Anyone used European Destinations?

[Trinas79]

Hi all...

 

Wondering if anyone has used the website, European Destinations? My fiance found it and it seems super reasonably priced but I was wondering if people have experiences they could share.

 

Thanks!

[mexbride83]

Kerri - I absolutely LOVE European Destinations! I have two friends who have booked a couple of trips through them (Paris + Prague and Germany), and always rave about their deals. As a former backpacker, I've always been against package companies like them, thinking the best deal is to book everything on your own. But when planning our trip (to Prague, Vienna, and Budapest), their prices were far lower than anything I could put together myself, even using hostels!

 

For 3 cities/different countries, 11 nights, flying DC to Prague and Budapest back to DC, 3-4 star hotels, breakfasts included at all, we paid $1,800/person, including tax. Also, we traveled during Christmas/New Years, so it was a more expensive time. Their maps make it very easy to pick hotels in ideal locations (definitely research what area you want to stay in ahead of time, the cheaper hotels are FAR away), we were within 1 block from the metro in each city and walking distance to all major sites. They sent us our train tickets well in advance, and our hotels were awesome!

 

My parents also did an Italy trip through them, went to Venice, Florence, and Rome. They also got a great deal and were very happy with everything.

 

We absolutely loved our trip with them (we actually got engaged the second night of the trip!), and the price was incredible. We're constantly searching their website now, trying to plan our next trip:) I don't think my fiance would go back to Europe again without booking through them!

[mexbride83]

I'm sorry, I forgot to say that our price also included trains between the cities!

[Trinas79]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mexbride83 Kerri - I absolutely LOVE European Destinations! I have two friends who have booked a couple of trips through them (Paris + Prague and Germany), and always rave about their deals. As a former backpacker, I've always been against package companies like them, thinking the best deal is to book everything on your own. But when planning our trip (to Prague, Vienna, and Budapest), their prices were far lower than anything I could put together myself, even using hostels! For 3 cities/different countries, 11 nights, flying DC to Prague and Budapest back to DC, 3-4 star hotels, breakfasts included at all, we paid $1,800/person, including tax. Also, we traveled during Christmas/New Years, so it was a more expensive time. Their maps make it very easy to pick hotels in ideal locations (definitely research what area you want to stay in ahead of time, the cheaper hotels are FAR away), we were within 1 block from the metro in each city and walking distance to all major sites. They sent us our train tickets well in advance, and our hotels were awesome! My parents also did an Italy trip through them, went to Venice, Florence, and Rome. They also got a great deal and were very happy with everything. We absolutely loved our trip with them (we actually got engaged the second night of the trip!), and the price was incredible. We're constantly searching their website now, trying to plan our next trip:) I don't think my fiance would go back to Europe again without booking through them!

Thanks so much for getting back to me. My fiance had read some reviews, and people were also saying good things about it (also noted the downfall that cheaper hotels are either far away or not in nice areas). But it really does sound very reasonable, especially given that you can travel to multiple cities/countries in Europe! I have never been over there so I really don't know what the best ways are to book, and this site seemed really easy to use and a great way to see a variety of destinations. I think we will definitely look into it, for our honeymoon.

It sounds like you have been quite the traveler! Any good suggestions are areas to visit? We are getting married in Mexico so won't need to be "relaxing," necessarily, on our honeymoon. Anywhere that you would stick out for you as "must visits"?

Thanks!

[mexbride83]

Oh my gosh, it's hard not to recommend everywhere that I've been in Europe, and that isn't even very many places. There are so many more that I'm dying to go to!

 

We absolutely LOVED Prague, it was our favorite of the 3 we went to on the EuropeanDestinations trip. It's a walking city, the only time we ever had to use transportation was to go to Castle Hill. Otherwise, we could walk everywhere. We really enjoyed our meals there, and I'm not a fan of Eastern European food, but there is every type of food imaginable there. It is just such a gorgeous city to stroll around, probably the most beautiful one that I've been to architecturally. The only one that I think competes with it is Vienna. Vienna's buildings were gorgeous, but in a different way. It was more royal looking of a city, I thought! Much more dramatic. I loved both of these cities. Budapest was a bit of a let-down for us. We expected it to be cheap and a more "authentic" experience. It was the most expensive of the 3 cities! And the people were the most rude ones that we encountered. The sites were unimpressive to us after Prague and Vienna, and we felt like we would've rather spent extra days in those two cities and skipped Budapest, or just spent less time there (we did 4 nights).

 

For romanticism... Italy! There are just so many beautiful, romantic locations there. My fiance has never been and I'm dying to take him. When we do go, I would plan our trip to include the Florence area (Siena is a MUST, and San Gimignano... I would probably stay at one of these one or two nights), Rome (obviously a must, for all the historical sites) and either the Amalfi coast (I stayed in Positano, it has to be the most romantic place I've ever been!) or Cinque Terre (I haven't been and am dying to go).

 

For our next trip with EuropeanDestinations, we've been researching Spain and Portugal a lot. Top of my list is the Algarve region of Portugal, as well as to Porto to do all the wine tasting.

 

And my dream trip, though I haven't been, is to do a trip around France... starting in Paris, going to Normandy and Mont St. Michel, then going to one of the wine regions, and ending in the south of France. Ah... dreams!!!

[Trinas79]

Thanks for the insight! Like I said, I've never been over there so I don't even know where to begin to start. There really are so many places to go, and like you said so many great recommendations, that we would love to be able to travel more...

 

We may end up doing Italy - I have always wanted to go there and it's definitely more of a honeymoon sort of place. I will have to look up the places you recommend.

 

I am quite jealous of your travel, what an experience!!!

[Bridal_Cookie]

Some useful information that you may wanna know

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[ShawnAlvin]

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[anderah19]

This was such good information!! Thanks

[SamanthaBelle]

Southern Spain is beautiful! I'd highly recommend it. Lots of things to do outdoors if you're so inclined, and plenty of ancient architecture and ruins for the history buffs out there. Just had a stunning time there myself!

 

Originally Posted by mexbride83 

For our next trip with EuropeanDestinations, we've been researching Spain and Portugal a lot. Top of my list is the Algarve region of Portugal, as well as to Porto to do all the wine tasting.