The Tom Euro Portal is the starting point for planning your next trip to Europe.  I have compiled a series of links focused on travel and transportation throughout the continent.  On this page, I'll cover your road and air options.  And by selecting a country on the clickable map above, you will find the link to the national railway company as well as specific information for selected cities:  the official tourism site, airport(s), and public transit (subway, surface—bus and tram, water).  For the latter, I have provided direct links to route/network maps, mostly in PDF format.  The legend below explains the layout.

If I don't need an entire guidebook, I'll print the info and maps for the areas I plan to visit and create a customized itinerary (a 3-ring binder and clear plastic sheet protectors—matte, not glossy—come in really handy).  As a cover page, itemize your stages chronologically—flight, car rental, rail, bus, and hotel details, including times, phone numbers, URLs, and reference numbers—so that you have the most important information right at your fingertips.

The sites I've compiled will get you started with:  where you arrive, how to get to town from the airport, and how to get around said town.  The rest after that is easy!

REFERENCE

There are seemingly innumerable web sites dedicated to travel and tourist information, most of which do not add any real value.  Personal travelogues are hit-and-miss—some feature snappy writing and valuable insight, while the majority are rather pedestrian.

For starters, you can begin with the major portals:  Yahoo!, Expedia and Travelocity.

And then there are the purveyors of popular travel guides, which I'll classify as budget and mainstream.  Picking a guidebook is a rather personal thing, so I suggest parking yourself in the travel section at Chapters or Indigo and leafing through the merchandise.  If all you require are a few maps, then I suggest checking what the local Transit Authority provides online.

BUDGET » Let's Go | Lonely Planet | Rick Steves—Europe Through the Back Door
Rough Guides

MAINSTREAM » Fodor's | Frommer's

TRAVELLER REVIEWS » Virtual Tourist | Trip Advisor

BRITISH NEWSPAPERS (Destination Guides) » Times | Guardian | Independent | Telegraph

For good measure, here are some sites with comprehensive rail/transit links:

• European Railways and Timetables
• Routes International (Transit Links by City)
• UrbanRail (Subways, Underground Trains)

DRIVING

If I plan on renting a car while in Europe, I'll usually buy the requisite Michelin maps at home, and if I need more detail, I'll pick up a road atlas upon my arrival.  Before departing, I'll also download and print localized maps (for a specific area or even address) from Via Michelin, Ismap and Multimap.

FLYING

The emergence of Europe's many low-cost carriers (LCCs) has created all sorts of new opportunities for the traveller.  For medium to long distance travel (relatively speaking ... this is Europe we're talking about!), it is faster and likely less expensive to fly rather than take the train.

I'm not dismissing the train entirely.  For short-haul runs or hop-on-hop-off itineraries, it's still the best way to go—and who can deny the romance of the rails!  If you're going to spend all your time on the train, then buy a rail pass from Rail Europe—they sell individual tickets too, but for those, I prefer dealing with the rail companies themselves.  I've had good experience with France's SNCF and Germany's DB, and if you do your research, it may be cheaper and more convenient to buy a series of single tickets than a pass.

And don't rule out the traditional mainline air carriers either (i.e. British Airways, Air France, Lufthansa).  They've had to respond to the challenge issued by the LCCs and offer more competitive and less restrictive fares.

Be aware with the LCCs that in order to keep costs (and fares) down, there are no frills (i.e. food, seat assignments), and very strict baggage limits.  They also tend to use secondary airports (they're cheaper for the carrier to use) which may be a considerable distance from town, so be sure to factor additional ground transportation time and cost into your plans.  Also, as the flight dates near and the planes fill up, the fares will rise as well—it may not be any cheaper than on the competing mainline carrier.

However, with good planning—that's why I've listed all these sites—you can put together a convenient and cost-effective itinerary.

Here's a selection of European Low-Cost Carriers and their home bases (see a comprehensive list by ETN/DiscountAirfares in The Netherlands):

• Ryanair—London-Stansted (with several hubs across Europe)
• EasyJet—London-Luton, Stansted & Gatwick (with several hubs across Europe)
• Virgin Express—Brussels
• BMI Baby—Birmingham, Manchester, East Midlands, Cardiff
• Germanwings—Cologne/Bonn, Stuttgart
• Air Berlin—Berlin
• SkyEurope—Bratislava, Budapest
• Wizz—Katowice/Krakow

A quick way to see the city-pairs served by LCCs is to consult Fly LC, a valuable planning tool.

There are many options for flying to Europe from North America, whether it be on Canadian, American or European carriers.  Be sure to check out Iceland's Icelandair and Ireland's Aer Lingus as they both promote their low-cost airfares.  Neither fly from Canada, so for folks such as myself in Southern Ontario, drive to Buffalo and grab a cheap flight from there to one of the airlines' gateways (i.e. they both fly out of Baltimore-Washington Airport (BWI)).  Be sure to connect at the right airport—if you're jetting off to Europe out of BWI, don't book a flight to Reagan National or Dulles!  I suggest Southwest Airlines if going through BWI and JetBlue Airways to JFK.

» Bon voyage!