Travelling on a tight budget doesn’t really mean that you have to cut upon your fun experiences. Budget travel is spending smartly, so, you can have all the fun in the world on your holiday without having to spend a fortune.

Here are the top 25 ultimate and tested money-saving tips for a cheap holiday:

Money Saving Travel Tips for Flights

Also Read: How to Find Cheap Flights– 13 Ultimate tips to find cheap flights.

1. Book Flights Well in Advance.

Flight fares form a big part of your travel expenditure. With dynamic pricing air fares tend to rise as the travel date approaches closer and skyrockets in the peak season. But this may not be always true especially in off season or in case of occurrence of an unforeseen event that may bring the demand for tickets down. Still, it is always better to book your flights 2-3 months before your date of travel.

2. Regularly check Deals & Offers.

A good sale offer can save you enough money to fund you for a whole extra day or two while holidaying.

3. Book Flight tickets in Incognito.

Websites track prices that you’ve been quoted in the past, so don’t let them trick you to buy for a higher price later. Always make sure you clear your browser cookies, and even use a private/incognito window while searching for flights.

4. Check Baggage Limits for all your Flights.

Baggage limits varies across countries and across airlines. They may also be different for domestic and international flights. So, check the limits beforehand to avoid the extra cost.

5. Pick Weekdays for Flying.

The fares are mostly higher on weekends but it may not be always so.

6. Fly with low-cost Carriers & Avoid the add-on Services.

Low-cost carriers generally are considerably cheaper than regular/ premium airlines. Avoid Priority check-in’s & premium seats.

Money Saving Travel Tips for Hotels

Also Read: How to get Cheap Hotels & Free Stays: 11 Ultimate tips to find cheap accommodation and free stays.

7. Book a Cheap Accommodation.

For having a good time on a holiday you don’t really need a private suite in a 5-star hotel. If you are travelling on a budget, lot of good and cheap alternatives are available:

  • Book dorm rooms in hostels: They are really cheap and the best thing is that you can socialize with people from different cultures. You may make some really good friends there. Hostelworld is the best website for booking hostels with the largest inventory of hostels in it. Click here to check out Hostelworld.
  • Rent houses or apartments with Airbnb, stay free with couchsurfing, etc. You can get a spacious good place better than a hotel room at a much cheaper price or just stay for free with locals and other travelers using Couchsurfing.

Sign up using this link to get 2200 AirBnB credits.

8. Use the Cheapest Hotel Comparison Site.

For budget travel, there is no one hotel search engine that will give you the cheapest price always. So, while searching for accommodation online, compare prices on all major travel websites. Often you may find a significant different in prices for the same room in the same hotel.

In my experience, 70 percent of the time MakeMyTrip offers the best price for hotels in India and in South-East Asia. In S-E Asia, Agoda also offers very competitive prices and sometimes beats MMT. However, Booking.com is the best website for the western countries and has a worldwide presence. Hostelworld is my go to platform to book Hostels.

9. Book Hotels well in Advance.

Book hotels 1-2 months prior to your date of travel. Prefer the ones offering full refund on cancellation.

Money Saving Travel Tips for Transport

10. Embrace Public Transport.

Local Transport forms a significant portion of your travel budget. Taxis are expensive. Use Buses, metros, trains and shared taxis. If you are planning to stay for a longer period, buy passes/ cards to buses/metros.

11. Rent a Bike/ Bicycle.

A lot of tourist destinations offers bikes/bicycle on rent. Beyond saving your money and time, riding a bike is always a pleasant experience.

Money Saving Travel Tips for Food & Drinks

12. Eat Where the Locals Eat.

the view of the local food stalls in the Pattaya Floating Market, Thailand
Street Food at Pattaya Floating Market

Try Street food and eat at cheap restaurants. Ensure cleanliness and hygiene but don’t worry for it too much. If there is a good rush in the eatery, chances are you will be fine.

13. Cook Your Own Meals.

By cooking your own food you can save a lot of money while ensuring taste and hygiene. Carry cooked food and snacks with you on your tours.

14. Enter a Club/Bar partially Loaded.

Alcohol can be quiet expensive in popular Bars & Clubs compared to the local market. So, if you don’t want to cut down on your fun, so grab a few drinks before going to a club/bar.

15. Cut back on Alcohol.

Probably you can do away with having a beer with every single meal and save yourself a hefty sum.

16. Make the Most of your Free Hotel Breakfast.

If your hotel is offering a free breakfast, make sure its heavy and you en-cash every single penny paid.

A heavy breakfast served at the Priew Wan Guesthouse in Phuket, Thailand.
Free Hotel Breakfast

General Money Saving Travel Tips

17. Don’t Buy Things you don’t Need.

Do not allow yourself to get lured to buy unwanted things. Totally avoid souvenirs or buy small one’s. To gift small denominations of currencies as souvenirs is great idea.

18. Travel in Off-peak Season.

Flights, Hotels, food everything is going to cost higher in peak season. Unless you don’t like huge rush travel just before or just after peak season. This way you won’t have to compromise on the best weather timing of your destination.

19. Bring a water Bottle.

Fill it up wherever free drinking water is available and save money on mineral water bottles.

20. Group up with Other Tourists.

Find other tourists to take a tour or hire a taxi and share the expenses.

21. Use free Wi-Fi.

International roaming costs or tourist sim call & data charges are significantly high. So,
don’t forget to turn off your mobile data wherever free wi-fi is available.

22. Buy a Travel Insurance.

Travel insurance is quiet cheap and provides you protection against a lot of costs from loosing your baggage to medical emergencies. Mishappenings may occur anywhere anytime, its better to be insured in a foreign land.

23. Look for Package Deals on Tours/Activities.

Whether it is sports activities or day tour activities, individually they may cost much higher than taking them together in a package. So, ask for a package and negotiate on the price with your travel agent.

24. Look-out for Visa Cost.

Visa costs vary from country to country. You may get a free visa or a visa-on -arrival facility as well. Visa on arrival may be cheaper or expensive than obtaining visa beforehand. So, research about visa costs before travelling to save some bucks.

25. Treasure Experiences more than the Material Things.

Collect memories instead of running after material things. Explore the less traveled places, go for long walks, talk to the locals, explore the free museums, parks and public places. How’s that for a budget travel tip? Pretty amazing I hope.

Langurs seated on Shoulders of an Indian guy and his mother, receiving bananas at Udaygiri and Khandagiri Caves, Bhubaneswar, India
At Udaygiri and Khandagiri Caves, Bhubaneswar, India

If you learned some Budget Travel tips from this post, do share it and pin it to check later. Feel free to ask any queries in the comment section.

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Bon Voyage !!


Abhinav Goel

Abhinav Goel is a travel blogger and a YouTuber. He is always looking for an escape to explore new destinations and cultures. He loves taking the road less traveled and having the authentic local experiences. Like most travelers, he wants to travel the world and has already embarked upon that journey. He started BookPackTravel to guide and inspire others to travel and make the most of their lives.

8 Comments

Mountain Aquarius · April 3, 2019 at 5:50 pm

Excellent tips! Very useful😁

    Abhinav Goel · April 29, 2019 at 5:41 pm

    Thank You Very Much!! Do revisit the blog 🙂

Fred · July 17, 2019 at 2:39 pm

Brilliant stuff.. thanks for sharing…

    Abhinav Goel · August 20, 2019 at 10:56 am

    Thanks a lot Fred. 🙂

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ThePayStubs · November 14, 2021 at 11:39 pm

The list is brilliant and I got some tips through this posting! This post provides some information which is really helpful for saving some money. Especially, “Check Baggage Limits for all your Flights” is the most vital point for following. By the way, I appreciate the words.

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