This summer, hotel prices in the Mediterranean were as high as mercury – and they still are.
In Italy, five-star accommodation cost an average of $516.62 per night in May 2019, according to data from CoStar. The same room this year? An average of $923.22—a price increase of almost 80%. And it’s not just in hotspots like Sardinia that you’re likely to experience price shock: In France, the average price increase over the same period was 67%.
And getting there is no less busy: Last year, the consumer price index for airline tickets rose 25 percent, the biggest jump since the Fed began collecting these figures in 1989.
All of this makes a luxurious trip to the Mediterranean seem unaffordable for all but the richest 1 percent of citizens – but don’t worry, we know a few clever strategies to avoid the price gouging and still book a luxury vacation.
Ready to sail
If you’re looking for an affordable luxury vacation, keep an eye on cruise lines offering impressive deals on some of their fanciest ships. Veranda cabins on small-ship specialist Azamara start at $250 per person per day in the Mediterranean for August cruises, less than the same voyages five years ago before the pandemic. These voyages can call at ports like the sacred island of Patmos or Mykonos, which are much harder for larger ships to reach due to the winds.
Atlas Ocean Voyages is best known for its Antarctic expertise, but has moved two of its ships, World Voyager and World Traveller, to the Mediterranean for the summer after testing the idea with the latter ship last year. They are also boutique sizes – a maximum of 198 guests – and offer a high-end, affordable option: a nine-day voyage starting in Malta and visiting Capri and Nice, for example, starts at $3,449 per person, or around $383 per night. Of course, that price doesn’t just include room and board – it’s all-inclusive, aside from the usual add-ons like ultra-premium drinks and spa treatments.
However, there is no better option than Explora Journeys, MSC’s new high-end offshoot. The company prides itself on offering many ships at affordable prices for the summer.
“We’re not afraid to say we’ve only been in business for 10 months, so we have space and availability in all categories,” says Chris Austin, North America president. “We’re starting to get into our stride.”
A seven-day cruise on the Explora costs around $4,000 per person all-inclusive, or about $600 per night. A five-star hotel in Cannes or Capri, on the other hand, charges $2,000 for a double room for a single night.
“And there’s not a glass of bubbly in sight. We greet our guests with chilled French champagne,” adds Austin. “We’re a multi-location resort, so you don’t have to pay for the plane ticket between Istanbul and Athens. It doesn’t matter how wealthy you are, why not stretch your money a little further?”
Also remember that you can also get long-haul flights at discounted rates when you cruise. Most cruise lines offer discounted flight packages as an add-on to any booking, as they often negotiate great deals for each class of service due to the large number of seats they can fill. Royal Caribbean, for example, is so confident in its Air2Sea pricing that if you find a verifiably cheaper fare than the one being offered, you’ll get 110% of the difference as onboard credit.
Talk about Turkey
If you prefer to stay on solid ground, consider Turkey. The eastern Mediterranean country is a bargain compared to its neighbors, thanks both to its newer high-end infrastructure and a currency that’s at a record low – it’s exceeded 33 lira to the dollar for the first time (for comparison, it was 2.73 in June 2015). Most international hotels there are charged in euros, but are still competitive: according to CoStar, they cost an average of $394.79 in May, almost 60% less than in Italy.
“When people ask me about Greece, I sell them Turkey because that’s everything they want from Greece,” says luxury travel specialist Jonathan Alder of Jonathan’s Travels. “It’s a magical country with stories, mythology and even wine country – the red wines up there near Gallipoli are fantastic.”
Head to the Çesme Peninsula, Alder continues, which is the local answer to the Hamptons, and stay at the 25-room Alavya, or party in Bodrum, the more picturesque spot with great nightlife, where he recommends the Edition outpost.
It is also worth remembering that Turkey is easily accessible from many cities across the country, as the national airline has a huge direct nonstop network. “It is a thousand times easier to reach than the Amalfi Coast or Nice,” he says.
Moor is more
Morocco’s Mediterranean coast is also not to be overlooked. There is the attractive city of Tangier, cool in summer by strong breezes and beaches on the shores. The recently renovated Fairmont Tazi Palace is offering double rooms for just $460 during the last weekend in August.
Or head to Casablanca on the west coast, which faces the Atlantic and is, of course, an ideal destination for surfers. The Corniche is lined with beach clubs and surf schools, and there’s a chic new hotel in the form of the Royal Mansour, housed in a high-rise in the city centre.
Break it
Jonathan Alder is another advocate of another alternative to the Mediterranean, modelled on the Atlantic: Madeira.
The 884-square-kilometre Portuguese island lies in the middle of the sea just east of Casablanca. It has long been popular with the British, so English is widely spoken, and the national airline TAP is a cheap alternative to BA or Air France, and offers extensive connections to the US via Lisbon.
“The water in Madeira is much warmer than in the Mediterranean – it is a deep ocean, but in summer it is only about 24 degrees,” promises Alder, warning that there are few traditional beaches.
Access to the water is mostly via rocky outcrops, such as the diving board directly into the sea from the five-star Reid’s Palace. This Belmond-operated gem isn’t cheap – expect to pay at least $900 for a double room – but it’s only a third of the price of sister hotels in the same chain, like the Caruso in Ravello.
Come to the island and experience two things in one, adds Alder. The local microclimate created by the volcano at the heart of the island means that one half is dry and desert-like, the other half is sun-drenched and ideal for relaxing by the pool. The other side of the volcano, however, is lush and rainy.
“If you go there, you can wander through beautiful towns without tourists and there is a fabulous wine scene grown on these volcanic slopes,” he says. “A bottle of good wine costs 9 euros.”
Flight of fantasy
However, if airfares are the biggest obstacle to traveling to Europe this summer, consider your fifth freedom options. Put simply, these are routes operated by an airline between two cities, neither of which is in its home territory (these are granted on a case-by-case basis, usually to allow an airline to move a plane between two other routes without having an empty leg).
They are not very well known and any profit the airline makes from them is secondary. Therefore, they are usually less busy and much cheaper than other transatlantic flights.
There are currently fifth freedom flights from the US to Europe, including Emirates flights between JFK and Milan and connections between Newark and Athens. Air Tahiti Nui flies from both Seattle and Los Angeles to Paris and Singapore Airlines connects JFK and Frankfurt. Once you’re on the continent, you can of course catch a dirt-cheap budget connection from Easyjet, Ryanair or similar airlines to any nearby location.
The only thing we can’t change is the weather, so pack plenty of sunscreen and hats.
