There are so many terms thrown around when you consider the seasonality of travel; high season, low season, tourist season, peak season… so when exactly is the cheapest time to travel Europe? Surprisingly, though you want to visit Europe as a tourist, you would ideally want to stay away from the tourist season of the year. This is for more than one reason. The two reasons that jump out the most is, number one, in tourist season, the place if full of tourists. You may get held up with crowds at sights and we all know it is a whole lot more fun when you can ride all the amusement park rides without those enormous lines. Another thing that comes as a plus point when staying clear of tourist season is, hotels tend to drop prices during the off-peak season. The off-peak season is the time of year which in tourism terms refers to the time with the least numbers of tourists visiting. With lower numbers of people expected, hotel offer promotions and reduced prices, which can be great if you are travelling on a budget. Travelling at off-season would make finding cheap accommodation a whole lot easier.
Further to this, if you had once looked at the prices of air tickets and shied away from the idea of visiting Europe, you may want to think again. The off-season is the cheapest time of the year, even when it comes to air tickets. Airfares are often times, hundreds of dollars cheaper than during tourist season. Coupled to this, the less crowd you have to deal with means, you would find your visit a whole lot more comfortable. Think about it, would you rather be packed in a village inn with a whole lot of people, or would you like to have the whole place to yourself? Off-peak season is in one sense the best time of the year to travel!
You would enjoy all that Europe has to offer, travelling the sights at the cheapest time of the year. However be warned, that big-city accommodation can sometimes be as expensive as peak season, due to corporate travellers visiting on business.
Amidst all of this is the shoulder season, which is between peak and off-peak season and runs from September to October. During this time of the year, you would find warmer weather coupled to the plus points of fewer crowds and lower rates. Though not as cheap as off-peak season, shoulder season is a good time of the year to consider if your budget allows for better weather.
All in all, you want to street clear of July and August which stand as the busiest two months of the year for Europe. It is the time of the year where the tourists flock in large numbers, on account of which, everything and I mean everything is a lot more expensive.
So there you go, a break down of the cheapest time of the year to travel to Europe. With this information at hand, and the budget as is, I reckon you take another glance at prices of tickets to Europe during off-peak season, you would be surprised at how much more affordable the rates are during this of the year. Whether you choose off-peak season or shoulder season or peak season for some reason, you now know the cheapest time to travel to Europe.
Happy Travels!
