Forex Articles

Tourists from all over the world visit Europe to enjoy its rich history, delicious cuisine, stunning scenery, historic monuments and some of the world's finest art collections. Data from the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) shows that Europe is the most visited region in the world, having hosted 588 million international tourists – more than half of the world's tourists – in 2014. According to the Office of Travel and Tourism Industries, nearly 12 million of those visitors were U.S citizens, making Europe the third most visited region by U.S. travelers, behind only Mexico and Canada.

While it's possible to travel around Europe on a shoestring (by trading hotels for hostels; fine dining for food trucks), getting there always seems to eat up a big chunk of the travel budget. The good news is that there are times of the year – and even days of the week – when flying costs less.

Like most touristy places, Europe has peak travel seasons – when airfare is at its highest – and off-peak times, when it's possible to score better deals on airfare (and, possibly, on your other vacation expenses, as well). The summer season, which runs from late May/early June through the end of August, is when many families are available to travel. That is the busiest and most expensive time to travel to Europe.

The busiest air travel route between the U.S. and Europe is New York to London. At the time of writing, a search on Google Flights for tickets out of New York (JFK) to London (LHR) shows fares jump from a low of $764 in May to more than $1,000 for most of June, July and August. Fares slow down again at the end of August and are in the $600s by mid-September. Please keep in mind: Airfare prices fluctuate constantly, and you may not be able to reproduce these results when you shop for tickets.

The late fall and winter months – from mid/late October through mid/late March – are often the cheapest time to fly. Cold weather, of course, is partly to blame, but a winter vacation to Europe has its benefits. In addition to the cheaper airfare, Europe has some of the best ski/snowboard resorts in the world (Méribel, Zermatt and St. Anton am Arlberg, to name few). Leave the ski resorts and you can experience Europe's other top attractions without the company of thousands of other tourists. December is the exception – when families reunite or travel together for the holidays – and you can expect to pay a premium for flights.

Trying to save money by traveling on a certain day of the week can be hit or miss with flights to Europe. It's often cheaper to fly mid-week, on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, in particular, but sometimes you can get the same mid-week fare on a Saturday. The length of your stay can make a big difference in price. In general, you should plan on a Saturday night stay-over to get the best fares.

Google Flights, as well as some other online airfare aggregators (including Kayak and Travelocity) have flexible travel date searches, so you can see fares for a specific date and see fares for the surrounding dates. Using Kayak's flexible date search and the same JFK to London plan, we found that a 10-day trip departing on April 9 (a Thursday) would cost $1,017. Depart a day earlier – on April 8 – and the fare drops to $825. (See Top Cheap Travel Websites.)

Travel two days earlier than that and you can save even more: The fare chart shows that if you depart on April 6 with a return flight on April 15 – a 9-day trip – the airfare drops to $779. If you have flexible dates, you may be able to save money by adjusting your depart/return dates. It's definitely worth checking the surrounding dates if your trip permits.

Plan ahead – but not too far ahead. If you wait till the last minute, fares tend to be really high, but they can also be very high if you book too far in advance. Because airfares to Europe fluctuate so much (often, it seems, quite randomly), it can be helpful to sign up for price alerts that send email or text fare updates for a routes that you specify.

You'll probably pay the most if you fly to Europe during the summer when everybody else wants to go. You can find cheaper rates by flying during the winter (except for December) and by having flexible dates. Fares to London are sometimes among the lowest fares to Europe.

Once you reach Europe, you can book flights on discount airlines like EasyJet and Ryanair to hop from city to city, or purchase a Eurail pass – a ticket that lets you travel by train throughout 24 countries in Europe. For more information, see The Cheapest Way To Travel To (And In) Europe, Best Ways To Purchase Cheap Airline Tickets and How To Fly To Europe For $100 (Maybe).