How to Save Money While You Travel

One of the things I get asked most about is how to save money while you travel. No matter how much money you have, you still want to find ways to save money. There are a lot of things you can do and a lot more depending on how you like to travel though. Some ways to save money are worth it to some and to others they are not. Weigh your pros and cons and see which of these can help you spend less on your travels and get you to another trip sooner rather than later.

Travel Research: Pre-Trip

• Google is your friend! I Google search “free things to do in _______” I also search “cheap things to do in______”. This search will pull up a lot of blogs and websites that will give you a number of ideas.
• Look up the tourism websites of where you are going to see if they offer free walking tours, and cheaper prices on tickets if you pre-purchase.
• Look to see if Groupon exists in the city that you are visiting there could be some great deals that interest you that you can purchase.
• Go to Airbnb Experiences. These are often inexpensive tours that give you a ton of value since locals host them.

Eating on Your Trip

• Eat two meals a day instead of three. I tend to have breakfast and dinner and then pick up a quick snack while I am out and about.
• Eat a late lunch instead of dinner. Most restaurants, especially in Europe, have set times for lunch and dinner. The lunch menu is usually less expensive, so take advantage of the cheaper menu and then if you get hungry later you can get a dessert 😀
• Look for the Plate of the Day. Most restaurants will have a daily special that is at a really good price. Still delicious at a portion of the cost.
• Seek out local eateries. When you get out of the tourist areas and into more local areas, you will notice a good price drop. If you are in a place that does not speak English, the menus may not be translated. Make great use of Google Translate to know what to order.
• Pick up groceries at a local grocer. This is my favourite thing to do, head to a grocery store and see all the different things they have for sale. I like to try different things and the prices are amazing compared to eating out. When you start to eat like you are at home or a local, where you don’t eat out for every meal, this will bring down your food costs considerably.
• Have a picnic. Again you can go to a grocery story to pick up supplies, or you can get some items from markets or take away shops. Head over to a park, seaside, or a bench and enjoy the outdoors and people watching while you have a delicious inexpensive meal. Remember that most places allow you to drink outside, so pick up a bottle of wine from a grocery store (you’ll be blown away by the prices) to go with your meal. (be sure to check about drinking rules before you go)

Things To Do

• Take public transportation instead of taxi’s and Uber’s, or better yet, walk. This will be a huge cut to your budget if you use these two options. Plus you will get to see so much more things that you wouldn’t see if you drove everywhere. Google Maps is great to help you with this.
• Going into every attraction/monument is NOT needed. Yes, there are places that you will want to go into and explore and see, but not all of them. This list will of course be different for everyone, but really decide if you need to pay the price of admission to see inside. I do not regret not going up to the top of the Eiffel Tower, I enjoyed it just as much from the grounds and from a boat.

I hope these give you some ideas on ways you can save money on your trip. There are countless ways to save, but these are some of my favourite ones to use. Do you have some favourite money saving travel tips? Leave them down in the comments so we can all benefit and save more money while we travel.

Want more tips and tricks to save money while traveling?

Check out our 6 part series Solo Travel: How to Save Money on my travel blog. In this series, we share ways to save money on flights, accommodations, getting around, and much more.