Europe: How the West Is One
Of Europe's numerous countries, there are only about a dozen that outsiders regularly think of as potential vacation spots. In this guide to European travel we will use the Web to explore travel opportunities to the continent and illuminate some methods of travel that will make navigating Europe easier. This guide will help you acquire the basic tools to book your vacation, and position you to get the most out of your trip to Europe.
Expand All Guide SectionsEurope Travel Basics
The continent of Europe, although often considered small, is actually comprised of 45 countries. ... read more »
Europe Travel Requirements
It's good to be well informed about the history and culture of the countries you'll be visiting in ... read more »
Getting to Europe
This section highlights sites to get you from here to there, specific to the type of vacation you’re planning. Whether you want to book transportation and accommodation in one step, or find an inexpensive flight, the Web can help.
Dulcinea's Insight
- Try a flight meta search engine, such as one of our Picks, which search multiple airlines' Web sites and a slew of other flight-search sites.
- Refer to our findingDulcinea Travel Web Guide for more resources on transportation options.
- Take special note of transportation deals that allow you the most flexibility with the fewest penalties.
- Even if you're not a backpacker, it can be useful to leave yourself more time to roam than you originally intended. Explore the possibility of an open-ended ticket on the flight or cruise sites you visit.
- Talk to customer service representatives of the sites you are using to ensure you know all your options, and as an added confirmation of your itinerary. Reps can often fill in the information that is not on the Web site or not easy to find.
Dulcinea's Picks
For one-stop travel planning ...
EuroTrip
provides planning for "backpacking, hostels, bus, and train travel on a budget across Europe." Apart from all the tools needed to book a multi-destination European trip, there's also a handy bookstore that includes the "Let's Go" and "Lonely Planet" series. The instruction on the site is not vast, but you will find plentiful accommodation reviews, advice on ticket buying, a heavily used forum section, and a rental car search engine.
For flight search engines ...
Tickets to Europe
is more specialized than many other flight search engines. The focus is on travel to and from the United States and Europe, including less mainstream destinations like Hungary and Estonia. Airfare is not as cheap as on the flight search engines in our next section, but this accounts for the trans-continental aspect, as well as for any transfers necessary within the United States and Europe. The site's "Travel Tools" section is also worth a look. Here you'll find currency converters, weather information, country dialing codes, and more general travel resources.
Kayak
has a clean and fresh design approach to flight, hotel, and car rental search. The site produces many search results for U.S.-to-Europe flight travel and trawls more than 140 other sites in compiling its data. As an alternative to a site like Expedia, Kayak is optimal, as it includes large airlines like Alitalia, smaller carriers like BMI, and other engines like LastMinuteTravel.com.
Europe Hotels
Accommodation choices in Europe are vast and varied, from high-class hotels to quick and easy ... read more »
Getting Around in Europe
Although the romance behind European travel is traditionally linked to the locomotive, the ... read more »
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