I love to save money on travel, and over the years I’ve discovered some great money saving tips. If you are like me, you want to travel all the time but don’t have unlimited funds to do so. Hopefully the following money saving tips will help you stretch your travel budget to afford a few more adventures!
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Find Free Activities
No matter where you go, you can find free things to do. Many large cities around the world offer free walking tours. While you should tip your guide on a free walking tour, you don’t technically have to. And even if you do tip, the overall costs is usually less than a paid walking tour (where you are also expected to tip).
There are many free museums around the world. Even those who do charge an entry fee often offer free entry on specific days or evenings. When you are starting to plan your trip, simply do a web search for “free museum [city]” and see what pops up. If you want to go to a specific museum, do a web search for “[museum name] free admission” to see if it offers free entry on certain days and times. Do this early in your planning process so that you can make sure you are in that city during a time that the museum is free.
Almost every city has a ton of other things to do for free, too. And fortunately, bloggers like us delight in writing posts with titles like “15 free things to do in X city”! So Google to the rescue again – simply search for “free things to do in [city]” and a wealth of ideas will instantly populate on your screen.
Purchase Discounted Tickets
While I wish that everything I want to do or see while traveling was free, that’s just not the way the world works. So another money saving travel tip I recommend is finding opportunities to purchase discounted tickets. One of my favorite methods for this is seeing if the attraction I want to visit offers discounts on Groupon. I’ve purchased museum tickets, sightseeing cruises, theme park tickets, and more with discounts ranging from 15-30% off the regular price. Better yet, I purchase Groupon gift cards from an office supply store where I get five Chase Ultimate Rewards points for every dollar spent. These point can later be used for free travel!
Many cities also have options where you can purchase a discounted pass to a variety of attractions. Some options include City Pass, Sightseeing Pass, and GoCity. It’s worth spending some time crunching the numbers to see if it’s cheaper to to buy a pass rather than purchasing tickets to attractions separately. Simply make a list of all the places you want to visit and how much tickets cost. The official website of attractions will have ticket prices. There are often discounted family tickets and lower prices for kids you can take advantage of. So make sure you calculate the correct price for your party. Also assess how many activities your family can do in a day. Then decide if one of these passes will save you money.
You may also have access to other types of discounted tickets. Many places of work will offer discounts through companies like ticketsatwork or similar. Check your company’s HR benefits page to find out if you are eligible. You can also get discounted tickets if you are a member of AAA, Costco, and Sam’s. You will always want to price compare to make sure you get the best deal.
Eat Off the Beaten Path
Now that my kids are teenagers, it seems like our family trip budget has gone through the roof. We used to be able to eat on $100 per day while traveling, but now that price has ballooned to $250-300 per day! So finding a few money saving tips for eating while traveling is important.
One great way to save some money on food is to eat at food halls. A food hall is several smaller restaurants co-located on the ground floor of a building with shared seating. Expect to find an interesting setting (like an old mill, warehouse, or train station) and local food concepts instead of chain restaurants. It’s like a mall food court, but much cooler! Everyone can choose a different type of food to eat, and you will pay less for the same (or better) quality food you would get at a standalone restaurant.
If you can’t find a food hall, opt for local restaurants that are not in the main tourist place. Go a few blocks away from the touristy part of a city to find uninflated prices. Better yet, ask locals for recommendations of their favorite places to eat. They will rarely suggest the tourist traps!
Another money saving tip is to visit the local supermarket. Many supermarkets have prepared food for a fraction of a cost of eating in a restaurant. You can also stock up on breakfast items, snacks, and picnic supplies. Not only will you get some cheap eats, supermarkets offer one of the best ways to experience local culture.
Flight Tricks
Plane tickets can be outrageously expensive, and we have an entire post on how to save on flights. But an idea we didn’t cover in that post is to book a flight through the airline’s home country website. Now this won’t work if you are flying on an airline that is based in the U.S. But if you are flying abroad, it’s worth it to check out a foreign airline’s website to see if it’s cheaper to buy a ticket through that site.
Simply navigate to the foreign airlines homepage. In the top righthand side of the landing page, there’s often a place where you an select your country. Select an option other than the U.S. and compare the price difference. Now you may have to navigate the website in a foreign language and do some currency conversion math, but you will often save money by doing so. Use online tools like Google Translate and Oanda Currency Converter to help with these tasks.
Another trick for finding cheap flights is to look for alternative airports in the region. You will often save money if you are willing to fly into or out of a smaller airport. A great example of this is flights into Los Angeles. There are more than 50 airports in Southern California to choose from! I find the best way to search for options is to use Kiwi. You can search for flights within a 155 mile radius of a specific city. Just remember to use this tool to find the flight, not to book it. To purchase tickets, go directly to the airline’s webpage to book there. It’s always much easier dealing directly with the airline rather than a third party if you need to make changes or cancel the flight later.
Use a Travel Agent
This might seem counter-intuitive, but one of the best money saving travel tips is to use a travel agent when booking. Using a travel agent doesn’t cost you a thing – they are paid through commissions earned from hotels, cruise lines, etc. But they can save you money by giving you access to perks and discounts you could not get on your own. Travel agents often can give you a discount that is not publicly available. They can also sometimes book you as part of a “group” to get access to special pricing. Even if you pay the same price for something as booking on your own, they can often get you some sort of included perk like onboard credit or a late check-out.
Furthermore, travel agents can save you money by helping you avoid common mistakes and pitfalls when traveling. Travel agents are required to attend continuous trainings on a variety of subjects. They will help you build an itinerary that helps you avoid things that will end up costing you more money overall.
Better yet, we have our very own travel agent, Journeys by Amanda! She can help you plan the perfect travel adventure. Sign up for her weekly email, and/or send her information about the next trip you want to plan.
What are you favorite money saving travel tips?
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