Best Travel Agent for Europe?
 

I have already spent literally dozens of hours trying to find the cheapest vacation in Europe in February (we're teachers, and can not afford much). We would prefer Italy, Germany, or Austria, but are willing to consider anything (except England - we did that last year), and want to find a good travel agent/agency who has experience with European vacations. The only agency we have ever dealt with is Liberty, but they aren't that great for Europe. Thus far, I have scoured Travelocity, Travelzoo, Orbitz, Expedia, GoToday, Cheap Tickets, and every major airline website - I'd like to try an agent/agency in the hopes that they can find us the best deal, or at least confirm that what I'm finding on my own is at a good price. Any recomendations for good European travel agents/agencies? Thanks so much.

Have you looked into the teaching organizations? As a poor struggling teacher just out of college, my first two trips to Europe were done through the Ohio Education Association, a teacher's group. I believe NEA still does some as well. Although this was 30 years ago, my week in Malaga, Spain included airfare, hotels, two meals a day and four day trips for the total price of $199. The other was a week at Christmas in Lucerne, similar in inclusions but for $229, if memory serves.

You might do best booking it yourself. Look hard for the cheapest flights. If you go to the Eurotrip.com Flights forum, Don will give you some great tips for finding them. Then, depending on what city you choose, you can often get an excellent deal for a 3* or 4* hotel on Priceline. I've never seen a package deal that can equal this combination, if and only if Priceline offers good deals in the city you are going to. Vienna and Berlin often have great Priceline deals, going by memory.

Here is my suggestion to save the most money. To get the best hotel rates you would have to use priceline. With a lot of research you can get a cheap, centrally located hotel. But by usilg Priceline you won't have any guidance on itinery. Check out biddingfortravel.com. The website is a long read but using them will save the most money.

My other suggestion is to try the Vacations run by the Airlines. You could find some fantastic deals.

My last ditch idea would be to try www.virtuoso.com and find a travel agent that specializes in Europe. They will know about the awesone air/hotel offers run by the airlines but I do fear they may try to run up prices since they are a higher end agency, but my virtuoso agent has come across amazing deals over the years, none of which I've been able to take advantage of because of my work schedule. For example, she went west coast-hong Kong for a week airfare/4* hotel included for $799 a few years ago when a new JAL route started. Hope this helps.