Weekend City Breaks: On the cheap

As an added incentive to take a break this particular fall, a major U.S.-based discount travel site has recently announced that autumn 2012 is seeing an even more significant reduction in hotel prices across Europe – from 37 to 7 percent – in comparison to last year. As reported in the Los Angeles Times, “Hotwire.com says Berlin, Paris, Barcelona and Rome are seeing their lowest hotel prices on the site in over five years…”

• Amsterdam
• Barcelona
• Berlin
• Copenhagen
• Istanbul
• Lisbon
• Madrid
• Paris
• Rome
• Venice

General tips

Accommodation:

• Eurocheapo.com – provides honest budget-hotel reviews (as well as some helpful cost-saving tips and information about how much you’ll spend) and consistently receives high ratings
• Venere.com – provides a variety of accommodation offerings and consistently receives good reviews (Autumn sale going on at the time of this writing)
• Airbnb – apartment rentals (often a cheaper option than hotels and an often more authentic way to experience the city)

Flights:
If you would like to get a comprehensive overview of prices, have a look at the following sites (all provide the option to switch the language to English):

• Letuska.cz
• Skyscanner.cz
• Studentagency.cz (through the Czech version of the site, they offer weekend package deals. You can also speak to a representative in English at their office. The same goes for Čedok and Fischer)
• Akční letenky.cz – an excellent resource for finding out about flight specials all in one place (only in Czech)

Other city options which Expats.cz has previously covered include Bratislava, Budapest, Vienna, Krakow.

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