Accommodation
- Booking.com
- Air BnB
These are the only two websites we use for accommodation. We have found both websites to be the cheapest and most reliable when travelling. We have found Air BnB accommodation to be much cheaper and better value in most European cities.
(Tip) booking.com – please check the reviews on your hotel before booking, we do not stay in hotels under a score of 7 because in our experience they have not been worth our money. Also check the hotel reviews on trip advisor and most importantly check the location. You will want to be walking distance or a short bus/train ride into the attractions.
(Tip) Air BnB – check reviews and amenities before booking, if you would like air-con I recommend adding this in as a filter when searching as most Europe air bnbs do not provide air-con.
We never book accommodation on Air BnB if the listing does not have any reviews. I recommend booking accommodation with good reviews as you will know what to expect when you arrive and it’s much safer.
If you are using Air BnB app on your phone click the location setting to see a map of your destination, you will be able to view how near your accommodation is from the city. If your using Air BnB on your browser you do not have to click the location setting it will show exactly as below. The price tags show as price per night, if you click on the tags it will direct you straight to that listing.
Transport
Flights – Sky scanner is the best and cheapest website for booking flights. I do not recommend booking any flights with Ryan air. Ryan air have lots of hidden costs and have now updated their terms and conditions, so you now have to actually pay to take any items of hand luggage on board and if you do not check in online you will be charged £30 per person to check in at the airport so please avoid Ryan air at all costs. I have found Vueling airlines is a good low cost European airline and it cost around £20 one way to add check in luggage, it’s the first or second option on sky scanner however any other airline should be the same just make sure you check baggage and check in rules.
Bus
Busbud is a really good app to download it’s a comparison app so it will collect the data from all the bus companies in Europe. Busbud filters search results by bus time (to find the cheapest and most convient bus for you just keep scrolling) the most popular bus companies are Alsa and Flix bus.
Flix bus is the most common low cost company, you can download the Flix bus app to save all your bus tickets it’s much easier to keep track this way. I tend to use busbud when searching to have a variety of companies and pick the cheapest it will mostly be flixbus however sometimes it is not, when u select your bus on busbud it will ask if you want to book on the companies webiste DO NOT do this. Only use busbud as a search engine. When it comes to booking go onto the companies website and search for your bus as busbud add on a fee (usually around €2) however for every bus you book all those €2 will add up.
Trains
The best train app is the trainline or Omio both websites are comparison websites and will find you the cheapest transport.
Activities
Groupon – you will find really good deals on attractions, activities and food/drinks deals on groupon. Use groupon on google chrome as it will translate the website to English for you. Tip – Groupon Madrid offer really good deals for cafe bernabeu, you can get a pizza and drinks for 2 for around €11 with a great view of the stadium. There is a range of different deals so please check and book in advance at least 1 week before to secure your dates.
Most places in Europe offer free walking tours, if you just type in free walking tours in google you will get a selection of tours. I recommend booking one especially in the larger cities like Barcelona and Rome. The tours are really interesting and you learn so much about the attractions, history and city.
Free walking tours are totally free however the guide will ask if you would like to tip at the end of the tour, I recommend tipping aleast €5 and up if you enjoyed the tour.
Air BnB – there is so many good activities on air BnB, when searching select experiences instead of stays to get a list of nearby activities. (Check reviews before booking)
Cheepadvisor – not many people have heard of cheepadvisor but it’s fantastic! It only covers the list of cities below but the prices are amazing. The webiste offers 4 icons listed as eat,drink, sleep and see. We only use cheepadvisor for food/drink deals but you could check out the attractions and accommodation for cheap deals.
Food
Pasta, pasta pasta. If you love pasta you will love travelling. Every restaurant in Europe sells pasta and it’s cheap! If your staying in accommodation with a kitchen it will cost you around €3 to make a large pot of sauce pasta.
You don’t want to be eating out every night and draining all your money so try to book accommodation with kitchens. We carry a Lunch tub with us which we keep garlic salt, Chillies, ginger, paprika and soy sauce. Sounds strange but there is so many good healthy meals you can make with adding spices to something as simple as veggies and make a cheap stir fry etc. Boil in the bag rice is great option for travelling it comes in a box of 4 and easy to carry around if you don’t manage to eat before you set of on the next destination.
I recommend eating out at lunch instead of dinner. Europe offers so many lunch deals every place you go will have good lunch deals so you can fill up on a 2-3 course meal for half the price you would pay in the evening.
TravellingRose 