Wanna find out the cheapest way to travel the world? Learn all our secrets for low-cost travelling. Discover how we manage our travel budget planning. Read on, amigos!
First Things First, Choose a Budget-Friendly Destination
Ok, so you wanna know “how to travel on a budget?” Well then, one of the biggest factors is picking out low-budget travel countries.
One of the biggest factors when it comes to travelling on a budget is the region you choose to go to. Because, as much as that cheap-ass Ryanair flight to Paris is calling, accommodation there is gonna sting, and activities are gonna make a dent.
Now there are ways around that. You can go for a long weekend and stick to the free things to do. But if you’re backpacking, then a four-day trip is pretty lame, right?!
One of the best ways to travel on a budget is to stick to areas that are cheaper, even if that means shelling out for a more expensive flight. If you’re looking at doing a longer trip or backpacking, then it will work out cheaper in the end.
Areas that are the cheapest to travel in are Southeast Asia, South Asia and Eastern Europe (See, you can take cheap trips to Europe!)
As I said, flying to somewhere like Thailand isn’t going to be cheap (but do shop around, break up flights and be flexible), but once you’re there, you can live like a king for only a few £ a day!
But overall, the best places to travel on a budget will be in Asia. If you want to travel cheaply, it’s much easier in this region. But even then, you might want to pick an alternative to places like Bali if you want to keep things mega cheap.
Travel During Shoulder and Off-Season
If you really wanna know how to travel the world on a budget, the secret is picking the right season to travel in. Even places that are traditionally expensive, think Spanish Islands, can be surprisingly affordable if you avoid peak season.
Even better if you combine this with the best countries to travel on a budget!
Now the compromise here is that you might not be getting the best weather, but there’s some luck and some good planning that come into play here. But when it comes to how to travel cheaply, you deffo need to avoid peak season.
So if you’re thinking about Southern Europe as an example, visiting in Autumn or Spring will likely be heaps cheaper, and you’ll still get that oh-so-glorious sunshine.
This is where the shoulder season comes in! This magical time allows you to get the best of both worlds. It’s quieter and cheaper, and you’ll often still catch decent weather unless you’re unlucky.
Accommodation, restaurants and flight prices are often a fraction of the peak season prices.
Plus, honestly, when it comes to how to travel on a budget, it’s not just about saving money.
Shoulder and off-season can often be much more pleasant to travel in with milder weather, fewer crowds and a much more local vibe.
Research your destination to check when the peak season is. So for most of Europe, that’s going to be the school holidays over the summer, but some places also have a second peak over Christmas and Easter.
In Southeast Asia, that will be the European winter, as that coincides with the dry season.
Get Off the Beaten Path – Avoid the Tourist Traps!
As a general rule, the more touristy a place is, the more expensive it’s going to be. One of my top tips on how to travel on a budget is to avoid the tacky, overrated tourist traps and head somewhere off the beaten track and more authentic.
This can come in the form of visiting a lesser-known city or taking day trips out to somewhere most people have never heard of.
Usually, accommodation, restaurants and attractions are much more affordable in these places and a hell of a lot quieter too.
Wandering off the trail gives you not only the opportunity for a much more enriching, authentic and local experience, but it usually comes at a lower price too. A good way to find alternatives is to speak to locals for advice.
A caveat here is that some places with little to no competition or that are very awkward to get to might have higher prices due to their isolation, but I’m not talking about trekking to a remote village in the Amazon here…
I’m saying that rather than heading to, say, Barcelona, try smaller cities like Girona or Tarragona instead. Or, stay in a more local area of a city you want to visit, so forget the expensive and frankly crappy restaurants and accommodation of La Ramblas and stay somewhere like Sant Andreu, a local village on the outskirts of Barcelona.
Go and wander off and get lost, and sometimes you stumble upon hidden gems. Now, that’s how to travel on a budget!
How to Travel Around on a Budget: Transport Tips
Ahh, transport, the act of moving your body from one place to another, or is that just my weird way of thinking about it? Either way, ya gotta get to your destination somehow, somehow, and it can often be one of the most expensive parts of the trip.
If you’re not careful, your transport budget can get out of control, but sometimes you’ve just got to find a few different ways to travel.
So here are a few killer transport tips so you can save some dinero for more exciting things, like Capybara-themed souvenirs!
Tips for Finding Cheap Flights
Use various search engines
- Sites such as Skyscanner allow you to search for “anywhere” and also via the cheapest month, allowing you to easily find the cheapest dates and destinations. This is one of the cheapest ways to travel abroad.
- Google Flights is perfect for playing around with dates and destinations and also setting up price alerts, which will let you know when prices have dropped.
- Momondo is great to use as a comparison site to compare a wide range of booking sites.
- Expedia, Hopper and Kiwi are also other useful sites to check out and play around with.
- Basically, always compare across as many different sites as you can before booking! When it comes to how to travel on a budget, patience is key.
Find The Cheapest Flights!
Be as flexible as possible
- Using Skyscanner’s “cheapest month” feature is perfect for finding the most cost-effective time to fly, but of course, you need to be able to actually travel at any time!
- Tuesdays are often the cheapest day to travel on, and Fridays and weekends are often much more expensive.
- As I already mentioned, travelling in the off-season or shoulder season will usually result in dramatically cheaper flight prices.
- Keep an eye out for sales and last-minute deals.
- Search for “anywhere“, for example, “From Manchester to Everywhere” in the cheapest month, might bring up some absolute steals.
- Be flexible with airports, too. Often, smaller cities are cheaper to travel to than large hubs. Be sure to double-check if the journey from there is still cost-effective (train travel in the UK, for example, is notoriously expensive).
Look at stopover packages/ Break long journeys up
- Taking up a stopover package, such as having a layover in Qatar, is often cheaper than doing it independently.
- Breaking up long flights into short hops or connecting flights can be cheaper, and you might get to see some new places in the process.
- For example, we recently took two budget flights from India to Bangkok, then Bangkok to Melbourne instead of one long flight all the way, and it was a third of the price.
Use budget airlines
- Budget Airlines like Ryanair and Jetstar often get a bad reputation, but if you know how to play the system, then they’ll save you a fortune.
- Be sure to pay attention to the fine print such as baggage size and weight, seat selection prices, travel carry-on only where possible, check all “extras” and take a packed lunch!
Travel Hacks to Lower Your Travel Budget
When it comes to how to travel on a budget, here are some tips and tricks.
- Travel on overland buses or trains rather than more costly flights. They’ll take a lot longer, but what’s a backpacking trip without spending a sweaty night or two on a bus?! If you’re looking for the cheapest way to travel long distances, buses are it.
- Night buses or trains are often cheaper than travelling during the day, and they have the added double bonus of saving on accommodation.
- Hitchhiking is the ultimate dirtbag way to travel on a budget, and you’ll save huge amounts of money this way and meet a ton of interesting people. Just be vigilant!
- Apps like Uber, Grab, and Gojek are usually a lot cheaper than taking a taxi off the street, and you can often see the final price beforehand.
- Walk whenever possible, it’s free, good for you, and you’ll see heaps more.
- Use public transport and look into buying passes for multiple trips or days, as it often works out cheaper than paying for singles.
How to Find Cheap Places to Stay: Accommodation Tips
Another massive expense when it comes to trying to travel on the cheap is accommodation. It’s pretty much where you’ll make or break your budget, and being smart when booking is going to pay dividends when it comes to travelling on a budget.
Sleeping Cheap, Backpacker Style
Ahh, yes, the hostel, often misunderstood but highly valued by those in the know. Don’t worry, if it’s your first time staying in a hostel, it’s usually not what you expect (well, most of the time anyway – make sure to read the reviews!)
But basically, if you’re looking at how to budget travel, the hostel is your saving grace.
But in reality, you can stay in a private room in a hostel for a fraction of the price of a hotel and have so many more facilities and access to cheaper tours and transport advice. Plus, there are also other options to consider, like guesthouses, volunteering or couchsurfing.
The cheapest ways to travel are often those where you need to make some sacrifices on accommodation. But hostels can still be comfortable.
The best three places I’ve found for booking cheap accommodation are HostelWorld, Booking and Airbnb.
- Larger dorm rooms are often cheaper than smaller ones. Look out for pod-style rooms with curtains to retain some privacy.
- When travelling as a couple, it can often be a similar price to opt for a private room in a hostel or instead stay at a guesthouse.
- Find a hostel with a kitchen to save money on food. Your budget for travelling is gonna go much further this way.
- Along the same vein, search out for accommodation that includes free breakfast (we even found one in Sydney that did free dinner too!)
- Stay out of main tourist areas, but somewhere close to public transport links for cheaper ways to travel.
- Look into WOOFing or volunteering where you can stay in exchange for work.
5 Best Hostels In The World
If you’re looking for a sleek and sophisticated hostel that’s gonna blow those misconceptions away, it’s Steel House in Copenhagen. Featuring a massive kitchen, swimming pool, gym, bike rental, breakfast and even shuffle board, it’s an unbelievable place to stay.
If you’re staying in a hostel for the first time, Issara by D Hostel in Bangkok is a super chilled spot that offers curtains on bed, yoga and a swimming pool. The location is also ideal for public transport.
So, you wanna rock out at your first time in a hostel. The best spot is here in Barcelona with this rocking hostel with a rooftop pool, club themed common areas, bar and kitchen.
Queenstown is an adventure lovers paradise and what better way to embrace it than to be surrounded by likeminded travellers. This adventure hostel also makes it mega easy to organise things like bungee jumps, snowboarding, rafting and much more.
If you’re working whilst on the road Tribal in Bali (A digital nomad hotspot) is ideal. With custom pod beds, dedicated work areas, a swimming pool, pool table, bar and restaurants, it’s the perfect place to get a work life balance.
Sleeping Cheap, Digital Nomad Style
Digital nomads often walk the line between needing to keep things cheap due to the unpredictability of working on the road and having the benefit of a regular income.
Plus, we usually carry with us expensive laptops, camera gear and specialist equipment, so staying in some janky-ass dorm or questionable guest house isn’t as appealing as it once was!
It’s all well and good learning how to travel on a budget, but as a digital nomad, it might cost us more if we can’t work!
- Look into booking an Airbnb for long stays and house-share setups. These are often much cheaper, and sometimes (as we’ve experienced), you can negotiate outside of Airbnb for a cheaper rate after the initial stay.
- Book accommodation as far in advance as possible for the best rates. Digital nomads often stay longer and plan a little more ahead than backpackers; use that to your advantage.
- Search out where the expat/ digital nomad communities are in a city and stay out of tourist areas. These usually have heaps of good facilities like gyms and supermarkets, and you can speak to people here for advice and tips.
Our Favourite Backpacks
We’ve used the Osprey Farpoint/ Fairview for all our backpacking adventures over the past 5 years and highly recommend them!
The main area of the pack opens like a suitcase, which is great for using packing cubes to keep everything organised and they even come with a detachable day pack!
Sleeping Cheap, Dirtbag Style
For the real dirtbags, cheap doesn’t cut it! Here we’re talking, trying to get things for as little as possible, even free! That might seem far-fetched, but trust me, it can be done!
- Sign up to Couchsurfing and put yourself out there. You might need to do a few local, shorter stays to build up your reputation first.
- Pack a travel tent and a sleeping bag and utilise wild camping or freedom camping. Always be sure to check local laws and clean up after yourself to avoid fines and general douchebaggery that ruins it for everyone else!
- Sleep in the back of your car or van. We’ve done this multiple times whilst road-tripping in New Zealand and Australia. It can be a bit cosy, but chucking a mattress in the back of a station wagon sure beats paying for accommodation!
- Utilise sleeper transport like overnight trains, buses or flights.
- One of the most epic things about travelling is the people you meet, including fellow explorers. Often, they’re more than willing to let you crash at their place for a few nights, and you get the added bonus of staying with a local.
How to Eat Cheap (and Well) When Travelling
The cost of food compared to other larger expenses like transport and accommodation might not seem like much, but that’s exactly how it creeps up on you and stings you on the arse when you’re least expecting it.
Eating cheaply doesn’t mean living off noodles (although yes, I’ve been that backpacker!). In fact, you’ll often find local food is the most affordable. Let’s take a closer look.
Eat Street Food
In most affordable destinations, street food is king! Here you’ll usually find the most incredible food you’ve ever tasted at the most ridiculously cheap prices.
Forget that crap in expensive countries they call “street food” because it’s from an overpriced food truck, nah bro, here I’m talking about the real deal. We’re talking Bánh Mì in Vietnam, Pad Kra Pao in Thailand, Nasi Goreng in Indonesia or Arepas in Colombia.
The best places will have a high turnover of food and a long queue of locals. I’ve literally never gotten ill eating from a popular street food stall the world over.
Cook Your Own Meals
Now, if you do find yourself in more expensive parts of the world, like the UK, Australia, the USA, and Western Europe, for example, then you’ve got to go back to doing what you do at home – cooking!
Nip to a local shop and rustle something up, you can even experiment with local ingredients or ask people in the hostel for new recipes. It might sound lame, but it’s a great way to both save money and get to know other folks in your accommodation.
If you’re not staying in a place with cooking facilities, then why not pick up a backpacker stove instead? They’re great for camping and van life.
Shop at Local Markets
Hitting up local markets is a great place to pick up cheap produce to cook with. Many food markets also have food you can buy and eat there. They are often local and very affordable.
Find a Hostel with Free Breakfast and Kitchen Facilities
One of the best ways to save is to stay somewhere that offers free food. The most common is to have breakfast included, but we’ve even stayed in hostels (this one in Sydney, for example) that also included dinner each evening as well.
A hostel or campsite with kitchen facilities will also allow you to… cook your own meals as I mentioned above!
Eat in Local Areas
Eating in major tourist areas of almost any city in the world will end up with two things: substandard and expensive food – not a combination I am personally fond of!
Heading further out of the city and eating in local areas where tourists don’t visit as often will enable you to sample more authentic cuisine at a fraction of the price.
Read: Avoid eating on La Ramblas or Khao San Road unless you’re a sucker for punishment!
Pack Cheap Snacks
After your free brekkie, you’ll want to make it through a day of adventures without splashing out on lunch! Instead, head to a shop and stock up on some cheap snacks like fruit, nuts, cereal bars and crisps.
But Remember: Budget Travel Takes Planning
Travelling on a budget usually takes a little more forethought than heading off on an all-inclusive holiday to Cancun, let’s be honest.
From planning complicated transport routes to doing some in-depth research into activities and cheap places to eat. It pays to do your homework, so these tips for travelling on a budget will come in handy.
Savvy Budget Backpackers Save on Attractions and Experiences
One of the biggest outlays whilst travelling can be expensive tours. Of course, even if you want to travel the world on a budget, you’ll still want to take some tours and pay for some attractions here and there.
Now, I understand that there are those out there that you just need to splash out on (I’m looking at you Machu Picchu), but there are many that can be avoided with a little ingenuity, pre-planning and effort. This way, you can save your money for those big experiences.
A few ways to save on attractions include:
- Do free activities such as walking tours, museums, beaches, parks and hikes.
- Walk! Whether that be exploring a city on foot, or skipping the expensive cable car and hiking instead. You’ll see much more this way!
- Use your student or senior ID if you have one.
- Keep an eye out for free days. Some museums and attractions have free days each month or week.
- Shop around. Some tours have cheaper alternatives that take different routes (for example, hiking the Salkantay trail instead of the Inca Trail).
- Check out all the different tour companies online to see what they’re offering. I like to look at Get Your Guide, Viator and Klook as well as hitting up tour shops in town.
- Look at purchasing City Passes if you plan on visiting a few different attractions; some even include transport. These are great when you’re travelling on a budget.
- Find off-the-beaten-track alternatives – quirky museums, hidden ruins, and exploring little villages are often way cheaper and less crowded.
- Barter – When visiting markets, local tour shops or buying souvenirs. It’s usually a part of the local culture in many of the best backpacking destinations! Just be sure to be respectful.
Forward-Thinking Budget Backpackers Stay Connected Abroad
Arriving at the airport or bus station bleary-eyed from being up all night usually results in giving in to the loudest taxi driver before coming to and realising you’ve been royally ripped off!
Then there are the scammers selling crappy SIM cards that run out of data before you’ve even been able to upload your first selfie to the gram!
To avoid these situations and so I can play Pokemon Go on the road, I always set myself up with an eSIM before I travel anywhere. This way, I can be connected as soon as I land, so I can have the Uber waiting at the door.
Plus, I can put maps on and keep in contact with my accommodation if I go wandering off the beaten track. Doom scrolling on night buses also keeps me from going insane, too… or does it make me more insane!?
The BEST International eSim
We all know the scene, right?
You arrive at an airport after a horrendous 12-hour flight at 6:00 am in a new country! There’s a sea of taxi drivers out for blood, and you realise you can’t connect to the airport WIFI to grab an Uber…
But you’ve got an eSim, so no worries! Boom!
Your phone is already set up with data before you land, and with Airalo you know you’re getting a good deal and reliable service across 200+ countries!
Use the code “AIRALOESIM10” for 10% off your first purchase
Fiscal Budget Backpackers Know How to Manage Their Money
Managing your money on the road comes in two forms: making a budget and sticking to it, and having cost-effective and safe ways to access your money.
It’s all well and good following these budget travel tips, but you need to manage what money you do have as well.
Travel on Budget –
Research how much the average accommodation, transport, food, activities and extras will cost you and divide this by the number of days you’ll be travelling for.
Set yourself a realistic budget and keep track of your spending throughout the day. Even if you’re sticking to inexpensive ways to travel, it still helps to keep track of the wider picture.
Remember, you might have some larger transport costs, visas or activities to factor in. Use Google Sheets or other finance apps to manage your budget.
Make Sure You Organise Your Visa In Good Time
Managing Your Money –
These days, it’s pretty easy to get around using a card rather than cash. However, often you’ll encounter locations, especially cheaper ones, where cash is still very much king. So whether you’re tapping or withdrawing, you don’t want to waste money on unnecessary fees.
Your bank at home is more than likely going to charge you a hefty fee for that foreign transaction or withdrawal. So get yourself a WISE card where you can store your money in any currency you like as well as use it without any of the usual banking fees or charges.
Bear in mind that in some countries, their ATMs charge at their end. So research which ones do and be savvy when you get money out. The general consensus is little and often, but when the ATMs charge, you’ll need to be a bit more strategic than that!
How to Travel Long-Term Affordably: Make Money on the Road
What better way to travel on a budget than making money as you go? Worst case scenario you give yourself a bit of pocket money, but if things really take a turn, you could even find yourself in the dream situation of being able to travel AND save at the same time! Goals right?
The ultimate budget travel hack is to work as you go, but how?
TEFL and Teaching English as a Second Language
One of the most popular jobs on the road is teaching English. Basically, if you’re a native speaker and you’ve got a degree (some places even accept you without one) then get yourself a TEFL and away you go.
A TEFL is super easy to get, and there are different levels, all of which are very affordable. You can do them in person or online, and they open up a whole world of amazing experiences and opportunities overseas.
Bar Work and the Hospitality Industry
This is a classic, and they can range from casual arrangements where you’re paid cash in hand whilst being on a tourist visa, to getting a proper job at a large hotel. The hospitality industry is booming all over the world, but do bear in mind that in some places it can be seasonal.
Hostel Work
Working in hostels whilst travelling is another popular way to either make or save money on your trip.
There are many different arrangements that are commonplace with hostel staff. Those able to get working visas can be paid a fair wage, and often being able to speak fluent English will be very valuable to the establishment.
Other arrangements, which are often a bit more casual, include working for your board.
Ski Resorts and Seasonal Industries
A common job for those doing a working holiday visa in places like Canada, France or New Zealand is to work in Ski Resorts.
It’s particularly popular among those who would like to spend the season on the slopes but need a way to stay close and fund their winter adventures. With the increase in visitors comes plenty of seasonal jobs, including in hotels, restaurants and as guides and instructors.
Equally, many find work in the summer on boats, cruises, picking crops, as tour guides, photographers or in holiday resorts. There are heaps of jobs on offer each year, with many, like cruises, for example, having extended seasons or continuing on for the Southern Hemisphere summer.
Become a Digital Nomad
The ultimate way to work and travel is to, of course, become one of those digital nomads you’ve been hearing about. Yes, we do exist, and no, it’s not always as romantic as you might imagine (unless you legit do make millions from crypto, but I sadly don’t!)
But working from your laptop from the world’s best digital nomad destinations is the ultimate form of freedom. Whether you negotiate with your boss to let you loose, search for a fully remote job, or work for yourself, there are heaps of different options to make it happen.
We swear by SafetyWing insurance and use it ourselves on their monthly rolling contract. It’s perfect for those of us travelling long-term who need reliable insurance that can be paused at any time, taken out whilst already overseas and has an easy-to-use dashboard and app.
Get a quote now!
How to Travel on a Budget? Learn the Art of Slow Travel!
Wanna know the real secret to a cheaper way to travel, slow tf down! Travelling fast, jumping on a plane, bus or train and swapping your accommodation every few days is not only tiring and unfulfilling, but it also costs wayyyy more too.
Taking your time and travelling slowly allows you to not only get better deals on longer-term accommodation, but it’s also easier to settle into a more normal day-to-day, including cooking your own food and living like a local.
It also gives you that other superpower when it comes to taking a trip on a budget – Flexibility. When it comes to the cheapest ways to travel the world, this is unbeatable.
When you take your time, you’ve got options. You can look ahead and find the cheapest next destination or the cheapest time of the month or week to travel.
Those bound by static and non-movable dates (looking at you: parents with kids in school!) are cursed with having to fly on certain dates and inevitably having to cough up a ton more money to travel … don’t be those people!
And budget travel aside, honestly, it’s just the best way to travel all around.
Get under the skin of a place, get to know it on first-name terms, warts and all. I can guarantee you those spots where you stick around for a while will become places you treasure so much more for the wonderful memories and experiences slow travel allows.
For example, people who come to Cusco to hike Machu Picchu usually just fly in and out, but we stayed a few weeks and became locals at the nearby bakery, made friends with cafe owners and borrowed casserole dishes from our neighbours!
So, Travelling on a Budget, How Easy Actually Is It?
Alright then, I reckon that just about does it for my guide to travelling on a budget. What do you think? Are you ready to take on the world with your modest savings?
Whilst travelling on a budget can be a tough balancing act between wanting to do all the “stuff” and staying in places where you feel comfortable and safe, ultimately, it’s still the most rewarding way to travel.
There’s something about having to keep things cheap that both brings out the ingenuity in you and also forces you to interact more with locals and fellow travellers.
Put it this way, a sterile hotel room, a series of flights and a fancy restaurant might be all well and good, but half the time you could be anywhere.
Jumping on sweaty buses, rubbing shoulders with the locals, staying in guesthouses in villages in the middle of nowhere, life-changing late-night chats in hostel kitchens and queuing up to sample some unpronounceable dish you’ve never heard of.
For me, this is what travel is about.
So, are you still wondering, “How can I travel the world for cheap”? If you have any further questions, feel free to comment below or reach out.
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