G'day OzBargain community! I'm finally taking the plunge and booking my Europe trip!
To make the most of my adventure, I'm keen to hear from fellow bargain hunters about how to save some cash.
I've got my flights and accommodations sorted, but I'd love to hear your tips and tricks for saving money while exploring this incredible continent.
I'll be visiting Italy, Switzerland, and France if that helps with specific tips!
Share your wisdom, fellow frugal travelers!
Not even close to the top three.
Norway was very expensive! Fantastic place but expensive.
Haha, maybe Switzerland mate, but I think you need to try a bit of travel yourself.
I'm off to Logan, SEQ next month. It might cost me my life.
Err not at all….
Italy is basically a third world country outside the major cities.
Rome I'd describe as mediumly priced.
Saw this Lonely Planet 10th edition guide in my local library, didn't borrow as it's pre-pandemic and appears to not have been revised; but may be worth a look. Two tips that come to mind: Louvre admission free on the first Friday of the month after 18:00; Vatican Museum free on last Sunday of every month 09:00–14:00. Free guide for some cities here
whilst your there, throw out the cap and do some begging….I believe they are called begpackers
or stick to eastern europe, poland, czechia, croatia, serbia,…
Helpful advice after they have booked.
Avoid moving around to save on transport, avoid paid attractions, if your hotel includes breakfast fill up so you can avoid buying lunch and maybe dinner as well.
I would definitely recommend this - book hotels with breakfasts (and not big name brand necessarily - you will find in France, especially, pensiones that do great breakfasts.) Enjoy - even if France typically has a gitane and a cafe au lait, they're used to the tourists so have a good breakfast. Then go out and do your physical exploring.
If you're wanting to eat a particular place, go there for lunch and look for prix fixe - usually much cheaper than dinner option but the same food. two or three courses. enjoy. Here's your guide to water - https://frenchfood.com/drinking-water/ - French are usually good about tap water, especially if you add a s'il vouz plat, and a merci - can't stress enough how much simple politeness and a few words go to making the experience better for the locals, and for you. Eg in Paris, there's…close to 250 000 new tourists every day… imagine it's your job to have to deal with them all speaking their own language, and then someone comes along and makes an effort to connect. That said, be careful… I used French in Switzerland at the airport and the barista looked like he wanted to thump me.
If yr wanting to do very typical tourist sites, have breakfast early and get to the tourist places before the buses do. Or, alternatively, look at doing late afternoons - after 3 until 5, or check out if they have evening openings.
Go to the grocery shops and get yourself light things for dinner that you can have in your hotel or in a nice place if the weather's good (you didn't say which season so I'm not making assumptions).
Get a card like wise and you can transfer over Australian dollars to Euros fairly easily and then just tap at these places. Only place I'd advise using an actual credit card would be at the hotels because of the deposit they put on in case of room cleaning etc.
Investigate whether a rail pass works for you - the countries you're going to are close, so it might be good to get one for all three, or if you're doing a lot of travelling in one country, just for that place.
I travel alone so these are just suggestions based on my own experiences - if you've got kids/partner, obviously things change (including, often, room prices in hotels so make sure when you're booking you indicate how many people, just so you get a clear price and no surprises). Joining hotel loyalty schemes can be good in taking off 10 euros a night, which is lunch for one person.
If you're going to Paris, don't be afraid to stay outside of the main tourist areas (again, this is from a one person perspective but it probably works for two) - I stayed here (don't trust the google reviews - expedia seems more honest) - https://maps.app.goo.gl/CTvHT5qwDAkxcKYz6 - being outside of those central spaces gives you room to breathe, see more just by wandering every day (I used to take a 15 minute walk down to a coffee place near the Pompidou, getting lost every day on the way :-) ), and avoiding the grind of hearing tourists all the time.
Think about what's essential - this isn't just for frugal, but for overall enjoyment - it's actually ok to spend a morning or day in bed if that's what you need. Yes it's great and amazing to be on this trip of a lifetime - but missing one building/church/monument does not a holiday break. Consider who you are, what you value, and the extra stress that negotiating life in another language will take, so consider reducing your daily holiday activity down a few notches… and if that means you pay 8 dollars for a tiny coffee to sit down somewhere in Paris with an incredible view, do it. There's other ways (like the paris pass etc) where you can make up money… but if your day is ruined because you're exhausted from running from crowded site to crowded site to get a selfie with everything… no amount of money will make up for it.
Which reminds me - unless there's something else you really want to see there, skip the Louvre…. everyone wants a shot with the Mona Lisa. It's small, behind bullet proof glass, and a bunch of pushing boofheads all trying to get the perfect instashot.
All good advice except for
don't trust the google reviews - expedia seems more honest
Expedia and other booking sites have fake reviews as well.
important modifier is more - in this case, there's plenty of evidence that the hotel was soliciting google reviews. if you go in and read the expedia reviews, you'll discover (and given I've stayed there, they match with my experience) there's more detailed reviews of what was good AND bad about the hotel.
If travelling to places frequented by US travellers, I prefer Tripadvisor due the sheer volume of reviews posted. But in smaller markets (e.g. Australia) businesses can easily skew their ranking by incentivising reviews from guests, friends & family.
I remember all the 20 somethings in Egypt bagging the buffet breakfast for lunch and dinner. The hotel staff thought Australia is a third world country.
Bring a drink bottle and fill it up at hotel, buying water and drinks adds up.
Switzerland is very expensive. I just ate nothing but chocolate to save money on food, that seemed to work quite well.
As Capslock said, stock up on free hotel brekkie and possibly skip a meal like lunch.
All those places are very do-able by train, use the trains instead of flying
Book everything as early as possible. Anything popular/cheap goes quickly. If you have train journeys, try to book as soon as the tickets are released… means checking regularly on Trainline or similar. Keep a few Euro coins for toilets. Bakeries + supermarkets are a good bet. Take a corkscrew if you drink wine. 'Attractions' can be expensive, don't feel like you need to do them all, sometimes just walking around is more fun.
To make the most of my adventure, I'm keen to hear from fellow bargain hunters about how to save some cash.
I'm not sure if "wanting to make the most of your adventure" and being a tight-arse can go in the same sentence.
How long are you going for, and what time of year? Many museums and galleries have free entry days once a month (for example Musee d'Orsay in Paris I think it's first Sunday of the month - you still need to book a ticket, but it's free).
You could find out if you're an EU citizen through descent and work while travelling.
I disagree about avoiding paid attractions. You have paid all this money to get to Europe and stay there, so why miss an attraction you want to see just to save a few extra$$?. A lot of attractions sell out, so make sure to get your tickets in advance
Breakfast buffets are actually good value and often less than 10 Euros. So fill up in the morning and take some fruit and bread for later
Avoid restaurants. The food in Europe is very bland and overrated anyway if you used to eating Asian food
There are kebab shops everywhere, which are good value
The French supermarkets and bakeries are amazing and have cheap premade baguettes and meals. Don't rely on waiting until you are hungry to find food. We always carried around a couple of ham and cheese baguettes.
Italian pizza sold by the slice and weighed is actually good value and delicious, eso in Rome
100% re: certain paid attractions; I can't imagine going to, say, Florence/Firenze, and not seeing David. Like wtf.
If you are looking for a cheap meal just ask the locals where they eat. Don't eat at tourist spots. Some of it is just gimmicks and you pay twice or 3 times the price.
If you get really desperate always kabab places.
For Switzerland, depending in how long you are there and your itinerary, check out the multi day travel pass. I did a 7 day itinerary and that was a great $ saver. It helps only if you plan to travel to multiple cities. It covers all forms of public transport - trains, trams, bus, ferries.
In Luvr don’t join the main queue but go downstairs where shopping centre and train station. No waiting in line there. In Versail don’t prebook any tour, just take a normal train and buy ticket on the day and stick with some group
Try to avoid buying drinks at restaurants/cafes when eating. You may find a cheap place to eat but don't realise that ordering a soft drink from it that as you didn't see it on the menu you may set you back 8EUR.
Everything was expensive in Switzerland but luckily our hotel had free breakfast, so we filled up as much as possible, skipped lunch, then in the late afternoon we would hit the Co-op (their supetmarkets), as by then the lunch items and bakery products would be drastically reduced in price. We took them back to our hotel room for our evening meal.
Nice! Congrats on that! A few recommendations from me:
- Use public transport like metro instead of Uber or Taxi
- If you have company under 25 year, in France they can enter to museums for free
- Also, book tickets online instead of buying in person, you will save so much time.
- Buy eSIM. I recommend choosing 10GB or less instead of unlimited. It's just because I had some many incidents when unlimited data slows down out of nowhere
- Also with eSIMs, compare them first to see which one offers the best price or even buy an Europe plan. I really like to recommend this comparison table, I think it's very helpful. https://www.reddit.com/r/best_eSIM_providers/comments/1984tv…
- Use ATMs for exchanging cash to local currency, you will save so much time at the airport. And sometimes you get a better deal at ATMs as well.
The 3 most expensive countries in Europe. Nice.