Travelling to Europe? Where to find good deals?

Phasen

My gf and I want to travel to Europe this summer, mainly to Rome, and were trying to find where good deals are located. I know of kayak and have done some cursory searches on the internet. Her parents wanted to use cosmos.com but it is proving to be a bit out of our price range. Additionally my gf is a teacher and we know of some deals on statravel.com.

Any other suggestions? Thanks.

V1m

Easyjet do a lot of very cheap European flights, especially if you're starting from the UK and can book well in advance.

Aldo

Within Europe EasyJet, RyanAir, Air Berlin and NIKI are budget airlines which might be a great way to reduce your travel time. However, if you want to see more of the landscape I can recommend international trains. Unlike the USA, the train network in Europe is a lot more dense with more trains going to more locations. If you are planning on visiting a lot of cities an InterRail Pass will save you a lot of money.

When flying from and to Europe you'll be on a plane for many hours and it might be worthwhile to spend a few bucks extra to have a direct flight with a decent airline like KLM, Air France, Lufthansa, United Airlines etcetcetc...

I don't know anything about planned trips as I usually just do stuff solo until I'm bored. So maybe someone else can help you with that.

BlindZenDriver

momondo.com is a great site for airplane travel tickets.

Also a warning about Ryanair. Some say there cheap and you get what you pay for but with them I'd say you get less than what you pay!

You mention going mainly to Rome and I think that is a great way of thinking. Many come to Europe thinking they can do the whole thing in three weeks and that is a big mistake. Europe is a huge place with more than thirty countries and I recommend spending at least a week in each city you visit and more is better.

japan

If you're using Ryanair/Easyjet check where the airport they're flying you to actually is. They have a habit of using small, regional airports that are sometimes a considerable distance from the city they supposedly serve.

For instance Rome Ciampino airport is 10 miles outside Rome, and the buses (which are your only option unless someone can meet you there) will probably cost more than the flight. Another example is Dusseldorf-Weeze, which is 43 miles from Dusseldorf. It's actually closer to The Netherlands than it is to Dusseldorf.

They're also incredibly strict on baggage allowances (weight and size) and the fees for outsize or overweight bags tend to be very expensive.

There's a good guide to European rail at http://seat61.com/ (though it's UK-focussed). In particular you might be interested in the section about Eurail passes, assuming you're from the US. Interail passes are only available to citizens of participating European countries.

Shazkar Shadowstorm

to search the budget airlines use: http://www.skyscanner.com

Works awesome

You can even be like, search from Rome to... anywhere

and it will show you what's cheap

Wezoin

My advice? Get to the UK then fly from there. A flight to continental Europe from the UK can be like £20 - £50, and a flight to the UK vs a flight to continental Europe from North America is a pretty massive savings.

If you're in Canada, cheapest flight to UK is through Air Transat. In the states not really sure but I believe Kayak and Expedia list most of the cheap US airlines. Once in the UK, Easyjet/Monarch/Ryanair/theres a few others will get you to Rome on the cheap.

Phasen

Thanks for the info everyone!