{"id":12760,"date":"2026-09-17T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.penguintravels.gr\/?p=12760"},"modified":"2026-09-17T09:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T07:00:00","slug":"save-money-europe-trip-local-tips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.penguintravels.gr\/en\/save-money-europe-trip-local-tips\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Save Money on a Trip to Europe: Tips From Locals"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Most of what a European trip costs is decided before you leave. The rest is decided on the ground \u2014 and that&#8217;s where locals know things a visitor has no reason to know. Here are the most useful ones.<\/p>\n<h2>First, the basics: four decisions before departure<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Fly midweek.<\/strong> The gap between a Tuesday and a Friday is often a double-digit percentage.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Pick the shoulder season.<\/strong> In most European countries that means May\u2013June or September\u2013October: fewer people, lower prices, better weather for sightseeing.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Book directly with the hotel.<\/strong> Skipping the platforms often produces a better rate or an extra perk.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Check your card.<\/strong> Transaction fees and poor exchange rates quietly eat an amount you&#8217;d rather spend on dinners.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>And the decision that matters most of all: <strong>the region<\/strong>. Basilicata in southern Italy costs a fraction of Venice or Milan, with the same food and fewer crowds.<\/p>\n<h2>France<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>The bakery instead of a restaurant at lunch.<\/strong> A jambon-beurre with a croissant comes to around \u20ac5. Favor independent boulangeries.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Wine from the shop, not the bar.<\/strong> Drinking in public spaces is permitted, and a decent bottle from a caviste costs \u20ac5 to \u20ac10. The ap\u00e9ro on the waterfront or in a park is an institution.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Carpooling.<\/strong> The French use services like BlaBlaCar heavily for intercity travel. Cheaper than the train and far more sociable.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Free culture.<\/strong> The F\u00eate de la Musique on 21 June fills the country with free concerts; the Nuit des Mus\u00e9es in May opens museums for free at night.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Italy<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Look for the free beaches.<\/strong> Almost half the Italian coastline is privatized, and a beach club on the Riviera can hit \u20ac160 a day. Ask at your accommodation \u2014 Italians have their own spots.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Walk.<\/strong> Italians rarely take taxis or Ubers in cities. The historic centres are compact and pedestrian-friendly.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Watch the ZTLs.<\/strong> Limited traffic zones in historic centres mean automatic fines for a rental car. Learn them before you drive in.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Ireland<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Leap Visitor Card.<\/strong> Unlimited travel on Dublin&#8217;s buses, Luas and DART; the 72-hour card costs \u20ac16.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Free museums.<\/strong> Every branch of the National Museum, the Chester Beatty Library and IMMA are free. Heritage Ireland sites are free on the first Wednesday of each month.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Discount apps.<\/strong> Early Table offers 25% to 50% off restaurant bills at off-peak times.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Leave the capital.<\/strong> Everything \u2014 food, drink, accommodation \u2014 is cheaper outside Dublin.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Denmark and Scandinavia<\/h2>\n<p>In Europe&#8217;s most expensive countries, planning makes the difference:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Book trains ahead.<\/strong> DSB&#8217;s discounted &#8220;Orange&#8221; tickets are released two months out and are limited in number.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Free harbor swimming.<\/strong> Copenhagen&#8217;s floating pools are open all year with no ticket.<\/li>\n<li><strong>GreenKayak.<\/strong> A free kayak in exchange for one thing: you collect litter while you paddle.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The local snack.<\/strong> Ask for a boller med ost at any bakery \u2014 a cheap lunch that isn&#8217;t always on the menu.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>And in Greece, for visitors<\/h2>\n<p>Worth knowing on our own turf: don&#8217;t order dessert (it&#8217;s almost always on the house), tsipouro comes with snacks, unorganized beaches have no sunbed to pay for, and pharmacies run promotions they don&#8217;t advertise \u2014 just ask.<\/p>\n<h2>Want your budget to work properly?<\/h2>\n<p>At <strong>Penguin Travels &#038; Tours<\/strong> we build packages around what you want to spend, not the other way round \u2014 and we tell you which savings are worth making and which will spoil the trip.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><strong>Got a budget and want the best trip inside it?<\/strong> Stop by our office in Kalamata (Vasilissis Olgas 4) or call us at <strong>+30 27210 80701<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The tricks locals use in France, Italy, Ireland and Denmark to spend less \u2014 and how to apply them to your own trip.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":12785,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_title":"How to Save Money on a Trip to Europe","rank_math_description":"The tricks locals use in France, Italy, Ireland and Denmark to spend less \u2014 and how to apply them to your own trip.","rank_math_focus_keyword":"save money in Europe, budget travel Europe, cheap Europe trip","footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel-offers-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.penguintravels.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.penguintravels.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.penguintravels.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.penguintravels.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.penguintravels.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12760"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.penguintravels.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12760\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12803,"href":"https:\/\/www.penguintravels.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12760\/revisions\/12803"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.penguintravels.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.penguintravels.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.penguintravels.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.penguintravels.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}