Irish travellers have been urged to be “open minded” about where they book their summer holiday if they want a cheap trip.
On Lunchtime Live, travel professional Ciara Mooney phoned in from Germany, where she got a "fantastic deal” on a two night river cruise.
“I'm just out there flying into Frankfurt and I'll be flying out of Dusseldorf,” she said.
“Well, I'm actually flying out of Cologne and that was one of the hacks.
“Dusseldorf was working out much more expensive, so I'm going to hop on the train, go to Cologne and then fly out of Cologne in two days’ time.”
Tourists travelling in Rome on a sunny summer day. Picture by: Alamy.com. Ciara added that flying out of a different airport made the travel “much better value”.
Overall, she believes the key to have a good time when travelling is to research lesser known tourist spots.
“Last week I was over in Rome and I took a train about an hour and a half to get me to Gaeta,” she said.
“Now Gaeta for me is like another option if you have people that want to go to Sorrento, and it is a fraction of the price.
“There's a lot of destinations that people don't realise, like say, for instance, Trieste.
“Trieste is a beautiful city, I definitely recommend it.
“But from there you can take an hour long bus and that'll get you into Ljubljana, so you're in Slovenia.
“And Slovenia is much better value than, say, the Croatia for example.”
Holidaymakers in Croatia. Ciara added that people just need to be “open minded” about where they travel to.
“I was in Albania there two years ago twice and the value for money there is incredible,” she said.
“Like there's a resort and it's only 20 minutes from Tirana airport.
“So, for a beach holiday, for families that are looking for fantastic value, Albania is another option.
“And there are direct flights with Ryanair, so it's kind of a no-brainer.”
Finally, she said for those considering travelling abroad for a summer holiday, she suggested they “book sooner rather than later”.
Main image: A holiday resort in Albania. Picture by: Alamy.com.
