How To Travel Cheap So You Can Travel More For Less

Are you ready to travel but looking for the secret to how to travel cheap and make your money stretch further? Or maybe you think you need hella money to make your travel dreams a reality? Well guess what: you don’t!

Let me introduce you to budget traveling. It allows you to see more of the world for less. In my experience, it’s way cheaper to travel this way, eating out and exploring all day every day than it is to live your regular life at home.

I’ve been traveling full-time for the past 6 years and budget traveling is how I was able to do it. In fact, I was able to travel for an entire year to 20 countries without working and only spend $14K in total. How? By budget traveling.

Many people tend to associate budget traveling with cutting out things you love or having a limited experience. Basically, it gets a bad rap. When done correctly though, budget traveling actually allows you to spend more on things you care about and less on the things you don’t. This means more time spent chasing waterfalls and less time checking your bank account.

Travel Doesn’t Have To Be Expensive

What you prioritize is going to depend on why you’re traveling in the first place. If you want to go somewhere to experience all it has to offer in a boujee way, then budget travel will not be for you. But if you want to see a place thoroughly, go for longer, see more countries, and get a more local, authentic feel without breaking the bank, then budget travel may be right up your alley.

I really hope to instill in you that travel doesn’t have to be expensive. There’s so many tips and tricks on how to make it more affordable so that anyone can travel no matter their budget. Traveling this way also leads to many special encounters and experiences you might not otherwise have. Let’s dive in to the practical budget travel tips that will show you how to travel cheap.

How To Travel Cheap: Budget Travel Tips

Choose A Budget Friendly Destination

Choosing a budget friendly destination will make budget traveling 10x easier. Your dollar will automatically go further. This means you’ll be able to do a lot more and travel for a lot longer with the same budget that you would use to go to a more expensive country.

Don’t let this stop you from going to a more expensive country though. You can use these budget travel tips anywhere in order to spend less and see more.

If you want to get an idea about how much a place will cost to go, do a bit of research on the average cost of living there. Many travelers will also share how much they spent in a place to give you a better idea of what to expect as well for certain things like transportation, food, and accommodation.

Examples of budget friendly destinations:

Southeast Asia

Probably the most popular destinations for backpackers, solo travelers, and budget travelers alike will be Southeast Asia. If you haven’t been anywhere here yet, prepared to be in for a treat. Your dollar will stretch pretty nicely in these countries allowing you to elevate your travel style. This is the best way for how to travel cheap.

This means you can enjoy nice meals, beach clubs, experiences, etc, for less. But because the local prices are so cheap compared to back home, if you budget travel here, you can seriously save some cash meaning you can travel for a lot longer.

People tend to travel southeast Asia for a long time due to this reason. You’ll often hear people go for 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, or a year. It’s completely normal for people to spend an entire month in just one country before moving on to the next. If you’re starting to budget travel for the first time, I highly recommend starting here.

These are ones that I’ve personally been to or I have been recommended by a friend. I’m sure there are more but these are the typical ones you’ll hear mentioned. When I say budget friendly, this is referring to anywhere you can travel there for a month and spend around the $1K mark if you budget travel using these tips.

How To Travel Cheap:

Plan Ahead & Make A Budget

The most important thing for how to travel cheap is setting yourself a budget and then tracking your spending. For me this is the most important thing to do to monitor my spending and hold myself accountable. Frivolously spending will cause you to go over budget for your trip resulting in you having to cut it short and go home.

Or worse, some people will feel the need to use their credit card to keep the trip going and you never want to go in debt for travel. And no one wants to go home. We want to keep traveling and keep the good times rollin.

Example Budgets:

The following are based off my own spending in these countries:

• A month in Southeast Asia for as little as $1000-1200 or $30 a day.
• 5 weeks in South Africa for $970 or $28 a day.
• A month in South Korea for $2000 or $67 a day.
• 2 months in India for $1000 for $17-$20 a day.

Evaluate Your Own Situation

Once you’ve chosen a place and know roughly what you can get away with spending there, then evaluate your own situation.

1. How much money do you want to spend?
2. How much money can you spend?
3. Does that number align with it?
4. Do you earn more and want to bump up the budget?
5. Perhaps you’re working AND traveling so you can increase the budget.

How To Travel Cheap:

Book Cheap Flights

Use Flight Search Tools to Find the Best Deals

Utilize a platform like google flights or Skyscanner to search cheap flights. If you’re trying to figure out what destination to go to that has the cheapest flights, Skyscanner has a great tool that lets you search flights from your destination. Then you can filter them by price lowest to highest to select which destination you might want to travel to.

Another option is to track a flight. You can put in your desired flight and google will let you know if the price is higher or lower than normal. If it’s higher, you can choose to turn on an alert and it will notify you if the price drops.

Booking Flights Tips

Some airlines also run specials so keep an eye out for those. You can sign up to their newsletters to be notified of any special promotions. Black Friday sales also happen for flights, I was able to get a great deal from FL to Italy once.

Booking too far in advance or too close can make prices higher. I think about 6-8 weeks is a sweet spot however it’s not an exact science and many factors contribute to the price.

Flights taken usually on Tuesday and Wednesday are the cheapest. And never actually book a flight on the weekend. I’ve noticed that prices skyrocket on Friday afternoon and don’t come back down till Monday morning.

Pro Tip: Never Travel Without Travel Insurance!

You never know when the unexpected will happen. Make sure you are covered when traveling in case of a medical emergency or travel delays. I have been traveling with Safetey Wing for six years and trust them to take care of me. They are a travel medical insurance created specifically for travellers, by travellers. At a low cost of $56/month, it's my go-to!

How To Travel Cheap:

Book Budget Friendly Accommodation

Before I became a traveler, I used to think hotels were the only option. I went on so many trips as a college student staying in hotels because I just didn’t know better. If I could go back, I’d stay in cheap accommodation and use that extra money to splurge on more experiences. Honestly, I’d probably just have became a backpacker a lot sooner.

Hotels tend to be expensive, especially if you’re traveling on your own. I think this is why you won’t find many young solo travelers around the USA because staying fulltime in hotels is not just cost effective.

Stay In Hostels

Consider staying in a hostel. If you’ve never stayed in a hostel and are feeling hesitant, I promise you it’s nothing like the movie Hostel that you probably watched as a kid. I seriously used to think that hostels were only for Europeans or people in the movies. I was way wrong.

Hostels are all over the world, used by people of all ages, and there are so many different types to suit all travelers. You can save some serious cash on accommodation by staying in a shared dorm in a hostel.

If you have worries about safety, you can stay in an all girl dorm. If you are worried about it being too loud or crowded, you can get rooms with just 4 beds. If you want to party, you can stay in a party dorm that has group activities and a bar. If you prefer quiet, you can choose one that is more aligned with those needs.

The key is to read the reviews carefully to determine what type of vibe the hostel will have. If you really want the atmosphere of a hostel but the privacy of a hotel, you can choose to book a private room. Typically though a private room at a hostel is quite expensive so I would only book that if I had a travel buddy I could share the cost with.

Stay In A Homestay

If you’re in a country that offers homestays, these can be a great option for you to save, get a private room, and experience a local’s home. A homestay is when a local family opens up their home for foreigners to stay with them. The cost is usually quite low, you can see how the locals live and they will usually cook you a homemade meal.

Other Options For Places To Stay:

Other platforms I use to book private rooms for a great price are airbnb, booking, agoda or hostelworld to see what fits my needs and my budget. Generally if I am solo traveling I stay in hostels for the cheapest stay.

If I have a friend or a partner I’m traveling with then we’ll start to book private rooms off of these other platforms. The cost for a private room when split between 2 people will end up being around the same as booking a hostel bed. The only con is you lose the social atmosphere most of the time.

If you really want to save and get a local experience, you can do couchsurfing which is where hosts offer free accommodation to travelers in exchange for a meal or a drink or friendly chat. Usually these are travelers themselves who like to offer their home for other travelers.

How To Travel Cheap:

Choose Accommodation That Offer Free Breakfast Or Dinner

How To Travel Cheap:

No Organized Tours

A great way to save money is to opt out of doing organized tours when possible. Organized tours are usually quite expensive compared to doing it on your own. They take you on a crammed itinerary, you’re rushed from location to location, and then take you to some overpriced place for lunch where the food isn’t even good.

When you sightsee on your own you can save money, go where you want when you want and the best part: being able to go at your own pace.

Of course there are going to be certain things that you have to do a tour for. Things such as boat tours, island hopping, snorkeling and scuba diving trips, places that requires guides, etc.

But for other things like waterfalls, hiking, temples, sightseeing, etc., I strongly encourage you to meet some people and adventure out on your own! You can take local transport, share the cost of a taxi, or rent scooters together.

Ways To Meet People To Travel With

If you’re unsure where to meet people, make friends at your hostel and join them on their adventures or create your own and invite people. You can join facebook groups and meet people that way. In fact, Facebook groups is one of my favorite ways to meet people. There’s also apps like bumble where you can set it to meet nearby friends or there’s meetups you can join on platforms like Meetup.

Lastly, you can meet people on free walking tours or group tours if you’re not meeting people the other ways. Then take those friendships and go off and do your own adventures together. 

How To Travel Cheap:

Take Local Transportation Or Walk

You’ll save heaps on ubers and taxis by utilizing public transportation. Try local trains, trams, subways, tuktuks, rickshaws, motorbikes, or jeepneys. They’ll be cheap and get you where you need to go.

Walk When You Can

America is not set up for walking. Like everything is sooo spaced out you just would never be able to get anywhere fast. We are a country built for cars. So unfortunately walking everywhere is usually out of the question.

The rest of the world however, I find to be very walking friendly. My rule of thumb, if anywhere takes like 20 minutes or less to walk, I’ll just walk. This is an amazing way to see the area through the eyes of a local and you can see things you wouldn’t otherwise see if you were to zip from point A to point B in an uber.

One of my favorite things to do when I go somewhere new is to just set off on foot and get lost. I wander all around the streets and neighborhoods, coming across parks, street art, cute cafes and shops. It’s a great way to learn the area and find hidden gems. Plus you get that added bonus of getting those daily steps in. It’s a win-win!

Safety When Traveling

When wandering around on your own, you want to be weary of your safety, especially if you’re traveling solo as a woman. I put together this guide on 27 safety tips for solo travelers that is valuable if you’re planning on traveling solo for the first time. You don’t have to use all of these, because admittedly I don’t, but it might be helpful to know some incase you’re in a situation where you feel compelled to be a bit more secure.

How To Travel Cheap:

Get Around For Less

Budget Airlines

I hate budget airlines as much as the next person but they can really save you some serious cash when traveling. Just make sure you have a carry-on only bag or the prices are going to skyrocket due to the added fees.

Overnight Trains Or Buses

Okay so this is probably one of my favorite hacks when traveling. You can take an overnight bus or train to get to your next destination. Why is this awesome? Because you can travel during the night when you’d be sleeping instead of wasting a day transporting from A to B.

PLUS you don’t need to book accommodation because you won’t need it. You can go to bed and wake up in your next destination. I think it’s brilliant. In Southeast Asia you get a laydown style bed to sleep in so it can be quite comfortable. Just make sure to bring earplugs and an eyemask.

Share Transportation Costs

Try to meet people going in your same direction or destination. That way you can split the costs on ordering the transport. You can ask around at your hostel or post in facebook groups to see if anyone is going to the same place you are. I also love to find people to share the cost of going to or from the airport or bus stations. That way you can avoid public transportation, get there faster, but still save money.

Do Car Camping

I love car camping. I’m not going to lie, I do this a lot when traveling in more expensive countries. Basically you either use your own car or if you’re somewhere you can rent a car and use it to travel around and then just sleep in the car. I am not someone who is fussed about where I sleep. So I’ll bring pillows, blankets and sleep in the car. Brush my teeth with a bottle of water and go to the bathroom at public restrooms or places like Mcdonalds. I’ve done this on a roadtrip in Portugal, roadtrip around Ireland and in Australia.

Proper Camping

Go camping with a traditional tent  and sleep at free or cheap campgrounds. Or turn your vehicle into a house on wheels to eat and sleep in with a bed setup or rooftop tent. I spent 3 years traveling in Australia and 6 months of those were purely on the road roadtripping. I lived out of my car with some friends. We slept in my rooftop tent and I had a portable kitchen with me. It was an incredible way to travel and we only had to split the costs of food and fuel.

How To Travel Cheap:

Save On Food & Drink

Food costs are usually a huge part of your costs when traveling. Luckily there are a few ways you can dramatically cut down on the cost. I typically avoid eating at fancy or “nice” restaurants. Sure every now and then I’ll splurge but it’s not something I’ll do for every meal the entire trip.

Eat Where The Locals Eat

Eating where the locals eat will ensure not only are you eating something that’s cheaper, it’s going to taste damn good. A lot of tourist restaurants are tourist traps in my opinion. Overpriced food that sometimes doesn’t even taste all that great. I’d much rather eat from a local spot down a side street where the food is amazing then pay for a more expensive version in a sit down restaurant.

Make Your Own Meals Or Buy Snacks

If you’re really in a bind for cash, you can just make your own meals. A lot of hostels have kitchens so you can make your own dishes. This can save you from having to go out to eat for every meal which is very cost effective in more expensive countries.

For cheaper countries it might not make sense to do this as groceries can cost more than eating street food. I also like to buy snacks for going on hikes or to the beach so I feel full and not feel the need to buy food.

Buy Alcohol At A Store Vs. The Bar

It’s a no brainer that drinking a lot during your trip is going to burn up a lot of funds. I’ve met heaps of young travelers who only drink on their travels. I’m sure it’s fun but you miss a lof of the actual traveling part.

I do like my drinks though so I’ll tend to buy beer or wine from the store and enjoy it at the park or the beach, or pregame before going out at night. You can drink, have a good time and still save while you’re at it.

How To Travel Cheap:

Utilize Travel Rewards & Discounts

Rewards Programs

Frequent Flyers

Join frequent flyer programs with airlines that you frequently travel. You can also convert your travel points to these frequent flyer programs to reap even bigger discounts or upgrades to business or first class.

Popular programs are with American Airlines, JetBlue, United, Southwest, and Alaska.

Loyalty Programs

Booking has a great program to save on accommodation. The more you book on their program, you can level up through their Genius Loyalty Program. Use programs like Booking genius levels for discounts on bookings. There are 3 levels and with each level you reach you get access to additional rewards and discounts.

If you stay frequently at big name hotels, they also offer loyalty programs for you to get upgrades and incentives. I personally don’t stay at hotels unless it’s Marriott because my brother works there and I get a discount that way.

Discounts

Some places like attractions and museums will offer student discounts or senior discounts with proof of ID. If you have either of these, this is a great way to take advantage of special discounts.

Discount Apps like Groupon. Groupon allows you to book all types of things from beauty treatments, to restaurants, to tours and more for a great discount. If you’re looking for some things to do on a budget, consider using the Groupon app and seeing if there’s anything available in your area.

How To Travel Cheap:

Use Travel Cards With $0 Fees

Foreign Transaction Fees & Protection

When traveling abroad, you can be hit with foreign transaction fees. At first the fee might not seem like much at around 3%, but over the course of an entire trip this can really add up. It makes sense for how to travel cheap to avoid paying these.

Use a credit card (or debit card) with 0% foreign transaction and purchase protection. This is great because you can save by not paying these additional fees and you’ll have purchase protection in the event something goes wrong.

Travel cards in general usually have really great rewards so be sure to read what those are. But in the event your account is ever hacked, you lose your card, or a vendor you paid ended up not giving you the product or service expected, it’s super easy to be refunded by a credit card vs. trying to get it back with your bank.

For my travel credit cards I use Chase Sapphire Reserve, Chase Preferred, Citi Premier and AAdvantage Aviator. Plus you get travel points, bonus miles, and a heap of benefits. If you didn’t already get my guide to free flights, you can access it here so you can learn more about how all of this works together to get you free flights.

ATM Fees

Avoid paying ATM fees if you can. Consider switching banks if you travel frequently so that you can have your atm fees reimbursed for taking out cash when traveling.

For ATM withdraws, I like to use Charles Schwab because they offer 0% foreign transaction fees and ATM fee reimbursement. They also have excellent customer service. My card was hacked somehow. They refunded my account and mailed me a new card all the way to Australia in just 3 days. Now that’s service.

How To Travel Cheap:

Do Free Or Low Cost Activites

There’s so many activities you can do when traveling that are completely free. I like to take advantage of all of these so I can learn the history, see the surrounding nature and experience life like a local all while saving $$$. This is a big way for how to travel cheap.

Things that you can do that will be free or low-cost:

Free Walking Tours

These are my favorite to do everytime I go somewhere new. They usually last 2-3 hours and are full of valuable history and information that only a local would know. You can get amazing recommendations on things to do and places to eat as well. It’s a great way to get to know people too.

If they aren’t free they will usually be pretty cheap. It is always recommended to leave a cash tip to support the tour guide. You can find free walking tours here: Guru Walk.

Local Free Events

These are a great way to experience the local culture. Usually these free events will be full of networking opportunities, live music, cultural exhibitions, art, food, etc. You can use Facebook or google to search what local events are on in your area or even asking your accommodation.

Visit Museums

There’s so many different types of museums to cater to almost any interest. From war museums, history museums, art museums, and more. They’re usually free or they’ll be for a reasonable price. I love to spend my time wandering through them and they’re perfect for a rainy day activity.

Check Out The Markets

These are my jam! Who doesn’t love a market? Markets are so fun and you really get to experience what a lot of local businesses have to offer. These are great places to sample local food and drinks and do a bit of shopping from the vendor booths. I love spending time at markets and you can really be sure you are pouring your money into the local community.

Explore Nature

Things like visiting the beaches, going hiking, visiting parks, etc are a great way to explore the area without spending money. I love to do some exploring either on my own, bringing a book to read for my downtime or listening to music, or going out with a group of people I’ve just met.

How To Travel Cheap:

Get A Local Sim Card Or E-Sim

Do not get an international phone plan or pay for roaming, whatever you do. I feel like there’s still so many people who don’t know this when traveling. Getting a local sim card where you’re going is going to be sooo much cheaper.

Local Sim Card

You have two options for doing this. Either get a local sim card when you land – and avoid doing it at the airport as they charge more. You can visit a shop near by where you’re staying for a good price.

E-Sim

Or you can organize to get an E-sim that way you already have data when you land. This is the best way to do it because it can be a hassle trying to leave the airport without data if you don’t know where you’re going. And it’s not always guaranteed that the airport you land at is going to have wifi that you can use and that works reliably.

If you are someone with a new Iphone (I have the Iphone 14 PRO) – you will have to get an e-sim. The new Iphones in America no loner come with the slot where you can remove your sim card. So e-sim is the only way to go.

The best e-sim company to go with is Airola. They make it super easy to stay connected to any country before you land. No more trying to navigate on your own without data or relying on patchy wifi.

How To Travel Cheap:

Travel In Offseason

If you’re really trying to shave some extra dollars off the cost of things, you should travel in off-season. It’s a no brainer that traveling during high season is going to be more expensive. With demand being high and supply being low, everything is going to cost more, if it’s even available still.

Traveling in offseason gives you the added advantage that everything is going to be in high supply with low demand. This means accommodation will be cheaper. Tours may be cheaper. And places are just less crowded which can make your travel experience more enjoyable. I don’t know about you but I absolutely hate when somewhere is so unbearably crowded

The only downside is it’s offseason for a reason. The weather is most likely not going to be ideal. It might be rainy, cloudy, or cold. So just set your expectations accordingly and you’ll still have a great time.

How To Travel Cheap:

Avoid Tourist Traps & Scams

This might be hard to avoid if you’re not experienced and privy what to look for. When traveling there are scams and tourist traps all around you.

Tourist Traps

Tourist traps aren’t inherently bad, but they usually just mean the experience, place, or products are going to be overpriced for what you get. This could be a restaurant that is super popular or your driver takes you to that is expensive but isn’t any good.

Or it could be a shop you were recommended by a driver or is super popular on Instagram or something but it ends up being way overpriced. You can often go elsewhere and get the same for cheaper and better quality.

Watch Out For Scams

Scams are sometimes hard to spot. The obvious ones are in places like Europe where they may tell you to take a free bracelet but then force you to pay for it once it’s on your arm. Or they put art on the floor where you’ll step on it, on purpose, then demand you to pay.

Other times it’s not so obvious like when I was in India and I ended up getting a “discounted tour” to all of these places from who I thought was a friend I had made. In the end all of the places he took us to that we paid the discounted rate for, actually ended up being free venues. I’ve been a part of some of these scams, and honestly they’re so good I didn’t realize it was a scam until after lol!

Just pay attention to these so you avoid spending money you don’t need to.

If you are someone who is ready to incorporate more travel into your life, you want to travel more often or you want to travel long term, then budget travel is going to be your best friend. The more money you end up earning or saving for your travels, the more you can start to increase your budget.

Secret To Traveling Fulltime

My favorite tip for those who are looking to turn travel into a lifestyle is to consider becoming a digital nomad. This is the best way to fund your travels, see the world, and not have to worry about budget! To learn more about what jobs you can do to become a digital nomad, hop on over to this page where I post 1 new job a week.

I can’t wait for you to start incorporating these budget travel tips on how to travel cheap into your travels. Let me know if any of these were useful to you! I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Remember, travel doesn’t have to be expensive and we should all be able to see the world no matter our budget.

xx, Christine

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