Autumn holiday in Europe

[Kinetic]

Hi chaps,

I am looking for a cheap European holiday destination around Sept/October for around a week, going with a mate for a good social atmosphere but also a bit of culture. I want to pay as little as possible for flights, don't care about the state of the accomodation as we simply need a bed and that's it. Any good suggestions?!

Thanks in advance, Chris

[spheric]

The process I usually follow for booking cheap holidays is this:

find the wikipedia page for the airport I want to fly from, look at the list of airlines, and pay attention to which low-cost airlines fly there, and where they fly to.

Pick 2 or 3 of the destinations that the low cost airlines fly from your chosen airpoirt to.

Wait for ryanair or whoever you want to use to have a sale on. (If you'd picked a swedish destination, ryanair are currently doing flights for �1)

Book suitable flights as soon as you spot them.... if its one of the silly �1 offers, they'll sell out mega-quickly, and if you're only going to lose a quid if you dont go, why risk losing the deal in the meantime?

Next up comes hotels. If you're still in you're prime and are willing to risk a youth hostel, then hostelworld can be pretty handy: the reviews tend to be very helpful.

If you want a hotel (even a cheap one), then I read up on the city on tripadvisor, and go through the hotel reviews in detail. - I *always* prioritise the location, because negotiating a foreign public transport system when speaking virtually none of the language is difficult, and I want to be within walking distance of as many things as possible.

I recently went to Krakow in Poland for a few days, taking advantage of some �10 Ryanair flights, stayed with a friend in the holiday inn (slap bang in the middle) and had a wonderful time :)

[Eve]

Went to Budapest recently and that was great, also did a day trip to Vienna on the train. Bratislava is also very easily reachable.

Budapest is nice and cheap, lots of culture and nice places to eat and drink (Sir Lancelot restaurant where my hungarian friends took us is a MUST! - http://www.sirlancelot.hu/ ).

They have a great zoo (http://www.zoobudapest.com/english), caves (http://www.budapestinfo.hu/en/things_to_see/caves) , castle, lovely churches, famous spa baths (http://www.budapestinfo.hu/en/things_to_see/thermal_baths), nice days trips eg Visegrad (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visegr%C3%A1d) and Szentendre (http://www.talkingcities.co.uk/budapest_pages/sights_daytrips.htm).

Amsterdam and Prague are great but more pricy.

Bratislava is a possible as you could use it as a cheap base and have day trips to Vienna and Budapest. They are all linked by the Danube so you can go by boat as well as train, takes longer but more scenic.

[Buenchico]

Barcelona is packed with culture. It's also packed with great bars, restaurants and night life. (The beaches should also still be quite pleasant in late September or early October). You can usually get cheap flights because there's plenty of competition on the various routes. (easyJet fly direct to Barcelona. Ryanair fly to Girona and Reus, both of which are 'an hour and a bit' away from Barcelona on the direct coach services).

I've just tried some sample dates (out Thurs 25/09, back Thurs 02/10) with Ryanair from Stansted to Girona. They're currently offering free flights in both directions, with a total of �38.90 payable in taxes and charges. The bus into Barcelona costs �12 single or �21 return.

For cheap accommodation, try the Hostelworld website. (It offers hotel and guesthouse accommodation as well as hostels. Use the 'Additional Search Options'):
http://www.hostelworld.com
For my sample dates, Hostelworld offers accommodation prices starting from around �70, per person, for the full week. Based on those sorts of prices, you should be able to get a week's holiday, including flights, transfers and accommodation for well under �150

Ryanair:
http://www.ryanair.com/site/EN/

easyJet:
http://www.easyjet.com/en/book/index.asp

Barcelona Tourism:
http://tinyurl.com/hfq9f

Chris