save yourself money on trips

P

PGD

Guest
Perhaps this is a well known fact....

I wanted to organise a trip to Rome for May. I went to a few "city break" type website in Ireland and 4 nights was running at about €1100 for a standard 3* hotel.

I then decide to price by myelf.
I got Ryanair flights for €165 and using various hotel sites I got a hotel for €700 (a nice 4* hotel)

Total cost €865. So I saved myself €250 and got a nicer hotel.
From what I can tell none of these flight operators use Ryanair but I guess alot of people book these types of weekends. It only took me a couple hours to really browse all the hotels and find a nice one in a good location that was available.

I looked up some of the hotels offered by the Irish operators and I wouldn't like to have stayed in them.
 
Couldn’t agree more. Always a firm believer in cutting out the middle man me.

Have just booked the following for my parent’s wedding anniversary

Aer Fungus flights for two to Prague in April = €309. Flights leaving at reasonable hours too.

4 nights in a self catering apartment just off Wenceslas square: €60 per room per night. Found these apartments were recommended in an on-line guide book.

Total cost comes in under €550.

Looked at loads of city break websites, but they couldn't top that. Where would you be going, booking through an agent?
 
save yourself money

couldn't agree more. Found some cheap flights next Oct. to Prague so we be defininitely checking those apartments. Cheapest hotels I found so far even online seem about 100 euro per person or thereabouts for anywhere ok. Three of us are off to Paris,next week (ok its Ryannair even though 7 years ago I swore I would never fly with them again but who cares, they are cheapest) - flights and accomodation totalling 430 euro for us all staying in a highly recommended central hotel. It pays to shop around as they always say!!
 
NoelC,

Are your parents interested in Opera ?

There are two fab opera houses in Prague - The Estates Theater and the National Theater

Very easy to book online - [broken link removed]

efm
 
Thanks for that efm.

I'll mention it to the auld pair, and see if they want to go. Good tip !

There is another thread on "Prague" in this section, that you could add this, or any other advice to.
 
It's not always so easy to do a comparison. Some of the 'all-in' prices will include transfers to/from the airport, which won't be the case when you book directly yourself.
 
trips

Hey PGD, what hotel in Rome did you get? Heading there myself and also doing a DIY job on the flights/hotels. thanks.
 
Tommy,

While you're waiting from PGD to reply these might be helpful:
 
save yourself money

Was checking a few places. If we stay same place as last time, flights and hotel with travel company cost 394 euro, 3 nights, no transfer. Booking exact same airline and hotel ourselves online costs 250 euro. The balance would proably cover the food and drink there it so reasonable! The opposite can also happen in case there are special offers so as usual, check around well yourself before booking.
 
Re: save yourself money

I'm staying at the Bottoja Atlantico. There is another one there too.

I dont' know Rome, but from what I can gather I should stay within .5k of the Termini central station. This means I can get from the airport to the hotel and back without getting ripped off in a taxi!, plus you are in central Rome and walking distance to most stuff.

I found octopustravel.com, travelocity, hotels.com to be useful for research. I made a shortlist of hotels in the area that looked nice and then double checked the reports on tripadvisor.com it was invaluable! I had picked a decent hotel but all the reports were terrible.

Also, I think tripadvisor allowed me to input my dates and it checked 6-7 websites to get the cheapest price. Or maybe it was travleocity. Saved about €50 that way.
 
save

I'm sure it was tripadviser we used too - the one that you can get actual reviews from visitors who stayed in the hotels you are considering. We also got a book from the library and cross-checked til we found those cheap and cheerful but clean and central with excellent reviews. A little research saves money!
 
Prague

Noel C. I would be interested to hear a follow up about your Prague apartments they look lovely.

Griz
 
Re: Prague

They got a good review in one of the Guide books I picked up recently.

Will make a mental note to post feedback again, post-April !
 
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