How to book cheap flights to Europe
The continent of Europe is the most popular travel destination in the world. More than 713 million people arrived in 2019—almost twice the number of arrivals to Asia, the next most popular continent. And the list of the top ten most visited countries in the world is dominated by European countries: France, Spain, Italy, the United Kingdom, Turkey, and Germany.
It's no wonder, though, that we often have concerns about finding cheap flights to Europe. We've developed this comprehensive guide to help you, including where to go and when, to which airlines to travel and the best town for style, here is what you need to know about finding cheap flights to Europe through Travelo - the no1 source for cheap air tickets not only in Europe but worldwide.
How much does it cost to fly to Europe?
What you pay for a plane ticket to Europe will depend on dozens of factors, including (but not limited to) where you're flying to and from, what time of year you're going to, when you're buying, and whether or not you've bought a good deal at the right time. Nonetheless, we can give you some general estimates for daily fares (see below for offer prices) for round-trip flights to Europe based on what we've seen logging thousands of hours of flight searches.
From the US, the regular fares for flights to Europe range from $700–$1,000+ in low season to $900–$1,500 in high season. A good deal (what you're supposed to pay, and what Scott's Cheap Flights member is paying for) on a flight to Europe is $200—$500. Low season and $400s–$600s in high season, like this $316 round-trip fare from NYC to Paris without delay or $394 round-trip from Los Angeles to Madrid.
Where should I go to Europe? What are the best places to visit in Europe?
It's a broad question with a whole continent full of possibilities, and the solution would depend on many factors that are unique to you.
If you're going to check out bucket-list items, think London, Paris, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Athens, Vienna, Dublin, and Rome, Berlin. If you prefer to leave when everyone else heads to the right, look at less-trodden cities like Bucarest, Ljubljana, Porto, Warsaw, and Zagreb.
Also, northern Europe, Scandinavia, the Baltic States, Russia, and the former Soviet countries will all be colder in the winter and milder in the summer. Southern Europe is colder in the summer and warmer in the winter. Of course, there are differences between countries as well. It might be sweltering in Paris in July, while it's refreshingly cold in the mountain town of Chamonix.
If you want to visit multiple cities in Europe, you can often book an open-air flight at the same price as a round-trip flight through travelo. It allows you to fly out of one city and out of another. You could, for example, fly to Barcelona, take the train to Madrid, and fly home from there.
What are the most and least expensive places to visit in Europe?
Scandinavia, the United Kingdom, and Western Europe are the most expensive places to travel in Europe. According to Numbeo's cost of living index, the most affluent countries in Europe are Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, Germany, Denmark, Ireland, France, Netherlands, Belgium, and Finland.
The countries of southern and eastern Europe and the Balkans continue to be less costly. Numbeo lists the cheapest countries in Europe, such as Ukraine, Georgia, Macedonia, Moldova, Belarus, Turkey, Serbia, Russia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Albania.
Again, though, it may differ a little within each country; in Russia, for example, St. Petersburg and Moscow are much more costly than smaller cities. Yet, even in more expensive countries, you can often cut costs by taking public transport, staying at an Airbnb or hostel, yet preparing some of your meals.
What are the cheapest cities to fly into Europe?
It's another tricky question with a complicated answer; just because the airport has some of the lowest prices on average, it doesn't guarantee that it offers the best prices for your travel.
We may say that, collectively, in 2019, we saw the most offers in Paris, Amsterdam, Madrid, Milan, Venice, Barcelona, Tokyo, Frankfurt, Zurich, and Munich. We've also seen many deals with Paris, Copenhagen, London, Vienna, and Berlin.
Of course, it also depends a little on where you're coming from and when you're on the road. When we look at flights from the USA and Canada, the same 15 airports saw the most offers in 2019, so these are the right places to start your hunt, but it's always a good idea to check multiple options. Even if there are decent fares from Austin to London in May, it might be better to fly from Houston to Amsterdam, for example.
While we have data that says that, on average, it's cheaper to fly to certain European cities, we can't know it'll be more economical to fly to that city for your specific trip, so always compare prices. Google Flights makes it easy to do this with a map view that shows estimates for the entire region for your specific dates or a week or two-week trip in a given month. You can check up to seven airports in one go, too.
