Cheapest European cities to fly to in 2025
By Sally French, NerdWallet
A European getaway doesn’t have to come with sky-high airfare. With many budget and legacy airlines offering expanded transatlantic route schedules, competition on pricing is intense. For frugal travelers, that means both more options for flights — and more opportunities for deals.
According to data provided to NerdWallet by Dollar Flight Club, an airfare deals website, certain routes offer consistently low fares. That makes cities like Reykjavík, Iceland; Lisbon, Portugal; and Barcelona, Spain, some of the most affordable European destinations to fly to from the U.S.
The cheapest average routes between the U.S. and Europe in 2025
Using airfare data from the 10 largest U.S. airports based on number of passengers, Dollar Flight Club identified 14 routes where average fares were less than $1,000 round trip.
Those 14 routes (sorted by average fare) are:
Average fares were based on an analysis of 50,000 fares pulled on Jan. 27, 2025 for trips from January through September 2025. The data included fares from a mix of legacy and budget carriers.
Fares will vary depending on your specific airport or travel date. But in general, knowing these routes can be useful in narrowing down where in Europe to go. Iceland is one of the cheapest destinations to fly into, making it a great opportunity to book that bucket-list trip to see the northern lights or visit the Blue Lagoon, a geothermal spa famous for its ethereal milky-blue waters.
The cheapest flights to Europe in 2025
Average fares between Atlanta and Reykjavík, Iceland run just $800 during the period surveyed — and that’s just the average. Actual prices can vary by day. For example, Dollar Flight Club found flights on that same route as low as $400.
Of the 50,000 fares that Dollar Flight Club analyzed, here were some other notable deals, broken out by the 10 largest airports in the U.S.:
- Atlanta (ATL) → Reykjavík (KEF) from $400, London (LON) from $480, Helsinki (HEL) from $545.
- Charlotte (CLT) → Rome (FCO) from $483, Dublin (DUB) from $545, Madrid (MAD) from $560.
- Chicago (ORD) → Frankfurt (FRA) from $435, Rome (FCO) from $450, Dublin (DUB) from $510.
- Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) → Amsterdam (AMS) from $525, Frankfurt (FRA) from $540, Rome (FCO) from $555.
- Denver (DEN) → Paris (CDG) from $480, Amsterdam (AMS) from $525, Frankfurt (FRA) from $540.
- Las Vegas (LAS) → Dublin (DUB) from $520, Madrid (MAD) from $535, Paris (CDG) from $550.
- Los Angeles (LAX) → Paris (CDG) from $430, Barcelona (BCN) from $499, Dublin (DUB) from $515.
- Miami (MIA) → Barcelona (BCN) from $410, Munich (MUC) from $412, Rome (FCO) from $420.
- New York (JFK) → Lisbon (LIS) from $405, Milan (MXP) from $440, Berlin (BER) from $480.
- Orlando (MCO) → Madrid (MAD) from $435, London (LHR) from $520, Rome (FCO) from $545.
Tricks for traveling cheaply in Europe
Be open-minded to long layovers, stopovers and multi-city trips
You don’t necessarily have to spend your European vacation at the city where your transatlantic flight arrives or departs. Those cities might simply be starting and ending points for your trip.
Georgia Fowkes, an avid traveler and self-described “flight deal hunter” says she once flew from her home in Pittsburgh to São Miguel Island in the Portuguese Azores archipelago. A day-long stopover in Boston helped her get there for less money.
“It was a well-planned route with a built-in side trip to Boston,” she says. “I was able to squeeze in a mini-reunion with an old high-school pal… and eat clam chowder.”
She paid $387 for the round-trip flight. Had she not been willing to spend a day in Boston, her flight would have cost nearly $700.
Go during shoulder season
Summer is generally a busy time to go to Europe because kids are out of school. Shoulder season, which is the period between the high season and offseason, can offer the best of both worlds, with mild weather and seasonal activities still open.
Consider a late spring or early fall trip to Europe if you’re looking for lower prices — and smaller crowds.
Save on lodging
Instead of staying at a hotel, consider a hostel. These are low-cost lodging options, which typically have massive rooms, bunkbeds and shared amenities, though many also offer private rooms. Some hostels offer stays as low as 12 euros a night.
Big-name hotels are also adding more properties in Europe. Though they’re generally not the cheapest form of lodging, they can offer opportunities to spend points and miles, often earned through credit card spending. Hilton Hotels & Resorts opened 10 resorts last summer in Greece, Ibiza and Malta. And in January 2025, Hyatt Hotels Corporation announced it would open hotels in more European markets, including Estonia, Iceland and Romania. The hotel brand has also expanded its presence in Spain from just four hotels in 2020 to 55 hotels as of the end of 2024.
And then there’s an ultra-affordable option.
“Couchsurfing is still alive and well too,” Fowkes said. With couchsurfing, travelers stay (typically for free) in locals’ homes, often brokered through services like Couchsurfing.com.
Travel by train through Europe
Besides being a bit unconventional with your lodging, transit doesn’t need to be simply traveling by air. Train travel within Europe is more accessible than it is within the U.S. For example, it takes less than two hours to go from Munich to Salzburg, Austria, and you can often find fares for less than $20. You can also ride in sleeper cars, for overnight trips, which could trim your hotel costs.
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Sally French writes for NerdWallet. Email: sfrench@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @SAFmedia.
The article Cheapest European Cities to Fly to in 2025 originally appeared on NerdWallet.