How much should a city break cost?

jogdish

Hi,
Just doing some thinking and wanted to ask feedback.

3 day euro city break, staying in hotels - I cannot see being any cheaper than €600 ( flights at a time you want ~200, 3 nights in a decent hotel near transport links ~400 )
Yet I always hear people saying for €500 I could have myself a great holiday! - Am I missing something or is my pricing wrong?

Btw, hotels 3 stars and I know you can be lucky and get the cheap flight at a nice time but more often than I found it does not suit.

Am I assuming to pay too much?

Shint0

It's like comparing apples and oranges. Most major European cities are expensive for hotel accommodation unless you look at other options such as Air B&B, Wimdu etc. A sun holiday for a week for one person could work out at a similar price if you book direct flights and find self-catering accommodation but again it depends entirely on where you go, when you go and the standard of accommodation you want.

spurious

Depends where you go, 200 a night in a Polish hotel could get you ten rooms.

NYCKILDARE

Went to Berlin myself in January for 4 nights.. I know probably off season but we got our flights and accommodation for around €200 each.. We stayed in an apartment about 2 minutes away from the Brandenburg Gate in the Embassy district the apartment itself has good reviews and lived up to our expectations.. Our flights were at peak times also.. The transport in Berlin was very cheap as we mainly traveled by either U or S Bahn and you can buy day tickets or zonal tickets.. Depending on where you plan on going you can do it fairly cheap

kindalen

Try using the likes of www.skyscanner.ie for flights and www.trivago.ie or www.hotelscombined.ie for hotels.

VG31

kindalen wrote: »

Try using the likes of www.skyscanner.ie for flights and www.trivago.ie or www.hotelscombined.ie for hotels.

And Booking.com

pcuser

Prague in October will cost about €100 return for flights from Dublin. You can get a decent apartment for €200 for 4 nights. A 3 star city center hotel for 4 nights starts at €150
https://www.booking.com/searchresults.en-gb.html?aid=304142&label=gen173nr-1FCAEoggJCAlhYSDNiBW5vcmVmaGmIAQGYATG4AQ7IAQzYAQHoAQH4AQKoAgM&sid=b7d2b11ca5245512b8b4aea3ae574bdd&dcid=4&checkin_monthday=24&checkin_year_month=2016-10&checkout_monthday=28&checkout_year_month=2016-10&class_interval=1&dest_id=-553173&dest_type=city&group_adults=2&group_children=0&hlrd=0&label_click=undef&no_rooms=1&order=price_for_two&review_score_group=empty&room1=A%2CA&sb_price_type=total&score_min=0&ss=Prague%2C%20Czech%20Republic&ss_raw=prague&ssb=empty&traveller=other&nflt=class%3D3%3Bdi%3D2309%3Bht_id%3D204%3B&unchecked_filter=hoteltype

munchkin_utd

jogdish , are you going on your own or as a couple and is the budget per person or per couple? That info does affect the prices somewhat.

Lots of people seem to have a stigma to just go to a concert or cinema on their own for an evening, so to go on holiday on your own for a weekend or longer is seen as eccentric / crazy / a non runner - and often people when posting just presume that you know they are in a long term relationship / would never consider leaving the house on their own.

fret_wimp2

you're using a lot of subjective criteria. "decent" hotel. Ask 10 different people whats a "decent" hotel and you get 10 different answers.
Also, you're looking for ideal flight times.

Its like anything, the more you pay, the more little things you get tweaked to your liking.
If you're willing to fly at 6am instead of 11am you could save quite a lot of money for the sake of a little inconvinience.
If you're willing to stay in a basic hotel in a good location you could save a lot over a 4 star hotel that may offer you a better restaurrant & plusher room's.

Its down to what you want. We done 5 nights in london, staying in kensington, in a budget hotel, and including flights it it was about 600 euro total. If we stayed in a 3 star hotel the same break would have been 1500 quid. Hotel was comfortable, warm, clean, quiet and staff were lovely. It served its purpose well, for us.

Decide what your priorities are and spend/save the money on them.

ncmc

Fret_wimp, can I ask what hotel you stayed in in London? Trying to organise a budget break for early next year and hotel prices are scuppering the budget!

Charizard

ncmc wrote: »

Fret_wimp, can I ask what hotel you stayed in in London? Trying to organise a budget break for early next year and hotel prices are scuppering the budget!

Would you consider staying in a hostel in a private room, Thats what Im doing and its a little more expensive"talking a few euros" but its in a prime location and a top class hostel"YHA Oxford st"
People seem to over look hostels, when I told my sisters I booked myself, wife and 3 month old baby they nearly died with shock

problemnext

http://www.holidayguru.ie - cheapest offers from different websites, you can get very good value if you keep an eye on website every couple of days

ncmc

Charizard wrote: »

Would you consider staying in a hostel in a private room, Thats what Im doing and its a little more expensive"talking a few euros" but its in a prime location and a top class hostel"YHA Oxford st"
People seem to over look hostels, when I told my sisters I booked myself, wife and 3 month old baby they nearly died with shock

I wouldn't be happy sharing a bathroom tbh, for the same money or maybe a couple of £££ more, I could get a Premier Inn or Travelodge.

Charizard

ncmc wrote: »

I wouldn't be happy sharing a bathroom tbh, for the same money or maybe a couple of £££ more, I could get a Premier Inn or Travelodge.

You could get one with a private bathroom

faceman

Unfortunately the straight answer is it depends.

The earlier you book the better and every city is different when it comes to how expensive it is.

duffman13

ncmc wrote: »

I wouldn't be happy sharing a bathroom tbh, for the same money or maybe a couple of £££ more, I could get a Premier Inn or Travelodge.

Hostels are often overlooked by most people, you can usually get a private room in a prime location with an ensure for similar money to a premier Inn or a Travelodge. The latter hotels are usually in worse locations. Check out hostel world and look up some privates. You may get a better deal and it doesn't hurt to have a look.

faceman

To give some tips:

If you're willing to fly early morning on a Friday you'll get a cheaper flight. It may be also cheaper to use a different airline for your return flight.

Airbnb is often cheaper than a hotel. If booking a hotel use Tripadvisor or Trivago so you can see price comparisons.

Make sure it's not a public holiday in the country you are flying from or too. Similarly make sure there are no big sport games or events on the same time you're going.

Some specific tips:
You can always get great weekend deals in 4 and 5 star hotels in Brussels as the hotels are busier during the week than the weekend.

Amsterdam has a great public transport network that's easy to navigate so you don't necessarily need to be slap bang in the city centre.

Paris is overrated and over priced IMO

London is expensive.

Berlin is great and doesn't really have a city centre. It has a tram system so if you plan cleverly you can get a good deal on a hotel.

Barcelona is a great city but some areas are more expensive than others. Anything close to the beach in the summertime will be more expensive.

ncmc

Charizard wrote: »

You could get one with a private bathroom

I only had a quick look at the website, but they seem to be all shared facilities from what I can see?

Wesser

I am Going to Prague midweek 4 days 3 night 4 star hotel transfers to hotel and return flights ex dublin all in for 380 euro. Contact abbey travel.

The Bishop Basher

Barcelona, Paris and Amsterdam are almost always cheap to get to..

Booked Barcelona a couple of weeks ago for myself and the wife..for later this month..

We're on a budget so i shopped around a good bit..

It' was way cheaper to stay out of the city so booked 3 nights in a hotel near the beach in Sitges which is close to the airport which saves us both time and cash

Flights €320
Hotel €370
Transfers €20

So about €700 before spending which is in and around what we would normally spend.

Would really struggle to do it for €500 to be honest..but it is near a beach in August in Spain.

munchkin_utd

long weekend in Cologne, weekend of Nov12th
Flights 34 Euro return (to cologne proper so only a couple of euro to get to town, not a €20 bus fare from arse end of nowhere)
Single room in Hotel €117 for 2 nights including breakfast (probably a heap of bread, butter, jam and coffee - which for me is all I would need anyhow).

Total for a weekend away 151 Euro, so (almost) cheaper than the train to cork and staying in a b+b

Charizard

ncmc wrote: »

I only had a quick look at the website, but they seem to be all shared facilities from what I can see?

That is one of my top class hostels, I have travelled world wide using hostels and have stayed in many places where if I choose I could get a ensuite

.G.

I booked 4 nights in Madrid in October just this week. 365 euro in total between the two of us. Hotel is a bit out from the centre but it's beside a metro station.

Mr rebel

Berlin is the ultimate budget city break destination from my experience.

otnomart

You could save one night accommodation by flying out on a Saturday morning, you will still have (nearly) two full days.

"Secondary" cities (not capital cities) can make great breaks as well: Salzburg, Rotterdam, Bordeaux, Hamburg, Goteborg...

Hotel prices tend to go down at the week-end in "business" cities.