With a few days or weeks left for the holidays, there are often still doubts about what to do or where to go during the summer break, especially when money is a limiting factor for many families and the price of transportation can become a major impediment to travel. to the desired destination. If the budget is tight, opting for one means of transport or another can make the difference when it comes to making plans for the summer come true.
The plane is the most expensive public transport to travel within Spain, although it is also the fastest. On the contrary, the bus is the cheapest, but the slowest. The best option considering both price and speed would be the high speed train. For example, comparing prices with Omio, the cheapest to travel from Barcelona to Madrid this Friday June 30 is 64 euros by plane, 25 euros by bus and 44 euros by train.
“The average value of a national train ticket is less than that of a plane ticket. In addition, the train allows you to carry more luggage without extra cost, the convenience of access, the proximity to the city center and the possibility of making your fare more flexible for a low price”, says Helena Perelló, from the Atrápalo travel portal.
Perelló assures that on the peninsular level the train is the preferred option for travelers, but specifies that in the case of the Balearic Islands ferries also come into play, since it is more comfortable and cheaper to take the car on the boat than to rent a car on the islands. vehicle. Therefore, the traveler must analyze the different options offered by the chosen destination to finish assessing which is the most economical.
In the case of international travel, the plane would be the best way to travel in terms of cost and time. The most expensive public transport to travel outside of Spain is the train, which generally takes much longer to reach the destination than the plane. The bus is normally the cheapest to travel to the countries you can reach, but the journey takes longer than if you opt for the plane or the train. The best option, according to Perelló, are low cost flights. For example, at Omio, traveling from Barcelona to Paris this Friday, June 30 costs you at least 63 euros by plane, 245 euros by train and 60 euros by bus.
From Atrápalo they assure that the prices do not vary so much depending on whether the destination is national or international, but by the number of offers available, so the more options of airlines there are, the cheaper the trip will be. Two other key factors also stand out: advance notice and flexibility when choosing a destination and dates to travel.
According to Kiwi.com, the average price of flights booked for this summer on the portal has been 239 euros: 110 euros for short-haul flights, 218 euros for medium-haul flights and 838 euros for long-haul flights. The portal’s vice president of growth, Mario Gavira, explains that it is possible to find lower prices at less popular departure times, so it is likely that a Saturday ticket will be more expensive than a Tuesday ticket and it will be cheaper one departing late at night or early in the morning. It should also be noted that flights from smaller regional airports are often cheaper as well.
Among the cheapest destinations departing from Spain, Valencia, Lisbon and Marrakech stand out. On the contrary, the most expensive are those with a greater distance, such as Sydney, Melbourne and Denpasar, according to the company. If the traveler still chooses to go abroad, Portugal, Morocco and Turkey will mean a lower outlay.
Finally, it must be borne in mind that the greatest savings will be achieved if airline promotions are taken advantage of in the first months of the year, which is when they normally reduce prices and apply different discounts and campaigns to boost demand.
