June 13, 2001
IF YOU STILL haven't made your getaway plans for this summer, now may be the best time to venture across the pond to the United Kingdom for a last-minute holiday. The foot-and-mouth epidemic at the beginning of the year squelched British tourism, and now the industry is frantically trying to lure visitors back with discounts, says Joan Coupe-Osborn, owner of Hereford Travel Center in Hereford, Texas. And thanks to a strong dollar, traveling on a budget doesn't mean you'll have to climb into a bunk bed at a hostel or subsist on fish and chips.

Here are some of the great deals we found:

Lodging
No need to share a bathroom at Fawlty Towers. The Hilton chain is offering special rates on its London hotels, starting at $61 per person, double occupancy, at the four-star Hilton London Olympia and $77 per person at the four-star Hilton London Hyde Park from June 1 to Sept. 30. If you want to take a step up on the luxury scale, the Savoy Group, a chain of luxury hotels, is offering a summer value rate on its four oh-so-tony London hotels (the Berkeley, Claridge's, the Connaught and the Savoy) from July 13 to Sept. 9. A night's stay in one of the four London hotels starts at $245, single or double occupancy, down from the usual $480.

Transportation
In our search, round-trip airfare to London started in the $500 to $600 range. But if you're taking the kids along to see Big Ben, Virgin Atlantic is offering free airfare for children under 12 from select U.S. cities (Chicago, Miami, San Francisco and Boston) when traveling with an adult.

For travel around Britain, BritRail is offering a 25% discount on BritRail Classic Passes. The passes allow unlimited travel for eight, 15, 22 or 30 consecutive days and start at $199 (originally $265) for an adult BritRail pass; youth passes (ages 16 to 25) start at $161 (originally $215). Fares for children between six and 16 are half the adult fare and children under five ride free.

Packages
Some of the best bargains we found were package deals from major airlines. These usually include airfare, hotel, breakfast and airport transportation. Airlines use these packages to disguise cheap airfare so they don't have to get involved in punishing fare wars, says Tom Parsons, editor and publisher of BestFares.com. British Airways offers three-night packages starting at $699, including 2.5-star to four-star hotels, for travel between June 16 and Aug. 27, while Virgin Atlantic is offering a "no frills" six-night "Summer Fling" package (with a "tourist-class" hotel), starting at $799.

Now, while it's true that the British bovine's loss is potentially American tourists' gain (and the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak was never a threat to humans), there's one thing to bear in mind: A spokesman at the British Travel Authority says some attractions, mostly walking areas in the countryside, remain closed to the public. While the BTA expects that almost everything will be open by July, if your idea of a heavenly holiday is a nice long trek along the footpaths in sturdy shoes, be sure to check the BTA database to see if you'll be able to tromp around where you'd like.

-- By June Kim

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