Skyscanner's multi-city search is great when you know your cities and dates. What it's good at, where it falls short, how Google Flights compares, and when Europe Unlocked finds the trip for you.
Written By Rick Blyth
Happiest at 36,000ft as the sun rises above the clouds
10 min read
Published on 28/10/2026
Ever stared at Skyscanner's multi-city search, wondering what to put in the blanks?
Skyscanner's multi-city search is great when you already know where you're going, and when. The catch is in the screenshot above, taken on the 26th of October 2026.
Before it shows you a price, you fill in every city and every date yourself. It prices a trip you've already thought of. It can't suggest one.
Europe Unlocked works the other way round. We've already searched every two, three and four-city trip from 23 airports in the UK and Ireland. The trips are there, priced and sorted, cheapest first.
We're a flight search too, so yes, we have an interest. We'll stick to what each one actually does.
Take Manchester. One of the cheapest two-city trips we found from there was Valencia then Milan in December: 2 nights in Valencia, then 2 in Milan, for £43 in flights.
Valencia and MilanFrom Manchester · 4 nights in allSearch trips from£43That's flights only, per person.
✍️ On Skyscanner: you'd only find it if you'd already thought of Valencia, then Milan, and typed in the right three dates.
✅ On Europe Unlocked: you choose Manchester and Multi-City. It's there, with every other two-city trip from Manchester, cheapest first, like Madrid then Milan for £45.
Our Finder: multi-city trips from Manchester, every route already found and priced.
📬 Free · Every Sunday
Each email has the best-value trips from Manchester for the following two weeks, found and priced for you.
What lands in your inbox on Sunday
To: you
Credit where it's due:
If you know you're flying from Glasgow to Rome on the 4th, Rome to Paris on the 6th and home on the 8th, it's quick and it works.
It answers "how much is this trip?", not "what's the best trip I could take?". If Valencia and Milan aren't the cities you thought of, you'll never see them.
Even one city at a time adds up fast.
Say you're flying from Manchester for two, three or four nights in early November, leaving any day from Monday to Thursday. We found over 1,300 city breaks like that, to over 70 destinations.
Checking them yourself, one destination at a time, would take over 1,700 searches. At a minute a search, that's about 30 hours.
Add a second city and it gets silly.
Build a multi-city trip by hand and it's up to you to leave enough time in each city. Every trip we show gives you at least 12 hours in each city you stay in.
⚠️ To be fair: we only search direct flights from 23 airports in the UK and Ireland, we don't do long-haul, and our trips are correct at the time we found them, but prices change quickly, so check with the airline before you book.
Google Flights' multi-city search works the same way as Skyscanner's: you enter each flight's cities and date, and it prices that trip. So everything above goes for both.
| Skyscanner and Google Flights | Europe Unlocked | |
|---|---|---|
| 🔎 What you search | Flights to a place you pick, or everywhere. Multi-city only with the cities and dates you set | Every city, date and trip length from your airport, about six months ahead |
| 🗺️ Multi-city | You choose each city and each date | Two, three or four cities in one trip, already put together |
| 📋 What you see | Flights for the search you ran | Complete trips, cheapest first |
| 🛫 Where from | The airport you choose | 23 airports in the UK and Ireland |
| ✈️ Where you book | With the airline, or a booking site they link to | Each flight directly with the airline |
| 💷 Cost | Free | Free for trips in the next 14 days. Premium members see about six months ahead |
For a low-cost multi-city trip, both end the same way: you book each flight directly with the airline. On Skyscanner, pick the airline's own site. We send you straight there.
So if your first flight is badly delayed and you miss the second, the second airline doesn't have to help. To protect yourself:
Try us if you know when you can get away but haven't picked the cities, or you want two or three cities in one trip and don't know which go together.
📌 Key points
- Skyscanner prices the trip you type in. Europe Unlocked shows you the trips you didn't know to look for.
- From Manchester, Valencia then Milan was £43 in flights for 4 nights.
- Planning multi-city trips by hand runs into the thousands of searches.
- Either way, you book each flight directly with the airline.
Yes, searching on Skyscanner is free.
No. We're a search platform, and we don't sell flights. You book each flight directly with the airline, and your money goes straight to them.
Yes. Find a trip with us, then compare its flights anywhere you like before you book.
Searching trips that leave in the next 14 days is free. Premium members see about six months ahead. See Premium for the current price.
Pick your airport and see every city break and multi-city trip that fits, cheapest first. Search trips from your airport.
Prices were found on the 25th of October 2026: flights only, per person, rounded up to the next pound. Fares change every day, so search for today's.
Two Cities in One Trip: How Multi-City Breaks Work, and Why They Can Cost LessHow multi-city breaks work, and why flying on to a second city can cost less.
How to Book Multi-City Flights in Europe: Three Ways to Find the CheapestThree ways to find the flights, and a checklist for booking them.
Open-Jaw Flights Explained: Out of One Airport, Home to AnotherFly out of one airport and home to one near it, or into one city and home from another.
