Europe is an incredible holiday destination; from stealing a kiss under the Eiffel Tower, to eating your body weight in Spanish tapas, and running scenes from Gladiator in Rome, there’s no continent on earth quite like it.

A patchwork of more than 40 compulsively different countries, Europe bursts at the seams with ancient wonders, medieval structures, mouthwatering menus, modern cities, fairy-tale landscapes, Mediterranean beaches, and is a massive smorgasbord of culture.

Pardon the cliches!

Whether you stick to the classics like Paris, Rome and Barcelona, or spice it up with some East-meets-West in Istanbul or Russia, there’s literally no end to your options when planning a trip to Europe. So we don’t blame you for not knowing where to start.

Europe is a vast continent, and the logistics involved with planning a trip can feel overwhelming – from hotels to activities, transport, and train tickets; if only there was one site to manage it all.

Spoiler alert: planning a trip to Europe is very easy if you bookmark Klook.com! (worth noting that Klook is for travel all over the world, not just Europe).

If you’re struggling to plan, or wondering about how to start, the following is a step by step guide that covers exactly how to plan a trip to Europe, from setting your budget, to choosing your destinations, planning out your itinerary, and the great news is that you can research, compare, and book everything on ONE website.

How to Plan a Trip to Europe Using Klook.com

Setting Your Budget

One of the biggest questions people have when planning a trip to Europe, is ‘how much does a trip to Europe cost?‘. But being that there are so many ways to travel Europe, and so many different country choices, the answer really is ‘however much you want’.

Sit down and decide how much you’re able / willing to spend, and do this before planning anything else; your budget will be the backbone of your trip, and inform the rest of your planning, ie, you need to know this before choosing travel dates, destinations, hotels, and activities. 

Europe is a place where you can spend anywhere from $20 – $1,000 a night depending on your travel style. It’s not a cliche to say that there are European experiences for every budget – it’s a place for both the broke backpacker and the exceptionally wealthy. 

When setting your budget, factor in the cost of flights (play around with comparison sites and run a range of different routes and dates to get an idea of how much it’s going to cost you), accommodation, food, activities, transport around Europe, and extra spending money.

The best way to plan your budget without getting overwhelmed, or opening 10 million tabs, is to jump onto Klook.com. This is a one stop shop for activities, attractions, hotels and train passes, with discounts up to 60% off.

Klook, short for ‘Keep Looking’, is an online concierge for the best deals on unique travel experiences, and being that they’re the official partner of top attractions and operators worldwide, they sell everything at the best price (find any better deals and they refund the difference).

Whether you’re looking at train tickets, hotels, or a Disneyland Paris pass, setting your budget based off the best prices from the beginning means you won’t miss out on anything because you think you can’t afford it.

Ie, if Klook lists the Eurostar (the high speed train from London to Paris) at discounts of up to 60% off, you’ll be able to put that extra money towards additional activities. You get more out of your budget, and can plan your trip accordingly.

Pro tip: When you complete a Klook activity, you receive 1%-5% of the activity price in Klook credits. The credits will appear in your Klook account 2 days after you complete the activity – when you’ve collected at least 10 credits, you can use them to get a discount on your next Klook booking.

Choose Your Destinations

After you’ve set your budget, you’ll be able to lock in your destinations, choose the length of your trip, and choose the best time to travel (and you should do it in that order!).

Many people already have a very set, clear idea of where they want to go in Europe, but there are 28 countries in the European Union, and some 18 more which are in Europe geographically but not part of the EU, so there’s definitely a lot of option!

When picking your destinations, you should choose based on your interests. For instance, if you’re a fan of beaches, head to the Mediterranean, if you’re a fan of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, start in Rome, and continue through Italy (fun fact – Italy has the most UNESCO Sites of any other country).

Don’t fall into the trap of picking somewhere just because it’s trendy, and everyone else says to go – you’ll only enjoy the trip if the destination is well suited to your interests.

The best way to assess whether a destination will suit your interests, is to jump onto the Klook homepage, and pull up the destination page for the city you’re considering (ie this is their page for Rome).

They have a page for things to do in over 120 European cities which includes a quick excerpt about what each city is about and the types of things it’s known for (ie culture, history, food), as well as local weather, general info, and a full list of everything you can do (ie a Colosseum Tour in Rome).

Getting Around Europe

Once you’ve chosen your destinations, you’ll then need to plan out your transport for how you’ll get between countries; from budget airlines to renting a car and driving, there’s a lot of choice, but the simplest, cheapest, and easiest way is to travel by train.

Flights are typically the quickest way to get across Europe, and you can reach a new city within 1-3 hours. But if your countries are close together, like a London – Paris journey, once you factor in the time spent traveling to and from airports, waiting in immigration etc, it’s often quicker to catch the train.

Pro tip: While there are many train passes for Europe, we recommend the Eurail Global Pass. It gives you unlimited rides in 33 countries all over Europe – including France, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland – you’ll be able to hop on and off trains to get to your destination, without having to purchase tickets individually at each station! Check prices.

Europe has a fantastic and highly efficient network of trains, and this is a great way to catch a glimpse of the countryside scenery you would otherwise miss on a plane. When breaking it down, Europe by rail is ultimately much cheaper, easier, flexible, time saving and comfortable than other options.

Train travel is a highly popular way to travel across Europe, for both locals and tourists, there are many cost saving travel passes like the Eurail Global Pass (which you can of course book via Klook for the cheapest rate).

These passes are fantastic in that you can choose the duration of your trip and the countries you’d like to include, and then jump abroad trains going to and from any location in the countries you’ve selected at your own whim!

Book Your Accommodation

At this stage, you’ve set your budget, chosen your destinations, set a length for your trip, and booked your transport inbetween countries. Now it’s time to book your accommodation!

Booking your hotels via Klook is the best way to get great prices and big discounts, and you also earn Klook credits which you can use to pay for tours, tickets, and activities. So this is a great way to get more out of your budget.

Klook partners with three main hotel platforms; Agoda, Booking.com, and Hotels.com. So while they don’t sell accommodation directly, if you use their search engine, they direct you to your preferred booking platform, and give you a discount code to enter when you make the booking.

On the Klook hotel page, enter your dates and city and click “Search” to receive the discount code. Copy the discount code and proceed to the booking platform’s official website. Book your hotel and enter the discount code at checkout – you’ll get the best savings, and also collect Klook credits.

Using Hotels.com and Agoda via Klook gets you an 8% discount on their listed price for accommodation. Using Booking.com gets you 4 x the Klook credits (credited to your account within 6 to 8 weeks after your stay).

Planning Your Attractions, Tickets & Tours

Hotels are booked, now it’s time to book your attractions, tours, and tickets!

As a discovery platform, Klook provides a massive inventory of holiday attractions and lifestyle activities, making it really easy to access the most complete list of things to do.

They have thousands of activities, though perhaps more importantly, you’re able to filter the experiences by a range of different categories (ie walking tours, nature escapes, museums etc), making it easy to find relevant experiences based on your interests and passions.

They make it easy for YOU to decide what YOU want to do, as opposed to picking their favorite top 10 activities they assume you’ll like, or have a vested interest in selling.

For instance, the following are fun things I’ve found to do in Paris, Barcelona, and Rome, for our upcoming trip to Europe, bookable on Klook at up to a 60% discount.

 Summary: How to Plan a Trip to Europe

As you can see, planning a trip to Europe can be very easy if you know how to approach it, and if you use the right resources, like Klook.com.

1. Plan out your budget
2. Choose your destinations
3. Choose the length of your trip
4. Choose the best time to travel
5. Book your train passes
6. Book your accommodation
7. Book your tours and activities
8. Do everything via Klook.com

What are you waiting for?! Click here to start planning your trip to Europe!

After you’ve completed your planning (the above steps), you’ll then need to get all your documentation in order; passport, visas, travel insurance etc.

To stay connected and post updates live throughout your journey, Klook also lets you book portable WiFi devices and multi country travel SIM cards for Europe. It’s seriously a one stop shop!

This post was completed in collaboration with Klook.com. It’s always exciting to partner with companies we already use and love! 

As mentioned, Klook allows you to book travel worldwide, and is not just limited to Europe. We plan all our trips using Klook!