Dear fellow travellers, let us forget for a while the worn-out glamour of the evergreen tourist destinations such as Alicante, or Ibiza. We would like to draw your attention to Eastern Europe instead. While this part of the world hardly can be described as some sort of a virgin territory untouched by the feet of tourist, a trip across this region still may be a refreshing experience.
Our starting point is the choice of carrier as the air tickets often constitute the lion's share of the travel expenses. There is no point in giving any more publicity to the Ryanair kind of carriers. Instead, let us look into two more traditional albeit less popular carriers - one should not get discouraged by the traditional brands. With a bit of luck you can fly low-cost with non low-budget airlines.
Malev
Malev has been present at the aviation market since 1946 and as befits a traditional carrier, the overall price level is rather high but if you investigate into it a bit, you will quickly find out that this Hungarian carrier offers affordable flights to the beautiful capital city of Hungary. You can fly from a number of European cities for €99 for return trip. Among the served cities are e.g. London, Paris, Stockholm or Frankfurt.
On the other hand Budapest may become the gateway to journeys in completely different directions. What about booking a return trip London – Budapest with a decent interval and when you have feasted your eyes on the Hungarian capitol, you go pop into Podgorica, Split or Sofia. Malev offers reasonable fares from Budapest to both these and a wide range of other European cities. It should not pose a big problem to get one for ca €80-100.
LOT
If your immediate impulse was to associate LOT Polish Airlines with inordinate prices, you are by and large right but as everywhere else, also here there are exceptions confirming the rule. Although this traditional airline – if fact on of the oldest ones still in operation – rips off travellers, you will easily find airfares within Poland for below €30. This gives a splendid opportunity to get to know cities such as Warsaw, Krakow or Gdansk to mention just a few worth seeing Polish urban aglomerations.
Combine these airlines!
The key point we would like to make is that the both carriers nicely complement one another. How about embarking on a longer tour across the Eastern Europe? As described above, you can get to Budapest and upon exploring it leave for Warsaw either directly or even better through Prague depending on the availability of affordable connections. In this manner you visit two or three East European countries in one go, relatively cheaply while travelling in a bit better class. Inspiring?
Our starting point is the choice of carrier as the air tickets often constitute the lion's share of the travel expenses. There is no point in giving any more publicity to the Ryanair kind of carriers. Instead, let us look into two more traditional albeit less popular carriers - one should not get discouraged by the traditional brands. With a bit of luck you can fly low-cost with non low-budget airlines.
Malev
Malev has been present at the aviation market since 1946 and as befits a traditional carrier, the overall price level is rather high but if you investigate into it a bit, you will quickly find out that this Hungarian carrier offers affordable flights to the beautiful capital city of Hungary. You can fly from a number of European cities for €99 for return trip. Among the served cities are e.g. London, Paris, Stockholm or Frankfurt.
On the other hand Budapest may become the gateway to journeys in completely different directions. What about booking a return trip London – Budapest with a decent interval and when you have feasted your eyes on the Hungarian capitol, you go pop into Podgorica, Split or Sofia. Malev offers reasonable fares from Budapest to both these and a wide range of other European cities. It should not pose a big problem to get one for ca €80-100.
LOT
If your immediate impulse was to associate LOT Polish Airlines with inordinate prices, you are by and large right but as everywhere else, also here there are exceptions confirming the rule. Although this traditional airline – if fact on of the oldest ones still in operation – rips off travellers, you will easily find airfares within Poland for below €30. This gives a splendid opportunity to get to know cities such as Warsaw, Krakow or Gdansk to mention just a few worth seeing Polish urban aglomerations.
Combine these airlines!
The key point we would like to make is that the both carriers nicely complement one another. How about embarking on a longer tour across the Eastern Europe? As described above, you can get to Budapest and upon exploring it leave for Warsaw either directly or even better through Prague depending on the availability of affordable connections. In this manner you visit two or three East European countries in one go, relatively cheaply while travelling in a bit better class. Inspiring?