Don’t miss out on a summer jaunt to Europe this year – we’re finding an abundance of affordable transatlantic fares to popular cities from Paris to Prague and Brussels to Budapest (and beyond). While many of us have been discouraged to cross the pond lately, thanks to the sky-high peak-season fares of summers past, we’ve been surprisingly delighted to see fares plummet as much as 50 percent from their 2008 highs. So why stay local when you can get your Old World fix without breaking the bank? Fares start for less than $200 each way. Read our full review here.

The brief window of astonishing transatlantic airfares that we glimpsed last month, when flights to a number of European cities could be had for under $400 round-trip (taxes and fees included!), has sadly all but been slammed shut. Now that April has rolled around, its rain showers seem to have washed away almost all of the jaw-dropping, “did-I-read-that-right” rates to most European cities. Almost. We’ve still managed to dig up a lone straggler on Ireland airfares, courtesy of US Airways’ round-trip fares to Dublin from as little as $272 (taxes and fees are additional). These reduced rates are available from seven major cities for travel through May 24 – act now to save more than just a wee bit of green on Emerald Isle flights this spring.

For those of you who begrudgingly missed out on a hop across the pond in ’08, chin up – the new year is looking refreshingly encouraging for travelers in search of an Old World fix. A perfect mix of stabilized jet fuel prices and a European economy hungry for tourism dollars has cropped up a tempting batch of airfare sales, with rates now starting from as little as $110 each way. What’s more, the dollar will actually get you somewhere once you touch down, as it’s finally back up to respectable levels against the euro and pound.
Read the rest of this post »