From Lisbon and Barcelona to Prague and Budapest, these are 10 European trips worth watching from Canada, based on real fare data from Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.
Round trip economy fares in Canadian dollars. Snapshot checked September 22, 2026. Prices move quickly; treat them as a benchmark, not a locked-in quote.
Europe gives Canadian travellers dozens of options, but the cheapest destination can change dramatically by origin and travel dates. For this guide, we compared real fares from Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver to find 10 European trips worth watching.
The goal is not to declare one city permanently cheapest. It is to show where the strongest fare opportunities appeared in our snapshot, then add enough practical context to decide whether each destination is actually worth booking.
| Destination | Toronto | Montreal | Vancouver | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lisbon | C$460 | C$613 | C$589 | Food, coast and an easy first Portugal trip |
| Barcelona | C$498 | C$568 | C$642 | City and beach in one trip |
| Dublin | C$520 | C$727 | C$584 | A simple European long weekend |
| Berlin | C$556 | C$750 | C$773 | History, culture and nightlife |
| Madrid | C$574 | C$566 | C$821 | Food, art and city life |
| Rome | C$584 | C$662 | C$614 | A first trip to Italy |
| Porto | C$585 | C$582 | C$827 | A slower and more compact Portugal trip |
| Prague | C$617 | C$724 | C$707 | Historic Central Europe |
| Budapest | C$655 | C$732 | C$729 | Architecture, thermal baths and nightlife |
| London | C$684 | C$687 | C$736 | Museums, theatre and an easy first Europe trip |
Lisbon is one of those cities that makes very few demands on the traveller. You do not need a complicated itinerary. Start in the old centre, walk until the hills convince you to stop, have something to eat, and continue when the city pulls you in another direction.
Alfama is best approached without trying to optimise it. Baixa and Chiado give you the more polished centre. Belém deserves half a day of its own. And once the city starts to feel familiar, Sintra and the Atlantic coast are close enough to change the rhythm of the trip completely.
The airfare is what makes Lisbon particularly interesting here. Manyflights found Toronto to Lisbon for C$460 round trip, around 38% below the typical fare in the fare snapshot used for this article. Vancouver also looks unusually competitive for such a long transatlantic journey.
Who should choose Lisbon: someone who wants food, neighbourhoods, views and day trips without planning every hour of the week.
Barcelona works because you do not have to decide what kind of trip you want before you arrive. It can be architecture and museums in the morning, a long lunch in the afternoon and the beach before dinner.
The Gothic Quarter is worth seeing, but Barcelona becomes far more interesting once you move beyond the obvious centre. Gràcia feels almost like a smaller town folded into the city. Eixample gives you the famous modernist architecture. The waterfront changes the mood again.
The Toronto fare is particularly strong. At C$498 round trip, the fare was around 46% below the typical price in the Manyflights snapshot. That is the kind of price difference that can make Barcelona worth choosing even if Spain was not originally at the top of your list.
Who should choose Barcelona: someone who wants one city to cover food, architecture, nightlife and a little beach time.
Dublin is one of the easiest European cities to turn into a short trip. You can stay centrally, walk between many of the places you want to see and avoid spending half the holiday figuring out transportation.
Trinity College, the Georgian streets and the pubs around the centre are the obvious starting points, but Dublin also works well when you give it room to breathe. Howth is close enough for a coastal walk and seafood lunch without turning the day into a complicated excursion.
The fares are especially interesting from Toronto and Vancouver. C$520 from Toronto and C$584 from Vancouver make Dublin one of the stronger options on this list for a relatively uncomplicated trip across the Atlantic.
Who should choose Dublin: someone who wants Europe without a heavy itinerary, complicated transfers or a week of advance planning.
Berlin is not a city you finish.
You can see Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag, Museum Island and the remnants of the Wall and still feel as though you have only learned the basic vocabulary. The real city spreads across neighbourhoods that feel surprisingly different from one another. Kreuzberg, Neukölln, Prenzlauer Berg and Schöneberg can each occupy an afternoon without a checklist of famous landmarks. Berlin also rewards travellers who like history but do not want their entire trip to feel like a history lesson.
From Toronto, the airfare is particularly compelling. Manyflights found C$556 round trip, around 39% below typical. Montreal and Vancouver are considerably higher in this snapshot, which is a good reminder that the same destination can be a great deal from one Canadian city and fairly ordinary from another.
Who should choose Berlin: someone who prefers neighbourhoods, history, nightlife and contemporary culture to postcard sightseeing.
Madrid does not have Barcelona's beach or Rome's concentration of ancient monuments. It does not need them. This is a city where an ordinary day can be the itinerary.
Spend the morning around the Prado, Thyssen or Reina Sofía, walk through Retiro, have lunch later than you normally would, then let the afternoon disappear somewhere around La Latina, Chueca or Malasaña. Madrid is at its best when you stop trying to complete it.
There is also an interesting airfare detail here: Montreal at C$566 was slightly cheaper than Toronto at C$574. Vancouver, however, was much higher at C$821. If you are flying from western Canada and want Spain, Barcelona currently makes a stronger case.
Who should choose Madrid: someone who cares more about food, art and everyday city life than collecting landmarks.
Rome is one of the few destinations where the clichés survive the trip. The Colosseum really is extraordinary. The Pantheon really does stop you in the middle of the street. And seeing St Peter's Basilica for the first time is not made less impressive by the millions of photographs that came before it.
But the best part of Rome is often what happens between the famous places. A quiet piazza you had not planned to see. An unnecessarily long dinner. A walk through Trastevere after you thought the sightseeing was finished for the day.
The fares are also unusually balanced across Canada. C$584 from Toronto, C$662 from Montreal and C$614 from Vancouver means Rome works reasonably well from all three departure cities.
Who should choose Rome: someone making a first trip to Italy, or anyone who wants history, food and atmosphere without needing to travel between several cities.
Porto is what you choose when Lisbon sounds appealing but slightly too busy. The city is smaller, slower and easier to understand.
The Douro does most of the visual work. Ribeira sits on one side, Vila Nova de Gaia on the other, and the bridges between them make even a simple walk feel like sightseeing. The historic centre is compact, although Porto's hills have a habit of making short distances feel longer than they looked on the map.
Toronto and Montreal are almost perfectly matched here at C$585 and C$582. Vancouver is much less attractive at C$827. If you are starting on the West Coast, Lisbon is currently the more convincing Portugal option.
Who should choose Porto: someone who wants a compact city, good food, wine, river views and less pressure to constantly be doing something.
Prague gives you the Europe people imagine before they have been to Europe. Old streets, church towers, bridges, squares and a river cutting through the centre.
Old Town Square and Charles Bridge are busy for good reason, but Prague gets much better once you stop following the same line as everyone else. Cross the river. Walk uphill. Spend time around Malá Strana. Leave the centre for Vyšehrad. The city is compact enough that exploring without much of a plan rarely costs you very much time.
The fares are relatively close across the country, especially compared with Madrid or Porto. C$617 from Toronto, C$724 from Montreal and C$707 from Vancouver. Prague also works beautifully as the beginning of a longer trip through Central Europe, with Vienna and Budapest both logical next stops.
Who should choose Prague: someone who wants historic Europe without needing a full week in one city.
Budapest is one of the best destinations on this list when the weather turns cooler. The Danube divides the city into two very different experiences. Buda gives you hills, the castle district and some of the city's best views. Pest is flatter, busier and better for restaurants, cafés and nightlife.
And then there are the thermal baths. They are not simply a tourist attraction added to the city. They are part of what makes Budapest feel different from almost every other European capital.
The fares are remarkably consistent: C$655 Toronto, C$732 Montreal and C$729 Vancouver. That makes Budapest a useful city to check when Prague or Vienna has become expensive from your airport.
Who should choose Budapest: someone who wants grand architecture, nightlife, thermal baths and a city that works particularly well outside peak summer.
London is the least surprising destination on this list and perhaps the easiest one to justify. There is simply too much of it to have a bad first trip.
Westminster and the South Bank can occupy one day. Soho and the West End can take another. Then you still have Greenwich, Camden, Shoreditch, Notting Hill, museums, markets, football, theatre and enough neighbourhoods to build several completely different versions of the same holiday.
The useful trick is to stop thinking of London as one attraction-filled centre. Choose areas. Spend time in them. Do less travelling across the city than your first instinct tells you to.
The airfare is also remarkably consistent: Toronto C$684, Montreal C$687 and Vancouver C$736. One warning, though: London can reverse the normal travel equation. The flight may be the cheap part. Check accommodation before deciding that a low airfare makes the entire trip inexpensive.
Who should choose London: someone visiting Europe for the first time, travelling with different interests in the same group, or simply wanting a city where running out of things to do is almost impossible.
There is no single winner because the departure city matters. From Toronto, Lisbon and Barcelona stand out in this snapshot. From Montreal, Madrid and Porto are especially competitive. From Vancouver, Dublin, Lisbon and Rome look particularly strong.
Lisbon was the lowest fare in this September 2026 snapshot at C$460 round trip, followed by Barcelona at C$498.
Not necessarily. If your dates are flexible, starting with your departure airport and comparing unusually cheap destinations can uncover trips you may not have considered.
No. These are recent round trip fare snapshots. Prices can change with travel dates, availability, baggage, fare class and booking conditions.