Travelling to Europe – Finding The Best Deals
Carrying on my run of take over bloggers, today Pete from Household Money Saving, has some fantastic ideas for making sure when you’re travelling in the EU, you are getting the best deal possible.
The Pound has taken a hammering over the last year, but that doesn’t mean you have to spend a fortune travelling to mainland Europe. Discover how to find the best deals below.
Living in Europe, we have a unique advantage over most of the world. We are surrounded by countries rich with culture and heritage, all just an hour or two away. As Brits, we also have an added advantage that, nearly anywhere you go, you’ll be able to find an English speaker.
You don’t need to spend a fortune travelling to Europe, and the more you save on your journey, the more you have to spend when you arrive.
Flights
There are some amazing bargains to be found. You may remember the story of Jordan Cox who discovered it was cheaper to fly via Berlin on a trip from Sheffield to Essex, rather than travelling directly by train. He was able to find flights for around £10 each.
Take a look at some flight comparison sites such as Skyscanner.
Be flexible about the time you’re willing to fly and take a look at changing your departure and arrival airports. And you can potentially save even more money if you only take carry-on luggage with you.
Car
As we’re surrounded by water (for those of you who haven’t noticed), if you’re planning to take your car to the continent, you only have the choice of ferry or tunnel. The quickest crossings are from the South-East, but if you live nearer to places like Poole or Hull, it may be easier for you to travel from there. To find the best prices, use a comparison site like AFerry. Don’t be fooled by the name though, they also compare prices for the Channel Tunnel. Similar to flying, try to be flexible about the times you’re willing to travel to find the best price. Booking a crossing at night will often be cheaper.
Once you’ve found the best price, don’t click straight from the comparison site. Take a look at cashback sites like TopCashback and Quidco. The major ferry companies are listed and you’ll often receive around 5% back.
Unfortunately, Eurotunnel isn’t on cashback sites. However, if you’re a Tesco Clubcard holder, you can find a much better deal. LeShuttle is one of their boost partners, which means you can convert vouchers for 2x their worth.
Coach
Possibly the cheapest and most underused method of travel into Europe. FlixBus run a service from London Victoria (and a few extra sites) to many major cities in Europe for some very low prices. The cost of travelling to Paris starts at £23, Bruges £27 and Amsterdam £26. The coaches all have Air Con, free Wifi, power sockets, extra legroom, toilets, and you’re allowed to take two pieces of luggage – one onboard and one checked in.
I admit that it’s not the shortest of journeys, but it is certainly good value. And don’t forget to use a cashback site before booking your ticket.
Before you go…
Download the Navmii app for your smartphone. The app is free and acts as a decent SatNav. The best feature is that you can use it without it eating up your data. It’s a great addition if you’re discovering new places.
Take a look at how you plan to spend when you’re out in Europe. Nearly all debit cards charge you a fee every time you withdraw money, or you may be hit by poor exchange rates. Take a look at prepaid card such as the Revolut, or my personal favourite, the Halifax Clarity card.
And don’t forget…
It is worth looking out for an affordable data plan for Europe so you can keep all your friends and family on top of all the adventures you are having!
Happy travelling!
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It is always my dream to visit Europe. I can’t wait to apply these tips. They are really helpful. Thanks for sharing!
Hey, I recently went to Croatia backpacking up the coast, over it so much, learn’t a lot about travelling, actually used sky scanner also to get cheap flights, which was really helpful when you are a poor student! I haven’t used naomii before, I usually use google maps offline, but will have to try it next time i’m abroad. 🙂 Where do you plan to travel to next?
I am always using Skyscanner to compare flights and I’ve got huge discounts by using my Tesco club card points!
Great tips when it comes to travelling price comparisons is something I’ve not done its great to save where u can.
Some great tips, we found cheap flights to Malaga in March and weather was c35°
Great tips on saving while traveling…it can be so expensive so it’s important to save where you can!
I love the tips your shared! Very useful.
Great tips! I dream to one day visit Europe! My fiancé wants to go there for our honey moon so who know maybe in the future.
I definitely comparison shop when I plan a trip but I stay with the same airline as I have a great rewards program. Traveling can be costly so tips help.
I hope I get to travel to Europe someday! Saving money on the travel is one step toward that dream so thank you for these tips.
GREAT TIPS AS ALL HELPS WHEN TRAVELLING TO DIFFERENT PLACES
When finding good buys of airfare tickets, I also go with skyscanner to check out the prices.I don’t know yet about the Navmii and I guess it will really help, good thing it won’t eat up our data.
When I make it out to Europe again, I will definitely be keeping all of these things in mind. I didn’t know you could fly there so inexpensively. That’s awesome.
Wow some amazing traveling tips. I’m going to check out Halifax Clarity as an alternative to using debit cards and avoiding those fees.
These are all great tips for finding the best deals when traveling to Europe. I would love to travel some day to Europe so these are great apps and tips to check out for sure. Skyscanner is a site I have not heard of but will have to check out to compare different flights costs. Thanks for sharing the information.
Thanks for these super helpful tips! I have been wanting to plan a European vacation forEVER, and am going to check out some of your suggestions to see if it’s within my budget.
Perfect to start your jourey to europe !! skyscanner is the best to track lowest price ! !
Such great info! I’m all about saving where I can when we travel.
I travel quite often so I know some ins and outs. However, you truly taught me a few things today and I appreciate the info!
Having the roaming included since the 15th of June is such a money saver! I wish we would be living in a mainland instead of an island, could use our car to travel a lot more.
I would love to travel Europe someday. I hope to do it after my kids are grown.
I’ve wanted to visit here a few times but knew very little and got overwhelmed each time. Grateful for this advice!
I already been to Europe last year and it was actually awesome. Thanks for all your great tips. I like the idea of Coach!
These are awesome tips! Will definitely use these for our next travel! Thank you for sharing!
All this talk about Europe travel has me wanting to travel! I need to save and plan, but I just want to go now.
I often travel, and this list will be of great help for me on my next trips to Europe..:)
Such great tips you touched on there will definitely bookmark this for future reference..
This looks like such a great way to see Europe. Finding deals is even better!
Great tips -dont often go by coach but does save a fortune
There are many ways to save on flights. That is definitely especially true if you’re willing to be flexible. 🙂
I had no idea about Tesco Club card and Eurotunnel! I will definitely be using that the next time I plan on using the tunnel!
Using Price compare sites and topcash back can help x
These are amazing travel hacks for traveling in Europe! Didn’t know all these before – guess I’ll be saving money on my next Europe trip!
My husband and I are hoping to take our kids to Europe so we can see it as a family. I totally am bookmarking this. These are such awesome tips on finding a great deal. Thanks for sharing.
I have always wanted to go for some interesting tours to other countries around the world. Thanks to those great and useful tips, I will absolutely start with Europe first I have chance. It may help me save a lot of money. Thank you for sharing!
I hear Sam’s Club and Costco also have good travel deals for us U.S. citizens. Would love to go back to Europe someday!
Such awesome tips for traveling to Europe! My daughter just returned with her fiance from Italy, and we have about 10 other extended family members traveling in Europe right now. I love your tip about the Navmii app. I’m going to send a message to them about Navmii. Thanks so much for these great travel tips. 🙂
Great tips. We are planning a trip to Europe next year. This is very helpful.
I’ll keep this in mind. I haven’t been to Europe in so long and I hope to visit soon. Plus I’m all about finding deals!
I am going to Crete in October and definitely going to check topcashback on car deals! The flights and hotel are usually booked as a package deal for me!
I want to go to Europe so badly! Planning a trip for 2018 and these are great tips. Gonna check out this site. Thank you for sharing! 🙂
Leaving the country has always scared us because of finances… Saving money while in Europe always seemed impossible. You’ve laid out such a good plan. I’ll tuck this back for our next Vacation planning session!
I so love saving money when traveling. Does this app work for other places?
Now this is my type of blog. I love great travel deals. Right now I am stalking flights to Europe over the Thanksgiving holiday.
Thanks for the tips. Already living in Europe but about to go on holiday. All good transport wise. Just need accommodation ahah xx corinne
My husband and I are planning on taking the girls to Europe in a couple of years. These tips will really come in handy! Thank you!
I am all about finding the best deals when traveling. I also recommend looking for places with free days or hours, which many museums have. A lot of outside places are also free to visit.
My next trip is actually to AFRICA!! But I am sure Europe will be DEC 2018… So I will have to keep this blog post!
Thanks for these tips! Though my first trip to Europe will be next year of July, still this is very helpful to planning ahead.