Cheapest way to go to Europe?

KLM has good deals sometimes once in a while via Amsterdam, will send you a link once I get an email from them.

For the best experience try flying to France via Singapore Airlines on the A380, they will have flights starting this June

and try going around Sept or October, December will be very very cold there.

 

Haha, watch the eurotrip movie and get some pointers my friend.

 

cheapest flights to paris are $1000 taxes included. youll save a lot if you go backpacking rather than joining the usual packaged tours.

i wouldnt go there in the middle of winter for obvious reasons.

 

if this is your first trip to europe and want to make the best out of your trip..meaning, see as much as you can for the littlest amount of money, i suggest you look into tours. contiki is a pretty good one because it's packaged specifically for young(er) travelers..i think you have to be between 18-35(?). anyway, they have different packages that focus of different parts of europe; meron for northern europe, another one that's spain-portugal-greece-ibiza-based..etc.

if you are traveling alone, this is a good way to meet friends from different countries too!

 

Discounts and a lot more...

If you're a student / teacher, you could get an International Student / Teacher Identity Card. If you're under 26 years old, an International Youth Travel Card will do.

http://www.isic.org/sisp/index.htm?fx=istc_info

 

@ ako_si_Mac: I used to study in Madrid and I got my card there.

Check out the museum hours as well, as you could get in for free.

And you should go to Spain...you won't regret it. Take your lunch at 2pm to feel like a local.

 

Sorry for adding my own question but I got really intrigued by this part about being subsidized by a courier service. What does this mean? Is there indeed such a thing locally? Now I know you don't mean stuffing yourself inside a balikbayan box...

 

@nre: In the past (not sure how common it is now), flying courier meant that you'd have a cheaper ticket to your destination. The only catch is, you can't check in any luggage. All you have with you is your carry-on. The weight/space normally allotted to your check-in luggage is used by the courier service for their freight/cargo.

 

Getting to Europe via KLM is usually the cheapest. And since your point of entry is Amsterdam, most low cost airlines fly there. If you book early enough on airlines like EasyJet and RyanAir, you can get really good deals.

I remember I flew once from London to Milan via Ryan Air for 27 euros roundtrip, everything included. The flight was at 430am though but I didn't really care.

You can constantly get good deals from these airlines though. It's just a matter of subscribing to their newsletter and checking their websites constantly.

 

Wow. Inggit ako. I'm too old to be traveling about Europe like that.

 

You can also check this website for good deals when you are in Europe already. www.lastminute.com

When I was in London I used that extensively to get around the neighboring countries.

Have fun

 

I partially agree with you on this. I went solo on a Contiki tour last year that covered 9 countries in 18 days. The pace can get quite tiring. We were out clubbing or bar hopping almost every night 'til 4-6AM and have to be on the bus or on a city tour by 7 or 8AM. You spend an average of 2 days per city and don't really get to "immerse" in it. You do however see all the highlights of each place you visit and the tour guide gives you a pretty good introduction of the place you're about to arrive at while in the bus before you reach your destination... pretty much like those travel show hosts on TV. History channel, E! parties, and language coach all rolled into one. I met a lot of new friends on my tour and had a very good time. It's definitely worth it only if you have the right expectations. You have to know what it is and what it's not and whether it's for you before you sign up or else you will be disappointed... and a couple of thousand dollars poorer.

If you ask me if i'll do it again, I'll probably not. It's good only if you're doing europe for the first time and don't want the hassle of planning everything yourself. It was more of a sampler plate of europe. You just see all the highlights and helps you decide what you want to go back to later on. It is also not true that it's the cheapest way to do europe either but at least it's more or less a fixed amount and is more predictable than making expensive mistakes when you're there already. If you wanna do europe at your own pace, you might wanna check out Bus-about. Just google it.

To answer your question - I just bought tickets to Germany from Qatar airways for $940 two days ago. That's all in already. Airport fee na lang babayaran mo. I think they fly to Paris as well. Cheaper than KLM. The only thing I don't like about Qatar airways is their airport. Pag matagal ang stop over mo, mamamatay ka sa inip. There's nothing to do there. The seats all have armrests so you cant sleep flat. The restarants suck. There's wifi tho so make sure you bring your laptop to kill time. Oh and another thing, there's usually a certain smell in the plane so just pray that the source isn't from the seat next to you.

@Ako_si_mac - How old are you? What kind of passport do you hold? If it's Philippine, You have to factor in Visa processing costs... I spent about 20k just to get all the visas and stuff. If it's just France then that's just a Schengen Visa. I would suggest staying in Schengen states since a UK visa application is already around 6-7k. The only drawback is that they (Schengen) most of the time give 30 day visas only... Assuming your purpose is tourism of course. Also, if you're planning to stay there for months and find work there to finance your stay, good luck on the visa application. you'll need it.

HTH

 

Ah I see. Thanks! I learned something new today!

 

I highly recommend Qatar Airways as price and service are both good (got "promo" business class tickets at $200 more than KLM economy). Plus they often have Pinay flight attendants who are usually very helpful towards other Pinoys. The only thing I dislike was not being able to eat any pork dish during the flight hehe (think lamb sausage or lamb bacon...).

KLM is alright since they are the one left who flies to Europe direct. But expect to arrive in the evening and if you need to take a connecting flight, you will arrive around midnight and public transport might be inconvenient in some places.

I've never had a chance to travel to Europe purely on vacation so I've never joined a tour group before.

But unless you plan to travel to Europe often, I will still recommend you take a "grand" European tour at least during your first time. Transport cost over there is very high so having a shuttle bus to take you everywhere saves you alot of time which is equivalent to money. In my opinion, there are just too many nice places to visit and one day is enough to have a good feel especially on the smaller cities/towns.