Category: Tips and things we have learned

The Importance of Planning Ahead

Booking a European vacation can feel overwhelming, but the trick to saving money lies in one essential practice: planning ahead. Early preparation not only ensures peace of mind but also guarantees you can secure the best deals. It’s the first critical step in an affordable adventure across the continent.

The Advantage of Early Booking

Early booking allows you to tap into lower prices for flights and accommodations. Many airlines and hotels offer discounted rates to travelers who commit months in advance, creating opportunities to snag a bargain before prices surge closer to your travel date.

Flexible Dates for Big Savings

Flexibility is another key factor. If your schedule allows, searching for flights over a range of dates—rather than fixed ones—can expose significant savings. European flights can vary dramatically depending on the day of the week or even the time of year. A few days’ difference can sometimes mean a discount of hundreds of dollars.

Utilize Flight Comparison Websites

The internet has revolutionized the way we travel, making it easier to compare flights from the comfort of home. However, not all flight search engines are created equal.

Why Not All Search Engines Are Equal

Some flight comparison websites may not include certain budget airlines or exclusive deals. This omission can cost you more if you rely solely on one or two sites. To maximize your savings, use a combination of search engines, from well-known ones like Skyscanner to lesser-known platforms that focus on hidden fares.

The Benefits of Setting Alerts for Price Drops

By setting up price alerts, you’ll be notified when your desired flights drop in price. This feature can make a big difference, especially for long-haul European flights, where prices tend to fluctuate wildly.

Travel During Shoulder Seasons

The concept of “shoulder seasons” refers to the times of year when tourism is not at its peak, yet the weather remains pleasant enough to enjoy. Traveling during this period can save you significant amounts of money.

Understanding Shoulder Season Travel

Shoulder seasons, typically spring and fall in Europe, offer travelers the best of both worlds: mild weather and fewer crowds. Whether you’re roaming the streets of Paris or cruising through the canals of Amsterdam, you’ll find that many tourist-heavy destinations are far more affordable during these times.

Pros and Cons of Off-Peak Travel

While shoulder seasons offer substantial savings, there are trade-offs. Some attractions may have shorter hours, or specific festivals and events might be absent. However, these are minor inconveniences compared to the financial benefits.

The Power of Low-Cost Airlines

Europe is the playground of low-cost airlines, with companies like Ryanair and EasyJet offering remarkably cheap fares.

Hidden Gems in Budget Airlines

What’s often misunderstood is how these budget airlines operate. By flying to secondary airports and offering fewer frills, they can keep costs significantly lower. It’s worth exploring these lesser-known options to unlock serious travel savings.

How to Avoid Extra Fees on Low-Cost Flights

To make the most of your low-cost airline experience, avoid the common pitfalls of added fees. Be sure to pack light, as baggage fees can quickly inflate the cost of what seemed like a cheap ticket.

Save Big by Bundling Accommodations

Another savvy way to stretch your budget is by bundling your accommodation and travel.

Combining Flights and Hotels for Discounts

Many travel websites offer discounted packages that combine flights and hotels. These bundled deals can be significantly cheaper than booking each component separately, providing value without sacrificing quality.

The Benefits of Vacation Rentals Over Hotels

Vacation rentals, such as those found on Airbnb, provide a more local experience and can often be more affordable than hotels, especially for longer stays or when traveling in a group.

Public Transport Over Private Taxis

Private taxis in Europe can be notoriously expensive, especially in major cities. Opting for public transportation is a simple way to slash your travel expenses.

Mastering European Public Transit Systems

Europe is renowned for its efficient and affordable public transit systems. Familiarizing yourself with metro lines, trams, and buses not only saves you money but can also offer a more authentic glimpse into the daily life of locals.

Multi-City Rail Passes and How They Save You Money

For travelers exploring multiple cities or countries, rail passes are invaluable. Multi-city passes such as the Eurail allow you to explore Europe at a fraction of the cost of booking individual tickets.

Leverage Travel Rewards and Loyalty Programs

The savvy traveler knows that utilizing travel rewards can provide substantial savings on flights and accommodations.

Maximize Credit Card Points

Many credit cards offer significant travel rewards in the form of points or miles. By using these cards for everyday purchases and redeeming points for flights or hotel stays, you can make substantial savings.

Utilizing Airline and Hotel Loyalty Schemes

Frequent travelers should enroll in loyalty programs offered by airlines and hotels. Accumulating points on repeat trips can lead to free upgrades, complimentary nights, or even entirely free stays.

Discover Free Attractions and Experiences

Europe is brimming with free attractions that are as rich in culture as they are in history.

Exploring Europe’s Public Parks and Historic Sites

From the sprawling parks of London to Rome’s ancient ruins, Europe offers countless free experiences. Many cities are home to historical sites that don’t charge admission, making them a treasure trove for budget-conscious travelers.

How to Find Free Walking Tours and Cultural Events

Free walking tours, often led by local experts, are an excellent way to immerse yourself in a city’s culture without spending a dime. Many European cities also host free festivals and cultural events that provide insight into local traditions.

Dining Like a Local

Dining is one of the most enjoyable—and expensive—parts of traveling, but with a bit of strategy, you can eat well without breaking the bank.

Save by Eating at Markets and Cafés

European markets are culinary paradises, offering fresh, affordable food. Enjoying a meal from a local market or small café provides a more authentic experience and saves you money compared to dining at expensive tourist restaurants.

Avoiding Tourist Traps for Authentic, Affordable Meals

Many tourist areas are lined with overpriced eateries. Venture a few streets away from the main attractions to find where the locals dine, offering better food at lower prices.

Off-the-Beaten-Path Destinations

Finally, consider skipping Europe’s tourist hotspots in favor of lesser-known destinations that offer just as much charm but at a fraction of the price.

Why Lesser-Known Cities Offer More for Less

Smaller cities and towns often provide a more intimate travel experience. Places like Bratislava or Porto offer stunning architecture, rich history, and exceptional cuisine—all at a much lower cost than their more famous counterparts.

Hidden European Gems You Should Consider

Destinations like Slovenia’s Lake Bled or Romania’s Sibiu offer travelers breathtaking landscapes and cultural riches, often with far fewer crowds and expenses. Exploring these off-the-beaten-path locations will stretch your budget and enhance your European adventure.

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When I start planning a trip to Europe, I have a sort of order that I follow, and specifics that I look for to make the trip less expensive, more enjoyable and easy to execute. I start with finding a flight and car rental, then where we will stay, and then the local things we want to do and see.

Booking the flight and car

I start looking for a flight usually with Google flights. I put in my departure airport, click on the map and see the cheapest destinations over the next 6 months. You can make this more specific by choosing dates, number of passengers, etc. Google then gives a list of flights sorted by price, and takes you to where to book it. Some sites where you book the flight, you can also add a rental car as a package deal. This usually saves you some money by booking the 2 together. They will also offer to include a hotel in the package, but I don’t do that. I get my places to stay mostly from AirBnB or VRBO. By booking the flight first, you set the location and dates for everything else.

Timing

You want to book in advance, but not too far in advance. For flights to Europe, 4 to 6 months before is the sweet spot for the best prices. Any longer, the airlines are not concerned with getting those flights booked and have a standard price on everything. Shorter timeframe, the airlines are now filling up and if you need to get on that flight, you can, but at a premium. Last minute deals can be the best prices of all, but you have to be ready to go, now!

The Rental Car

To begin, I want to point out, I like to drive. I do not, however, want to drive in a large European city with one way, narrow streets that I have no idea where I’m going. I have booked rental cars and places to stay based on this. We have been to London, Dublin and Paris and I have avoided driving in any of them.

In Dublin, we stayed at one rental apartment the first 2 nights and another for the last 2 nights of our trip, and rented the car between those stays. After the first 2 nights, we took the airport bus to the airport, rented our car and drove off into the countryside. on our return, we dropped off the car at the airport and rode the bus in to town for our last 2 nights.

London and Paris were after we already had a car, so I found places to stay that were outside the city, but close to a train station for quick, easy access in to the hustle and bustle of the big city.

Be sure your car is big enough for your people and all their stuff! This may sound like a no brainer, but it may not be. We had an SUV in Ireland with 2 checked bags and 4 people, guess where the second check bag rode for over 1000 miles? In the middle of the back seat, between two people! The back of the car was not big enough to fit both checked bags, so the second one became the fifth passenger. On the other hand, you don’t want a car that is too big either. Remember that other than the major highways, most roads in Europe are smaller than what we are used to here in the States.

Where to stay

When planning your trip to Europe try to find unique places to stay that are not in the mainstream, or off the beaten path, if you like. I use AirBnB most of the time, and there is a wealth of places that are interesting, relaxing and totally unique. Nobody but locals ever heard of Doon in County Limerick, Ireland, Norton-Disney, Lincolnshire, England, or Verrières, France. AirBnB has taken us to all of those places and more.

We have found that by renting a whole house for a few days, it gets us closer to the community, allows us to stay in places we couldn’t in a hotel, and it is much cheaper than hotels. For example, when we went to Ireland, we stayed in 5 AirBnB properties and 1 hotel. Our AirBnB stays averaged $42.67 per person, per night. The one hotel was $132.75 per person per night! Granted, that 1 hotel was a castle that Gram requested, so we splurged. The castle was wonderful and worth every penny, but the savings by staying at AirBnB’s made it possible.

Gram and I also visited 5 countries on a trip, stayed in 5 AirBnB’s and 1 hotel, and the results were similar. The hotel cost more per night than the average for the rest of the trip. I couldn’t believe it, but our 3 stays in France were the least expensive. Salzburg, Austria cost the most per night, even more than Switzerland, of our non-hotel stays.

We have learned that staying in 6 places for 2 or 3 nights each is hard work. It is much better to find a central location that you can day trip from, rather than moving to everything you want to see every day or every other day. On our most recent trip, we spent 9 days in England and stayed in only 2 different locations. We still drove over 800 miles, but it was a lot of day trips and runs to a pub here or a supermarket there.

Seeing the sights

After you have your place to stay, you need things to do. For the major cities, we have booked Big Bus Tours to get a look at the major attractions. Big Bus Tours is a hop on, hop off bus that runs a set route through the most popular sites and attractions of a city. If you want to visit the Guinness brewhouse in Dublin, or the Eiffel Tower in Paris, or Westminster Abbey in London, Big bus will take you there, drop you off, and pick you up again after you are done at the attraction. You can also just ride the whole loop that the bus takes and see all the sights, then decide which ones you want to go back to, and ride the bus to that stop.

Big Bus Tours also has a wide range of add on attractions that you can do at a lot of the stops. They have guided tours, river cruises, private hires, and other things depending on the city.

Big Bus Tours are a great way to get the overall view of a city, but sometimes it’s not the most efficient. In London, we had a pub tour scheduled and it was getting close to the start time. We were on the bus, slowly moving through the busy traffic and realized that we were not going to make it at the pace we were moving.

At the next stop, we hopped off, walked a half a block to the nearest underground station, and in about 15 minutes we were at the start point for our pub tour. I was thoroughly impressed with the efficiency of the London Underground. You can get anywhere in London with a 5 minute walk and one or two train changes along the way. Google maps helps a lot with this. Using the public mode, just search like you would for driving or walking and it will tell you which train lines to take, which stop to get off, and which platform and train are next.

Trains

Train access goes hand in hand with AirBnB selection. Both London and Paris trips, we stayed outside the city and rode the train in. In Paris we stayed in a garden guest apartment in the suburb of Bagneux, a couple of blocks from a train station and rode the Sorties du Métro directly to Saint-Michel Notre-Dame station in the heart of Paris. For London, we stayed in a converted thatched roof barn in Rotherwick, which was a 5 minute drive to the Hook train station. We rode the South Western Railway train to Waterloo station, London. Both train rides were enjoyable and I didn’t have to drive in either of these large cities.

Walking Tours

We have done several walking tours in many of the places we have visited. A beer Safari in Dusseldorf, a chocolate tour in Brussels, Hidden Pubs Tour and Jack the Ripper Tour in London. You can find walking tours, guided bus tours, day trips and many other activities at almost any destination at viator.com.

Exploring

There always seems to be so much to do and see, and you want to book all the tours and excursions that you can, but don’t. I’m not saying don’t book things to do, just don’t try to do too much. Leave yourself some free time unbooked to take a drive to a small village nearby, or to take yourself on a self guided tour of that castle ruin, or to visit a winery along the way. There are so many things that are not on a booking schedule or bus tour, all across Europe, that you just happen on to in your travels. For me, these are some of the most enjoyable activities and some of my most treasured memories.

French Champagne

Driving through the countryside in France, we happened on a champagne winery on the roadside and stopped in. There were 2 ladies there, one who spoke English and one who didn’t. The one who spoke English became our private guide to the converted monastery that had been producing champagne since the 1200’s! We obviously left there with a few bottles of the real thing, as we were in the Champagne region of France, which is the only place on earth that they make true Champagne.

England Day Trip

While in the Midlands of England, staying at the little crossroads village of Norton Disney, we planned a day trip to the market town of Bakewell. We also planned to stop in Sherwood Forest along the way. Nothing was booked, no scheduled itinerary, just a drive through the English countryside with a couple of stops along the way. Sherwood Forest was magnificent with it’s ancient oak trees all along the path to the largest and oldest, the Major Oak. Bakewell is famous for a happy accident that created the Bakewell pudding and Bakewell tart. Gram and I shared a Bakewell pudding, and it was unique and delicious.

Walking Tours in London

We learned that one walking tour per day is enough, and two is too many. I booked what I could in London for 2 days, giving us enough time to get to each event. Bad planning on my part.

I scheduled our Pub tour, which ran from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM. The Jack the Ripper tour from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM. After we finished walking around the City of London and then Whitechapel, we didn’t want to walk again for a week. We still had to get back across town to a 50 minute train ride back to Hook. Then we had to drive back to our stay. This turned out to be a very long day.

I would not have wanted to miss anything we did, it just would have been better if I had planned it for 2 days instead of one. The next morning we slept in and skipped a couple of things we had booked. We still went in to London, we just self guided ourselves using the Underground to get around, and did some really cool stuff on our own.

Put it all together and GO!

To plan your next (or first!) trip to Europe, book your flight, book your stays, add a few tours if you like, not too many, and by all means leave yourself some time to “stop and smell the roses” along the way. You will create memories of a lifetime!

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