10 Tips to travel on a budget

Yes, spontaneous trips are fun and exciting, but will probably cost more. “Early discount” is something that hotels and airlines offer, and it will give you an extra discount when you book at least 40 days in advance, as a way of ensuring they will have those seats or rooms filled by the date.

Planning your route in advance will also ensure you have less last minute expenses.

Everybody wants to go on vacation on summer, spring breaks or main holidays (what we called the high season), and the travel industry knows that and raises its prices.

It is recommended to research a little bit about the destination before going, as summer and high season change depending on the country and continent (summer in the southern hemisphere is in december-february, in comparison to summer in the northern hemisphere, which happens in june-august.

But traveling on low season or even shoulder season (the middle between high and low) will save you more than a couple hundreds.

There is no surprise that staying at hostels or even Airbnb will save you a TON of money. Although less popular, couchsurfing is also a good option.

As we mentioned above, planning in advance could save you hundreds, and that also includes packing.

If you know where you are going and how the weather is going to be, you could save some extra money by taking things like jackets, umbrellas and transformers that otherwise you would have to purchase there.

Traveling with carry on only will also save you some extra money.

Flights are half of the cost of the trip sometimes. There isn’t a specific formula for booking cheap flights, but there are a couple things you can do to find them: Use budget airlines, include stopovers, book in advance, use search engines, book flights in the middle of the week and search for smaller airports.

We have created an extensive list on how to find cheap flights here.

Riding a bicycle or taking the bus and the Metro will be cheaper than taxis, boats or even regular trains and flights (in most cases,  Ryanair is an exception to this rule).

Obviously, eating on the streets or preparing your own food will always be cheaper than sitting on a restaurant, and it will allow you to get to know the local cuisine as well as exotic dishes you might not see somewhere else.

However, you could also choose your battles, and stay somewhere breakfast included, eat late so you just do 2 meals a day or maybe cook for breakfast and lunch) but enjoy a fancy dinner in a restaurant you have been dreaming about.

Of course, I would love to go on a ski trip to the Alps in Switzerland, but I’m well aware that I don’t have enough money to do that trip now. Do some research and be mindful about the destinations you want to visit and what might be possible and what not.

No one knows better about a town/city than locals, and they will tell you where to find the cheapest accommodations, the best attractions and the most delicious restaurants.

This applies to all hotels, airlines and credit cards, Being a loyal customer will allow you get miles and reward point that can later be exchanged for some discount in your flight, stay or even cash.