Budget airlines change which European trips are worth it. Here's the honest map of which hubs work and which add hidden costs.
Genuinely cheaper hubs
- Krakow (KRK): Direct flights from most of Europe; small airport, fast through, 30 min bus into the centre. Often the cheapest entry to Eastern Europe.
- Budapest (BUD): Wizz Air's hub. Cheap to almost everywhere in Europe. 30-min bus to centre.
- Riga (RIX): AirBaltic's hub. Cheap connections across the Baltic and into Russia-adjacent.
- Porto (OPO): Cheap from northern Europe; 30 min metro to centre.
- Pisa (PSA): Cheap from London/Berlin/Paris. 1h to Florence by train.
- Faro (FAO): Cheap from northern Europe; gateway to the Algarve.
Bait-and-switch budget hubs
- Beauvais (BVA, "Paris"): 1h 15min bus into central Paris, €17 each way. Often the savings vanish.
- Hahn (HHN, "Frankfurt"): 2h bus to Frankfurt. Calling it Frankfurt is creative.
- Ciampino (CIA, "Rome"): Workable but always check vs FCO — sometimes the savings are small.
- Charleroi (CRL, "Brussels"): 1h bus to Brussels. Can be useful for Bruges, less for Brussels itself.
- Bergamo (BGY, "Milan"): 1h bus to Milan — but Bergamo itself is a worth visiting.
- Stansted (STN, "London"): 50 min train, £20. Doable but adds time.
Worth flying into for the city itself
- Bologna (BLQ): Direct flights to many cities; Bologna is genuinely worth a 2-night stop on the way to Florence.
- Bilbao (BIO): Iberia and Vueling hub; Bilbao is the trip on its own.
- Marseille (MRS): Gateway to Provence; the city is worth itself plus enables Aix and Cassis.
How to actually save
The discount-airline math depends on bag fees, boarding-pass fees, transfers, and time. A €40 Ryanair flight to Beauvais with a €30 bag, €17 bus, and 1h 15min lost can equal a €120 BA flight to Heathrow.
Always run the all-in math. The branded "low-cost" of nominal fares often disappears.