Britain on the Cheap

For a limited time, book a flight on the UK’s bmibaby to Geneva, Grenoble, Toulouse or Malaga and take your skis and snowboard for free. Ski flights start at $63/£35.99 one way, including taxes and charges.

For six more days, you can skip the credit and debit card fees when you book any bmibaby flight. The offer’s good on all new bookings for travel up to Oct. 30 2010, but you must book by Sept. 8, 2009. Valid on all bmibaby destinations: Alicante, Almeria, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Belfast Intl, Bordeaux, Cork, Edinburgh, [...]

Long to indulge in the mystique of the Orient-Express? The fabled British Pullman train will pull out of Victoria Station for “The Dinner,” a five-course grazing menu Sept. 10, Oct. 29 and Nov. 14. Stewards serve in the 1920s Art Deco rail carriages, restored originals. The trip, from 7:30 p.m.-11 p.m., starts at $640 per [...]

The airline bmibaby has some hot fares available from Manchester Airport, starting at only $5 one way to Belfast International. One-ways to Amsterdam, Cork, Jersey, Ireland West Knock and Newquay are all under $20. Through Oct. 24.

Planning a trip along Britain’s motorways or twisty lanes? You might want to check the traffic first with a click on frixo. The free road traffic reporting site has live updates every three minutes from various road sensors.

Continental Airlines is still offering lower online summer rates to the UK, such as these round-trip tickets: Newark to London $482; Houston to London, $558; Newark to Manchester, $562; Cleveland to London $602; Newark to Edinburgh $612 and Newark to Glasgow $612.

Hurry! Virgin Atlantic has flights to London from Newark as low as $189 one way, based on a round-trip ticket purchased in economy by Aug. 11. Other sample fares are $241 from New York,  $286 from Orlando and $289 from Boston.

Travelers bound for Jersey can book a four-night break from Channel Islands Direct, starting at $477 per person including lodging at the Radisson Waterfront Hotel in St. Helier, daily breakfast, transfers and travel by sea from Weymouth. For departures from Gatwick, Luton, Liverpool or Plymouth, packages start from $526. Through Aug. 31.

VisitLondon offers a 10% discount off the London Pass, with free entry to more than 55 of the city’s best attractions, including the Tower of London, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Kensington Palace, the London Zoo, the Tower Bridge Exhibition and HMS Belfast. A one-day adult pass is $58, down from $64; a three-day pass is $93, [...]

One of the zippiest ways to get around London, on buses, tubes, trams and most overground trains, is the handy Oyster Card–it automatically calculates the cheapest fare for a day’s travel. The lowest price is $21, but it also comes in £20, £30, £40 and £50 values. Credit is deducted every time you use public [...]