United Kingdom
France
Germany
Spain
Austria
Ireland
Cyprus
Greece
Turkey
Italy
So, with such a huge choice to choose from it will take a few days of planning and research to decide where you are going to go. Depending on the finances and the time you could easily visit several countries and really make it a vacation to be proud of.
Take into account the following:
Airfare: Do research through discount flight sites and compare the results with fares offered by the main sites. You will be surprised how many deal you can find.
Package Tours: Since you can book packages in dollars, they may save you money-but price the elements individually to be sure. Remember package tours can tie you into non flexible itinerary, and if that’s the case you may want to create your own bespoke tour.
Transportation: Rail Europe has a variety of passes, but for any trip over five hours, opt for a faster, cheaper no frills airlines that really cover Europe very well.
Want to drive? Check out the rental companies. It is normal for the big guys to be very expensive and local rentals cheaper, but you need to consider insurance and breakdowns too.
Dining: Just look for the daily markets you’ll find in most towns, and keep your eyes peeled for street stalls and carts selling roasted pork sandwiches and sugary crêpes. Or head to a pub or tapas bar for hearty, traditional dishes costing far less than at a restaurant.
Sights: The best things in Europe can be free. Those grandiose churches that showcase frescoes, stained glass, and architecture by Michelangelo and Matisse? Free. London’s top museums like the British Museum, Tate Modern, V&A, and others? No charge. Madrid’s Museum of the Blind and Paris’s Perfume Museum? You guessed it. Get a list of free sights and experiences in Paris, London, Rome, and Madrid. Also, most European tourist offices offer discount passes for public transportation and sightseeing (a notable exception: the largely useless Venice Card).
Shopping: Sharpen your bargaining skills for Europe’s street markets, and you’ll return with more interesting souvenirs (and colorful stories) than the tourists who stuck to the overpriced shops. If you research local prices at home and stick to the “stock shops” that sell overstock, last-year’s models, and slight irregulars, you can bring home a treasure for far less.
Trimming your budget doesn’t mean sacrificing the quality of your trip. In fact, the less you spend, the less insulated you are from the local culture. Staying in a thatched Irish farmhouse, perusing old masters in Italy, or snacking your way through Spanish specialties for $2 a dish aren’t just the tricks of the frugal traveler: they’re the stuff dream vacations are made of.
Citizens Traveling to Schengen Countries
In some countries you can travel using the Schengen system; you are in for a surprise. Traveling to Europe is easier than you expected! With the Schengen Borders Agreement, many foreign visitors will be able to travel freely across member-country borders without having to present their passport each time.
Do you need a visa?
If you are eligible for the Schengen countries for tourism or business, you will not need a visa as long as you spend 90 days or less in these countries. Under this agreement, you can enter the Schengen area as long as your stay does not exceed 90 days within a 6 month period.
It is important check with your local embassy for full details and up to date information.
Travelling from USA?
Every year, millions of Americans grab a passport, hop on a plane, and fly to Europe. But they would have to think twice and do a lot more legwork if they needed a visa on each trip.
Fortunately for tourists and tour operators, Americans avoid the hassle of applying for visas to every country they wish to visit in Europe. The reason? The United States has reciprocal agreements in place that permit Americans to travel to most European nations (and certain other countries, such as Australia) without a visa in exchange for the citizens of those nations enjoying the same rights.
In the United States, it is called the Visa Waiver Program and it now includes 38 countries. One reason a country may not be in the program is because of a high visa refusal rate at U.S. consulates.) If the Visa Waiver Program did not exist and every Western European tourist needed to apply for a visa to visit the United States, then every American would need to apply for a visa to visit France, Germany and most other members of the European Union. That type of barrier to travel would impede business and tourism – and cost jobs.
Don’t over-pack your itinerary with too many destinations.
Many travelers tend to over-pack our itineraries when planning trips to Europe. It’s understandable — for many, vacation days are scarce and trips abroad infrequent. There’s a natural tendency to try to jam as many cities and countries as possible into our trips, as we don’t always know when we’ll be back!
However, this can be costly (not to mention exhausting), as over-packing trips with too many destinations in too few days leads to more time on the road, and more gas or train tickets. In extreme cases, it can sabotage a trip, turning it into a blur of hotel check-ins and check-outs (with constant packing and unpacking), while watching a never-visited landscape race past the car windows.
Don’t pre-book the small stuff.
It’s now easier than ever to pre-book activities in each of the cities you’ll be visiting. You can book museum tickets and passes, walking tours, boat cruises… The list is endless and quite tempting. However, try to remain calm and limit the number of smaller activities that you pre-book, as you risk wasting cash and causing disappointment.
