Plan Your European Vacation: Airfare to Europe is Down

You don’t have to be the Griswalds to plan an epic European vacation. And now, thanks to lower airfare across the board, you also don’t have to win a game show to pay for it either.

According to our data, we’re seeing significant drops in airfare across the continent. Airfares from the US to the top 50 most-searched European cities are close to 20% cheaper than last spring and summer. Some cities are edging closer to 30% less.

So, what could be causing this? For one, low-cost carriers have entered the market in droves. This drives down prices across the board and makes things more competitive (good for your wallet, maybe not so much for your legroom). Additionally, the US dollar is gaining strength against European currencies. Any way you slice it, now is a great time to plan your travel before summer crowds fill popular sites and visa restrictions (potentially) tighten.

We combed through our data to find out which destinations are seeing the biggest decrease in airfare compared to last year. Here are five of the top destinations seeing a drop:

Want to know where else we’re seeing drops in airfare? Here’s the list of the top 20 cities:

Ready to put stamps on that passport? We’ll search across the web for flights, hotels and rentals cars so you can choose the options that work best for you. We’ll even do it when you’re not looking: just set a Price Alert for your top destinations and we’ll let you know when prices change. Travel Problem Solved

Methodology:

All data is based on median airfares conducted from KAYAK US and is intended to be used as a guide. Travel dates are April 1, 2017 – September 4, 2017, and search dates are February 15, 2015 – March 15, 2017.   Top 20 cities seeing the greatest YoY decrease in prices were pulled from among the top 50 most searched European cities from the US. Average difference in median prices among the top 50 most searched European cities – a 17.9% decrease in fares this year compared to last year.