Flights to Europe are cheap right now. Here are flight costs I found from New York that coincide with our upcoming European trips:
Florence (Via di Francesco Trekking Adventure): One-stop flights as low as $424
Kraków (Tatra Mountains Hiking): One-stop flights as low as $398
Berlin (Flaeming Skate & Biking): One-stop flights as low as $517 and non-stop for $890
Tbilisi (Georgia Hiking): One-stop flights as low as $790
Zurich (Liechtenstein Hiking): Non-stop flights as low as $467
These are VERY low prices for what is basically peak season into some non-major airports. Why the low airfares? Primarily because tourism is down into the United States (17% down in March from Western Europe), which means fewer Europeans are on flights back home. Also because some Americans are avoiding travel this year as well. Fewer people are on planes both directions.
In fact, on my recent trip home from Europe, I was on a flight from Frankfurt to JFK that was so empty, the flight attendant came by to ask if I wanted to move up to a row that had no one in it! I accepted.
The major news in the travel world post-pandemic has been focused on overcrowding. Venice is now imposing a Venice Access Fee on day visitors. Protestors in Spain and Portugal are rallying against the use of private homes for short-term rentals, which drives up rent for locals. Airfares have been high. In some tourist hot spots, it has been hard to find a restaurant for dinner without a reservation.
Those issues are not going to go away in the long term. Yet recently, there is a lot of tension in the world, with Middle East bombings, the Ukraine war, tariff hostilities, and US deportations. Some people are concerned about traveling.
So what is the truth? Should you worry about safety or take advantage of low airfares?
The reality is that what happens in one part of the world gets reflected and magnified in the news but often does not directly impact our own lives or those areas of the world where we plan to travel. You are very unlikely when traveling to experience any of the world’s drama beyond potentially a question such as “What is going on in the US right now anyway?” And if you travel to Europe and you are not on a large bus tour to a major tourist destination, you are very unlikely to see any negative issues from overcrowding.
On our tours, of course, we tend to go to much-less-traveled destinations in small groups, usually on foot or bicycle. We design our tours so we are more like travelers and less like tourists. We have already run seven international tours this year with not a whiff of controversy or concern. And flights to Europe are cheap right now – lower than they have been for years.
Show me the opportunity to travel to Europe for $500 with fewer tourists in hotels and on planes? Now is a great time to travel.