Currently planning a trip to Europe for next May,lasting 10 days to 2 weeks. Will be flying out of either DC or Newark,Nj .

Ideally, would like to spend several days in Barcelona, several in Paris and a few more in Sicily.

Can anyone who has done this type of inter-country travel recommend inexpensive, reliable airlines within Europe, or does it make more sense to stay with the big, commercial airlines?

How reliable/efficient would trains be? Viable option??

ANY recommendations are greatly appreciated. Thanks everyone!!

Go a lot currently fly econos on the long legs skyscanner.net

Train regional train like a local for the short legs.

ryanair.com easyjet.com vueling.com my top 3

trick is to book sales in advance and pack light onebag.com

decline ALL extras to save a tonne...

www.ricksteves.com good info also www.eurocheapo.com

Happy Planning!

seat61.com best train info pass and sleepers always a rip...

Ryanair is THE low cost airline used by Europeans from many countries, with more reliability than the likes of British Airways, but with less comfort, being no frills. It's of Irish origin, but operates across Europe. Easyjet is another.

As noted Vueling is a Spanish carrier that is relaible. Please note that many of these flights do not use the main airports, so you should also consider the transportation costs to and from your location.

I always use the Spanish website rumbo
It will give you the best prices for air,train and bus.Then I go to the one I like and ccompare the price.Even if your Spanish is non-existent, the site is easy to follow.

Hi ljv

http://www.whichbudget.com/ is a search engine for low-cost flights.

Also look at www.whichbudget.com for the various budget airlines in Europe. Sometimes the full service airlines for each country will have competitive rates on some of the routes so check them too.

You should book your flight from the states into Paris and out of Barcelona. Visit Sicily in the middle as there are no direct flights from the states in and out of Sicily.

Be aware of charges for extra luggage on discount airlines

I'm one European who would not touch Ryanair with a bargepole, although I do use Easyjet. You can often find out the airlines who fly specific routes by looking at the relevant airport websites - e.g. if you want a flight from Barcelona to Paris, look at the Barcelona airport website. These are not always totally up to date, though, so check both ends. I also always check the main / flag carriers to see what they can offer - e.g. Alitalia, Air France, BA / Iberia, KLM & Lufthansa - even if they are not based in the relevant countries, as the bigger ones fly to lots of places & also are in partnership with other airlines. E.g. for our last trip, from Edinburgh to Florence, we flew to Amsterdam with KLM then Alitalia to Florence, all booked together via the Air France website !

Also kayak.com and http://www.low-cost-airline-guide.com/ are good sites to use for flights within Europe.

Just remember to check which airport a city uses and sometimes they are located far outside the city, so extra transportation in involved.

Happy planning.

Ditto what Caroline_Edinburgh says about Ryanair - even if the flight was free I wouldn't take them. Easy Jet are fine, actually more than fine, and I fly them probably 10-15 times per year. Skyscanner.net is a good site to use which incorporates the flag carriers and the low cost carriers (Easy Jet, Flybe, etc)

<i>"Ryanair is THE low cost airline used by Europeans from many countries"</i>

Ryanair is A low cost airline used by Europeans from many countries

Thanks, everyone , for the prompt and informative replies.. Now starts the research!!

Easyjet is good, I've flown them. They go between Barcelona and Paris.

I think Ryanair sunk to a new low recently, if possible, in that they are thinking about allowing passengers to view porn while in flight. Now wouldn't that be delightful, to sit next to a guy doing that.

The big airlines are not usually as cheap as Easyjet, except when you are adding a leg onto an existing flight, then it may be cheaper. For example, if you want to go to Barcelona from the US, it may be cheaper to fly Air France from the US to Barcelona (which will make a connection in Paris) than to book a flight into Paris and then take Easyjet or some such airline from Paris to Barcelona. In fact, I just did that.

But if it's a separate flight on its own in the middle of your trip, the big airlines are a lot more expensive, especially for one-way flights. Again as an example, I flew from Barcelona to Lyon during my trip after staying in Barcelona some days. I did that on Easyjet for only around 30-50 euro, I forget, with all fees and baggage checked. The same flight on Air France was several hundred euro if not more, it wasn't even remotely close.

Christina, the big airlines are not always more expensive. I recently bought BA flights from London to Venice for GBP66 each one way - Easyjet was more. And the BA price includes a checked in bag and 2 pieces of hand luggage, each of up to 23kg.

Agree w/last poster! Once againI always play w/ the website rumbo.es to get ideas for air train and bus.