Is there such a thing as an "Inexpensive European Vacation"?

[Papa Deuce]

Not counting the airfare.... but when I was in England many years ago, it was VERY EXPENSIVE, almost $2 for each English pound.

My wife is hinting at a European vacation next year with our kids....

This isn't my choice for a place to go, so at least I would like to keep costs down.

 

[teacups]

The cheapest "European Vacation" that I know of is on VHS and stars Chevy Chase. Maybe she'll be happy with that.

 

[chloelovesdisney]

Traveling around Europe doesn't have to be all that expensive. Choose a less popular time of year, price flights for different countries/cities, eat like the locals do, and don't stay at four star hotels. I priced airfare in and out of Zurich for the same exact dates we are going to Disney - Aug. 14 - 23, and it was $428 roundtrip including tax and all fees. That's not much more than we paid for our flights to Orlando.

I've planned several trips to Europe by where I could get the best flight deals, and just kept plugging away with different cities. I was pretty open to location as I am interested in traveling all over.

I've bid on hotels on Priceline in majors cities like Amsterdam, Brussels and Madrid and gotten excellent deals on four star hotels. If you bid on two or three star hotels you will do even better. Plus, then you pay in dollars, not Euros. I've also gotten good deals on hotels on expedia.com. Often times, breakfast is included.


Most major cities have tourist passes that you can buy for either 24 hours, 48 hours, or 72 hours. They often include all local transportation, admission to most or all museums, a walking tour, a boat tour if one is available, and other tourist type things. If you only do one or two things then it's not necessarily a good deal, but if you a do lot than you save, plus you can budget ahead for the cost of the passes.


If you want to go from one city to another that is a long distance, check the prices of commuter planes like Ryanair or EasyJet. I needed to get from Amsterdam to Basel and it was much quicker and cheaper to take a one hour flight then the train.

Check out Rick Steves books for information, he offers a lot of moneysaving tips.

It is possible to go to Europe and keep it within a decent budget. My friend and her boyfriend just went to Paris and stayed in Montmartre (sp?) a less popular location for tourists, so they saved on the hotel. They only took the subway or walked, no taxis. They bought baguettes, cheese, ham and wine in the grocery stores and had inexpensive picnics. Their breakfast was included in the room. Sure they paid to get into Versailles and the Louvre, but overall they kept their costs within reason.

 

[Floridagal23]

Another thing to look into is a cruise. We cruise regularly, usually eastern carib itinerary new year's or christmas - we're used to sticker shock. This was really inexpensive compared to those trips and we got airline tickets free with points (first class). Coach tickets were ranging in the 1100-1400 range per ticket or 90,000 points when we booked a few months out. My friend just told me about cruises on royal caribbean starting at 599 (which is not what we paid, but we had a suite).

Your food is included, but excursions (and lunch out, for most of them) will not be included. But - admission to the sights, etc - will be included in your tours, for the most part. We thought it was a good value and had a great time!

 

[Papa Deuce]

A cruise is an option.... we have been talking about going on one for a few years, but for some reason she seems to be wanting to do Europe next.... She lived in England for a year....

 

[diznygirl]

Disneyland Paris!




(Hey, it's a Disney message board! )

 

[Liberty Belle]

Here's a great package to Ireland right now. I'd definitely do it, if we could afford it. Maybe next year.

http://travelc.priceline.com/priceb...0a2103010a20090724032135DEDf01478619&plf=PCLN

 

[Katy Belle]

We have seen a lot of Europe, with our kids. We never manage to do it cheaply We like to see/do as much as we can. We travel to several cities in each country. I do know people that stay at one place the whole time. Some people rent a flat in a city, others stay at a farm in Italy and just see things within a few hours driving distance. This cuts your lodging costs down a bunch, as opposed to two rooms per night in a 4 or 5 star hotel.

Rick Steves is a big fan of doing things cheaply, start there.

Good luck!
Katy

 

[Papa Deuce]

Here's a great package to Ireland right now. I'd definitely do it, if we could afford it. Maybe next year.

http://travelc.priceline.com/priceb...0a2103010a20090724032135DEDf01478619&plf=PCLN

Ireland is one area I would like to see..... too early maybe too start looking at prices. I'm just trying to see if it can be done at a reasonable price.

 

[bellebuzzntink]

It takes a LOT more planning, but it can be done.

 

[shortbun]

A cruise is an option.... we have been talking about going on one for a few years, but for some reason she seems to be wanting to do Europe next.... She lived in England for a year....

Cruise Europe PD! Med cruises, Scandanavian cruises, Cruises on the rivers of Europe. All meals, accomodations and transportation included. These days Med cruises are a good deal. Check into it.

 

[Papa Deuce]

Cruise Europe PD! Med cruises, Scandanavian cruises, Cruises on the rivers of Europe. All meals, accomodations and transportation included. These days Med cruises are a good deal. Check into it.

I guess you start in England? I think I would love a cruise except for one thing... I like to spend real time at places, not just a few hours.

When we went to England we were there 8 days, and sadly, only about 8 hours in London.

 

[pogo791]

Papa Deuce, you could also start by figuring out what your major expenses would be, and seeing how they could be cut. (This is pretty much the approach Chloelovesdisney is talking about - "Choose a less popular time of year, price flights for different countries/cities, eat like the locals do, and don't stay at four star hotels.") The two biggest expenses tend to be travel and accommodation, but the smaller expenses can easily add up.

I'll assume you are not thinking of a specific destination, but about Europe in general, and that you are thinking of staying one to two weeks. As a general rule - and pardon the simplification - England, Switzerland and the Nordic countries are the most expensive places in Europe to visit, France, the Benelux countries, Germany and Austria the second tier in expense, the Mediterranean countries (Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece) the third tier, and southeast Europe (Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzogivina) the cheapest. And within a country, the cities are more expensive that the countryside. In England, for example, it makes a lot of difference if you are talking about London or Cornwall.

Airfare? Trawl the internet, there are all kinds of good deals. Be flexible about when and where in Europe you are going. Even a factor such as whether you fly over on a weekend or in the middle of the week makes a difference.

Travel within Europe? It's cheaper to select just one (cheap) destination and stay there, but this is up to you. If you do travel around, look at the possibility of interrail passes. Renting a car can easily become expensive, but the smaller, local rent-a-car agencies can give you good deals - and, at the same time, you can get away from the big cities which tend to be more expensive.

Accommodation? Yes, "don't stay at four star hotels" is a good rule, although many of them are now so desparate for guests that they have slashed prices. Again, internet can get you good deals. DW and I have stayed in ridiculously cheap hotels in Rome, for example, that were perfectly adequate. But you could also get creative. Bed-and-breakfast deals in England, Ireland, Germany and Croatia in particular can be spectacularly cheap, and very comfortable. Staying outside of the tourist hot spots in France and Italy - for example in small towns - or visiting some of the marvelous paradors in Spain can get you a lot of bang for your buck.

Meals? The traveller's basic rule of thumb: on the Continent, any restaurant near a tourist destination (museum, palace, historical sight, whatever) that advertises a special "menu turistico" in English could just as well have a neon sign saying "don't eat here". Same thing with high-pressure tactics: any restaurant that has staff outside trying to pull you in is a restaurant to stay away from. A trite but true rule is to check first whether most of the people in the restaurant look like tourists (are they carrying a well-read Lonely Planet guide? Do they have a camera dangling around their neck?). If the answer is yes, forget it. If the diners look like locals, give it a try.

When it comes to things like meals and other day-to-day living expenses (such as that beer that tastes so good after trampling all around the Forum Romanum, or the Prado, or the Acropolis), what I said about differences in price levels counts a lot. I've paid five bucks for a beer in London, and fifty cents in Madrid. (The Madrid beer tasted far, far better.)

All in all, a visit to Europe can be cheaper that touring the world in Epcot. Whether or not it is as much fun is a matter of personal preference.

 

[The Orchid]

Well, I don't know a whole lot about these things. I did to go Denmark twice. I found the hotels to be very expensive, but I found vacation homes to be shockingly cheap! I rented a very nice house that could sleep up to eight people complete with a jetted bathtub big enough for two and a swimming pool for what turned out to be about 400 for the entire week! Now I did go in the off season and it is a lot more in the summer. But I was very impressed with that. I know that in Denmark there are a zillion vacation homes, so they are very competitive with the prices. I have no idea what it is like in the rest of Europe, but I would look into that for sure.

I have also made use of bed and breakfast places. I LOVED that experience. Man, that is great. You get a really comfortable room, a nice breakfast to get you going in the morning, and what I loved the most about this is that I got to meet new people and really chit chat and kinda live the culture. When you stay at a hotel, you just don't get that. The bed and breakfast I stayed at most frequently was $50 a night. It was a beautiful log cabin home in a wonderful neighborhood. So freakin' cozy! A really sweet Norwegian lady ran the place. I went there two different years and when I went back the second time, she treated me like family. It was such a pleasure to stay there. I would definitely recommend B&B places. So much fun!

Rental cars are EXPENSIVE. Holy moly. If you can do without, that is much better. Many areas in Europe have fantastic public transportation and that is loads cheaper. Honestly, the rental car cost more than the total of the everything else I spent there combined (not counting the plane ticket). It's just crazy! The second time I went, I used their wonderful public transportation (and made a few friends for doing it!).

Oh wow, suddenly I really miss Denmark. I guess I shall have to start planning another trip.

 

[NHdisneylover]

Papa Deuce--IF you want to stay in one area for a week (I recommend it--most nice places have plenty to see to keep you entertained for a week and it will be mUCH cheaper this way) do NOT get a hotel. Rent a vacation home. They are generally much cheaper than hotels, bigger, offer you a kitchen (eating out here--especially the cost of drinks with not even water being free and no refills on anything) can really add up. You can google holiday rentals or holiday lettings and your country of choice and fins some good websites (or PM and I will send you who we work with the most). MANY European hotels (nearly all the reasonable ones) only have room that sleep 2-3 people so witha fmaily you have to get two rooms and that adds up.

Once you have a house, look into the city cards a previous poster talked about as well as specials for tourists on public transit, etc. Here is an example of a reasonable vacation we are taking next month with my in laws (6 people):

We have a lovely 3 bedroom beach home in Denmark reseverved for the week (sat-sat). The home has abog kitchn and BBQ outside on the terrace as well as a washer and drier and 4 bikes available for our use (Denamrk is really well set up for bikers). The home is about an hour from Copenhagen (via public transit) and on the Island of North Zealand (where we will spend all of our time). we are paying 700 Euros for the week (this includes all taxes and fees and linens). We plan to have breakfast and dinner at home (one dinner out) and pack lunches most days.
We will rent two extra bikes for a total of 80 Euro for the week.
We will buy the 72 hour Coenhagen card and have a plan of what to do while it is active to see as much of what we want in that time which it includes as possible.
In the end we figured out we will spend aproximately 120 Euro per adult and 60 Euro for each of hte two kids (nice hting is my 12year old still gets kid pricing there) for ALL of our admissions and public transit (including the Copenhagen card). We are going to be doing a LOT of stuff:
Viking Museum
History museum in a Fjord town
Two very different churches
touring the current royal visiting chambers
Tivoili amuesment park
canal tour of Copenhagen
Touring fortress syle castle Hamlet is set in and then taking the ferry to Sweden to tour its twin
touring a palace
top notch modern art museum
maritime history museum
beach day
clock tower
Danish history museum (with big hands on chidlrens section)
visit to Karen Blixen Estate

The above is what I can remember off the top of my head. I think I am missing one or two things. The point is we can do and see a lot (and a big variety) without spending too much money--but we (okay I!) had to plan to make that happen.

So the cost per person for the week for lodging, enertaiment and transportation on the gorund works out to less than 250 Euro for the week. We know groceries are expensive so I figure we need to plan on spending more on that than we would at home (I am planning double jsut in case but it shouldn't be that bad). Disney with free dining is cheaper--but this is still cheaper than lots of U.S. vacations we have done (and Denmark is a pricey destinantion for Europe).

Good luck and enjoy planning. It is my favourite hobby

 

[dismom2]

It's all in what you want to do. You can get deals on any trip---I always do a lot of research, on many internet sites, and I go to the library or buy books. I also recommend Rick Steves. He has a lot of great videos---one of them is just for trip planning. Bed and Breakfasts are wonderful. You might need two rooms if you are taking the kids, so that might get expesive in itself.

London has a lot of free museums, and Rome has a lot of things to see that don't cost money, either (but I'm sure if you travel there you will want to see the things that cost money, too!!). London Walks has inexpensive walking tours, or you could plan your own walking tours---just arm yourself with some good guide books. Train prices can add up, but the tube is inexpensive. I suppose you should just research each place you want to go and see how much each place costs, and see what there is to do for free. It can be as expensive or inexpensive as you make it. We try to save on eating out in Europe. I know in Rome they charge you to sit down at a table, so you might want to do 'take-away' with your meals.

#1 advise----do tons of research and you can make it happen. I also would rather not do a cruise, as you only have so much time in ports to sight see. Good luck!

 

[shortbun]

I guess you start in England? I think I would love a cruise except for one thing... I like to spend real time at places, not just a few hours.

When we went to England we were there 8 days, and sadly, only about 8 hours in London.

For 'real' time, you get an apartment in three cities and spend 5 or 6 days in each area. It's a wonderful way to travel with young children as they appreciate having a base and breakfast can be eaten very inexpensively as well as dinner if you find a local grocery. I've always loved staying in neighborhoods as opposed to hotels. I feel meeting the real people of a country or city gives one so much more cultural awareness. You have to be very careful about location and proximity to public transportation or you end up doing all the walking the kids can stand just getting to and from the bus or train. I'd be careful about Rick Steves as his books give the places he recommends an artificial lift in popularity and sometimes in price. I've heard over and over again about his hotels being run down and over priced a few years after getting recommended by him. A friend just returned from his honeymoon and told me that an Italian mountain village he read about in Steves was over run with tourists and impossible to enjoy so beware. Not saying Steves is wrong when he writes but just that all the tourists ruin the charm. Btw, I like Lets Go Europe which is intended for college age students going on the cheap. It usually has great restaurant recommendations and although the accomodations are very basic and probably not for you, the food would be excellent for a family-normally local and hearty. When choosing a travel guide, it's sometimes nice to sit down with the book first in a coffee shop environment(Barnes and Noble) prior to purchasing it. Read a few sections to make sure it's got the kind of information you're seeking. There are apartments available all over Europe. Do a search and the rental agencies come up easily. Not many hotels have rooms to sleep four so apartments offer better choices in that regard as well-privacy, home base, economy in meals and good times with the locals. I LOVE laundramats!!! One of my favorite days in London was taken while doing laundry.

 

[NMAmy]

One thing I've always wanted to do is to rent a National Trust holiday cottage in England or Scotland. They have a website and the prices are quite reasonable for a week during the off-season.

We always stay with family when we go but I think for our next trip, DH and I will be spending a short time with family and heading off to Scotland to stay in one of these on our own.

 

[MichelleinMaine]

I guess you start in England? I think I would love a cruise except for one thing... I like to spend real time at places, not just a few hours.

When we went to England we were there 8 days, and sadly, only about 8 hours in London.

I agree with you on staying longer in a place. FYI, the cruises though- I think folks are referring to cruising the Med. Sea. Friends recently went, left from Italy and went around Greece, Turkey... to Egypt. I know others go the other way around Med.

 

[luvmy3jewels]

I'm planning a "suprise" trip for dh to Ireland in March. Dh recently made the mistake of telling me that is the one place in Europe he's always wanted to go . I found a great package that includes airfare, hotel, and breakfast every morning.

The time of year can greatly impact prices, so if I were you, I would research the cheapest times to go. Also, I have found that flights to Europe tend to be much cheaper if you fly out of a major airport (JFK, Boston, Dulles, Atlanta, Chicago) than at a smaller one.

Although this next trip is just dh and I, I'm planning on taking the kids to Europe in a couple of years when they get a little older. We will probably try to rent a condo or home and stay at min. of two weeks to maximize the experience.

I think the exchange rate for Euros vs. dollars is better now than it was a couple of years ago (please someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Good luck with your plans!!