Planning a tour of UK/EU in Jan-Feb, 2009.

Question

I want to do a full on European tour and I've heard its cheaper to plan it via EU/UK websites or companies than it is via Australian tour companies (I am from Australia). Can anyone confirm this or give some ideas on price?

Also, I've tried googling up such UK/EU websites, but they keep coming up with Australian holiday sites (unsurprising) so links would be appreciated too.

Many thanks.

Answer 1

I don't know anything about tours, but your best bet is to start in London.  From there transport is easy!  And I believe lots of tours start in London anyways.  

If you are taking a tour I don't have any further advice for you, but if you are contemplating going by yourselves, than RyanAir and EasyJet are cheap for airfare around Europe.  SNCF is France's rail company and TrenItalia for Italy, I don't know what it is in Britain.  Anyways its cheap to fly or train once you get into Europe, so get the cheapest flight in as you can, and make sure that the flight/rail to your primary destination is substantially cheaper than a direct flight.  I don't know how successful you will be at finding UK websites for UK tours, or European websites for European tours.  The European way is to go on your own with friends to a foreign city and explore.

Trafalgar and Contiki are popular tour companies that are advertised a lot here in Canada.  

If you book from a foreign site make sure you check the exchange rate, and also understand that some countries only allow certain citizens to enter, so you need to make sure that your Australian status will be okay everywhere the tour goes.  Also if travel insurance is included in the cost, it might not be included for you (since you are booking from out of country).

If your goal is to tour with a lot of non-Australians, maybe just 'go it on your own.  It's more of an adventure that way, just check hotel reviews (and google them before you book!), and make sure you give yourself LOTS of time before flights or trains (sometimes you'd like to get there an extra hour or few early, just to be safe.

Answer 2

Hey! In 28 days i'm travelling Europe (i'm also from Australia) I have organised my tour through the company Contiki, i will go to ten countries in Europe in 20 days, there are a huge range of different tours you can do, and for the price of the tours you get a lot for your money. If you go to a 'flight centre' shop they tell you everything you need to know, plus you get a free contiki book which has every tour they do!

http://contiki.com.au/trip_finder/europe

Flight centre organised everything, including my flight (go figure!)

Check out their website, it's pretty straight forward and at least you can get an idea of the touristy places they visit incase you want to try tour by yourself and not witha  company!

happy travelling