Cheap Flights and Accomodation for Europe

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  retiredfeline on 08/03/2013 - 21:00

  The rail network in France is very good, you don't need to take internal flights in France. Just get yourself to Paris using one of those search engines for the best price. How much time have you got? If you really want to explore all of France, even a year isn't enough. Tailor your trip to fit the time and money you have.

  I backpack so I have no ideas about apartments. But you only need to avoid "beef". :) But do go out for a meal now and then. It'd be a pity to miss French cuisine.

  • 

    INFIDEL on 08/03/2013 - 22:19

    I like my horse meat rare.

    • 

      retiredfeline on 08/03/2013 - 22:22

      +1

      I like my horse meat rarely. :)

      • 

        INFIDEL on 10/03/2013 - 01:54

        Have eaten raw & smoked horse meat on my travels in Japan & once in France - quite nice.

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  tugnabs on 08/03/2013 - 21:40

  +1

  i agree with greenpossum. rail travel in France (and Europe in general) are very good and the scenery is quite nice.

  have you looked into www.airbnb.com.au for accommodation?

  • 

    INFIDEL on 10/03/2013 - 01:56

    You generally only have one option in France (if you do not have your own transport - worth investigating hiring) as there is pretty well a monopoly - rail. Bus is only available long distance, or very local.

    • 

      Givemethemoney on 10/03/2013 - 11:33

      I don't think car hire will be practical for us at all, and would much prefer public transport and I am assuming that rail will be about as safe as sydney

  • 

    maximum on 10/03/2013 - 04:44

    My sister and niece stayed in a beautiful airbnb apartment in Paris and were very impressed. Much better situated than my hotel i stayed in when i went for half the price. If you know what neighbourhod you can narrow down choices. we travelled by metro in paris and found it very efficient and cheap. Check out viator.com for things to do. I would recommend the Eiffel Tower dinner, seine cruise and moulin rouge. I travel budget but think these are must dos.

  • 

    so_fetch on 30/03/2013 - 20:52

    +1 for airbnb. I stayed in an apartment with 2 other friends last year in Saint-Germain-des-Prés and it was around 80 euros a night (altogether) split 3 ways is basically the price you'd pay for a hostel but having the luxury of a private bathroom, kitchen etc. The apartment isn't big, but we were out and about most of the time so it didn't make sense to go big on the accommodation.

    The railway system is great, very efficient and relatively cheap if you buy in sets of 10/12.

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  INFIDEL on 08/03/2013 - 22:46

  (Was a good idea to PM a few frequent contributers to cheap travel on OB.)

  It depends on when you are going (hopefully not in holiday time & allowing enough time to find those cheapish flight deals - AirAsia used to fly to London or Paris - flew for $650 return from Gold Coast in 2010), where you are travelling (16 days is short - so you may wish to base yourself in an apartment or 2 & travel out from there; I spent a far too short 7 days in Paris), how much you want to indulge (do indulge - it is France, that is its purpose, but that requires some money - don't think there are Group buying vouchers, but look out for free days at major art galleries etc).

  I have booked an apartment through www.wimdu.con (many other sites for room/apartment/house rental). But I am otherwise a cheap backpack traveller. (Just back from 6 weeks, mainly in Myanmar.) My only regret in my travels in France, was that I did not indulge more. I never ventured into the more expensive restaurants, staying mainly with good but relatively cheap cafes with (3 course with a glass of wine) set menus. But there is a lot of fun in the budget end of the market. Grabbing a baguette, Pate, and a bottle of red & sitting in a park or beside a river is so memorable.

  I flew cheap into London & flew for 15 Euros with Ryan Air to Tour (to Ryan Air, "Paris" is a paddock 100km North of Paris!). Arrived for National Day celebrations - interesting provincial approach with Gendarmes riding bicycles in the parade. Was a great introduction to France, with great food, wine, and chateaus. But most of France is wonderful. But it is a big country, so limit your travels otherwise you will miss the interesting day-to-day life of the French. Just deciding which cheese for lunch is a challenge, with about 350 to choose from.

  Try asking these questions or search old posts on www.tripadvisor.com - a handy international forum there on France. Found the site valuable for travel advice in Myanmar, but not all posts are high quality.

  You are lucky!

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  parisienne on 09/03/2013 - 10:03

  Wow Givemethemoney,lucky you.You have truly picked a beautiful place to go.Now,before anyone says anything….ANYONE CAN BOOK HERE,NOT JUST STUDENTS….but if you check out studentflights, they have some fantastic places in France (yes,i have stayed in a few)to stay,that are all close to everything you may wish to see in that part of the country…and at really fantastic prices (obviously they do have some not so budget friendly as well if you are up for that kind of experience).I can recommend for a start the Victor Masse in Montmarte (literally 2 streets down from the Moulin Rouge and the Sacre Couer etc)as a great place to stay…friendly,helpful concierge,brekky daily and all the sight seeing advive/info/booking you could imagine.It is quiet,really close to Pigalle metro (which is on a major metro line to everything in Paris and beyond).Let us know how you go with them.

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  Chihuynh2000 on 09/03/2013 - 10:09

  +1

  I'm flying to London with Qantas via Dubai this April for $1670. However, my friend is catch up with me in London but traveling with air Vietnam via Ho Chi Minh city for $1350 inc. 1 stop over.
  China Airline is also cheap (I think China Southern air).  I would search with Orbitz or Zuji.

  I don't normally like to go to a travel agent, I do all booking online but in the case of traveling with air Vietnam, I found the Vietnamese travel agency  in Bankstown or Cambramatta will beat the online quote.  They must have had bulk booking to get a special deal.

  In term of accommodation, I found booking.com is the best.  But always check with Tripadvisor to compare the price and hotel quality.

• 

  Leeny57 on 10/03/2013 - 14:33

  +1

  I have been to France a number of times and have spent many hours looking at accommodation options in Paris.
  I prefer to stay in an apartment, although have stayed in a few hotels.
  If you are looking at cheap clean accommodation in an apartment I dont think you can go wrong with http://www.centreparis.com This is not too much to choose from and you can get a studio apartment in an excellent location for 65 euros a night plus 30 euros (I think) cleaning kit for your stay. When we stayed with them a couple of years ago we had to pick up the key from the 10th arrondisement which was quick and easy to find. Some of the apartments are within a short walking distance from the office anyway. Many other apartment rentals require an agent fee plus you need to take out insurance, so that adds to the cost of the rental.
  I have never stayed in a hostel in Paris, but reviews I have read have not been as good as some other major cities. I have stayed in a couple of hotels as well, but think an apartment is much better value.

  Travelling by train in France can work out very cheap - (25 euros Paris to Nice). The secret is booking direct on the sncf website exactly 90 days in advance.http://www.voyages-sncf.com/ This is for intraFrance tickets. All the cheap fares come out 90 days in advance as the clock ticks over at midnight in France. We have just booked Paris to Amsterdam for 35 euros (this is on the Thalys website - same principal), then Paris to Nice, then Tours to Paris for 15 euros Best thing is to go to the website, have a play around, and work out your dates and book early in the morning on the right date, and you will have the best choice of cheap fares.
  I have also used the same principal to book fares from Paris to Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Salzburg, Munich, Paris, including 2 sleepers, all for about $300 AUD a couple of years ago. I infinitely prefer the train travel for convenience - you just catch the metro to a central station 1/2 hour before train leaves, then get off in a central station at the other end. Much less hassle that all the airport carry on.

  Tainted meat? you mean horse being sold as beef for frozen supermarket meals? Sounds like you better eat out, not in the apartment :) In any case there were no hygiene issues. You would be silly to miss one of the best things about France - the food !

  Location in Paris - with the above apartments many of them are very central. I certainly wouldn't bother staying outsite the peripherique road - no need if you can get 65 euros a night. I wouldn't stay in Pigalle (ti seedy for me), personally I find Montmartre further out than I like. The Latin quarter is lovely, but expensive. We are going in May and staying in the 2nd arrondisement - this is very central, some of the streets are perhaps slightly dodgy, but no security risk. I wouldn't particularly like to stay around the Gare du Nord or the Gare de l'est. I have stayed right near the Louvre, near the Luxembourg gardens, 300m from the arc de Triomphe, in the 2nd arrondisement on the grand boulevard (Bonnes Nouvelles), 12th arrondissement. I WOULD recommend that you find something very close to a metro station on a convenient line. Boulevard de Bonnes Nouvelles for example, is on 2 good metro lines - 1 goes across the river, 1 goes along the river, and it was in walking distance of the Gare du Nord. Of course it was also in walking distance to the Hotel de Ville, Louvre etc as well.

  Hummm not sure that you asked questions about trains, but there it is anyway :)

  • 

    Givemethemoney on 12/03/2013 - 21:44

    Really appreciate it, I'll definitely check out the apartment and the trains, my situation is a little complicated as my wife is only on her Permanent Residency, as her country of origin doesn't allow dual citizenship. Hence, she will be applying for a schengen visa and hence will require cancelleable accomodation, flights, travel tickets and sightseeing.

• 

  McWillisac on 10/03/2013 - 19:39

  Leeny,

  You should do what someone ese on ozbargains suggested a while ago, find a flight leaving from singapore or hong kong rather than leave from Australia and then book direct paris to syd or wherever on the way back. Then book a cheap flight over to singapore or wherever your main flight leaves from.

  Eg. We were looking at$1850 with qantas(we wanted a decent airline) return to heathrow in october, however i found ethiad flights from singapore to heathrow and then rome to sydney for $1116. Factor in ~$250 flight to get over to singapore and we've booked a $1366 return trip to europe on an excellent airline. The key is using multistops that dont include a departure from Australia.
  Good luck.

  • 

    Givemethemoney on 23/03/2013 - 16:00

    My only concern with this is whether we need visa's to catch the connecting flights, as Flight Centre told us that a scoot flight to Singapore means that you need to pass though customs to get the ticket and luggage for the next airline. Does this sound right? I would think that in this age, you could buy, print tickets and check-in online thus not needing to go through customs to the check-in desk.

    Also we are worried what happens when flying separate airlines if there is a flight delay and your connecting flight leaves without you, is this something that the airlines are responsible for or is travel insurance with TID or someone else going to cover this?

    • 

      donga100 on 24/03/2013 - 21:13

      Yes you would need to collect bags and go through customs and immigration. Most travel insurance won't cover missed flights due to delays (even if they cover "travel delay") and both airlines will also not accept responsibility. I would recommend calling the insurance company and being very specific in your questioning about this scenario. To be safe, you could always spend a day or two in Singapore.

    • 

      INFIDEL on 26/03/2013 - 19:40

      You need to enter SIN (Visa paperwork & customs) before going through customs again to leave SIN for the next airline. Pretty quick at SIN. But will need a few hours, mainly for checkin.

      My experience with Scoot in late January was not good. Plane left almost 5 hours late. No email or SMS to advise of delay that was known days ahead! That was what really upset me. As Scoot outsource checkin, we had to checkin at the normal time & fill in the hours in a crowded airport.
      Luckily I planned to spent a night in SIN & did not have to catch a connecting flight!!! Scoot just offered a SGD$50 ($35) voucher for a flight taken within 6 months - as if I want to fly Scoot again. Delays were so bad the CEO fronted a Singapore business cable TV program to explain all the delays.

      Scoots response to the delay on the 09:25 Monday flight - known about on Saturday!…
      We’re writing to convey our sincere apologies for the disruption to your travel plans because of the delay of TZ005 from Gold Coast to Singapore on Monday 21 January 2013, caused by the late arrival of the inbound flight.

      The delay to our Gold Coast bound flight was a direct consequence of a delay to our Saturday's Bangkok flight, caused by a small group of disruptive passengers, which resulted in cascading delays to other flights using the same aircraft.

      One of these was our Tianjin-Singapore flight, on which 78 passengers were connecting immediately to the Gold Coast. With all other flights to Australia full for the next few days, we elected to hold the Gold Coast flight so that they may make their connection.

      We're really sorry for the inconvenience this caused you, but seek your understanding of the unusual circumstances.

      In keeping with our Guest Promise, we’ve issued you and every passenger on your booking(s) with a SGD$50 Scoot travel voucher. To redeem, please see the instructions at the bottom of this email. Also, in case you need confirmation of the delay for any claim against your travel insurer you can download a copy here

      Travel must be completed by 31 July 2013.

• 

  Leeny57 on 11/03/2013 - 10:21

  My flights were %1550 with Malaysia Airlines, which is OK. It is a pity about the Air Asia cancellation from KL to Paris/London - those flights were great.
  Next flight I will look more closely at the Singapore option. However, we have found it is best to travel at a certain time of day for the long leg (sleep time), so that is a factor in choosing flights. Also, there is no way I want 2 stopovers, and I have done a 12 hour stopover before. That is not a lot of fun, and if you only have a few weeks you don't want to waste time being wasted from bad flights. It is all about balance !

  • 

    retiredfeline on 11/03/2013 - 11:24

    I look at it this way. One day of the holiday costs from $50 to $200 depending on your tastes. If you spend one day hanging around airport lounges and feeling exhausted when you arrive, and the increase in airfare going with less stressful route is comparable, why not pay a bit more and choose the more comfortable route?

    • 

      INFIDEL on 12/03/2013 - 20:23

      I just took a holiday on a beach in Malaysia on the way over - after all my AA return flight was only $650! Was well rested & money saved bought a lot of goodies.

      • 

        retiredfeline on 12/03/2013 - 20:26

        +1

        Sssh, voteoften will hear you. :)

  • 

    INFIDEL on 12/03/2013 - 20:25

    AA is rumoured to be looking at restarting those cheap flights from Indonesia.
    They were using Malaysia Airlines slots & undercutting them.

    • 

      Leeny57 on 16/03/2013 - 10:39

      Nice

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  mini_wombat on 11/03/2013 - 11:18

  +1

  I booked flights with Vietnam Airlines (Melbourne - Frankfurt … as I remember they also had Paris as an option) for 1340$ … the cheapest I ever found for a non student Europe flight with only a few hours stop. I would say any flight under 1500$ is a OK deal … when you want a premium carrier a little more. Kayak.co.uk is great to find flights. Also best flights.com.au have a nice list of deals available.

  Cheap Paris Flight here: When you depart between 16 April/30 April it is 1399$ with Cathay via HK from Sydney … http://www.bestflights.com.au/cheap-flights/phone-flights-de…

  Paris is not cheap for accommodation … airbnb or couchsurfing is always an option when you like it. I stayed at a nice bed and breakfast … http://www.sourire-de-montmartre.com Not really a cheap place starting at 125 EUR/night … but I only stayed 3 days and the location is great.

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  timster on 12/03/2013 - 15:31

  Central Paris is huge but anywhere near the bus or metro and not too far out (not too near the peripherique) should be OK. There are some dodgy areas though so do some homework. But you don't need to stay in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower or Notre Dame. Because Paris is so spread out you're going to spend a lot of time on public transport wherever you stay.
  Paris public transport is good to get anywhere but you need to research how it works … metro, RER, buses etc. First time I went to Paris I went everywhere by metro. Efficient but boring. Second time I had taken the time to work out the bus system (get a map) and as a result got a sightseeing tour everytime I went anywhere just by looking out the window. After that I only used the underground trains when I needed to get somewhere quickly. I also figured out the best local ticket to buy, rather than the over-priced 'visitors' passes (a racket all round the world … Miki anyone ?). In those days you had to have a passport size photo to get the locals' weekly ticket, so I came prepared. Not sure if this is still the case.

  French supermarkets usually have good freshly prepared 'ready to eat' meals. Either just need a little cooking or eat straight from the packet (great for picnics). Or in a pinch … a roll of fresh bread, a big lump of cheese, and a bottle of vin ordinaire !
  I think there's still a place for the old style guide books like Lonely Planet for cities like Paris, esp since non-English-speaking. There's just so much to know to make the most of your time. Google is not very efficient.

  • 

    Givemethemoney on 12/03/2013 - 21:52

    So Timster, which transport ticket do you recommend and is it cheaper and better than the voyages-sncf ticket?

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  Givemethemoney on 29/03/2013 - 23:58

  Has anyone else who has used Kayak as to book trips, is the time you enter for departing Australia, stop overs and arrivals in the destination and vice versa in local time zones or are they affected by international time zones?

  Also, has anyone paid through any of the following, they seem to be cheaper than through the airlines directly, and I was wondering whether they are licensed and reputable agents:

  Airline-direct, ebookers, ViajaNet, lastminute.com

  • 

    retiredfeline on 30/03/2013 - 00:13

    All times in itineraries (proposed or real) are in local time at the places. It would be impossible to expect ordinary folk to convert between time zones.

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  Givemethemoney on 24/04/2013 - 22:13

  Thanks everyone, we have booked flights with Air Asia X & Malaysian Airlines and have a refundable booking at an apartment in the 10th arron at $115 per night, but if we could find a refundable apartment or hotel better than what we have so far that would be great.