U.S. dollar's strength makes travel to Europe a bargain

If you have long yearned to climb the Eiffel Tower or explore the Greek Isles, now is the time to do it.

"The thing is, you need to book and you need to book now, because this is called a sale," Paula Froelich, editor and chief of Yahoo Travel, told CBS News.

Why? Because of the dollar's rising value over the last year relative to European currencies, including the euro. Although a stronger dollar hurts U.S. exports because it tends to make them costlier overseas, the greenback's strength means Americans looking to travel will get a bigger bang from their buck in Europe.

Average rates for hotel rooms are down roughly 11 percent across Europe, and in some places hotel rooms cost about 13 percent less, Froelich said.

As of today, one dollar is worth 0.90 euros, up from 0.80 euros in December and less than 0.70 euros a year ago.

"This sounds kind of horrible, but you look at places that might have had a financial problem recently. Greece is probably one of the best bargains going," Froelich said. "Italy and France are also quite good. What might have been $5,000 two years ago, sometimes it might be half that."

Deals can be found using booking and coupon sites like Kayak and Groupon, or "Just do your own, you can negotiate," Froelich said.

"People tend to think that travel is an elite kind of thing. It's not, with these lower prices everybody can do it."