European budget travel news

Accorhotels 50% off sale

2010-10-29T21:37:00.007+01:00

Accorhotels, the hotel company with hotel chains catering for all budgets and tastes are having a sale for the next 4 days. The discount applies to over 700 of their hotels worldwide. Hotels in the accor group include Formule 1, Etap, Ibis, Mercure, Grand Mercure, All Seasons, Suitehotel, Orbis, Sofitel and Pullman Hotels. The deals apply mainly to the mid range hotels like Mercure.
Accorhotels sale

Stay at the Newport Etap with rooms from only £18!

2010-08-16T12:45:00.006+01:00

Etap Hotels, have some really great offers on at the moment. You can stay at their Newport Hotel from only £18 per room. Rooms are compact, but have a specification that includes en-suite toilet, shower and wash basin, flat screen TV and WiFi in public areas.
The hotel is best suited to person's travelling by car.

It allows easy access to the National Roman Legion Museum at nearby Carleon, part of the Museum of Wales (Free Entry) and Carleon Amphitheatre and Roman Barracks.

If you enjoy golf why not try a round at Celtic Manor Resort, host to the 2010 Golf Ryder Cup.

Cardiff, Wales' Capital City is only 17 km away with its famous Cardiff Bay including the Millennium Centre, Welsh Parliament and Norwegian Church. Go shopping in Victorian or 21st Century Shopping Arcades. or visit Cardiff Castle or some of the city's World Class Museums.

Finally, why not go underground at Big Pit National Coal Museum (Free Entry) at Blaenavon a UNESCO World Heritage Site, about 30 minutes from Newport.

Look up Etap Hotel, Newport on the web.

My top 10 Attractions in Manchester.

2010-08-13T12:23:00.018+01:00

Manchester, the city in the North West of England might not jump out as an obvious choice for a short break, but think again! There are numerous leisure attractions in the city.
My Top 10 Manchester attractions:

10. John Rylands Library. Superb Victorian Architecture
9. Whitworth Art Gallery
8. People's History Museum
7. Manchester Cathedral
6. Old Trafford, Manchester United's Football ground
5. Manchester Town Hall
4. Imperial War Museum North
3. Manchester Museum. Excellent Egyptology section plus T Rex skeleton.
2. Manchester Art Gallery
1. Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI). See the history of the textile industry and the Industrial Revolution.

Budget Hotel:
If you are looking for excellent budget hotel to stay at, then how about the Etap Hotel at Salford Quays. Rooms start at £18 and it is located just 100m from the Metro.
Or how about checking out LateRooms.com for offers from other hotels in and around Manchester.
Getting there:
Virgin Trains run London to Manchester services starting at £11. Look up train prices.
You can also get there by National Express Coach or Megabus. Of course Manchester has its own International Airport, but flying there generates the largest carbon footprint.

Become a visitor in your hometown

2010-06-29T11:53:00.010+01:00

Ask someone about the visitor attractions in their home town and they might well tell you that they have never visited that place. It seems many of us take the place we grew up in for granted. Why the rush to visit somewhere? We have the rest of our lives to call in and pay a visit.
In a worldwide global recession and with our carbon footprints becoming ever more noticeable, it makes sense to check out what your local environs have to offer.
I enjoy looking at my home town through different eyes. Take a look up at the roof-lines, visit that museum you have skipped until now. You may be surprised. Take your camera and try and capture the essence of the area without taking the shots published by most of the picture postcards. The photos in this post are just a few I took on my last visit.

Reductions on Winter Sports holidays

2009-12-06T19:30:00.006Z

Snow in France has allowed many resorts to open early. If you can get away in the next week or so, then there are some very cheap deals to be had.

Lift Passes

Many resorts are offering reduced price lift passes to reflect the fact that not all of the pistes are likely to be open. However the good snow has meant that there are a lot more open than you would expect at this time of year. Discounts include cheap lift passes or 2 days for the price of one.

Interhome Holiday Homes

Interhome has apartments and chalets all over Europe with a considerable number in the Alps and Pyrenees. If properties aren't let within 2 weeks of start of rental, they reduce the price by 33%. Some apartments on offer for occupation commencing between 7 and 12 December 2009.

An Apartment for 4 at Val Thorens, the snowsure resort in the French Alps can be rented for £244, reduced from £367. Or an apartment for 2 can be found for £205. Both apartments are within 50 metres of the lifts.

www.interhome.co.uk

Snowtrex

I like this company because it quotes prices including lift passes. They have a last minute offers page on their Website.

£200 buys a week at an apartment sleeping 6 at snowsure Les 2 Alpes and includes your lift pass. Cheaper resorts include Chamrouse and La Norma where a week's accommodation and lift pass can be purchased from £128 and £95 respectively.

www.snowtrex.co.uk

PV Holidays offer massive early booking discount on apartments

2009-10-31T22:21:00.009Z

PV Holidays has over 100 residences in over 40 Winter Sports Resorts. The apartment chain has over 50,000 apartments, located across the whole of France. An earlier post pointed out that the economic recession had lead to some great deals being made available.
What does this mean in practice? Well, PV Holidays have 20% discount on apartments booked before 19 December 2009. As an added incentive to UK Winter Sports enthusiasts hit by a weak pound / strong euro they are offering an additional 15% off their bookings. You will need to use the offer code "8258" when booking.
Other offers include an extra free night on weeks booked for Christmas 2009 and 4 nights for the price of 3 on short breaks. It means that a week at PV Group apartment at a ski resort start at just €155.98 for a week in a studio. As good a reason as any, to get your snowboard or skis serviced and book an apartment before the 19th of December. Before the UK announces it's coming out of the recession and demand picks up.

Coach travel to the pistes

2009-10-25T19:51:00.010Z

I have rented an apartment in Chamonix. It should be my home for 5 months, from December 2009. Hopefully, I will be able to spend some time snowboarding around Chamonix. The mountains must be made of some sort of rock that acts a magnet and I am being irresistibly pulled there.
My eldest son would like to come out at February Half Term, but has found that the transport options are not cheap. My searches have found train and bus services that run directly to the middle of Chamonix and allow free transport of bags and snowboards / skis. I will concentrate on bus travel now and publish the train options in another post.

Travelling by coach;, prices are very competitive starting at £79 one way and £99 return. This mode of transport also has the advantage of having a lower carbon footprint than air or car travel.
Eurolines runs services directly to Chamonix and the following ski resorts:

Cluses
Chamonix
Argentiere
Moutiers
Aime
Bourg-St-Maurice
Tignes Le Lac
Tignes Val Claret
Val d'Isere

Special Offers
Currently, there is an additional offer of £10 off your trip, just you use the Voucher Code:

SKITEN

This is valid until 15 November 2009. Terms and conditions apply including an exclusion period of February Half Term! However they also offer a reduced fare for anyone travelling by National Express / Eurolines to London of only £15 (not available with the voucher code offer), so I was able to find a fare of £114 return (Chester - Chamonix) for February Half Term travel, which I think is a very good deal indeed.

Winter Ski prices slashed

2009-08-05T10:22:00.004+01:00

With the Pound at a historic low against the Euro, coupled with the severe credit crunch, it was hardly good news for Brits wanting to enjoy the excellent snow last Winter. I can`t wait to ride my snowboard in the Alps again. The good news is that bookings are open for ski resorts for 2009/2010 and there are some very good early booking offers. P&V Holidays, the operator of apartments and hotels in most French Ski Resorts have at least 22% off all Dates, all Resorts. Up to 45% off!. Book during August for these great deals.

Travelodge £9 room sale

2009-06-18T10:37:00.002+01:00

Travelodge has another sale starting today (18 June 2009). Rooms are available at £9 at hotels all over the UK between 1st November 2009 - 31st January 2010. Rooms can accommodate up to a family of 4 so are extremely good value at the normal selling price. So if you intend visiting friends or family around Christmas and the New Year, then what are you waiting for, go to www.travelodge.co.uk now and grab a £9 room. Rooms at this rate are limited so be quick.

Ferry Fortnight - Norfolkline

2009-05-14T11:53:00.006+01:00

Norfokline is a very competitively priced ferry operator. Part of the Maersk Group the company operates the following routes:
Dover <> Dunkirk
Liverpool <> Dublin
Liverpool <> Belfast
Rosyth <> Zeebrugge
Their latest deals are:
5 day return Dover <> Dunkirk fare for £16 each way. (£32)
Liverpool <> Dublin from £75 €85 return
Liverpool <> Belfast from £99 return

DFDS Seaways Ferry Fortnight Offers

2009-05-11T10:45:00.006+01:00

DFDS Seaways is running a big campaign for the UK National Ferry Fortnight. They operate on the following European routes:

Newcastle (UK) - Amsterdam (Netherlands)
Harwich (UK) - Esbjerg (Denmark)
Copenhagen (Denmark)- Oslo (Norway)

Offers include:

Harwich - Amsterdam from £65 for car plus 2 passengers
Harwich - Esbjerg £142 (car goes free)

There are also offers for foot passengers including these two:

Newcastle - Amsterdam 2 night mini cruise from £69 for 2 people (includes en-suite cabin)
Harwich - Esbjerg 2 night mini cruise from £75 for 2 people (includes en-suite cabin)

For more details go to the DFDS Seaways web site at http://www.dfdsseaways.co.uk/offers/ferry_fortnight/exclusive_ferry_fortnight_reader_offers

Ferry Fortnight - P&O Ferries

2009-05-09T14:29:00.005+01:00

P&O Ferries have started Ferry Fortnight with a 5 Day sale. Day trips come in cheapest, at £19 for a Dover - Calais return for a car plus up to 9 occupants. Ideal for a family day trip to France. You could spend time at Calais, Boulogne, Dunkirk or even Lille. If you would like to linger then 2 day returns are on offer for £29 or 3 Day return tickets for £39.

In all, 50,000 tickets are available in the sale, which runs until 22:00 on Tuesday 12 May 09. Travel must be taken before 15 July 09.

Eurapart is dropping Air Travel

2009-05-07T21:05:00.003+01:00

Today, I have decided to stop covering air travel on the Eurapart site. Instead, I will look at sustainable ways of getting around Europe. Eurapart started as a site to cover European Apartment vacations. Then due to the large number of requests for information on budget hotels chains, a section was included, which went on to attract the bulk of the traffic to the site. It is to these roots that Eurapart will return but with the emphasis on sustainable and affordable travel.

Review of Snow Base Indoor Ski Slope

2009-04-28T21:47:00.003+01:00

I really enjoyed my day riding at Snow Base, near Terneuzen, in the Zeeland Region of the Netherlands. Only 30 minutes from Gent. The 10 day pass is excellent value so I may be back if I can find a way of getting there.

Travel competitions

2009-03-14T19:26:00.007Z

There are a number of travel competitions running at present. Why not enter some, they are free and who knows maybe you won't have to pay for your next break away.
P&O Cruises Win a 15 night cruise holiday
SHE Magazine (p172) Win a a weekend break in Carbis Bay 5 Star Apartment
MySwitzerland.com Win a week's holiday in Switzerland
UKHotel.com Win a 2 night stay at De Veres Venues Wokefield Park
Monarch Holidays Win a holiday in the Maldives
Gordonisimo Win a week's diving holiday on the paradise island of Lanzarote, in The Canary Islands!
Milkwood House, Swansea Win a free night

Good Luck!

Ski weekends defy the credit slide

2009-02-25T09:49:00.005Z

According to a press release from the budget airline easyJet, 16% more Winter Sports enthusiasts are flying off to the Alps for the weekend than last year. Overall passenger numbers out of the United Kingdom's airports are down on last year. However 2008 / 2009 has been on of the best years for snow for a very long time. Browsing through the Ski Travel Operators' late booking offers there appears to be plenty of spare capacity at the resorts. After Christmas and New Year the February Half Term Holidays are the busiest time at ski resorts and there is still some capacity. According to easyJet, many British families have not booked a Winter Holiday but instead are taking the opportunity to get a cheap flight and are taking ski weekends.

Swansea Cork Ferry

2009-02-24T17:51:00.005Z

In the first of my 2009 posts, I mentioned that the Swansea - Cork Ferry service had gone. Adrian from Bring Back the Swansea Cork Ferry Campaign contacted this blog to say that it was far from the end of the ferry service. The campaign has negotiated discounted port rates at Swansea and Cork, has an experienced ferry operator and a modern ship available at a reasonable price. They have 2 million of the 3 million euros required to start operating. They have been been holding public meetings and roadshows at at Kinsale and Cork. Today they are running 2 at Swansea. I hope everything goes well and they get the service going again.

Snow Train price cuts

2009-02-24T16:07:00.007Z

The Snow Train service has just announced significant price cuts on all of its March services with savings of up to £70!
Friday 27 February 2009 returning Saturday 7 March 2009 starts at £219 save £50
Friday 6 March 2009 returning Saturday 14 March 2009 starts at £199 save £70
Friday 13 March 2009 returning Saturday 21 March 2009 starts at £219 save £50
Friday 20 March 2009 returning Saturday 28 March 2009 starts at £219 save £50
You can book at Rail Europe.co.uk or by phone: 0844 848 4088
Departing on a Friday evening, the Snow Train experience involves a journey by Eurostar to Paris Gare du Nord, where you board the overnight snow train to the French Alps. Sleeping accommodation is in couchette compartments sleeping up to 6 passengers, and have seats that convert into bunk style flat beds for the night . Toilets and washrooms are located at the end of each compartment. If you like to party then there is an a bar and disco on the train. You arrive in the Alps at either Chambery, Albertville, Moutiers, Aime, Landry or Bourg St Maurice. The return journey is made on a Saturday evening, thus allowing nearly 8 days on the snow.

Full Eurostar service resumes

2009-02-24T11:39:00.003Z

Following the fire in the Channel Tunnel last September, Eurostar train services to Paris, Brussels and Lille are now back to normal as of 23 February 2009. The journey times from London – Paris 2h15, London – Brussels 1h51 and London – Lille 1h20 are once again the norm . The full timetable has also been restored, with up to 19 trains per day on the London – Paris route and up to 10 per day on the London – Brussels route.

LD Lines may take over Sea France

2009-02-23T16:58:00.006Z

Sea France the French ferry operator owned by the railway company SNCF may be taken over by LD Lines. LD Lines is a newcomer to Dover. It operated on longer cross channel routes until the demise of SpeedFerries last month. Sea France has already announced it will need to restructure in order to survive in the present climate. It announced that 650 jobs were under threat. A merged company would be a major cross Channel operator.
Christophe Santini of LD Lines said that at least 350 jobs would be saved if the takeover was successful. It has also pledged to continue to operate the ships under the French flag.
Sea France currently services the popular Dover - Calais route.

Back again!

2009-02-23T12:41:00.004Z

Hi,
Its been a long time. Over two years in fact. A lot has happened in that time. The world financial slowdown and credit crunch is affecting us whether we like it or not. In the UK it means that the pound buys less Euros and dollars than last year
Many travel companies have failed since I was blogging here last. These include XL Airlines's UK division, Sterling and Zoom.
On the ferry scene SpeedFerries ceased trading at the end of last month, but LD Lines have stepped in and taken over the Dover - Boulogne routes and even added a service from Dover to Dieppe. Superfast Ferries Rosyth - Zeebrugge service will now be operated by Norfolkline. Swansea Cork Ferries have gone altogether and so have the Newcastle - Norway ferry services.
The good news is that there are still some very cheap offers from the remaining ferry operators, hotel prices are actually falling and the budget and superbudget chains continue to expand.
John

Virgin Trains Christmas service and special offers

2006-12-12T14:21:00.000Z

Virgin Trains will not be running trains on Christmas Day (25 December 2006)and Boxing Day (26 December 2006). Engineering Works are being undertaken on these days.
In addition they are relaxing the rules for Saver tickets so that they will be available for purchase all day between Friday 22 December 2006 and Monday 1 January 2007.

Express by Holiday Inn £39 / 49 euro room offers

2006-11-29T22:32:00.000Z

The budget hotel arm of Holiday Inn have some tempting offers at present starting at £39 for a room including continental breakfast. Here are just a few of the deals available right now from Express by Holiday Inn:
Valencia from 49 euros (£33)
Düsseldorf from 49 euros (£33)
London from £39
Ipswich from £39
Lille from 59 euros (£40)
Cardiff from £55

Eurotunnel creditors vote for restructuring

2006-11-27T22:03:00.000Z

Eurotunnel has today achieved the first part of its restructuring plans. At a meeting with its creditors got a vote favour of a deal that will lead to 50% of the debt for the operation being dropped. The vote accounts for 72% of the Junior and Senior debt of the cross channel operator.
Eurotunnel is currently operating under the French Safeguard Procedure, similar to Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in the USA. There is still a long way to go to finalise a deal but we will keep you informed on here.

Cairngorm Ski resort to open this weekend

2006-11-24T21:51:00.000Z

The Cairngorm ski resort in Scotland plans to open this weekend (25 November / 26 November) if the weather permits. It plans to operate the funicular, the Ciste T-bar, and possibly the M1. Lifts will be open 09h30 -15h30 with the upper lifts closing at 15h00. It could be busy though as it will be the only Scottish resort open.
A ski pass will cost £16.50.