria and Italy (haven't researched Italian prices too much). Poland has a ski area at Zakopane, which is on the border with Slovakia. Slovenia has amazing mountains at better prices, just an hour or two south of Salzburg and the Alps. There are some real steals in Croatia, usually better known for its' amazing Adriatic Coast with good reason. Did you know that Bosnia and Herzegovina hosted the 1984 Olympics? Sarajevo, baby. Yes, though they had a war in the 1990's, the ski resorts are getting back up on their feet and have a rather impressive local ski culture at very good rates. Getting there by air for cheap might be tricky, but there are other ways. Macedonia and Bulgaria also have great mountains, as well as young Montenegro. I even recently read about a tall mountain (top is 2500 metres, bottom 1100) ski resort in Kosovo (Brezovica) which might be a little more challenging and adventurous, but if you don't want that, what are you still doing here? You want the "Expensive travel to Europe" blogs... This is Cheap Travel to Europe and once you get there, we are going to stay cheap... and SKI cheap!
3. If you are a really really cheap skate--oops, ski, just show up a little late. Maybe like noon. Look for people leaving and ask for their lift tickets. If they are one day people, they usually don't care and just give you one. The later in the day it gets, the more likely you will find people heading out. You can also get cheaper tickets from like noon or 13:00 on, too, though hour for hour, you get a better deal to ski the whole day... By 14:00 or so, you'll surely find somebody, but alot of places close by 16:30, so it's up to you. You should be able to find cheap places to stay at these Eastern European neighbors, also, because the 7.50 EURO for a whopper "value" meal that grips Western Europe hasn't seemed to catch on here. This is maybe an already known not-so-secret of cheap travel in Europe, but there you go.
So holler at me on the comments or by email if you have some good experiences and or suggestions about Cheap Travel to Europe, Cheap Travel in Europe or Cheap Skiing. I'll be in touch. Gotta' check out the snow report...
I probably shouldn't call myself a cheapskate. But cheap ski, now there's a label to be worn like a badge!
I would have written sooner but I went skiing (actually it's been a few days now). I know that you want cheap travel to Europe and I don't blame you. I don't know how long you're staying and what you'll be doing in Europe, but I like to ski. I'm not that good at it, but it's great to just be out there in creation and enjoy the mountains, forests and snow. So if you like winter sports and you are looking for cheap travel in Europe in the winter (which is a cheap time to look), you might want to check out some (downhill) skiing. But skiing is not a poor person's sport, right? Well, it can actually be pretty affordable. I have a three or four year old pair of skies that I bought used from a ski shop owner's dad in Maribor, Slovenia (just south of Graz, Austria), so I usually don't have to rent. But keep reading if you have to rent, the principles apply.
Here are a couple quick tips for you if you are a cheap travel to Europe freak who skis:
before we start, Disclaimer: If you are an awesome skier who needs REALLY challenging slopes, you may have to pay the big bucks to get them.
1. Stay away from the really big resorts! If you are like me and just enjoy the ride (and aren't in Olympic shape either), look for a smaller ski center that is adequate. It will be cheaper for everything from lift ticket to ski rental. Even in parts of Europe that I would usually avoid because of the expense (see tip 2 below), there are little resorts, often very family friendly (baby lift, sled runs on one side, ski on the other) that will suit you fine and save you beacoup Euros! I may have more details on this soon. I am going to do some cheap travel in Europe of my own and go to a little place in Austria and I'll try to let you know how it goes.
2. Go EAST, young person. Yes. Your cheap travel to Europe may start you in London, but if you want to ski, go EAST! Yes, go past France and Andorra, and definitely Switzerland and probably even Austria and Italy (haven't researched Italian prices too much). Poland has a ski area at Zakopane, which is on the border with Slovakia. Slovenia has amazing mountains at better prices, just an hour or two south of Salzburg and the Alps. There are some real steals in Croatia, usually better known for its' amazing Adriatic Coast with good reason. Did you know that Bosnia and Herzegovina hosted the 1984 Olympics? Sarajevo, baby. Yes, though they had a war in the 1990's, the ski resorts are getting back up on their feet and have a rather impressive local ski culture at very good rates. Getting there by air for cheap might be tricky, but there are other ways. Macedonia and Bulgaria also have great mountains, as well as young Montenegro. I even recently read about a tall mountain (top is 2500 metres, bottom 1100) ski resort in Kosovo (Brezovica) which might be a little more challenging and adventurous, but if you don't want that, what are you still doing here? You want the "Expensive travel to Europe" blogs... This is Cheap Travel to Europe and once you get there, we are going to stay cheap... and SKI cheap!
3. If you are a really really cheap skate--oops, ski, just show up a little late. Maybe like noon. Look for people leaving and ask for their lift tickets. If they are one day people, they usually don't care and just give you one. The later in the day it gets, the more likely you will find people heading out. You can also get cheaper tickets from like noon or 13:00 on, too, though hour for hour, you get a better deal to ski the whole day... By 14:00 or so, you'll surely find somebody, but alot of places close by 16:30, so it's up to you. You should be able to find cheap places to stay at these Eastern European neighbors, also, because the 7.50 EURO for a whopper "value" meal that grips Western Europe hasn't seemed to catch on here. This is maybe an already known not-so-secret of cheap travel in Europe, but there you go.
So holler at me on the comments or by email if you have some good experiences and or suggestions about Cheap Travel to Europe, Cheap Travel in Europe or Cheap Skiing. I'll be in touch. Gotta' check out the snow report...
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