The fact of the matter is this: When you travel during the summer you will pay for it.
From May through August, a round-trip ticket to Europe will cost you upwards of $1,300, which, when you add the cost of food, entertainment and lodging, we're talking a vacation that is out of reach for most families or even couples.
But if there's a way for you to get away during the off season, pretty much from September through April, you may find that a trip to Europe is not only feasible but even more fun.
During the non peak-season, airfares to London, Paris and Rome fall as much as 40 percent. Hotels and apartments lower their rates. And perhaps the best part? Fewer crowds.
Tour groups that all too often these days are clogging up corridors in popular museums, are scarce. So you can mostly get museums and the like practically to yourself. And restaurants? This is their slow time of year so they'll be even more happy to have you and at a fair price.
During the off-season is when life returns to normal in countries such as Italy. In the summer, Italians (just like Americans) are away on vacation, often at the country's magnificent beaches. But in the off-season they're back to living and working in their towns which makes visiting all the more a fly-on-the-wall experience.
If Italy is your destination, then there are plenty of opportunities to see some of the greatest historical treasures and artistic wonders of the world all in one place. Oh, and let's not forget the food.
One way to go about seeing Italy is by making one or two cities a base from which you can make day trips by train to satellite towns and hillside hamlets. Florence and Rome make ideal hubs from which you can venture into Cinque Terre, Parma, Siena, Venice, Assisi and coastal towns on the Adriatic Sea.
Traveling by train in Italy is a great way to save a few bucks and to see the cities and countryside at your leisure. If your vacation is for one or two weeks, you may want to invest in the flexible Eurail pass, which allows you to go anywhere in the nation for a select number of days. A seven-day travel pass will give you seven 24-hour periods of train travel, which amounts to you having a cappuccino and brioche in the cool of a Florence morning and at the next, some spaghetti Bolognese by the lapping canals of Venice.
When in Rome
Rome is so vast, you may just want to plan day trips geographically between its neighborhoods. Spend one day in the ruins of ancient Rome. Take a night walk through the Pantheon neighborhood. A day at St. Peter's Basilica and the Vatican Museum is a day well spent. If at all possible, buy your ticket to the Vatican museum online at http://biglietteriamusei.vatican.va and avoid the lines that wrap around the slanted brick walls bordering the independent country. The museum is full of art and artifacts including mummies from Egypt all the way to modern art works from greats such as Seattle artist Jacob Lawrence. In one hall, Lawrence's work is featured alongside masterworks by Klimt, Gauguin, Van Gogh, Chagall, Klee, Picasso and Matisse. It's not to be missed.
Also in Rome, view Caravaggios up close and personal in the Borghese Gallery, then have a discreet picnic in the Villa Borghese Gardens.
The heart of Tuscany
In Florence, the Uffizi Gallery (home to Botticelli's "Birth of Venus") is a must as is Accademia where standing in the center of a naturally lit atrium, Michelangelo's masterpiece "David" stands ready to take on Goliath.
Grab a cup of gelato from the Grom gelato shop, and settle back to watch the people and the outdoor artists at Piazza del Duomo. Don't feel guilty. You're in Europe, a little gelato will do you good.
For museum information in Florence, visit www.polomuseale.firenze.it. In Rome, visit www.galleriaborghese.it; Consider buying a Roma pass at any tourist information kiosk that will get you on any bus and metro and into several museums and historical sites for about $40.[[In-content Ad]]
