So, he asked me to check for tips and tricks to book a flight to go somewhere out of the country (or the continent if possible) even for 2 days, with small budget.
My friend Carlos has been living here for 9 years, and wasn't able to take any vacation, not even to neighboring countries, because of life and $$.
Easyjet have on their site a destination selector, where you can filter by price.
I hate to give always the same answer, but "IT DEPENDS"
Plane:
Best thing to do is check for last-minute travels, either on the internet or the local travel agency:
That's the cheapest because you basically are at the mercy of availability in terms of destination.
If you want a specific country, then I've been really happy with using booking for the hotel:
Flights can be checked either with each individual flight company, or using a site like opodo.de or https://www.skyscanner.ch
If you don't want to take a plane, then check price tickets with the SBB on the counter, or drive with the car to desired destination. Again, booking is great for hotels.
What does "small budget" mean?
Maybe something on lastminute.ch or ebookers.ch, all of which sometimes have good deals if flexible on location and timing. Also consider locations where it's shoulder or low season for lower prices.
These days, you can fly to NY for 300.-, LA for 400.- or Singapore for 450.- if you're smart about it (whether that's an appropriate price or not is another question).
In some big cities, booking an AirBnB can save a bit of cash at times. Or if he doesn't mind just literally crashing on a couch, then try couchsurfing. That way he'd really only have to pay for the flight.
Some caution required with low-cost airlines as they sometimes fly in and out of fairly remote airports plus obviously charge extra for everything, so while the flight price itself may be lower, add all the other cost for transport and luggage and it's not cheaper at all (case in point: EasyJet just charged me more for a flight plus luggage to AMS than KLM). It's not always the case, but comparing many options - even if it appears tedious - actually does help.
How small is small?
Go to skyscanner.net, choose your dates and departure and it will show you cheap flights listed by destination country.
Note that many of these will be undesirable times of day (super early or super late) which is often why they're cheap! Others may no longer be available (the search engine uses minimum fares recorded in the last 15 days). So you do have to work your way through the list a bit. Still it's a good way to get an idea what countries/airlines ought to be on your radar.
Short haul flights are often cheaper on Saturday afternoon / evening outbound with a local airline, and Wednesdays in general. From Zurich, Palma is often one of the cheapest destinations.
Business class hotels usually offer cheaper rates for Friday, Saturday and Sunday night, but these can be a little way from the touristy areas, so you have to factor in any additional transport costs to the centre. Tuesday night is peak for business class hotels, so try to avoid that day.
So, business class hotels are cheaper on weekends, and tourist hotels are often, not always, cheaper midweek.
Just as an example, last March, we got a great weekend rate at the NH Lingotto in Turin of €59 per night. On arrival, we were offered several room upgrades, and took the 100msq suite for an extra €20 per night because it had a coffee machine. 6 coffees in the room rather than in a cafe, balanced out the additional cost of the upgrade.
My simple formula for grabbing cheap flights is:
https://www.skyscanner.net/ - You can search by country or airport, so your search should be Switzerland to Everywhere which is in the 'Can't decide where?' tab, or Zurich + Basel to Everywhere. When you find a cheap flight that interests you, reverse the search.
Don't be afraid of booking 2 one way flights as they may be better timed and priced for you. Also, don't be put off by booking different airports. I recently priced up a deal for a friend wanting 3 days in Rome in December. The outbound was CHF 48 Zurich to Rome Fiumicino with Swiss, and the return was €13 Rome Ciampino to Basel with Ryanair.
Always double check the price for one way and return options on the airline's website and book on there. If you're looking at Swiss, check the price for the same flight with the Lufthansa code share on Lufthansa's site. It doesn't always work, but I've repeatedly saved up to €20 per flight simply by booking a Swiss flight on Lufthansa's site.
Always check the price for one passenger and for the number of passengers in your group. Many airlines price seats in blocks of 4, 6 or 10, so the price quoted for 2 passengers might be €100 each, but if you check for one pax it could be €60. It means making two bookings one immediately after the other, but I recently saved €85 on flights from Larnaca by making two bookings, and I still got us seated together during the online check-in.
Use Trivago or booking.com, etc, to narrow down the accommodation, then have a look at the hotel's own website for any deals. This is an example of what you might find...
https://www.malmaison.com/offers/
Personally, I often go for small independent B&Bs as central as possible. It's autumn, so I'm going to prioritise location over a pool, spa, etc...but if a better hotel has an offer for the same price, it's worth looking into.
Happy hunting!
Flixbus... You can get an overnight bus to Rome for 20euros if you find the offers...
Not the most comfortable, but definitely doable!
Indeed, have just booked Zurich/Milan return for EUR 18.99 each way... One hold and one cabin bag included. EUR 1.50 extra if you want a specific seat. And that wasn't even an offer.
Regards
Ian
Oh actually, that makes me think of something else: there's carsharing webpages where people essentially ask for company when on a long drive to wherever ( www.blablacar.com ) A friend of mine came to visit me from Lux once and took this opportunity and I think it cost her 10 bucks
Essentially, you can travel for almost no money within certain countries or continents if using the above and couchsurfing. That's provided you're not afraid, don't mind strangers and don't mind having no privacy. But honestly, I know people who've travelled like this for years - you have to be the "type" for it.
Or look for good offers by SBB, I used to do this when I was younger - small package deals, such as a beach week in Italy and I paid maybe 300 for a week in a basic hotel incl. train fare. It'll probably be more than that today, but why not look into it ( www.railtour.ch )
Lastly, look for good deals on the TGV to Paris. You can get really cheap fares, again if you're flexible, and it's a 4-hour, really fairly comfy journey. Though Paris itself won't be cheap of course.
You can get the train for 29 Euros one way, if you book far enough in advance.
Blueangel, when I read your post, oh, I wish you would be my angel, too! Marry me! Please, be my secretary, be my agent!
Seriously, though, your advice is thorough, and impressive. Thank you.
I and a friend , when we where about 18/19.Have taken a train trip to Barcelona .
Packed a shit load of food for on the train . We had the best of time ,one of the best vacation I ever had
It was also the time a lots of spanier went home for Xmas ,lots of free Wine , there and back
Wow, love these tips! I'll second Flixbus. Google Flights has amazing calendars that let you search through dates to find the cheapest options (like you can look at a couple week's worth of flight options and choose). You can get nonstop Delta tickets from Zurich to JFK for 279 if you book on the right day and time.
Eastern Europe is really cheap once you get there. Also, couchsurfing is a free way to stay in a place -- not everybody's cup of tea but certainly budget-friendly. Although it's really more about sharing culture and community and some hosts don't want to just be used for their couch -- they actually want to have a meal and/or show you around.
Airbnb is a great option for lodging...but as someone who's been living Switzerland for a while, he might have friends to stay with somewhere?
When I was younger and hungry of discovering the world I was booking any very cheap return ticket for the weekend during the summer. Lodging was not in my budget. Many places I visited back then were so expensive for me that I lived the weekend on a bar of chocolate I took with me and just water I used to come to the airport for my return flight earlier and just take a nap there. There are good forums / web sites about sleeping at the airport giving you very valuable hints what's the best strategy or spot in any airport.
As the OP appears to be in Lausanne then Geneva might be the most useful. Helpful as to my frustration I often find the cheapest ex-CH fares there (too far from me to be useful).
For those that can get to the airports concerned easily, Memmingen (Ryanair) and Malpensa are well worth a look. Malpensa flights to elsewhere in Italy in particular are often really cheap. From Memmingen you could get return flights to Fez (without baggage) for €20 the other day...
Hello everyone!
I didn't reply sooner because I was shocked at the all awesome ideas, so I wanted to go through all of the first. And now I did, I can say this thread has insanely good ideas. As someone who didn't know anything about deals, I'm surprised how cheap it can be if you know the right places.
Thanks for all answers, I am building a perfect route to out of EU somewhere with a place to swim and I'll update you if I have a question.
the most efficient one to compare prices of flights is Google flights and you don't even need to specify destination, for example you can put "Europe" instead of a specific city and then compare the prices on a map of Europe
Sorry to annoy you all again. But I just have one final question.
I have been searching a lot since I got the responses, and I have gotten great prices already (again thanks everyone), but since I haven't traveled I'm having difficult time choosing a destination.
So far my eyes have been fixated on Barcelona. Because it is closer, hence goes well with my budget. But I have also heard many good things about it, but what are you thoughts?
I would like to visit a place that is different than the likes of Switzerland, France, Germany ... I don't know how to find the right term to group these countries (Developed?).
It means I don't like places where all you see is people going to work, congested traffic, buildings, mcdonalds, starbucks.
I want to experience something slightly different. Like a sunny place, with less people, less buildings and more animals, nature, multicultural people.
This is going to be very strange description, but has anyone seen the movie Nacho Libre? For some reason every scene of the place takes my breath away.
I would love to visit a similar place, the people, language, the dusty road, different culture, street dogs everywhere...
Anyway, if someone with better mind than me can stitch up those images together and throw away a country or city, it would be so nice.
slovenia, croatia, bulgaria...Turkey... morocco.... all have cheap flights or bus options... Barcelona or Portugal are good for cheap flights, or take a bus adventure from Geneva across France into the countryside...
I'm not sure Barcelona (population of over 1 million) quite fits that bill, at least the less people & buildings bit...