Ibis has nearly 700 properties in about 20 European countries. They have a loyalty card program and a permanent “special offers” page on their website. A quick check of room prices found for a 2-night October weekend stay in Berlin, prices ranged from 49 EUR – 99 EUR a night; they have 10 hotels in Berlin. That same weekend in Vienna would cost between 64 EUR and 72 EUR in one of their 3 hotels.

easyJet, easyCruise and easyHotel; the easy empire is spreading. For a great price, you’ll get a teeny tiny room, private bathroom, no housekeeping and one towel per person. However, prices are great – especially considering most of the hotels are in excellent city center locations. Book ahead though, I’ve tried on a couple of occasions to get a room at one of these, and haven’t been able to. And even though their website seems to offer lots of cities; they are partnered with Octopus Travel and you’ll get booted to their website if there isn’t an easyHotel in your select city; or one available for your chosen dates.

The UK unfortunately is one of the priciest countries to visit, but you may be able to cut your sleeping costs by checking in to Premiere Inn. They have more than 500 properties in Britain, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Ireland. Our October weekend in Blackpool would be 154 GBP, while staying in London Kensington would cost 214 GBP.

Have you tried any of these, or a different, European chain hotel? Please share your experience!

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Edinburgh has a cool vibe with lots of attractions, both cultural and natural. Their bus system is topnotch, making it simple to find your way around – and the main sights in the city’s old town can all be covered on foot. For accommodation, Scottish bed and breakfasts are superb. Cozy rooms, welcoming owners and a made-to-order breakfast are typical for most Scottish guest houses. And you’ll need a warm and filling breakfast to keep you going throughout your long, possibly cool and rainy day. Yes, the weather may be something to contend with in Edinburgh, but think of it as atmospheric. To find B&B’s check Bed and Breakfasts or one of the tourist bureaus listed below.

Culture buffs will be thrilled with the number of Edinburgh’s museums that have permanent free entry. Check out the Museum of Edinburgh, Museum of Childhood, National Gallery of Scotland, Royal Museum and the Writer’s Museum, just to name a few. The permanent collections are always free; you may have to pay for any temporary exhibits being shown. Other free attractions include the Royal Botanic Garden, Scottish Parliament and St.Giles Cathedral. One may wonder what you will have to pull out your wallet for. Well, Edinburgh Castle isn’t free (12 GBP) and is a little pricey. It is perched on a big, rocky hill but you can wander the gardens below for free. Also walking the Royal Mile is of course free, and you’ll see most of the photograph-able sites. If the weather is cooperative, and you feel like stretching your legs, take a walk up to Arthur’s Seat located just out of the center in Queens’ Park next to Holyrood House. To find out what’s on when you are in Edinburgh, visit The Oracle a website dedicated to listing free events in Edinburgh. How cool is that?

Another cool way to see the city (which has quite a ghostly reputation) is on a night tour. These usually run in the 10 GBP range, but are well-worth it for getting a unique perspective on Edinburgh at night. And for free, check out New Edinburgh Tours which offers free, three hour walking tours of the city. Edinburgh is festival central. There is always something or another going on – check Edinburgh’s Festivals for what’s happening when you are in town.

For more information check the Scotland Tourist Board or the Edinburgh Tourist Board. Next week – Berlin!

Photo Credit: Extra Medium@Flickr

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You may have heard about the collapse of transatlantic budget airline Zoom. People were stranded on both sides of the Atlantic, with little or no assistance from the airline. About two dozen airlines have shutdown so far this year; and no airline is promoting a rosy outlook. In expectation of more collapses, International Passenger Protection is a UK insurance company that provides protection for its policyholders in case their travel company goes under. Policies start at 5 GBP for 30 days of coverage, which would provide you with replacement flights should your airline go bust while your policy is valid.

A British jury has found three men guilty in a plot that has drastically changed the way we all fly. In the summer of 2006, British authorities stopped a terrorist plan to blow up aircraft using liquid explosives. This led to a brief ban on bringing any type of liquid into the cabin, and the regulations, while they have been loosened, are still felt today. The men have been found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder. The jury failed to reach a decision on the fate of four additional co-conspirators.

Airline ever lost your luggage? Well, some of them seem to be losing some more important items. United Airlines recently “misplaced” an unaccompanied minor that was under their care. The 10-year-old girl was allowed off the plane, unescorted, upon arrival in Dulles. Luckily, a kind stranger located her and brought her to a United ticket counter for help. And American Airlines lost a corpse, for four days, and then upon locating it – tired to charge the grieving widower to have the body flown to the correct location. After realizing it was their fault, the airline reversed the charge.

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You can still attend a beer fest in Germany this year – just head to Stuttgart September 27-October 12 for the Cannstatt Beer Festival. This is actually billed as the world’s largest folk festival and besides beer, they’ll also have amusement rides, a craft fair and fireworks.

Over in Belgium you can visit Festival Bruxellensis September 13-14. Their motto: We only feature characterful beers. In the past, they’ve only offered Belgium brews, but this year have thrown open the barrel to brewers from France, Finland, Spain, England and Germany. A tasting glass is 3 EUR and beer tokens are 1.20 EUR each. Pop over the Channel to England and you can visit the Northwich Beer Festival in Northwich, England. Held September 19-20, organizers promise more than 70 beers and ciders from around the UK. Tickets start as low as 3 GBP and includes entrance, program and commemorative glass. The next weekend, September 26-27, head over to Ascot for the Ascot Beer Festival. More than 125 beers, lagers and ciders will be available as well as horse racing as this event is held at the Ascot race course. Tickets start at 10 GBP. There seems to be a beer festival nearly every weekend during September and October in England; the Campaign for Real Ale association has a list.

The European Beer Festival is September 12-14 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Tickets start at 100 DKK for one day and events include the Copenhagen Open, a Europe-wide brewing club contest. And beer: more than 2,000 beers from more than 450 breweries. Nearby in Amsterdam, they’ll be holding the PINT Bokbierfestival October 24-26. More than 50 Belgium and Dutch brewers are expected to be there.

Photo Credit: a4gpa@Flickr

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If it’s a taste of Italy you are in the mood for check Europe Destinations. They have a Rome-Florence-Venice package starting at 635 USD that includes roundtrip airfare from New York City, hotels in each of the three cities and train travel between them.

If it’s some German beer you’ve got a taste for, Lufthansa has an Oktoberfest sale on to Munich and Hanover (home of the world’s second largest Oktoberfest festival.) Travel period is September 1-October 26 and again December 12-24, which is perfect if you are thinking about holiday markets. Prices start at 292 USD.

Iceland Air has a sale on, and not just to Iceland. Destinations include Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Glasgow and of course, Reykjavik. Best prices are out of Boston; to Reykjavik starts at 694 USD and to Copenhagen from 752 USD.

American is running a sale to London Heathrow; prices start at 552 USD from New York, 662 USD from Chicago and 848 USD from San Francisco, but lots of other departure cities are available.

If London isn’t really the place you want to go – check Sky Europe. They are running another buy 1 ticket, get 1 free and have a pretty good destination reach across the continent.

Most of these fares are good for travel now through late fall and as always, book quick!

Photo Credit: davipt@Flickr

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Here’s a jumbled round-up of recent airline/airfare news:

Ryanair. We wrote about them in our Airfare Alerts 2 post. They’ve always been a bit persnickety but have now announced they won’t be honoring any tickets booked through third-party websites. That means if you’ve booked a flight on Ryanair through BravoFly, V-tours, Opodo, Atrapalo or OTBeach, you’d better contact them, or Ryan Air directly, to find out the status of your ticket. And apparently, Ryanair won’t be an option anymore or these, or other multiple booking sites.

Best Fares has a cool consolidator sale running. Offered deals are pretty good, especially if you are flexible. One example is roundtrip airfare to over 30 destinations starting at 529 USD. They have this for both fall travel (September 1 through October 29) and winter getaways which stretches all the way to March 31, 2009. If you do get a whim to pop over to Europe last minute, you should check Best Fares first. They are currently showing roundtrip airfares, all taxes and fees included for destinations like Phoenix to Madrid (879 USD) Los Angeles to Paris (1,056 USD) and Chicago to London (913 USD.) The kicker? You have to travel between August 18 and 31, this year.

And last up is some package deals from Sherman’s Travel. This is for late fall trips – you must travel between November 1 and December 11. Offerings include flight and hotel to Prague from 799 USD; Rome from 949 USD and Amsterdam and Brussels from 1,219 USD. All trips are for 6 nights, and departures are from the East coast, most likely Newark or New York.

Photo Credit: kevbo1983@Flickr

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Obviously, this option is a bit more limited. I haven’t found a boat to whisk me from Prague to Barcelona. But if you are on the outskirts of the continent, this might be a handy, cost-effective and interesting way to move about. Let’s start south, near Italy and Greece. Many moons ago I took an overnight ferry between the two countries, and it was quite excruciating. Sixteen hours and I wanted to cry with boredom. Sleeping really didn’t occur. After that rousing endorsement, look into Superfast Ferries. They have a boat that departs from Ancona, Italy at 6pm and lands you in Igoumenitsa, Greece at 10am the next morning. Choosing “aircraft type seats” the price for a one-way trip would be 178 EUR for two people.

The British Isles are an excellent starting place for a visit to other European countries. Stena Line offers ferry combined with train rides between London and Amsterdam. You’ll start in London, train it to the coast, head across the sea, and after landing be about an hour and a half away from Amsterdam. Leaving at 8:30pm from central London, you’ll arrive in central Amsterdam at 10:30am the next day. Prices start from 25 GBP one way. There’s a similar “rail and sail” offer for trips to Ireland; Holyhead, Wales to Dublin or Dun Laoghaire and from Stranraer, Scotland to Belfast. The trip between Holyhead and Dublin isn’t a long one; you can usually walk up and buy tickets on your departure day. Train/ferry combo tickets start at 27 GBP.

Lots of water in the Scandinavia area. You can jump an overnight ship between Stockholm and Helsinki via Silja. A one-way ticket, leaving Stockholm at 5pm, and arriving in Helsinki at 10am starts at 132 EUR. If you’d like to explore the Baltic countries, get a ferry to Tallinn. Tallink has ships from both Helsinki or Stockholm to Tallinn or Riga. The Helsinki – Tallinn run only takes 2 hours and prices start at 23 EUR. You could also cruise Stockholm to Riga, Latvia. Prices start at 24 EUR for a “deck place” and a 5pm departure gets you into Riga at 11am.

Photo Credit: Mischiru@Flickr

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The paper looked at the cost of visiting 9 of each city’s most popular attractions plus the price of an open-top bus ride in London and 10 other cities around the world. In Europe, they also examined Dublin, Edinburgh, Paris, Rome, Barcelona, Cardiff and Berlin. The price for all of the surveyed London attractions was 163 GBP MORE than the price for the second most expensive city on the list, Paris. If a family of four visiting London wants to see Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London, Madame Tussard’s Wax Museum, take a ride on the London Eye, do London’s Original Sightseeing Tour, plus see 5 other popular attractions, they’ll need to cough up 586 GBP. In Dublin, the least expensive city surveyed, can see a family of 4 spending 180 GBP and experiencing Dublin Castle, Dublin Zoo, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, a bus tour plus 6 other activities.

Another interesting fact uncovered by the survey was the difference in prices levied by the same company in different cities. For example, a trip to Madame Tussard’s in London costs 85 GBP for a family of 4, while gazing at the wax sculptures in Berlin is only 51 GBP for the same family.

Now some might say there’s no comparison between the Tower of London and Dublin Castle, or it could be your dream to visit Buckingham Palace, no matter the cost. And that’s great – budget accordingly and all your travel fantasies can come true. But let’s think about FREE attractions in nearly every city, that often offer a more authentic experience than the overcrowded “gems” the tourist folks like to promote. Why does it cost 12 GBP to visit Westminster Abbey, yet it is free to visit Notre Dame?

What has been one of your best free experiences in Europe – and which one was your most expensive, but so totally worth it?

You can see the full article here.

Photo Credit: kiki99@Flickr

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American Airlines wants you to go to Rome this fall. They have flights starting from 827 USD, taxes included. Departure cities include New York, Miami and Dallas. AA’s “DealFinder” service is a good way to book big discounts with the airline.

If Irish eyes are calling, look to Lufthansa. They are having a Britain, Scotland, Ireland sale from the end of October to January. Sample fares include Chicago to Shannon, Ireland from 810 USD and San Francisco to London starting at 690 USD. Aer Lingus is also having an East Coast departure deal – prices start at 598 USD for Washington DC and Boston departures to Dublin this fall.

Lufthansa may be the airline to keep your eye on – they are also having an Eastern Europe sale. Sample fares include Boston to Vilnius, Lithuania from 992 USD or Chicago to Malta from 1,148 USD. You’ll need to travel by November to get these deals.

Alitalia is Italy’s national airline. Their current sale runs from October to March and offers such fun trips as New York to Paris from 758 USD, Miami to Madrid from 808 USD and LA to Istanbul from 869 USD. Winter is an excellent time to visit Europe – less people, cheaper prices. And if you are from the cold climes and visit somewhere like Rome or Madrid – it may nearly feel like a tropical holiday.

I’m often frustrated when I see airfares like these advertised, but when I input my details, I can’t find them! Always search mid-week flight dates, be sure to check the span of time the deal is good for (i.e. October 15-January 15) and don’t forget the deal may not be applicable for your departure city.

Stop by tomorrow – we’ll be looking at some inter-Europe sales!

Photo Credit: viZZZual@Flickr

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In the face of soaring fuel costs and airline flight cutbacks coupled with many travelers desire to be more eco-friendly, rail operators across Europe are ramping up efforts to improve tracks, times and offerings to potential riders. Network Rail in Britain is working on a multi-year expansion that could see high speed trains introduced to the country, similar to France’s TGV trains.

TGV has been putting in a lot of work – their new line whisks you from Paris to Strasbourg in 2 hours 20 minutes, vs. the 4 hours it previously took. They are also working on a line that would stretch from Paris to Bratislava, Slovakia via Strasbourg, Stuttgart, Munich and Vienna. By 2011 Italy is also expected to have high-speed rail lines and there are talks of a Spain Morocco link via the Straight of Gibraltar. Spain is also working on its high-speed links between Madrid and other intra-country cities and is in talks with Portugal about a link there.

All good news, but for those who want to travel between countries, connections can sometimes be challenging. Hopefully that will change with a new alliance, Railteam. This is an organization that will work much like the  airline’s code-sharing agreements in which people can book tickets online to more than 1000 cities across Europe. Currently it involves Germany, France, Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland and Belgium as well as Eurostar. Hopefully as other countries (like Spain and Italy) increase their high speed lines, they’ll join as well.

And what about cost? On Eurostar, a round-trip London Paris ride would be 269 USD. Flying via easyJet would be 172 USD. Tested travel dates were the same, and times were roughly similar. I had 4 choices each way for the entire day on easyJet, while trains left nearly every hour in the mornings.

And don’t forget your carbon footprint: according to Eurostar, a journey on their high-speed train from London to Paris generates one-tenth of the carbon dioxide that the same flight would produce.

Photo Credit: gentlemanrook@Flickr

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