Arthur's Blog: As Some NYC Airports Reopen, a Look at Stunning Under-$730 Round-Trip Fares to European Cities

With the announcement that Kennedy and Newark airports in the New York City area will re-open on a limited basis today, it again becomes reasonable to consider the European vacation opportunities that those two airports allow. It behooves us all to attempt to resume our normal economic lives, and thus at least partially overcome the effects of the tragic events imposed by Hurricane Sandy.

The most interesting current development in travel is the constant lowering of autumn and winter prices for trans-Atlantic flights -- especially from New York City, the logical gateway to Europe. I wrote a couple of weeks ago about Aer Lingus's sale that saw $600 round-trip fares from New York to Dublin and $700 round-trip fares from New York to Paris, Amsterdam, & Brussels -- fares that were matched briefly by Delta. Those prices still remain available, and although you don't find them on every day of the week, you find them with sufficient frequency to insure a low-cost flight.

Currently, the other spectacular airfares are those round-trip rates on Lufthansa between New York to Berlin for $669 and Moscow for $709 including all fees, taxes and fuel surcharges, available to travelers who are willing to reach those destinations via a stop in Frankfurt, Dusseldorf or Stuttgart. These have now been surpassed in interest by the announcement from Iberia Airlines of Spain that it will be charging autumn and winter round-trip rates from New York of only $710 to Madrid and $730 to Barcelona. The latter two cities are such fascinating places to visit, and so full of absorbing attractions, that they are powerful competition to the fall/winter trips you might otherwise consider to the tropics of the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America, or Hawaii. A week or so in Madrid or Barcelona is now possible for an airfare cost that is not much more than you would pay to the tropics.

Finally, Istanbul is a cheaply-reached destination this fall and winter. Turkish Airlines is offering an amazing $656 round-trip airfare between New York and Istanbul (Ataturk Airport) throughout the fall and winter until near the end of March. Pay that little, and you'll find that the total costs of a winter stay in Istanbul are so low as to permit a very reasonably priced one-weeker in the Turkish capital. You'll have more than enough to see and do, and you'll do wonders for your health by scheduling several, successive immersions in a Turkish bath, in steambath establishments located all over the city. Roberta and I went to one that had never before seen a tourist, and the various attendants seems to get big kick out of pounding, slapping and scraping two westerners in Turkish-bath style.

So there you have it. Some of the most colorful cities in Europe are now less than $700 away, provided you visit in autumn and winter, on a flight emanating from New York.