Travelers who have been planning a trip to Europe should know that there are always deals to be found if they do a little homework. Now may be the perfect time to plan a European vacation. By carefully researching airfares, hotel prices, and vacation deal packages, travelers can take advantage of savings offered through some of the top travel agencies along with discounts offered by budget travel services.
Orbitz
Orbitz features travel deals to top European destinations such as Dublin, Paris, London, Rome, and Amsterdam. The site has a real-time pricing and booking engine that constantly updates the prices, so travelers always have the most current pricing information. All vacation packages are priced based on two adults in one room and include rates for 3 or 4-night stays, two round-trip tickets, and applicable taxes. Converted rates based on the current day’s exchange rates are provided for the customer’s convenience, but the hotel will charge travelers in the local currency. Prices will vary according to date of departure, length of stay, departure city, hotel room choice and availability. Rates for travel deals to these popular European destinations vary from the $800 range to the $1200 range. The site also offers last minute booking hotel deals for some destinations, offering discounts of up to 50 percent.
KAYAK
KAYAK allows visitors to search for European vacation deals and displays the top three results. Just choose the destination along with the arrival and departure dates and the top vacation deals are displayed. They also offer a free mobile application for users. The prices given are per person and include hotel stay and flight. Taxes and other fees may not be included in the price. Prices are quoted in USD. One advantage to using KAYAK is that once a flight is selected, the customer is taken straight to the airline’s website. KAYAK also offers a flexible date search tool giving travelers the broadest choices of routes and airports that are available for their trip.
Travelocity
Travelocity offers a similar service to KAYAK for European vacation deals, but results can be sorted by the cheapest package, closest match, or shortest flight. This may be important to travelers whose top priority is not pricing, but convenience. Travelocity provides all the flight details, including arrival and departure times, and stops made during the flight. Searches for travel deals can be refined by star rating, area, and amenities desired. Some fees such as baggage fees, optional hotel charges, and extra person fees are not included in the quoted price. Travelocity offers booking deals for selected locations for booking hotels and flights at the same time. These discounts can sometimes add up to hundreds of dollar’s worth of savings.
Trip Advisor
On Trip Advisor, customers find helpful information about planning a trip to the European destination of their choice. Once the customer chooses a vacation, they are taken to a page which shows the best airfare prices to the destination, top-rated hotels, bed and breakfast locations, and vacation rentals; along with the best-rated things to do at their European destination. The site also provides traveler photos, videos, maps, restaurant reviews, and travel guides. When clicking on “hotel deals” the customer is taken to a page where he can choose dates and rates from different travel agencies including Expedia.com, Booking.com, Venere.com, agoda.com, EasyToBook.com, and Hotels.com. This makes it easy to compare hotel rates from several different travel agencies and choose the best deal.
Venere
Travelers may be able to find European hotels through Venere that are not advertised on American travel sites. This is because many of these are small properties that are locally owned. Customers seeking to find an alternative to the regular choices offered by hotel chains will be pleasantly surprised with the choices offered here. They offer accommodations to bed and breakfast locations, apartments, and hotels in more than 130 countries. Travelers can read hotel reviews provided by verified guests. First, the customer chooses a destination. Results can be sorted by price, star rating, or guest rating. For each location, Venere provides a description, contact information, star rating, photos, customer reviews, and a map showing the location. Some of the rooms are surprising affordable with rates starting as low as $40 per night.
With smart planning and a little research, it is possible to plan a European vacation without going broke. By choosing a few select locations to visit, travelers can research vacation packages offered by travel agencies and find one that fits their budget. Planning a trip during the off-season will yield even greater discounts to the top European vacation destinations.
