12 Tricks How to Travel On a Budget

Traveling is one of the joys of life. You discover new places, you enjoy all that the world has to offer, you take advantage of the freedom you feel and the state of happiness that surrounds you during those vacation days and you return home with fresh strength, from where you then resume your daily life.

For many people, the main impediment to making such escapades is often the financial part. Traveling may not always be a cheap activity, but there are many solutions through which you can travel low-priced and beautiful. Traveling doesn't always have to be expensive, you just have to learn to travel on a low budget.

In this article I show you a list of tricks on how to travel cheaply, collected over many years of traveling on our own, which I hope will be useful to you as well. I always say that I prefer to travel often and on a budget, than once and expensive. That's why I tend to follow the ideas described below.

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How to travel on a budget?

How to travel on a budget?

1. Book your vacation early

In general, the prices for plane tickets, accommodation, rental cars are much better if they are booked in time, a few months before your trip.

Buy the entrance tickets to the tourist attractions in advance. You often get discounts if you buy the tickets online and not at the counter.

2. Travel in the off-season

Usually, flight and accommodation prices increase a lot in the peak of the season, therefore, for some destinations, it is much more convenient to visit them in the off-season, such as the months of March-April or September-October for locations in Europe. Besides the money saved, another advantage is that you will find these destinations less crowded, and the temperature can be very good for sight-seeing.

3. Look for promotions or flight discounts

Pay attention when airlines offer various promotions. Several times I got very cheap plane tickets, for less than 20 euros. Prices fluctuate quite often, so when you find a very good price for a flight, I recommend you to act quickly and buy it.

For other tips related to how to buy cheap plane tickets, read and follow the article: 13 Tips How to Find Cheap Plane Tickets.

4. Be flexible

Be flexible with the dates or location you choose. You could find much better prices for the flight or accommodation in another period close to the one initially chosen. Or maybe you can find better offers for a completely different destination in the period you want to travel.

5. Travel on your own

If you want to travel as cheaply as possible, avoid third parties, namely travel agencies or local guides. Like any business that wants to make a profit, it is obvious that a travel agency charge a certain commission from the price you pay on your vacation. With that money, you can organise your own vacation, and at the end you will feel the satisfaction of a trip planned by yourself, and with more money in your wallet.

However, there are locations where it is more advisable to go through a travel agency or with local guides, such as Egypt, where it can be dangerous to travel alone. But, in most western countries, you can travel on your own without any problem.

Read here, how to organize by yourself your desired vacation: 8 Steps How to Organize Your Trip.

6. Don't choose expensive accommodations

Accommodation can end up being the most expensive thing in a trip. If you are not very demanding and you are not looking for the luxury in an elegant hotel, I recommend you to look for budget-friendly accommodations and avoid hotels with many stars. You can sleep well in clean and quiet locations, with much less money, such as an apartment.

I recommend you this article that shows how to find the best accommodation: 9 Tips How to Find the Best Accommodation.

7. Travel without hold luggage

With many airline companies, you have to pay extra for the checked baggage, so you can end up paying up to several tens of euros more for a plane ticket.

Learn to travel with as little luggage as possible. In addition to the money saved on the ticket, you are also much more flexible, if you will not have to carry a large suitcase with you. Read this article, if you want to find out how to pack your luggage for the trip, so that it is small, light and only with the necessary items.

Also related to flights, if it is not very important for you where you sit on the plane, do not pay for choosing the seat. This way you save some euros.

8. Don't spend a lot of money on food

If you are not an food lover, who travels specifically with the aim of discovering the local cuisine in the refined restaurants, I recommend you to look for cheaper food options. Avoid luxury restaurants or those in the very touristic areas, where you often pay quite a lot for a meal. Street food, sandwiches, food from the supermarket or eating from less touristy restaurants, all of these can be solutions that will save you a lot of money.

9. Walk or go with public transport

Where the infrastructure allows, go as much as you can on foot and with public transport, and use taxis or other ride-sharing applications, only if necessary.

10. Buy city passes

Analyze the option of buying a city pass from a visited city. Sometimes it can be much more convenient to purchase such a pass, due to discounts at touristic attractions or unlimited transport in the city. But for that, you need to have the itinerary made in advance and know what you want to visit, so that you can see if it is worth buying that pass or not. I recommend this article to find out how to organize your trip.

11. Get travel insurance

If you travel often, an annual travel insurance is more than useful. It costs around 20 euros, but you will travel without fear for a year.

For more expensive vacations, a storno travel insurance might be a good idea. In case you can no longer go due to unforeseen events, through this insurance you can recover the money paid in advance.

12. Do not exchange money at the airport

A general rule is to never exchange money at the airport. It is known that there is the most unfavorable exchange rate.

I recommend you to use Revolut for most payments abroad, it is the bank card with the best exchange rate. The secret is just to convert the money from Monday to Friday. During the weekend, Revolut adds a commission of 0.1% for any currency exchange.

Following these tips, you will also realize that traveling does not have to be expensive, it just require some planning of the trip and the budget.