You don’t have to sell a kidney to travel and you definitely don’t need 6 bags full of money. You don’t also have to stay in cheap motels where you frown at the ugly couch and your bed is too hard to sleep on.

So pack your bags because these budget travel tips will not only make it more possible for you to go across the globe but you can also do in a bit of luxury without acting like a hobo. What’s more these travel tips are for both solo trips and budget family travel.

Other Countries

If you want to adventure travel on a budget but you can’t exactly afford to go to Machu Pichu at the moment, then check for your next best options that will tickle your travel senses. There are tons of places on the planet that gives similar sense of adventure and happiness be it hiking, trekking, diving, city strolls and so on.

Check your alternatives. Which is the next best country that you would love to visit and fits with your income.

Currency Rates

The first step in knowing how to save money while traveling is checking the currency rates. You might wonder how currency rates helps in budgeting for travel but it does go a long way. Consider countries that have a lower currency value than the one that you are living in, so you would only need less money for exchange and traveling around.

For example, 1 UAE dirham changes into 29 Japanese yen. Which means when the exchange rate happens, you spend less to get more. If you choose countries with higher currency rates, for example 1 USD is only 0.71 Jordanian Dinar, means you would be spending more and getting less in exchange rate.

Countries with lower currency value means you can go around the place without spending heap amounts of money. But of course, some places are expensive regardless of currencies. So then what do you do? Let’s move on and find out how to travel affordably to those expensive places!

Go Off-Season

This is a must have hack for low-cost travel – traveling off season! Flights and hotel rates are lower and you can beat the crowds at off-peak times.

Which means you get to see all those gorgeous spots without having to wait in line, people crowding around you and you can take your sweet time to enjoy attractions without security or guides ushering you out in 10 minutes.

Traveling off season not only brings a major difference to the money in your wallet, it also means you can stay and experience really cool places in affordable rates. If you want to know how to book cheap flights, this is also one way to go about it.

For example, I went to Nepal on March which was a totally off-season time. I was able to book cheap flights, a nice 3-star (their service was like a 4-star) luxury hotel for 4 days and 3 nights including a buffet breakfast during the entire length of my stay. My family and I saw all the major attractions in Kathmandu, (including all the olden kingdoms and famous temples) and even went for a one-day adventure hike in Nagarkot with a guide. All of this plus flight fares for a low 1900 USD for three people!

This rate doubles on a peak-season time. Not to mention that all the budget hotels (luxury and otherwise) would be filled and you would have to pay extra for hotel amenities. So you see, this is one of the best ways to save money while traveling.

But make sure you’re not too off season when the weather is terrible and you can barely walk around.

Packages (Flights + Hotel)

Usually, flights + hotel packages are a lot more cheaper than booking them separately. These packages comes in different ranges from considerably cheaper ones to really expensive ones.

As mentioned on the point before, when you book off-season, you can book them in affordable travel packages with round trips + great hotels with breakfast, lunch or other amenities included. This is a great way for a budget luxury travel where you can totally manage the prices without breaking your bank.

If you are looking for tips to travel cheap even further, then there are alternative ways to save money while traveling and that’s by staying in boarding houses or with locals. There are websites and apps to find locals that provides housing for travelers for very little money or even for free! Just make sure to research them well so you can avoid unhygienic boarding houses and scams.

Make an Affordable Itenary

In other words, plan ahead! A lot of people miss this point by “going with the flow”. What they don’t consider is that the flow might take them to “broke street”.

If you don’t know what are the prices for the places that you’re going to visit, you will loose a lot more money than you were aiming for. Or worse, you might miss out those really cool places that were on your travel budget that you could have seen if only you did some research.

So budget your trip by checking how much those tourist attractions and adventure hiking costs. Cutt-off the places that are above your pocket limit and add the ones that you can spare money for.

Researching about the country you’re going to visit will also help you find lots of hidden gems that you can totally afford. Try to find places close to where you plan to stay so you don’t overspend on transport.

Public Transport

To round off our money saving travel tips, I can’t finish this post without mentioning the mode of travel on a…..travel blog.

So here we go. One might think that public transport is a no-brainer when it comes to budget traveling. After all, public transport costs less! Well, not really. In a lot of cases, yes, but there are lots of places where public transportation can rip a hole in your coin purse. How do you avoid that? Again, with a little bit of googling.

Check if taxis are expensive. In a number of countries, they are. You might think buses are a great idea unless you’re opting for a third world country where all the bumpy roads can trigger your motion sickness, people don’t have a sense of space and strangers practically end up sitting on your lap. Not very exciting.

Compare the prices it will take for you to travel around the country using public transport then compare the price it will take if you hire a private driver. You might think hiring a driver will be expensive, but more often than not, you can get them for comparatively cheaper prices. This is great if you are going as a family. Instead of paying a ticket for each person, perhaps hiring a driver for a day would be more cost effective.

Furthermore, you can even bargain with them to drop their prices to your rates. Your hotel might provide you a driver for cheaper options than you expected. But be warned, this isn’t always the case. So research and bargain.

Of course, that was a tip for budget city trips for third world countries. As long as metros and trains exist, those are your best transport options.

And there we go, a quick go through for budgeting your travel. Remember, saving money is great but don’t miss out on eating great food and making the most out of your journey in the limits of your spending.