Dont forget the Greek Islands Trick
If youre a Swiftie of the utmost degree and have a few hundred bucks in your checking account, you may be able to check off a couple of bucket list items this summer.
As youre probably aware, Swiftis spending her summer in Europe and going to see her in the motherland may actually be a better deal than trying to see her in the U.S., without American hoteliers and ticket scammers trying to cash in.
ConsumerAffairs kinship with Going.com has given us some insight into which places are among the cheapest to get to, the least expensive to travel in, and have the lowest-priced tickets available for resale on StubHub.
Its important to point out that the flight and hotel prices reflect averages and will, of course, vary (and you can expect higher hotel prices due to increased demand) and that ticket prices were based on the date of this writing, so take these prices more as directional advice rather than absolutes.
Let's begin with flight prices. As you know, what you actually pay depends on where youre flying from and when you book, but if you swing $400-$500, youll be sitting pretty.
Here's a rundown of which cities are typically among the cheapest based on the average of all the economy fares Going has found in the last six months.
5. Stockholm, Sweden (ARN): $510 roundtrip
4. Warsaw, Poland (WAW): $507 roundtrip
3. Cardiff, Wales (CWL): $505 roundtrip
2. Tie: Milan, Italy (MXP) and Paris, France (CDG): $496 roundtrip
1. Gelsenkirchen/Dsseldorf, Germany (DUS): $474 roundtrip
Gelsenkirchen may seem like a weird place to fly into, but its only about 45 minutes from Dsseldorf by train. Same with Warsaw, but Poland in the summer cant be beat, price-wise or party-wise.
If youre asking, Hey, what about the UK, well, the answer is dont ask. The most expensive places to fly include Edinburgh (EDI) at $573 roundtrip on average and London (LHR) at $563 roundtrip on average. The U.S. dollar is stronger against the Euro than it is the Pound plus the Swift tix prices are ridiculous, like $690 and a whopping $764, respectively, for the lowest-priced currently available tickets to each show.
But what about hotels, food, transportation, and activities?
When you add in the daily rate for hotels, food, activities, and transportation, things change just a little. Based on that, the least-expensive cities to visit among Eras Tours locations, and the average cost for two days of visiting, are:
5. Vienna, Austria: $137
4. Lisbon, Portugal: $130
3. Madrid, Spain: $129
2. Gelsenkirchen/Dsseldorf, Germany: $115
1. Warsaw, Poland: $72
The most expensive of Eras Tours cities to visit is Zurich, Switzerland which costs a Were never getting back together ever $260 for two days. London and Amsterdam both top $200 for two days, and Paris, Edinburgh, and Dublin all come in around $170 for two days.
Trip price tricks
ConsumerAffairs has covered things like the Goldilocks Window and the Greek Islands Trick in the past, but for our new Swiftie readers, a refresher might come in handy.
The Goldilocks Window for cheap summer flights has passed, so Going recommends buying flights for peak summer travel (mid-June to mid-August) as soon as you find a great deal. The closer your travel dates get, the higher prices will soar. Note: theres one exception to this and that is that applies to fares booked with points, which are less up-and-down and sometimes even decrease closer to travel.
If flights to the city you want to get to are pricey, use what we call the Greek Islands Trick, Goings Katy Nastro said. Book a cheap, long-haul flight that gets you close to where you want to go, and then use trains, buses, or local budget airlines to bridge the gap to your final destination.
For example, say you live in Chicago and have tickets for the Paris show, but you find an amazing flight deal to London. Book that, and then you can hop on the Eurostar, which takes about two hours to get from London to Paris and costs around $50 each way if you book in advance.
Another Nastro example is for those who live in Phoenix and want to go to the Lisbon show. In that scenario, if an amazingly cheap deal from Las Vegas to Lisbon pops up on Google Flights, you should book that and then add on a cheap hop from Phoenix to Las Vegas to catch your long-haul flight.
Photo Credit: Consumer Affairs News Department Images
Posted: 2024-04-24 12:38:11
