THE dollar recently plunged to a record low against the euro, pushing prices for gondola rides in Venice and beer in Brussels to new heights for American travelers. The sticker shock has been even worse in Britain, where the ratio of the pound’s value to the dollar’s has been more than 2 to 1. But you don’t have to eat at McDonald’s or stay at a fleabag hotel to afford a European vacation. Below are 10 ways to save money.

1. Find the airfare bargains. Check the low-cost airlines, including Zoom, Flyglobespan and Eurofly, that now fly between the United States and Europe. Zoom Airlines, for example, recently started daily flights from Kennedy Airport to London Gatwick for as low as $199 each way. On major airlines, look for new flights with low introductory fares. (When Air France started a new morning flight from New York to Paris earlier this year, for instance, one-way fares started at $199.) And sign up for fare alerts, which offer a heads-up when airfares drop. Expedia and Orbitz have automated versions. If you’re more concerned with price than what city you fly in to, sign up for e-mail alerts from Travelzoo.com or Airfarewatchdog.com that tell you about all sorts of deals from your home city. A recent Airfare Watchdog alert for travelers flying out of Newark in August included round-trip fares of $593 to Amsterdam, $636 to Oslo and $623 to Stockholm.

2. Think twice about hotels. Eurocheapo.com offers no-nonsense reviews of budget hotels in dozens of cities; in Rome, it recommends the Suore di S. Elisabetta, a convent on a hill just south of the Piazza Santa Maria Maggiore, for anyone who doesn’t mind an 11 p.m. curfew or a religious environment. Doubles start at 64 euros, $90, at $1.41 to the euro. Eurocheapo’s new CheapoSearch, which shows availability for budget hotels in central neighborhoods, recently turned up 187 hotels in central Paris with rooms for less than $150 a night for Aug. 2 to 4. And you may do even better by renting a villa or an apartment. Two-bedroom villas can be reserved for as little as $1,200 a week near Florence. HomeAway.com and Rentalo.com connect travelers directly to property owners and managers.

3. Try Europe’s budget airlines. No-frills carriers fly Europeans cheaply from city to city. Ryanair ran a large summer sale last month, for example, with fares as low as 10 euros to Brussels, Pisa and Dublin from London. Pack light to keep costs down; these airlines may charge for checked luggage or bags weighing above specified limits. Be aware that these airlines often fly out of smaller, somewhat more inconvenient airports, and you should add in the extra travel time to get to them. (See the Frugal Traveler’s April 22, 2007, column “Adventures in Low-Cost Travel” for more information on budget airlines.)