These are some of the best budget travel tips you have to keep in mind

Scroll down to read our favorite budget travel tips & tricks we ALWAYS use to land the cheapest flight and the best accommodation deal.

Find a bonus track guide at the end (everything in only one page)

Searching for the best flight and accommodation options can be overwhelming at the beginning but don’t get frustrated, just follow our step-by-step guide below.

So, let’s jump right into it. Here are 10 of the best tips (and one bonus trick) to help you travel the world on a budget.

1. Search in “Incognito” mode (clear cookies)

Normally when searching for cheap flights (on the official airline’s website or with a flight search engine like Skyscanner or Kiwi.com), we are always hesitant whether to buy tickets or wait a bit and check if the prices go down with time (yeah, we always think this way, right?). The thing is that next time you look up that same flight you may find that the price has gone up. What happens is that flight booking sites track your browsing history (cookies). And if they see you are interested in a certain route, they may increase the prices. So we recommend either use an incognito mode or clear cookies from time to time.

2. Use the best flight search engines

This is important to see the lowest prices. All search engines have inflated flight costs because they are taking a cut from the airlines. But they are not all equal. For example, Expedia consistently inflates much higher than others. On the other hand, Skyscanner is our favorite tool, and sometimes it has the cheapest prices (“sometimes”). It’s worth mentioning that none of the search engines is totally perfect. That’s why it makes sense to use several and compare the flights this way.

This is the list of the best flight search engines:

• Skyscanner (one of the best tools, easy to explore options if you are flexible on dates)
• Airfare Watchdog (great at finding sale & error fares)
• Momondo (honestly, seems it shows the cheapest fares than Skyscanner)
• Kiwi.com (it has a great feature that combines all airlines to create routes that are cheaper than booking with just 1 airline)
• Google Flights (it is a great tool to compare flights over different dates)

3. Identify the cheapest day and time to fly (top budget travel tip)

The truth is that there is no secret or a rule as to exactly which days are cheapest to fly. However, most of the time it is cheaper to leave on a weekday. Your best strategy would be to get a quick visual of prices for a whole month to see what days are cheapest for your specific route.
Based on our experience, most of the cheapest flights we have ever booked were on Tuesday (or Wednesday) and also they have very early or very late departure times, like 5-8 AM. As to the days, we normally add +/- 3 days to the preferred dates when searching for a flight. Also, many of the cheap flights included long airport layovers. So don’t worry about having layovers, it’s not that annoying, you always can spend that time reading a book, watching a TV show, or shop in the airport stores. Normally you have free WiFi at restaurants and cafes so you can use it for reading our blog sitting in the airport lounge. 🙂 If the layover is long, you also can get out of the airport and explore the city you are in (but make sure you don’t need a visa to do so).

4. Book with budget airlines

Obviously, budget airlines have cheaper prices. However, you need to note that you will need to trade some comfort. For example: Less legroom, no “free” food/drink on-board, farther airport.
Sometimes the best deals are found straight from the airline’s website.

Here is a list of the top budget airlines:

North America:

• Southwest
• Spirit
• Frontier
• Air Canada Rouge
• Sun Country Airlines

5. Check the prices for two “one-way” tickets

If you are trying to cut costs on a flight, try searching for two “one-way” tickets instead of a “round trip”. Also, be sure to check different airline companies.
For example: you can leave with Ryanair but come back with Vueling.

6. Choosing a further airport

Most of the big cities have more than one airport. For example: Rome has two airports – Fiumicino and Ciampino. London has six major airports: London City, London Gatwick, London Heathrow, London Luton, London Stansted, and London Southend. That’s why it is important to check and compare prices at every airport. What we noticed that the further the airport is – the cheaper the prices are. And most of the time, all the budget airlines are located further away.

7. Travel with cabin luggage to save on checking bags

Budget airlines charge extra fees for bringing check-in luggage and the price can be around $20 each way (and even more, depends on the airline company). So in order to avoid it, you can travel lighter and ditch the checked luggage. The best option would be to invest in good cabin luggage. This is the Samsonite Omni that we are currently using, and it fits all the necessary products: a couple of outfits, photography gear, and the other stuff you need. Check out our Amazon US store for more options.
Pro tip 1: we always wear jackets that have huge pockets and look baggy so we always can stuff them with more stuff like electronics, travel items, and even shoes 🙂

Pro tip 2: another thing we sometimes do when traveling is check-in one suitcase shared between myself and my partner.

8. Join Reward programs

If you are really serious about traveling and do this a lot, it is worth signing up for a reward program for airlines and hotel chains. It will help you save on future trips and give you extra perks (for example: access to airport lounges and discounts on in-flight shopping). It can take a while to see all the benefits but it costs nothing to join and also you may get exclusive members offers and sometimes they are really juicy.

9. Choose your accommodation wisely

One of the biggest travel expenses is actually the accommodation. We always want to get the best deal: a hotel in a great location with a lot of transportation around, which includes breakfast/dinner, parking, and even a SPA. While you can still get a great deal having all those options by searching hotels, what is usually a lot cheaper is to book Airbnb, or a hostel (if you don’t mind being with more people in one room), or even a campsite for more adventurous people. At the end of the day, it’s all about creating memories and experiencing different cultures and traditions. So if you need to cut trip costs – go for budget-friendly options.

10. Take Free Walking Tours

This is far one of the best budget travel tips. If you love making “experiences” and explore the place to the fullest but want to make it cheap, then consider taking Free walking tours. The tours are ‘free’, because, unlike regular tour providers’ services, there is no set price for taking a tour, no prescribed fee to pay regardless of the tour experience itself. Instead, you are free to ‘tip’ your guide as you see fit after your tour. We always take them when we go to a place especially with a rich history. Some of the guides are very funny so it is even more pleasurable. Tours can have different duration, but on average it takes around 2 hours. Normally we pay 5-10 EUR per person.

You can find more details on this topic here.

Bonus Tip: buy food at a local supermarket

Who doesn’t want to cook during your holidays and wants to enjoy traditional meals at a poshy restaurant or a traditional bar? We’ve all been there. Yes, it is an amazing experience and a great way to know the culture, but if you want to cut your travel costs you need to consider eating on a budget. One of the ways to do so is to buy supplies at a local supermarket and prepare your own meals. There is nothing wrong with eating out here and there but if you are on a tight budget – even buying some snacks at the supermarket can help a lot.

Do you have something else to add to the post? If you have any additional tips or info for our readers or questions please leave them in the comments below. Thanks a lot! 

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