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Posts Tagged ‘cheap flights’

In the past year,  more air carrier routes and never-ending promotions and special sales increased the availability of cheap flights to Australia from the continental US and Canada. If you start your trip in the low season — May 1 through early June and mid-July through September 23 — flights to Australia are available at extremely low prices. The most expensive time to find flights to Australia is around the year-end holidays.

Australia is as large as the continental United States and like the US, each of Australia’s regions offers a distinct and exciting experience.

Begin in Brisbane

If diving on the Great Barrier Reef, surfing on the Gold Coast, hiking through one of the world’s oldest rainforests or sailing around the Whitsunday Islands is your dream, choose cheap flights to Brisbane, less than a 14 hour flight from Los Angeles.

Brisbane is the gateway to Australia’s sunshine state — Queensland, where the weather is beautiful one day and perfect the next. When the cheapest flights to Australia are available and the temperature in southern Australia is a bit nippy, you’ll find it warm and sunny in Queensland.

Start your adventure in Melbourne

With cheap flights to Australia, you can uncover amazing things to do in Melbourne, a vibrant city and the capital of Victoria. Mingle with the locals at an Aussie Rules football game and join in the celebrations after the game. Explore the maritime history and scenic beauty of the Great Ocean Road all the way to Adelaide, with stops to sample the fruits of the vine along the way. Spend a day on Phillip Island with koalas, fur seals, and luscious chocolate, before joining the nightly parade of little penguins as they return home from the sea.

Stroll through Melbourne’s many alleyways in search of hidden treasures to tempt your tastebuds. Enjoy the complementary tram to see the city’s main sites, and go back in time to take the place of a notorious outlaw in the Olde Goal (prison).

See the sights in Sydney

Sophisticated, cosmopolitan Sydney is the most popular city in Australia. Enjoy some of the endless things to do in Sydney: Savor the fantastic views of the city from the top of the Harbour Bridge, or while enjoying champagne and nibbles aboard a yacht cruising the bay. Learn to surf on Bondi Beach – or lay back and watch the surfers from the comfort of a seaside restaurant. Grab a bicycle to uncover the treasures off the tourist tracks; hear a symphony at the Opera House or tour backstage before the action begins.

Leave the city to walkabout the Blue Mountains for awesome views and hikes surrounded in a blue haze; or head out to Australia’s oldest wine growing region for tastings of wine, beer, cheese and chocolate. Sit on a porch in a vineyard and watch the roos mingle with the vines – or enjoy a sundowner at a sky high restaurant to see the city’s twinkling lights.

When you find your cheap flights to Australia online, you’ll save money and be able to see more of this amazing country on your vacation.

Technorati Tags: australia, brisbane, cheap flights, melbourne, Sydney

For some years now a number of the airlines labelled “low-cost airlines in Europe have been taking part in a fares war attempting to offer the lowest air fares to a host of cities throughout Europe. It’s not unusual to read that one of the leading budget carriers such as Easyjet or Ryanair has an offer of return flights from Britain to France, Spain or Germany for £1 (approx $1.45). There might be airport landing fees and taxes to be added to the fare, but it’s still an absolute bargain if you’re keen to see a variety of European cities. One of the major drawbacks of flying with the budget airlines is that they often make use of to the smaller local airports instead of the better known biginternational ones. This sometimes means that a flight that is supposed to be flying to a major European city actually lands some fifty miles away. In fact there are a number of advantages with this arrangement, the regional airports often provide a much faster service on luggage and check-in because they are servicing a much smaller number of flights. The disadvantage is that public transport serving these airports can be scrappy at best and a very popular alternative is to hire a car from the airport. Here are a variety of the beautiful cities that we have visited with flights from the budget airlines. We are sure that you’ll enjoy a visit to any of these scenic, they certainly have a lot to offer the visitor to their shores.

Glasgow, Scotland

Glasgow, once the butt of so many jokes about the slums of the Gorbals has undergone a Renaissance and is now a fascinating, architecturally diverse city welcoming a vast number of tourists throughout the year. The trendy West part of the city is the home of the fourth oldest university in the U.K.. Perched on a hill in the middle of the Medieval region of the city, its students contribute greatly to the vibrant, fun loving and cosmopolitan atmosphere of the area. The budget airlines utilise Prestwick Airport some 51 km (35 miles) to the north east of the centre of the city and you will find a good road between the airport and Glasgow city centre. This is a popular sightseeing area, so you are advised to rent a car at Prestwick in advance of your journey. An uncrowded 30 minute drive from the airport terminal along the M77 motorway takes you to the centre of the city. Glasgow is an ideal base for a journey to the Trossachs National Park. A mere 13 mile (20 km) drive out of the city and you could find yourself enjoying stunning countryside on the back of a pony, whereas a 50 km (30 mile) drive eastwards using another excellent motorway will find you in Edinburgh together with its ever popular festivals, Princes Street shopping, the historic Castle and Holyrood Palace.

Florence, Italy

Undoubtedly one of Europe’s most impressively beautiful cities, Florence is served by Pisa Airport, some 50 miles (84 km) west of Florence. Rent a car at Pisa airport and you’ll be in position to explore Pisa’s leaning tower, majestic Florence and some of Europe’s most picturesque countryside, that of the majestically beautiful Tuscany. It therefore will not come as a huge surprise that Florence is high in the popularity stakes when considering European cities. Once you arrive at the city of Florence you will find that much of the centre of the city is pedestrianized thus preserving the many ancient statues and architectural treasures from the vibrations and pollution caused by hectic traffic. The complete lack of traffic overwhelms you with a sense of tranquility as you stroll from one monument to the next. You don’t have to stray too far before being hit by the evil, ear piercing roar of the scooter riders of Florence. Apart from the Ponte Vecchio all of the bridges into the centre of the city are noisy, polluted places, thus giving us a further reason to keep to the ancient alleyways and peaceful inner sanctums of Florence’s wonderful piazzas.

Tours, France

Tours is the perfect base for discovering France’s beautiful Loire valley and its majestic chateaux The perfect centre for exploring the Loire Valley famed for its serious array of palatial residences, Tours has quite a number of its own charms. Although the small airport is but a few miles out of town, you really need to rent a car in the Loire Valley to fully explore some of the most picturesque towns and villages in the whole of France. Along the banks of the River Loire between Sully-sur-Loire and Chalonnes, a number of cultural treasures are presented for the visitor to enjoy. The Loire valley is a UNESCO World Heritage site and offers beautiful countryside, historic villages and lots of flamboyant castles. During the middle ages the Loire Valley was known as the “Retreat of Kings and was a firm favourite of the French royal family. Built originally as working fortified castles, the buildings were transformed into the palatial chaeaux that you can see today. The historic towns that line the river banks are a magnet to tourists from all over the world. Towns such as Tours, Blois and Chinon have so much to see and do whilst the most popular of all the chateaux is probably that on the estate of Chambord. Throughout the region you will discover small, family owned vineyards offering a variety of wonderful wines at budget prices. Look out for the word “degustation”, which means sampling I guess, and provided that ‘Le Patron’ is not in the middle of a long leisurely lunch you will be made very welcome and he will be more than willing to offer you a tasting of his complete selection of wines. Of course, it is vital that you take a tee-totaller as your chauffer, some of these tasting sessions can become extremely alcoholic!.

Technorati Tags: car hire, car rental, cheap flights, cities, Europe, European travel, Florence, France, Glasgow, Italy, Scotland, Tours