Is it better to go somewhere w/ cheap flights or cheap costs for food/attractions?

Also, is it worth it to drive to an airport with better connections? The closest international airport by me is Albany but I still live about 3 hours exactly from NYC and Boston.

Personal preference. What do you mean by "better connections?" Lots cheaper? Or direct flights vs. crazy connections? Some people might drive the three hours each way for a direct flight; others not. Up to you! Personally, I wouldn't want to drive three hours home after flying back from an overseas flight, but if it meant savings hundreds of dollars, maybe I would - or stay at a hotel and drove home the next day, if I'm still saving enough money.

Otherwise, your biggest expenses of your trip will be airfare and lodging, and you can check that for yourself for any city you are interested in. Put together prospective itineraries for say two countries then compare airfares and hotel prices. But I can pretty much guarantee you that you can see Poland more cheaply than you can see Finland. Food may cost more in some cities than others, but if you are on a budget you can always find ways to save money on food in an expensive city.

Albany, huh? Your best bet is Newburg, NY on Norwegian Air Shuttle. They fly non-stop from Stewart International to Bergen, Dublin, Shannon and Edinburgh--and Belfast seasonally. From Dublin, you can get to just about anywhere in Europe cheap on Ryanair, Europe's largest budget air carrier. JFK, Hartford and Boston airports also have Norwegian Air Shuttle flights to other cities.

To save on airfare, consider Norwegian Airlines which flies out of Stewart Airport and the travel time from Albany is about an hour and a half. Next is to consider when you travel. If you can, don’t travel during season or near holidays. Depending on your interests, traveling either in shoulder season or fully out of season can save a bundle - and the crowds are gone! Check various dates because prices change. Going to Lake Como? Prices drop in late September and then again in November. I spent an enjoyable few days in Amalfi town early last December. My hotel cost €66 per night as opposed to €248 during season. The ferries weren’t running but the coast was as wonderful as it always is. So if you’re flexible, and shop around, Europe becomes more affordable.

We have taken a shuttle to and from the Albany airport to Newark airport and JFK to take advantage of low cost direct flights to many European (and other) destinations. The shuttles have worked out great and cost between $60-$65 each depending upon the airport. They run once a day, each way, and are timed to correspond with many international flights. The shuttles also allow us to fly out of one airport and into another if that is the best deal we can find. The shuttle company we have used is Premiere Transportation. Please PM me if you would like additional information.

While its certainly true that some cities generally tend to be more expensive than others, I think that's a vast oversimplification and misses a more fundamental, more important point: in any city, there are places that are relatively more and less expensive, and - here's the key - the amount one ends up spending depends to a very large degree on YOU: on how wisely (or unwisely) you choose to do things.

Yeah, you can't control the price of things in London or Tokyo. But you can (and should) control your own choices for how you spend your money anywhere. Some places just make that more obvious than others.

Plan far in advance, do plenty of research, make smart choices, take advantage of deals, and you can move the needle towards the lower cost end of the scale even in places that are famous for being expensive. On the other hand, if you do little or no advance planning, if you wait until the last minute, if you make other poor choices, then you can blow big money in even the "cheapest" of cities. That's easy!

There are deals to be had, ways to economize, and smart choices to make in any city. You just have to do the work to learn about them and then take advantage of them. Of course there are plenty of ways to waste lots of money anywhere, too.

The lazy, those who fail to plan far, far ahead will almost always spend more than someone who invests a lot of their time and effort ahead of time to get the most from their money. That's true in Oslo or Oxnard.

Cities can be cheap as well as expensive. If you are in Berlin during a huge trade fair or the Berlin Marathon, you will pay high prices for your hotel. If you are in Frankfurt when there is no trade fair, it is not difficult to find very decent hotels for 60-80€ per night. Hit the wrong week, and that same hotel room will cost you 300€.

Public transportation is so easy here, it doen't matter what city you fly into, you can go to your city of choice by train or plane with little hassle.

Some cities are often a hub and can be a lot cheaper to fly to. School vacations may affect flight prices. It can a couple hundred € more to fly into and out of an airport of a city that has its' school vacations, whether summer, spring, fall or winter.

Much depends on how long the trip is. If it's long enough, lodging expenses will swamp the cost of the transatlantic flights. To get an idea of lodging expenses, use a website like booking.com and check some cities you're considering for the approximate number of nights you might stay at the time of year you plan to travel. What does the per-night cost look like for places with decent ratings? (I often stay in places rated 7+; many others target places a lot higher on the scale.) Be sure you're not looking at places with dorms, shared baths, etc., unless, you are OK with such accommodations.

I think you'll find that Rome is not expensive in the same way that London and Scandinavia are--though I suppose it may be if you're looking at very high-level places.

There's a big difference between flying into a place and spending your vacation in that place. You can fly into Paris as a gateway to Belgium or Burgundy, neither of which is what I'd call an expensive destination. Cheap flights are often a result of competition, so the most popular routes are likely to have the bargains. I'm not sure why you would have expected "backwater" places to be cheap to fly to.

We have dear friends who live in Colonie, an Albany suburb. They always fly internationally in and out of Newark (EWR). EWR avoids driving through NYC thus making it a better drive than going to JFK or BOS. They find much cheaper fares than they could flying via a connection from Albany or from Boston. So EWR might open up more options for you.

Here are some ideas:

A cheap city airfare wise can be Frankfurt. From there you have the beautiful Rhine towns/villages at your disposal. You can also easily taken an inexpensive (if planned ahead of time) train to Berlin. Berlin is one of the least expensive European capitals I've had the pleasure of visiting.

One can also find inexpensive flights to Amsterdam. You can then fly on a budget airline to Vienna via EasyJet or Austrian Airlines. If you're lucky, you might be able to find a fare you can afford directly between EWR and Vienna on Austrian Air.

Norwegian Airlines flies directly from EWR and from Stewart Airport. Stewart would certainly work GREAT for you as it is outside Newburgh in New Windsor. Check them out.

You do have to look at other things as well - I mean, a lot of the great museums like the V&A and British Museum in London are free, whereas in Paris, you'll pay for the Louvre and others...so for me, London is a trade off.

Every time we go, we pop into the Brit Museum or the V&A for free, but the trade off is, our exchange rate sucks (it's about 1.80 Can$ to the GBP) so that meal that cost 30 GPB is almost $50. A few years back, our exchange was even worse - it was upwards of 2.10 to the GPB.

On the other hand, I don't need luxury hotels, so I counter the high exchange rate with room stays at airbnb's...I booked a room at one in Hammersmith area for our upcoming July visit at a cost of $95 Can a night - which is about 55 GPB or $70 USD.

Then there are things like how expensive is public transport, and is the availability good. Is the city very walkable - like Amsterdam or Venice. In the NL and BE, I found the trains fairly inexpensive for same day purchases, whereas in the UK, if you don't book ahead, it can be very high (in my experience)

I can generally keep a 14-18 night holiday at about $7k CDN for my husband and me - and usually $1500-2000 of that is flight costs - the initial flight over, not any connecting flights we may take in Europe. I wish we had the option of driving a few hours to another airport, but Halifax it is!

I go for the cheap flights as once I lock that down, I can make the rest of it work within my budget by adjusting what I'm going to spend on lodging and food. Of course it's nice to stay in a fancy hotel, but in the end, I do not spend any more time in a hotel room than necessary to sleep and shower. If it's a super tight budget I have to work with, I'm not adverse to bunking down in a hostel in a dorm room even if it means having to head down the hallway to use the bathroom or take a shower (although many hostels now have en suite facilities). And while it's great to be able to eat at a much-hyped Michelin star restaurant, I know if I head out a little further into the neighborhoods away from tourist sites, I'll find equally tasty food at a local restaurant that's a fraction of the price. Or if the budget is feeling too pinched for that, there's always a grocery store/bakery/sandwich shop/fast food place somewhere that will work.

Attractions is something I'm absolutely not going to skimp on - it's one of the primary reasons I made the trip - to see and experience things I cannot at home. But does that mean I need to pay for a personal tour guide to take me through? No, I can make do on my own with advance research, a guidebook/map or whatever free English language tour that site might happen to offer.

If you prefer to go to some of those more expensive countries, you can make it work. As an example, in London I once stayed in a private room at a university dorm that rented out beds to tourists in the summer. They had other locations that were even cheaper if I was willing to stay in a shared dorm room, but I liked that I would have my own bathroom, that the place had kitchen and laundry facilities on-site and the location was so central, I was able to avoid taking the Tube or a bus for 98% of the 2 weeks I was in town which saved me more money. In London, the majority of the attractions I wanted to see had no admission fee. I had 3 meals a day - mostly eating my main meal at lunch (cheaper prices). Mostly ate at pubs, ethnic restaurants (Chinese, Indian, Japanese), street markets and food halls, or grab & go places like Marks & Spencer. And I even made it a point to pop into Tesco to get myself a few snacks because I wasn't going to find "crisps" at home in flavors like Prawn Cocktail or Lamb & Mint.

Finally, as a correction to someone's statement above, Norwegian Air no longer flies from Hartford CT. You can, however, fly Aer Lingus from there to Dublin and connect to other points in Europe.

We have been to about 80% of the countries in Europe.

Northern Europe is the most expensive. The Mediterranean is less so (France belongs in the Northern European expense one)/
The cheapest countries in Europe to visit are in Eastern Europe, many former Soviet Satellite states or even Soviet Republics, now independent.

For example, we spent five days in Denmark and did a cruise that included Norway, Shetland Islands, Iceland and some ports in Ireland and Scotland, then took the transatlantic back to Miami. I remember paying about the equivalent of $10 for a beer in Norway, while while stopped in the Azores Islands (part of Portugal) a beer was one Euro, slightly more than a dollar.

Big cites tend to have higher food and lodging costs.

Take a river cruise on the Danube and you will find that the upper Danube in Northern Europe is far more expensive than the lower that starts in Budapest and ends in Romania. The Ukraine is a fascinating country and can be inexpensive, however luxury hotels may not be cheap (In Moscow, a five star hotel can cost what it costs in Paris or London). Still, you will find travel sometimes more problematic. The infrastructure in the East is not what it is in the rest of Europe. Plan to rent a car in Ukraine, think again.

Everyone has their favorites, but Great Britain, if you stay away from London is not so bad on lodging. We did a four week drive tour last October and cost of our hotel or BandB ran about 100 Pounds a night (then about $130). Public transport can be inexpensive in many countries.

I say pick your dream place to visit and go there, don't sacrifice your dream for a cheaper place. Do your research and you can save in airfare, hotels, meals, etc. To pick extremes, I have been to Bulgaria and enjoyed my visit, but no way does it compare to Italy, Germany, France or Britain. The Greek Islands are wonderful and if you love ancient history, you must go to Athens.

Regarding which airport to fly out of, consider if you drive there, where will you park and how much will the parking cost. Some airports can be outrageous. Consider taking the train or find a hotel near the airport that provides free parking if you stay the night before your flight. Also, consider taking the train to the big city.

Use Kayak.com to check for the cheapest flight and try several options. Also, you can check the option of airports close buy your main airport.

I think you should plan where you go based upon where you want to go, not based upon where you can get a cheap flight to. How big is the difference in the cost of the flight, a few hundred dollars? And your instincts are right that more expensive cities will tend to eat into any savings. Also, smaller cities and towns are cheaper than big cities.

My wife and I were just in Poland a few weeks ago (Gdansk, Krakow, day trip stopover in Wroclaw) and found it to be economical on sights, taxis, food and drink, but not as much as you might think on lodging (depends on your standard though, I'm sure). And for a flights into Gdansk and out of Berlin we paid $1300 each (it would have been twice as much on United if we had waited to go one wee later). Since expenses are a concern, the timing of your trip can make a big difference too.

Scandinavia just has never called to me in proportion to the expense and short travel window due to the weather. I did a solo trip to Italy a year ago last last fall and surprisingly did not find it that expensive compared to what I remembered from nine years earlier (even though I spent nine nights out of twelve in Rome and Florence). The sights that are expensive can take up the better part of a day, and you can have a nice time just walking around. You might be onto something trying to figure out how to fly out of New York instead--lots of competition and lots of nonstop flights. Maybe check with people you know where you live to see if they have found a way to make that strategy work. But I suspect the logistics might be difficult and would eat into any savings we well.

I agree with a lot of the points made in other replies:

1) A "cheap" flight is only a bargain if it goes to, or near to, someplace you want to be. If you're going for a month or two, you can take more time getting to your desired destination; if you have a short trip, it's a false economy to waste that time to fly to a place far from what you want to see.

2) When considering flights, look at all the costs, in both money and hassle, at both the US and the European end. For instance, if a flight from JFK is cheaper than one from Albany, but you have to spend a night in a hotel in each direction to make sure you don't miss the plane, plus parking at JFK prices instead of Albany ones, most like there go your savings - not to mention the extra hassle. Similarly, If you are using separate tickets to save money (say, Norwegian to Dublin, then Ryanair to Warsaw), are you prepared to spend a night in Dublin to make sure you don't miss your flight back to the US, or to buy a last minute ticket if you do miss your flight?

Here's a good summary of the issues involved in separate tickets: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g41707-c207311/Newton:Massachusetts:Connecting.On.Separate.Tickets.html

3) While it is certainly true that some countries are cheaper than others, remember that you can find ways to spend money or save money anywhere. Supermarkets are cheaper than restaurants; hostels are cheaper than hotels; local buses are cheaper than taxis.

4) Similarly, it's not the cost of a country you need to worry about, but the specific places in that country that you are visiting. For instance, I found that prices in Liverpool, Manchester, and Glasgow were far lower than in London. Paris is more expensive than the rest of France. Etc.

If you're interested in my wonderful and inexpensive trip to Glasgow, Manchester, and Liverpool, by the way, here's my trip report; you'll see that many top attractions there are free, and unlike London, the ones that aren't free are almost all cheap: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/uk-trip-report-glasgow-manchester-liverpool-in-september-2016

5) There is simply no rhyme or reason to airfares anymore. I'll repeat my favorite example. In March 2017, I was looking at airfares from New York for May 2017. This is supposed to be "too late" to get any decent prices. Well, NYC to Zurich was $349, nonstop, with a choice of airlines (not a typo, three hundred and forty-nine dollars!). As a friend pointed out, taxes alone on many tickets are that much. Then I looked at NYC to Geneva. Nonstops were about $1200; the cheapest ticket was about $650 with a 12 hour layover (Royal Air Maroc was having a sale); the cheapest one-stop with decent waiting time was about $700. So, why was Zurich so cheap? Why was Geneva so much more expensive? Your guess is as good as mine.

And this story gets back to your initial point. While the flight to Zurich may have been cheap, a night in a Zurich hotel would eat up any savings, and while Zurich is very well connected to much of central Europe (there's a train station right in the airport), the train ticket won't be cheap either, unless I took a chance on a non-refundable ticket (a risk if the plane is late and I miss the train).

From a purely mathematical perspective, it depends on the length of the trip. Let's say flight to the "cheap flight" city A costs $500 and the "expensive flight" city B costs $1000 and you have 2 people. Base cost is $1000 for city A flight and $2000 for city B. Therefore for city B to be cheaper you have to spend $1000 less. On a longer trip that is easy, on a shorter one not.

But math isn't all that matters. You can go cheaper in an expensive place if it's important to you. Or you could splurge in a cheaper place and have fabulous hotels/meals for the same cost as bare-bones in the $$$$ country. What matters more is spending your time in a place you really want to go to. I personally am not especially interested in Stockholm (I'm sure I'd enjoy it but there are many other places I am more drawn to) so going there just because the flight was cheap would be a waste for me, I'd rather pay a little more for the flight to ensure I spend my time in the most valuable way for me. But if I were equally interested in Stockholm and Venice and Venice was 2x as much to fly to...that might help me decide between two equally good to me options.

I DO drive to a farther airport for better prices and connections. I can pay $1200 for a 2 (or more) leg flight from home or drive a few hours and pay $700 for direct. If I stay at a hotel near the far airport (park-sleep-fly), and also buy gas I might spend $200 getting there. And I save $500 per ticket for 4 people - $2000! - AND have less hassle. It's a no-brainer for me. I'd drive for a direct flight because delays and cancellations on connections are a risk and could mean missing your long flight. I have not priced Albany but I would think you would save A LOT by going to NY or Boston, and also get a direct flight.

I would be cautious about booking Norwegian until they get their 787 issues worked out.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g1-i10702-k11589452-Norwegian_changed_dreamliner_to_Hi_Fly_airbus_340_500-Air_Travel.html

Every place has budget options such as youth hostels. Some of the most expensive destinations have the nicest youth hostels. You only need one bed in each city, so averages are not nearly as important as the one place that you do stay. Advance planning can help you choose among whatever your priorities are. Some of the "cheapest" destination have the cheapest Grand Hotels, but they're not the Savoy or the Ritz. See more strategies at https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/sleeping-eating.

I've looked at many sites that purport to show the cheapest cities to fly into in Europe... I would've expected less well-known and drearier places like Chisinau, Kiev, Tirana

There are so many reasons for that not to be the case, such as, there need to be enough customers to make the flight route not only viable but competitive. And depending upon where you start, travel distance plays a part. You might find cheap flights from Moscow to Chisinau, Kiev, or Tirana.

Cheapest flights are often to the busiest airports. There are lots of seats in and out of those airports every day. If some days have a lot of open seats, there's a good chance you can get a great deal. That's why I always check flights plus or minus three days looking for the best price.

I was thinking the same as Chani, flying into a city doesn't mean you stay there. Typically the cheapest connections will be in those big cities too, or you can get a train, bus or car and go somewhere else.