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What age do you have to be to travel south-western Europe by yourself?

Inexpensive Family Travel in Europe June 2012

  • How can my family and I (including 3 children) travel to Europe for at a reasonable cost next summer? We are open to flying into pretty much anywhere in Europe, as I think we can travel within Europe pretty cheaply once we get there-it's the cost of getting there from the West Coast of the US that has me worried. Of course, there is We have two adults and 3 children (15, 6, 2), flying from Oregon. We are open to buying separate tickets to the East Coast if that will end up being significantly cheaper. We have been tentatively talking about Spain and Portugal-Portugal seems inexpensive, and my eldest is a wannabe artist, so Barcelona would be fabulous-but we're pretty flexible at this point. We are planning on renting apartments, and are shooting for about 3 weeks (maybe a week each in 3 places). Can travel any time from mid-June through Labor Day (constrained by school schedule, unfortunately). How do we shop for airfare, and when is the best time to buy? Should we grab some frequent flier tickets to the East Coast now and then shop for the US-Europe portion later? Is there a city in Europe that is typically the cheapest to fly into? And where would you go, with kids this age? We are low-maintenance, love good food, hope to shop for groceries and cook in our apartment much of the time, want to be somewhere we can walk, but will use train or rent a car to get between cities. Speak only a smattering of Spanish and a little more French. We also have friends in Helsinki for two years, and have the opportunity to go visit them. It's such an expensive city that I can't imagine we'll ever make it there without this free food and lodging opportunity; thoughts about adding this on?

  • Answer:

    I can't really advise on specifics of getting to Europe from the West Coast, but can suggest some general ideas. Try flying into international hubs (Heathrow, Paris, Amsterdam, Barcelona) and pick-up up any additional travel you need from cheaper airlines in Europe like Easyjet or Wizz Air. From when I looked last year for tickets to Europe, flying into London was a good option. For looking for travel, try the ITA travel http://matrix.itasoftware.com/, http://www.skyscanner.no/, or http://kayak.com. The matrix is my favorite because it's the most flexible, and can let you pick an airport within 200 miles of where you are to check for better prices over a month long period (i.e if you are flying to Barcelona, you can tell it to include airports within 200 miles to look for cheaper tickets). It will also let you book multi-city tickets fairly easily. Only drawback is you can't book on that site like you can on Expedia or Kayak. But its fairly easy to look up the flight numbers and book it on the airline's site. Kayak is useful in that it will send you email price alerts for specific itineraries. On preview, nthing avoiding Ryanair. Norwegian Airlines is a good alternative if you end up flying to Helsinki/Scandinavia.

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Not sure how this thread ended up being about London. I think Portugal and Spain is a great idea. Lisbon is an amazing city, still inexpensive compared to most of Europe as you point out. I always point it out as the Europe that Americans really want to see: Still an Old-world city with quarters with labyrinthine streets, amazing food and wine, history, a cafe culture like Paris. Despite having a bit of tourism, not yet ruined by tourism. Many parts of it feel like an undiscovered secret. An enchanting place. I'd recommend Lisbon and then going out to Sintra as well. Sintra is like something out of a fairy-tale. A lone forest in a mountain full of fairy-tale castles likehttp://www.google.co.uk/search?gcx=w&q=palacio+pena&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&biw=1233&bih=630&sei=imfLTunHAdTw8QPHsKzdDw and http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&cp=16&gs_id=2&xhr=t&q=quinta+regaleira&gs_sm=&gs_upl=&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&biw=1233&bih=630&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi. If you want to go to Madrid after that, you'll have to fly. Rail links between the two countries are not that great. Madrid is still also relatively cheap by European standards. Besides the city itself, a trip out to http://www.google.co.uk/search?pq=toledo&hl=en&cp=9&gs_id=c&xhr=t&q=toledo+spain&gs_sm=&gs_upl=&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&biw=1233&bih=630&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi is really worth it. From there, you can take rail to Barcelona. Barcelona is a very different city than Madrid. The Catalan culture, the proximity to France, give this city a different feel. It feels more European than Madrid, which is more Spanish. Regarding timing, mid-June is a great time to be in Lisbon. The whole month is full of festivals in honor of the city's patron saint. And in mid-June is the highlight of the festival. Families come out of their houses in the old quarters, set up a grill and grill and sell sardines and beer to all passersbys. There's also just random bands playing on street corners. I go every year. You can try looking for flights from the US using Kayak. Airlines to look at (where I've found the best flights) include Lufthansa and USAIR and, in Europe, http://www.flytap.com/. Newark and Boston have a large expat Portuguese population so try looking through flights through there.

vacapinta

Since no one seems to have mentioned this yet: please bear in mind that London is hosting the Olympics next summer, and that this will likely have a major effect on costs of going anywhere near London (and crowds if and when you are here). I would suggest going somewhere in Germany. Munich or Freiburg im Breisgau might be good options for a base for a week. Munich has all sorts of museums and places of interest, and Salzburg (for the Sound of Music tour), Neuschwanstein (the fairytale castle) and many very old towns are within relatively easy reach. Freiburg is a beautiful spot on the edge of the Black Forest (with a mountain touching the city centre) that is a very easy distance from Alsace and Basel, Switzerland. Freiburg also has (unless things has changed) lots of music and theatre in the summertime. Many (if not most) German people speak English, although you will be more warmly received if you try to speak German.

sueinnyc

Have you looked at Icelandair from Seattle for flights? Also, check Condor. Condor tends to let you have a connecting flight from Frankfurt to another European city for the same price as flying to Frankfurt. For some reason, Condor shows up on Orbitz but not Kayak. Train tickets in Europe tend to be cheaper if you buy them in advance. At least in France, they usually became available three months before the travel date. It may be worth looking into travel cards for trains if you will primarily be using trains. For 12-25 year olds, a Carte 12-25 (12-25 Card) can save you up to 60% on train tickets and costs about 45 euros. Switzerland has a half-fare card and also some card about kids travelling cheaply with parents.

carolr

Maybe look into getting up to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Sebasti%C3%83%C2%A1n for a few days? It's on a beautiful bay (check the photo halfway down), the food is great, the old town is quaint and higgledy-piggeldy, there's a castle/fort on a hill, and it's a very different side of Spain (being firmly http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basque_Country_(autonomous_community).) Plus you're fairly close to Bilbao, with it's crazy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guggenheim_Museum_Bilbao and a handy-dandy airport.

Magnakai

I',m going to Finland next year and it is possible to stay in an OmenaHotelli for abut £45 a night - so don't change your plans unless you do want to see your friends, as cheap lodging is out there. I really want to go to Lisbon and Barcelona is just gorgeous. Might be worth looking into getting an Interrail pass for the Iberian peninsula?

mippy

Go to a travel agent and at least get some quotes. You might be able to find it cheaper on the internet, but many travel agents now have price matching guarantees. And they're fast! I would advise against booking connecting flights separately. If the first flight is delayed, then you're buggered. Deutsche Bahn is an excellent website for train travel all through Europe. Seat 61 is the go to website for non-plane travel info. You can pre-buy cheap train tickets in a lot of countries, and train travel is great as a family. (I went from the middle of Germany to Vienna for 29Euros last year!)

kjs4

I did a very successful house swap (and I was renting) with a couple in Paris. I also found it cheaper to buy train tickets in advance from the US. Being in a apartment meant I could eat more meals at home. I enjoyed shopping at the local grocery store, like a native, which gives you the best of both worlds, i.e. buying local, new products but still being able to find familiar stuff and products for kids who might be a little finicky or grumpy and want the familiar. June is still off-season and will be cheaper than July or August, but a swap may be harder. Take a look at JetBlue and Southwest to the East Coast, I found that was cheaper one year.

shoesietart

As sueinnyc said, don't even THINK about London in the summer of 2012. It's expensive at the best (cheapest) of times, and with the Olympics it's going to be completely full/crazy. I'm partial to Amsterdam Airport (my parents live 15 minutes away!) but have heard that other people also consider it their favourite airport. The train station is directly in the airport. You could fly to Amsterdam, and take a train to Paris (or many other places) without even leaving the building. I've also heard good things about flying into Frankfurt and starting a trip from there, but haven't done that myself.

easternblot

If you own your house, check out http://www.homeexchange.com/. I have never used this service but I looked into it a bit a while back and people seem to be mostly happy. It doesn't answer your question about flying cheaply but it could offset some of those costs.

little miss s

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