Hotel review - Hilton Budapest WestEnd, Budapest, Hungary

Great hotel in a central location. Next to a shopping mall, for those who are looking for a souvenir or a gift.

Clean, comfortable, very good breakfast.

We stayed there last Saturday with only 54 euro per room (breakfast included) from HipAway.

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20% RatesToGo.com discount code - book by 10 March 2013

RatesToGo is an online travel agency part of the Orbitz group.

For bookings until 10 March 2013 (stays throughout 2013) you get 20% discount with the RatesToGo promo code GIVEME20.

Click on the text code above or on the banner below to start your search:

The discount is valid only when the booking is made in Australian Dollars. The RatesToGo voucher code must be typed in at the bottom of the hotel search form, just below the "Search" button.

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Enterprise Rent-A-Car coupon code - minimum 15% discount

A code giving at least 15% savings is available at Enterprise Rent A Car.

The discount code is  XVC1092 . Once you start the search, you will be also asked for a PIN code, which is Car.

Click on the text code above or on the small banner below to open Enterprise website in a new window:

We looked for a standard car at the Miami International Airport for 4 days in March (23 - 27 March). The price from Enterprise with the voucher code was of 197$:

The lowest rate from Expedia.com was of 267$ (that's 25% more expensive):

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Marriott eBreaks in Europe for the first weekend in March 2013

Below are the next weekend's Marriott special rates at selected European hotels, valid for stays this week-end only (properties with an * in the table below also offer the discounted rate for Thursday night stays):

In addition to the 20% discount, this special eBreaks rate also includes breakfast.

Make sure you use the Marriott promo code MEB in the "Corporate / promotional code" field in the search form - see print-screen below:

Click on the text code above or on this banner to take advantage of the deal (Marriott page will open in a new window):

As an example: AC Hotel Palau de Bellavista in Girona, Spain****, has a total price of 127€ for 2 nights (1-3 March) for a king room, with this eBreaks special rate, breakfast included. The same room costs 167€ from booking.com (25% discount when booked directly on Marriott's website).

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Zuji promo code for 100 AUD discount on hotels worldwide

100 Australian Dollars (AUD) discount on bookings of at least 600 AUD (that means up to 17% discount).

Valid for reservations made until 28 February 2013.

The Zuji discount code is  BIG100 . Click on the text code or on the banner below to start your search:

The discount is to be applied in the final page of the reservation process. You will be asked to provide credit card information before typing in the code, but you will not be charged until you push the button "Buy now".

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10% Expedia voucher code, book by 4 March 2013

An Expedia promo code for 10% discount, valid for the first 2 000 reservations.

The promo code is:  HURRY2000 .

Start your search -> here

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20£ Holiday Autos voucher code - today only

Holiday Autos (part of lastminute.com / Travelocity) has a 20£ promo code for car rentals worldwide.

The code is valid for reservations made today, 25 February 2013, under the following conditions:
- minimum 7 days rental;
- pick-up period by 31 May 2013 (excluding the period 29 March - 1 April 2013).

The HolidayAutos voucher code is  FEBFLASH20 . Click on text code or on the banner below to open the HolidayAutos coupon page in a new window:

The coupon is to be applied in the final window of the reservation process, in the section "promo code", just above the credit card information.

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20% Orbitz coupon code for stays until 30 June 2013

The best deal currently available outhere: 20% discount from Orbitz on hotels worldwide.

Valid for stays until 30 June 2013, when booked until 3 March 2013.

The Orbitz coupon code is  SPRING20 . Click on the text code or on this banner to start your search:

To apply the discount, type in the code in the payment page, in the field "Promotion code", just above the credit card information (see print-screen below):

For 2 nights over the week-end 17-19 May 2013 in Luxembourg, at the NH Luxembourg****, you save 38$ to arrive at a final total price of 159$ (free breakfast and free minibar). The same room costs 196$ from booking.com (but without the free minibar).

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HipAway promo code for 10€ discount until 31 May 2013

HipAway is a German based distributor of discounted rooms of "secret hotels" (being hotels for which you find out the name of the hotel after purchase - like lastminute.com's TopSecret Hotels, or Priceline's Express Deals).

We have already used HipAway to book the 5-star Hilton Budapest Westend for 54€, breakfast included, for the night of Saturday, 23 February 2013.

They currently offer a 10€ discount on all hotel bookings made until 31 May 2013. The HipAway coupon code is  HOT493 .

See our previous post on how you can uncover the secret hotels and how to apply to discount code -> here 

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Luxury stay in Berlin, Germany for £105 per night

Secret Escapes offers superior rooms at the 5-star Kempinski Hotel Bristol Berlin for only £105 per room per night, with free breakfast and free access to the spa (heated pool, sauna, solarium and fitness room).

The deal is valid only for selected dates in February, March and April 2013, for a minimum two-night stay.

See this banner to go to the deal page:

Two nights over the weekend 22 - 24 March 2013 have a total price of 210£, while the same room costs 355£ from booking.com. 

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180€ for a 1 week holiday apartment for 4 persons in Tenerife in May and June 2013

Groupon Ireland has a good deal for early summer holidays in Tenerife at a 3-star resort with an excellent 8.8 out of 10 rating on booking.com.

4 persons in a self-catering one bedroom apartment will pay a total of 180€ (that's less than 7€ per person per night). The deal is valid at the Santa Barbara Golf and Ocean Club***.

Follow this banner to open Groupon in a new page and see the full terms and conditions:

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Weekend Extender from NH Hotels worldwide

NH Hotels offers daily free breakfast and free minibar (not restocked on the second day), for 2 nights stays over any weekend stay (check-in on Fridays or Saturdays). The bookings are cancellable until 48 hours before the stay.

The mini-bar is not included in Spain, Andorra and Portugal. Some other hotels in Switzerland, Netherlands and Germany do not have a minibar in the room.

See this banner to open the NH Hotels website in a new window and see the full terms and conditions:

As an example, 2 nights over the weekend 5 - 7 April 2013 at the NH Danube City Vienna, Austria, have a total price of 229€ from NH Hotels (free breakfast and free minibar). The same room costs 254€ from booking.com, but without the free minibar. We stayed with this rate in Bucharest and calculated that the value of the free minibar was about 50€.

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Apartment in Crete, Greece, for 2£ per night during Easter 2013

Thomas Cook offers a 90% discount on accommodation at the Irida Apartments in Stails, Creete, Grece.

Thus, one week self-catering in an apartment during the period 29 March - 5 April 2013 costs 14£ (that's 2£ per night).

Follow this link to see the deal in a new window-> Irida Apartments from Thomas Cook

You may see TripAdvisor reviews here.

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AlphaRooms promo code for 4% discount on hotels worldwide

For bookings between 22 and 28 February 2013, you get 4% discount on all hotels booked through AlphaRooms (a minimum 2 night stay required).

Use the AlphaRooms voucher code  FEBDEAL . Click on the text code or on the banner below to open AlphaRooms in a new window:

The code should be typed in at the bottom of the hotel search box.

As an example, with the AlphaRooms coupon code you save 6€ to arrive at a final price of 158€ for two nights over the weekend 7-9 June 2013 at the Hotel Lorenzo il Magnifico**** in Florence, Italy (that's 84€ per night, breakfast included). The same room costs 326€ from hotels.com (more than double).

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30£ Monarch Flights voucher code, for travel until 17 July 2013

Monarch Flights offers yet another promo code for 25£ discount off return flights in Europe.

Follow this banner to go to the Monarch website and see the discount code and the full terms and conditions:

Type the code in the payment page, immediately above the total price on the right side of the page.

When you make the booking, be aware that it's NOT mandatory to choose your seat: that costs extra and if you do not mind risking not being to able where you are seated, you can save another 10 pounds per person.

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Marriott eBreaks for the week-end 22 - 24 February 2013

Below are the next weekend's Marriott special rates at selected European hotels, valid for stays this week-end only (properties with an * in the table below also offer the discounted rate for Thursday night stays):

In addition to the 20% discount, this special eBreaks rate also includes breakfast.

Make sure you use the Marriott promo code MEB in the "Corporate / promotional code" field in the search form - see print-screen below:

Click on the text code above or on this banner to take advantage of the deal (Marriott page will open in a new window):

As an example: Courtyard by Marriott Istanbul International Airport, has a total price of 154€ for 2 nights (22-24 February) for a deluxe double room, with this eBreaks special rate, breakfast included. The same room costs 192€ from booking.com (20% discount when booked directly on Marriott's website).

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Sweepstakes from SkyScanner and Backpacker South East Asia

You could win flights to South East Asia worth £1500 GBP (or $2,400 USD). You must be available to travel using the prize between 1 March 2013 and 30 September 2013.

The competition is organised by SkyScanner and SouthEastAsiaBackpacker.com.

Everyone can enter the competition until 28 February 2013 (the winner will be announced on 1 March 2013). A jury will choose the winner, based on who will be the most inspiring and imaginative.

All you have to do is to describe in maximum 50 words what type of backpacker are you, based on 5 stereotypes (see them picturesd below). That's actually a fun idea :)

Follow this banner to go to the competition page and see the full terms and conditions:

Good luck and tons of inspiration !

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10% RatesToGo promo code until 28 February 2013

RatesToGo is a hotel booking website part of Orbitz / HotelClub group.

For bookings made until 28 February 2013 (with stays until 31 December 2013), they offer 10% discount when the booking currency is Australian Dollar (AUD).

The RatesToGo coupon code is  Take10Off . Click on the text code or on the banner below to search for your hotel:

We test-tried the deal: for 2 nights over the week-end 22 - 24 March 2013 in Rome, Italy at the All Ways Garden Hotel and Leisure****, you save 12 AUD to arrive at a final price of 123 AUD (about 94€), breakfast included - see print-screen also on where to apply to RatesToGo voucher code:

The same room costs 104€ from booking.com (10% more expensive than RatesToGo).

Note that until 17 February 2013 you still have a 15% Orbitz discount code, so temporarily you might have a better deal there.

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40% discount for 3-star hotel in Monte Carlo, Monaco

Voucher offered by Living Social, for Hotel Columbus*** in Monte Carlo, Monaco.

Valid for stays until 30 April 2013 (except the periods 3-6 April or 18-20 April). Voucher must be bought until 18 February 2013.

The cost of accommodation is about £115 per night:

- £225 for 2 nights or £319 for 3 nights, if stays completed until 31 March 2013;
- £239 for 2 nights or £345 for 3 nights for, if stays completed until 30 April 2013.

For comparison, 2 nights with breakfast over the week-end 26 - 28 April 2013 cost 407£ from booking.com (40% more expensive than the £239 offered by Living Social).


In this price, Living Social offers:

- accommodation in a deluxe double room;
- daily full English breakfast;
- a welcome gift (a bottle of Provence wine and sweets in the room);
- full access to the fitness center;
- return shuttle service to Monaco city centre.

As usual, there is a 30 days money back policy - meaning that if you changed your plans or did not find the desired availability of your deal, you may return the voucher.


Follow this banner to go to the deal page (Living Social website will open in a new window):

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29£ for a mezze platter and a bottle of champagne at the DoubleTree by Hilton London Westminster

A very good deal for a night out in central London, offered by LivingSocial.

For only 29£ you get:

- a mezze platter (tzatziki, hummus, flat bread, grilled courgette, sun blush tomato, falafel, and more);
- bottle of Heidsieck Monopole champagne.

Voucher available for purchase until 18 February 2013 (to be used until 19 June 2013).

Follow this banner to see the deal:

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Writer's block :)

Apologies for not posting anything these past 24 hours.

However, there were hardly any deals around, and those that were advertised by hotels / airlines, did not pass our test :)

There are many coupon / discount sites that just post anything that flies. We try to stay away from that practice, as it's not beneficial to anybody (merchants, publishers or travellers).

A good deal is the one that stands the comparison test. As an example: a hotel offer is good only if it provides a financial advantage significantly higher than the one you could get with your regular booking websites (starting from around 10% saving and higher).

That being said, we'll make sure to keep those true offers coming, and you, you please make sure to remain critical of anything you read or see (this blog included, as we all might make mistakes).

See you in the tourist crowds taking photos (not with an iPad, please).

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Marriott eBreaks for the week-end 15 - 17 February 2013

Below are the St. Valentine's weekend Marriott special rates at selected European hotels, valid for stays this week-end only (properties with an * in the table below also offer the discounted rate for Thursday night stays):

In addition to the 20% discount, this special eBreaks rate also includes breakfast.

Make sure you use the Marriott promo code MEB in the "Corporate / promotional code" field in the search form - see print-screen below:

Click on the text code above or on this banner to take advantage of the deal (Marriott page will open in a new window):

As an example: AC Hotel Som in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, near Barcelona, has a total price of 110€ for 2 nights (15-17 February) for a king room, with this eBreaks special rate, breakfast included. The same room costs 165€ from booking.com (more than 30% discount when booked directly on Marriott's website).

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10% off car rentals in sunny destinations with Holiday Autos

Holiday Autos (part of lastminute.com / Travelocity) has a 10% coupon code for car rentals in South Africa, UAE, Cyprus, Australia and New Zealand.

Bookings must be made until 17 February 2013 and pick-up period is until 31 March 2013 (3 day minimum rental period).

The HolidayAutos voucher code is SUN2013. Click on text code or on the banner below to open the HolidayAutos coupon page in a new window:

The coupon is to be applied in the final window of the reservation process, in the section "promo code", just above the credit card information - see print-screen:

In Cyprus, for a 1 week rental (16 - 23 March 2013) from Larnaca Airport, the total price for a Ford Focus is 62.70£ - that's about 100$. The same compact car costs 76,30£ from Expedia (20% more expensive):

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2013 Oktoberfest hotel deals in Munich, Bavaria, Germany

The traditional Oktoberfest will be held in Munich (at the place called Theresienwiese) between 21 September and 6 October 2013.

More details about the event can be found on its official website: www.oktoberfest.de/en.

Given that prices usually soar the closer we get to the event, we prefer making a free cancellation booking when we find a good deal (the "safety net") and then continue to check from time to time to see whether something better comes up.

We searched the best quality / price ratio hotels for three night stays during the second week-end of Oktoberst (27-30 September 2013) in a double room, breakfast included (after a long night on a beer diet, a hearty breakfast is a great way to start the day).

We looked only for hotels with a guest rating higher than 7.5 on booking.com, within a 2 kilometers radius from the venue (Thereseinwiese), so to walk to the hotel and avoid the taxi fares:

- Derag Livinghotel Prinzessin Elisabeth**** at a total price of 754$ from ebookers (877$ from booking.com);


- Hotel Belle Blue Zentrum***  at a total price of 815$ from ebookers (949$ from booking.com);

- Vi Vadi Hotel*** at a total price of  861$ from EasyClickTravel, or 974$ from ebookers (1 117$ from booking.com);



- Hotel Meier City Munchen*** at a total price of 995$ from ReiseExperten (1 070$ from booking.com);



- Citadines Arnulfpark Munich**** at a total price of 1 000$ from ebookers (1 150$ from booking.com);


- K+K Hotel Am Harras**** at a total price of 1 021$ from ReiseExperten (1 589$ from booking.com); 

- Eurostars Grand Central**** at a total price of 1 025$ from AlphaRooms (1 708$ from booking.com); 

- Hotel Cocoon*** at a total price of 1 033$ from ebookers (1 191$ from booking.com); 

- Conrad Hotel de Ville Munchen**** at a total price of 1 040$ from booking.com;

- NH Munchen Deutscher Kaiser**** at a total price of 1 045$ from ebookers (1 188$ from booking.com);

- Cocoon Stachus*** at a total price of 1 064$ from ebookers ( 1 225$ from booking.com);  

- Maritim Hotel Munchen at a total price of 1 065$ from ebookers (1 176$ from booking.com);

- Treff Hotel Munchen City Centre**** at a total price of 1 103$ from ReiseExperten (1 175$ from booking.com);

- Leonardo Hotel Munchen City Center**** at a total price of 1 118$ from ebookers (1 275$ from booking.com);

- Arthotel Munich*** at a total price of 1 156$ from ReiseExperten (1 385$ from booking.com);   

- InterCityHotel Munchen**** at a total price of 1 216$ from booking.com;

- BestWestern Atrium Hotel**** at a total price of 1 278$ from ReiseExperten (1 441$ from booking.com);   

- BestWestern Hotel Cristal**** at a total price of 1 306$ from BestWestern or booking.com; 

- Carat Hotel and Apartments Munchen*** at a total price of 1 316$ from Expedia (1 596$ from booking.com);    

- Fleming's Hotel Munchen City**** at a total price of 1 323$ from Expedia (1 340$ from booking.com); 

- Sheraton Munchen WestPark Hotel**** at a total price of 1 367$ from ReiseExperten (1 448$ from booking.com);   

- Mercure Munchen City Center**** at a total price of 1 383$ from AccorHotels or booking.com;  

- Asam Hotel Munchen*** at a total price of 1 390$ from hotel.info (1 552$ from booking.com);   
   

- Le Meridien***** at a total price of 1 480$ from ReiseExperten, or 1 606$ from Olotels (1 942$ from booking.com);      

- Sofitel Munich Bayerpost***** at a total price of 1 714$ from DHR (2 283$ from booking.com).


Remember that the prices above were valid at the date of this article (10 February). If you need any help, leave a comment and we'll be glad to help you with your search.

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HipAway - a new secret hotels website

HipAway is a German based distributor of discounted rooms of "secret hotels" (being hotels for which you find out the name of the hotel after purchase - like lastminute.com's TopSecret Hotels, or Priceline's Express Deals).

The details HipAway provides before making the purchase are the approximate map location of the hotel, some photos, the amenities of the hotel, and the overall guest rating on TripAdvisor.

With these elements, one can make a pretty good guess about the actual hotel.

Even better, for bookings until 14 February, they have a 14€ discount with the coupon code VALENTIN14.
Follow the text code or the banner below to see how it works.

The website is in German only (for the moment), but the search process is fairly simple (select the city, the dates and search) - see print-screen below:

Once you push the search button, you get a listing of hotels ordered in ascending order of their nightly rates. Slide over your preferred hotel with the mouse and you will see the area in which it is located on the map on the right side of the screen:

Zoom in on this area to get a better look at the street names and landmarks.

In a separate tab open booking.com and go to the same city (Lisbon in our example). Click on the "Show map" button on the top right side of the screen and then zoom in on the same area HipAway pointed to.

Then, compare the two maps to see which hotels form the booking.com map could correspond to the HipAway hotel (remember that HipAway shows you the star-rating of the hotel, as well as some photos and amenities of the hotel).

Using the method above, we identified that the Lisbon hotel from the print-screen above is Altis Park Hotel**** - see http://www.booking.com/hotel/pt/altisparklisboa for details about the hotel.

Once based on the booking.com description you decide that you want to buy the hotel, push the "Zur Buchung" button on the HipAway page. You will be taken to the payment window, where you also input the discount code from above. See print-screen on how it's done:

Thus, on Hipaway, for 2 nights over the week-end 15-17 February 2013 one double room costs 94€ (a 40% discount on cost of 140€ charged by booking.com).

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15% Ebookers.com voucher code for bookings until 11 February 2013

Short lived deal from Ebookers.com (Orbitz sister company).

The Ebookers.com promo code is ANDROID15. Click on the text code or on the banner below to start your search:

The discount is to be applied in the payment page, just above the credit card information, in the "Promotion code" section - see print-screen below:

As can be seen in the print-screen above, for 2 nights, breakfast included, at the Innside by Melia Neue Messe in Munich, Germany, over the week-end 14-16 June 2013, you save £19 to arrive at a final total price of £117. The same room costs £137 on booking.com.

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SkyScanner sweepstakes - win £400 worth of flights

SkyScanner is a flight search and comparison engine.

They tag along the omnipresent love theme during this time of year with the following two-step contest:

- follow @Skyscanner on Twitter;

- tweet the following text (where you only have to personalise the two underlined pieces of text):

Dear @Skyscanner, I wish you could fly me to city name with my love @person'sname #SkyscannerCupid

Open only to UK residents for entries until the end of February 2013 (see banner below for full terms and conditions).

That's it - good luck!

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20% early booking discount from Hilton

To help us get over the now-gone 40% winter week-ends discount, Hilton offers a 20% discount on week-end stays for bookings made at least 21 days in advance (non-refundable rates).

Follow this banner to see the participating hotels and indicative prices:

Hilton offer valid at properties in Europe, Middle East and Africa, for bookings until 1 May 2013.

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9% Hotelopia coupon code for bookings until 17 March 2013

A slightly better offer than the usual 8% Hotelopia promo code.

The Hotelopia discount code is TOPUSA2013 (advertised as valid only for top US destinations, we tested it for Bruges, Belgium and it worked just fine).

Click on the text code above or on the banner below to open Hotelopia in a new window:

The Hotelopia voucher code needs to be applied in the payment window, just above the credit card information, in the field "Discount code

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Hotels.com coupon code for 10% discount throughout 2013

UPDATE: try this new code, because the old one does not work anymore.

We finally found the long sought-after deal: a 10% Hotels.com voucher code valid for any booking during the year 2013 (for travel until 30 June 2014).

The Hotels.com promo code is HTL2013 and is valid for any purchase of minimum 150$. Click on the text code or on the banner below to use the voucher:

To get the 10% discount, proceed to the reservation as usual, then, in the payment window, look for the section "Apply a discount code", below the total price, on the right side of the screen, type in the code and push the button "Apply.

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10$ per day for week-end car rentals in Canada

Offer valid for economy or compact cars rented in neighbourhood locations, for rentals from Fridays / Saturdays to Mondays.

Only 100 kilometers per day included in the rate, any excess will be charged at 0.2 CAD per kilometer.

Promotion valid until 15 May 2013. See this banner to go to the Enterprise page:

As an example: a Nissan Versa rented for 3 days during the period 12 - 15 April 2013 near Toronto has a daily price of 10 CAD per day which, after taxes and fees arrives at a total of 37 CAD - see print-screen below:

While this deal might not be suitable for many, it could be a very good opportunity for those looking for a week-end break not far away from home.

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European city breaks with British Airways

For bookings made until 18 February 2013, British Airways offers 2 night city breaks departing from London to many European destinations (Amsterdam, Venice, Prague, Berlin, Florence, Paris, Barcelona), at less than 150£ per person (hotel stay included).

Follow this banner to open the BA offers page in a new window:

A break in Amsterdam costs 279£ for two persons, including 2 nights at the Best Western Blue Tower****, breakfast included - see print-screen:

Considering that the hotel stay costs 163£ on booking.com, it means that the price of the flight tickets drops down to 58£ per person - not bad at all.

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