Note: All travel is subject to frequently changing governmental restrictions—please check federal, state and local advisories before scheduling trips. This post was updated August 20, 2020.
Want to take your kids on a family vacation, but have limited funds? Author Meagan Wristen, a single mom of three, shares some of her top tips to save money on vacation.
If there is one thing a single mom knows well, it is how to budget! There are small ways to save money on all aspects of your vacation. With a few of these money-saving travel hacks, you can finally afford that family vacation you’ve been dreaming about.
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11 ways to save money on vacation
Utilize discounts
Take some time to figure out if you or any of your family members qualifies for some type of discount such as AAA, AARP, military, student or local government. Maybe you participate in some sort of club or credit card program that can get you a discount. Use your discount on everything you can: hotel, flight, tickets, meals or activities.
Cash in on discounts so that the whole family can afford to travel together. | Photo by: Meagan Wristen
Take free tours
Quit paying to go on tours if you can help it. Instead, download free podcast tours of the destination you are visiting. The podcast will tell you where to start, where to go, and what to look for. Often you can find multiple podcast tours of the same place. Listen to all of them if you like; each one will tell you a little something new. I recommend Rick Steve’s podcast for places in Europe.
Pack extra ear buds
If you go on a museum tour, they often have audio guides. Instead of having to rent one for each person, take some extra earphones. Most audio tour devices have a place to plug in a second set of earbuds. You may have to walk closer together, but you will save money on each device you don’t have to rent. Even if they don’t have a second place to plug in, you can just use a headphone splitter.
Look for hotels with free breakfast
Only stay at hotels that include a free breakfast with their standard rate. (They’re easy to find on Travelocity.com—just use the “Free breakfast” filter.) If you are on a week-long family trip, this could save you a ton of money. Just think how much money breakfast would cost over 5-7 days. It would be even better to find a hotel with free breakfast and a free evening reception.
Free hotel breakfast offerings can save families lots of money.
For example, when I took the kids to Arlington recently, we stayed at Hawthorne Suites. Included in our stay was daily breakfast, and part of the week, an evening reception with food and drinks. Instead of eating out three times in one day, we only ate out one time. There are a lot of hotels that offer this such as Embassy Suites and Residents Inn.
Buy souvenirs ahead of time
If you are buying souvenirs in a theme park, you are paying a premium price. By ordering the same exact products online or picking them up ahead of time at Target, you can save a lot of money. Another place worth checking out might be Goodwill, especially if you are headed to Disney.
Use cheap transportation
Do a little research before you get to your destination and figure out what the cheapest form of transportation is. When I am in NYC with the kids, I find the cheapest way to get around is not necessarily the subway. If I’m traveling solo, the subway would definitely be the cheapest, but when there are four of us, a Lyft is the same price and sometimes slightly less expensive (and usually faster). Never assume that one form of transportation is cheaper than another. When we were in Europe, we thought we would take the train everywhere, but it was so expensive. Instead, we flew Ryan Air around. We took three separate flights and it was less than half what the train would have cost, and took about a sixth of the time.
Get creative with your transportation options—the cheapest option might surprise you! | Photo by: Meagan Wristen
Carry a reusable water bottle
Spending money on water and other beverages can quickly add up. Instead of paying for drinks, take some refillable water bottles. If you do not like the taste of tap water, you can add some water flavoring.
Sign up for deal alerts
Be the first to know about hotel, airfare and car rental sales when you sign up to receive emails from travel sites like Travelocity. It’s also not a bad idea to bookmark the Travelocity deals page, so you can check on special offers whenever you’re ready to start planning you’re trip.
Combine attractions
Many major cities offer ticket bundles where one price gets you into 5 or 6 popular attractions. You will need to plan ahead of time to decide what things you plan to do on vacation and see if they are selling these activities together. CityPASS is an American thing and available in many of the bigger cities. In Europe, you will find similar deals. In Rome, they have the Roma Pass good for 3 days of bus and subway use, and admission into two of the major attractions. In the Bavarian Alps of Germany, they have the Mehrtagesticket Family pass that gets families into multiple castles for one price. Point being, if you know you want to visit several attractions during your stay, bundle them!
Purchase a CityPASS to save on can’t miss attractions like the Statue of Liberty.
Pack snacks
Buying a few snacks here and there throughout the length of your vacation can add up. Save money by purchasing some snacks at the grocery store. I recommend healthy, hearty options like granola bars, apples, baby carrots, bananas, cheese crackers, juice boxes, pretzels, fruit snacks, apple sauce, grapes and veggie chips.
Stick to carry-on bags
Do not pay to check a large bag. Instead, have each person take a carry-on suitcase. If your child is old enough to have their own seat on the plane, then they get the same free carry-on you get. Even a small child can pull a carry-on.
Pack only carry-on luggage and save airline fees. | Photo by: Meagan Wristen
Make a budget
One of the best ways not to spend too much money is to set out a budget ahead of time. Try to budget out each part of your trip, including accommodations, transportations, food, activities and more. To help you create your own budget, I have included this printable travel budget.
Hopefully these thrifty tips help you save a lot of money on your next family vacation and you have a wonderful time without going over budget.
Meagan Wristen
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Travelocity compensates authors for their writings appearing on this site; such compensation may include travel and other costs.
v. good tips, I plan to use it…
I need to take my kids and celebrate my birthday and I have to 6
Debbie Shaw is the only way you can get 9AM and you ha
your travel budget link is not working
Good article. Straight to the point with essentials.
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