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-   -   Travelling from Melbourne, AUS to Europe (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/europe/2002189-travelling-melbourne-aus-europe.html)

TrueNorth04 Jan 1, 2020 6:19 pm

Travelling from Melbourne, AUS to Europe
 
Hi all,

New user here so sorry if this isn't the correct place to post. I am planning to travel to Europe in February for a 3-week long student conference being held in Tallinn, Riga, and Berlin. Ideally, I would fly into Europe around February 20th, fly into Tallinn on the 23rd, and fly out of Europe around March 15th.

I am currently looking to purchase return tickets from either London, Paris, Rome, or Amsterdam. I want the cheapest but that also might mean additional travel costs to get to Tallinn which might ultimately make it more expensive. I would need to fly from either of these 4 cities into Tallinn on February 23rd.

Additionally, I want to visit Zurich and Lauterbrunnen in Switzerland and Varenna/Milan in Italy when the conference is over.

I've made a spreadsheet to keep track of all the additional travel expenses needed (ex. flights to Tallinn, trains to Paris or Rome, etc.) but it's all getting a bit too much for me. Do you have any advice on what I should do?

Thanks in advance!

Tocsin Jan 2, 2020 12:21 pm

Seems like a good place to post for first questions - feel free to ask detailed ones in more specific areas (e.g. UK & Ireland, Italy) as well, but you will have a limit on your posts for the first 24 hours, I think.

Flying east to asia, Finnair often have good prices - not sure if the reverse direction applies! If that works for you, Tallinn is just a short hop (ferry or NoRRA flight) from Helsinki.

For flights within europe, best I can suggest is have a play with Google Flights - there are many low cost carriers connecting the cities.

Watch out for Zurich - the cost of living is very high.

Hope that helps, and I hope you get some more answers!

Mwenenzi Jan 2, 2020 12:39 pm


Originally Posted by TrueNorth04 (Post 31897886)
New user here so sorry if this isn't the correct place to post. I am planning to travel to Europe in February for a 3-week long student conference being held in Tallinn, Riga, and Berlin. Ideally, I would fly into Europe around February 20th, fly into Tallinn on the 23rd, and fly out of Europe around March 15th.

I am currently looking to purchase return tickets from either London, Paris, Rome, or Amsterdam. I want the cheapest but that also might mean additional travel costs to get to Tallinn which might ultimately make it more expensive. I would need to fly from either of these 4 cities into Tallinn on February 23rd.

Additionally, I want to visit Zurich and Lauterbrunnen in Switzerland and Varenna/Milan in Italy when the conference is over.

I've made a spreadsheet to keep track of all the additional travel expenses needed (ex. flights to Tallinn, trains to Paris or Rome, etc.) but it's all getting a bit too much for me. Do you have any advice on what I should do?

If price is the main driver, keep hunting for fares. Having fixed dates make it much harder. 20 Feb 2020 is not far away.
Chinese or other Asian airlines can have competitive fares. Their are also more airlines flying from SYD
Get anywhere in EU and local separate flights/train to destination
In EU train to visit Zurich and Lauterbrunnen in Switzerland and Varenna/Milan in Italy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melbourne_Airport
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Airport
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tallinn_Airport
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Tegel_Airport

Great Circle Mapper
EU http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=FRA-TLL...L&MS=wls&DU=mi

You will never the cost down to the last $. Keep working on the spreadsheet with options

PAX_fips Jan 3, 2020 12:19 am

About TLL: Ryanair (ULCC) would serve London(Stansted)/Tallin. Air Baltic (LCC) would serve TLL/Paris, TLL/Berlin and TLL/Riga.

Only viable (time wise) option for trains: London/Paris; maybe Amsterdam/Paris

malmostoso Jan 3, 2020 2:20 pm

The suggestion of flying into HEL and then taking the ferry is very sensible.

Also to go from Tallinn to Riga and then onto Berlin, if cost is the primary issue, you should keep in mind bus services like flixbus.

flyingfkb Jan 8, 2020 2:35 pm

Skipping Switzerland would reduce your costs significantly. Zürich is a really expansive place. You might check Aeroflot for cheap fares and fly via Moscow.

LondonElite Jan 9, 2020 4:45 am

I suggest you ask a moderator to move this to the Budget Travel forum, where people are more experienced in cheaper travel.

sydunipete Jan 12, 2020 10:45 pm

Kayak is your friend. kayak.com.au

Palal Jan 17, 2020 2:14 am

Skip Switzerland and add more Italy to lower your costs.

Go on wikipedia for Tallinn, Riga and Berlin airports (Berlin still has 2) and see where all the low-costs fly to/from. Berlin <>Riga has Ryanair flights which are always dirt-cheap. Traveling between the baltic countries is easy/comfortable by bus (cheaper if you buy in advance, but still cheap if you buy on the day) with the likes of lux express and ecolines.

Finland to Tallinn is an easy ferry ride. Ryanair has a base in Bergamo, not too far from Milano, so see where they fly to from there (again wikipedia is your friend).


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