Contact: Nora Brossard
212-620-7100
norab@spring-obrien.com


HOT TRAVEL DEALS TO EUROPE SIZZLE ALL SUMMER AND INTO FALL

New York, July 10, 2008 – Think your dollar’s too weak for Europe this summer? Not to worry. The European Travel Commission has scouted out several good travel deals in Europe for the rest of the summer into fall. Prices quoted are person double occupancy. Some cover land costs only, and travelers are invited to contact the tour operators for advantageous airfares. For additional deals, log onto www.visiteurope.com.
Gate 1 Travel (www.gate1.com) has weekly departures to Nov. 21 for its escorted “7 Day Classic Spain & Portugal” package, starting at $1,529 including roundtrip air and four-star hotels. Tour visits Madrid, Segovia, Avila and Salamanca in Spain, and Fatima and Lisbon in Portugal. Price includes daily breakfast and one dinner with wine, air-conditioned coach, tour managers and local guides, two nights lodging in Madrid, overnight in Salamanca and two nights in Lisbon. Call 800-682-3333 or email info@gate1travel.com
In Switzerland, the Alps are steep but not the prices. Ryder Walker Alpine Adventures (www.ryderwalker.com/appenzellerland) offers an all-inclusive five-day/six night guided hiking adventure in the Appenzellerland, September 20-25, for $1,750 land only. The Santis range towers over the charming village of Appenzell, where the trek begins and ends. Days are spent on hikes averaging six miles a day and ascents up to 3,000 feet. Overnights are in charming inns, berghauses and a high mountain “hut,” with outstanding cuisine, big down comforters and hot water showers. The return to Appenzell is through forest and meadow with the last night in a first class hotel on the town square. Price includes daily breakfast and dinner, transportation from Zurich. For more information, call 888-586-8365, or email adventure@ryderwalker.com.
With Adventura Bike Holidays’ (www.bikeholidays.eu) “Spa Triangle and Prague” five night/six day tour, you cycle through Czech Republic’s fairy-tale landscapes. Two guided tours depart on Aug 12-17 and Oct 12-17. Self-led tours are available through October, as well as supported tours. Highlights include Prague, Becov, a Romanesque site built in the 13th century, Carlsbad, Czech Republic’s largest spa center with the world’s first beer spa, and 14th century Loket Castle. Self-led tours begin at 470 Euros in a group of six, and include lodging, breakfast, map and route instructions, baggage transport, GPS, telephone and personal help, train tickets and schedules, and the beer spa. Supported tours with support vehicle are 470 euros (minimum six), 520 euros for four people and 660 euros for two. Fully guided tours are 1,040 euros. Supported and guided tours include airport transfers. Email info@bikeholidays.eu.
Finland’s independent eight-day/seven-night King’s Road Tour Packages to Helsinki, Turku and Stockholm are priced at $1, 370, covering three nights in Helsinki and one night in Stockholm at first-class Scandic hotels with breakfast, two nights at the Naantali Spa Hotel in Turku and overnight crossing from Turku to Stockholm in a seaside cabin with breakfast. Helsinki sightseeing, train excursion to medieval Porvoo and private transfer from Turku Railway Station to Naantali are included. Helsinki was founded in 1550 and is one of Europe’s most vibrant cities. Turku is Finland’s oldest town, with remarkable medieval landmarks. The Naantali Spa offers modern spa treatments. Stockholm, Sweden’s capital, is built on 14 islands with a lively Old Town, the Vasa Museum built around a 17th century warship and a new Museum of Modern Art. For more information and airfare quotes call Scanam World Tours, 800-545-2204, www.scandinaviantravel.com.
Scanam World Tours also offers two-day/one-night “Norway in a Nutshell Plus” for $510. This nutshell packs a lot of meat, a nonstop panorama of spectacular scenery. Tour highlights include: the famous, steep Flåm Railway, with views of spectacular waterfalls and dramatic peaks; cruise on the Sognefjord, Norway’s’ longest and deepest fjord, Naeroyfjord, now a World Heritage Site, and the Stalheimskleiven hairpin road along the Stalheim canyon. Hotel choices include the Fretheim Hotel in Flåm, the Viking style Fjordtel on the banks of the Naeroyfjord and the historic Fleischer’s Hotel in Voss. Itineraries can begin or end in Oslo, the city of the Nobel Peace Prize, and/or Bergen, the picturesque coastal home of composer Edvard Grieg.
Go Ahead Tours offers a nine-day air/hotel inclusive package to London and Paris whose Sept. 27 departure price of $2,249 drops to $2,179 on Oct. 4 and $1,929 on Nov. 1 and 8. Price includes roundtrip flights, transfers; Go Ahead Tour Director; deluxe motor coach; seven nights accommodation with daily breakfast; hotel services, charges and tips and high-speed Eurostar train. Add $90 to $295 for taxes and fees. For more information call 1-800-590-1170 or click on www.goaheadtours.com.

# # #

About the ETC
The ETC is a marketing organization whose role is to promote Europe as a tourist destination and provide a range of information, research and electronic distribution services to its members. Members include Austria, Belgium, Britain, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Georgia, Greece, Holland, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and Ukraine. For more information click on www.visiteurope.com.