Regularly updated tips on how to find cheap flights and accommodation in general.
If you are looking for a connection from an airport to the centre or information on public transport of particular cities, you will find it in our articles about these places. Here you will find more general information.
Cheap flight and bus tickets
Czech people are a nation of travellers. Czech Republic might have just around 10 million inhabitants but you can be sure to meet at least one of them wherever you travel to. No wonder, we have also a lot of websites offering cheap flight tickets. You can find there limited offers, bargains caused by mistake made by the airline and other stuff. Some of the flights are from the Czech Republic but many are from all around the Europe including German cities, Rome, Milan and Budapest. Unfortunately, these following three websites are only in Czech but with a little help from Google translator, you can get the basic idea. There are not only flights, some offers are all inclusive holidays or bus tickets.
My favourites are: Pelikan with a sophisticated search engine and cheap holiday packages, Zaletsi and Dovolevna which can be downloaded as apps and let you know when something interesting appears. Remember, the best offers are often super last minutes with departure as early as the following day. I actually don´t have good results with internationally popular Skyscanner.
Yet, there are several airlines which regularly have amazing offers. For flights around or from France, there is Volotea, Baltic countries, Russia and Europe can be reached with Air Baltic offering great meals on board (paid extra) and notorious low cost companies like Wizzair (becoming a member of their club brings even cheaper flights!) and Easy Jet offering terrible service in combination with real good prices.
As not all people have access to a printer on their travels, it is practical to have an app that is a sort of wallet for your boarding passes and travel itineraries. This particular one can be used with a lot of different flight companies and is available for Android and iPhones.
When it comes to moving round Europe on bus, you can find great prices on Flixbus. Again can be downloaded as an app and sometimes has even special offer for bookings via the app. You might also find interesting offer of Czech railway company Leo Express (English version of website available) or former Student Agency, now Regiojet which provides cheap bus and train connections. Both of them have modern buses and trains with high comfort, Regiojet even offering complimentary tea or coffee, films and newspaper on its buses. Wi-fi of course included everywhere.
Airport hacks
If you don´t fly business class, it is highly probable that you will get nothing to eat on a short flight, and if yes, it will be some dry sandwich. I have tried the benefit of onboard buffet offer twice and always regreted it. Instant cappuccino for 5 euro and mushroom soup for a similar price and of similar quality were my emergency decisions. I´d rather starve than this. Until quite recently, I thought it would not be possible to bring your own food on the plane. In contrary. If your snacks are not liquid, you can get through all security checks and no one gives a damn. Just don´t take your breadknife with you, please. And what about drinks? Liquids get always confiscated at the check in. Well, this is what plastic water bottles are for. Empty them before the check and refill at the toilet later. I just can´t understand why to pay exaggerated prices for plain water. Last recommendation applies to long flights, especially the transatlantic ones. Get drunk and try to fall asleep.
Accommodation
Of course you can travel for free using couchsurfing but not all of us have a place to offer in return. And staying at a hotel is not really a satisfying experience for those who want to be and see more than just tourists. Someone prefers youth hostels, maybe I am too old and fed up with this sort of fun and getting to know all those great young people from all around the world. I prefer privacy and possibility to see how locals really live. That is what air bnb is for. And I love it. Having stayed at many different places via air bnb, I have actually never had bad experience.
Not all countries and regions know about air bnb. In Austria we used local tourism pages to find private accommodation or bnb. When everything else fails you can still try Trivago which is one of search engines like booking.com etc.. German for example prefer Wimdu. Sometimes you get lucky and find a cheap room.
More tips coming soon…
Františka
