6 Tips to Help You Plan a Budget Friendly Summer Trip to Europe
My childhood friends and I attended college outside of our hometown, NYC. After college, we all returned home and enjoyed two years of adventures together. Following those two years, I moved to North Carolina to attend graduate school while they all stayed in NYC to study and work. I probably saw them a handful of times during that period, so we desperately needed some quality time.
Here are six tips my friends and I used to travel for 12 days in Europe for under $2000 in the summer:
1. Choose a geographically logical route.
We ended up going to Valencia, Milan, Lugano, & Amsterdam. They were relatively close to each other, which maximized our time and money spent.
2. Secure cheap tickets.
Use the resources available to you. E.g., KAYAK’s Price Tracker! Once we decided on our travel dates, we set up a price alert on Kayak.com six months before those dates. We booked after a month of tracking. We flew from JFK to Valencia with AirEuropa. In economy class, meals weren’t free, and there were no TVs. Luckily, we ate before and slept through the flight. On the way back, we flew from Amsterdam to NYC with Iceland Air. They had TVs and fed us.
Purchase your tickets on an iPad or iPhone.
In my experience, plane tickets for international flights are always at least $75-100 cheaper on my iPad or iPhone than on my computer.
Use local travel airlines.
We used Ryan Air to travel between Valencia and Milan and to Milan and Eindhoven. From Eindhoven, we took a 1 hour and 45-minute express bus to Amsterdam. Make sure that your luggage meets the requirements for Ryan Air. They are very strict!
Use local transportation
Traveling in a group of four made taxi rides less expensive. Sometimes taxis are the only option, like when we went straight to the airport after our last night of partying in Valencia. However, we took local buses, trolleys, and trains, which were affordable (local transportation can cost about $5 per day). But walking is the best mode of transportation because it’s free and you stumble upon places you wouldn’t have seen otherwise!
Total Transportation Costs: $1,256
Flight from NYC to Valencia: $594.33
Flight from Valencia to Milan: $75.67
Train from Milan to Lugano (r/t): $25
Flight from Milan to Eindhoven: $49.99
Flight from Amsterdam to NYC: $381.20
Express Bus from Eindhoven to Milan: $29.95
Local Transportation: ≈$100
3. Use Air BnB.
We thoroughly enjoyed our Air BnB experiences because we got a more authentic feel of the cities we traveled to. Most Airbnbs provide towels and amenities, so there are fewer things you have to worry about packing. Our criteria for selecting our places was that it was no more than 30 minutes away from the airport and was close to main city attractions.
Total Housing Costs: $400
Amsterdam: $155 for four nights
Milan: $156 for four nights
Valencia: $89 for four nights
4. Cook a few meals at your accommodation.
Another benefit of Air BnB is that most places give you access to their fully furnished kitchen. Every day, we cooked at least one of our meals at home. We spent about $25 each for groceries and drinks for each city. We were within walking distance of supermarkets and bakeries.
5. Be flexible.
Before arriving in Milan, we had planned on taking a day trip to Lake Como, but our Air BnB host advised us against going as the weather was very crappy that day. We decided to be flexible, packed our lunch, and headed to Milano Centrale Railroad Station (their central railroad station) to randomly choose a day-trip destination. We decided to go to Lugano, Switzerland, because it was only a 1 hour and 47-minute train ride, and it cost $25 for a round trip! We ate lunch before the serene Lago di Lugano and had some delicious gelato.
5. Choose museums and activities wisely.
Most European museums and activities are very costly, so including a good mix of free and low-cost activities in your itinerary is essential. In Amsterdam, we visited Anne Frank Huis ($10). We attended the Taste of Amsterdam, a food festival where the best Dutch and International chefs serve culinary realness ($13 for admission and $5-7 per dish). We visited the City of Arts & Sciences in Valencia and went to Las Arenas Beach. We went to see the Duomo in Milan, hung out on the Navigili strip, and took the day trip to Lugano.
The total cost for flights, housing accommodations, and local travel was $1,631. We spent about $300 eating out, buying souvenirs, and other activities.
Here’s a recap on how to make this happen:
1. Choose a geographically logical route
2. Secure cheap flight tickets
3. Use Air BnB
4. Cook a few meals in your accommodation
5. Be flexible
6. Choose museums and activities wisely
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