57 Mind-blowing Ways to Save Money on Vacation This Year!

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According to Bankrate.com’s post here, the average cost of a 1-week vacation for 7 days is $3,116 dollars!

That number is outrageous, but really not all that surprising to me. Because most people want to “live it up” on vacation. They just want to spend, have fun, and not think about work. But that’s dangerous. Because if you’re not careful, you’ll be working for months and months after vacation just to pay for that week of carefree living.

So you HAVE to watch what you spend when you go on vacation. And you HAVE to try to save some money whenever and wherever you can. Because if you don’t, you’ll end up broke and in debt.

That’s where my wife and I were. So we skipped out on vacation for a couple of years to fix our finances and get our money together.

Now, we take vacations every year. But we still find all the ways to save money on our vacations and things to save on during the trip. I mean, it’s never a bad thing to save money, no matter where you are.

So in this post, we’re going to talk about a few things: first, a few reasons why it’s important to save money. And second, 57 mind-blowing ways to save money on vacation this year.

Because you can have fun on vacation AND save money, too. Alright, so let’s get into the post!

3 reasons why it’s important to save money on vacation

1. You’re broke

If you’re broke and in debt, you probably shouldn’t be going on vacation. Instead, you should sacrifice for a short period of time to get out of debt and improve your finances. Vacations are SO much better when you’re out of debt. Because you can pay all cash and you’ve got tons of extra money to use.

But if you just can’t skip those vacations, use this list to help you save.

2. Vacation is getting more and more expensive

As everybody knows, inflation has been crazy. Every single thing that we pay for has gotten more expensive. So that means your vacation is going to cost more. Because of that, we have to find ways to bring the cost down. And we al know that wages aren’t going up as fast…

3. You have financial goals

If you’ve got financial goals, you should be trying to save money in every part of your life – whether you’re talking about vacation, Christmas, or just paying normal bills. The more money you can save, the more money you have to put toward all of your financial goals.

With that being said, let’s save some money on vacation!

57 mind-blowing ways to save money on vacation this year!

1. Skip the vacation: I know you don’t want to skip the vacation, but in all seriousness, if you’re struggling, broke, and in debt, you probably don’t need to be going on vacation. Take a year or two and really work on improving your finances. Skipping a vacation or two will not kill you and can help you save a couple thousand dollars to help get your finances in order.

2. Staycation: if you’d still like to take a vacation, but don’t want to actually go anywhere, you can always try out a staycation! Take a few days off of work and plan out an epic staycation right in the comfort of your home (or city). You’ll save a lot of money by not traveling and staying in expensive hotels or AirBnBs, spending money on gas, spending money on food, and any other miscellaneous vacation costs.

Plus, you can still do a few things at home, order out a few times, and have a ton of fun, all while getting some rest to recharge your batteries.

3. Go on a budget vacation: if tips 1 and 2 don’t work for you, try setting up a simple budget vacation like my wife and I do. We normally stay at the same place every year, which is an AirBnB house that we know and love, for only 3-4 nights, and we follow most of the tips on this list. All in all, with our family, we normally don’t spend any more than about $1,500 bucks for everything.

And you can do this for even cheaper if you’d like. Find every way to budget your entire vacation for under $1,000 or $800 or even $500 bucks. If we were able to stay in a traditional hotel (we cannot due to our 2 dogs), we could probably cut our costs by 20-30% percent or more. So if you HAVE to have a vacation, go the budget route or…

4. Try a weekend overnight stay: strapped for cash but really needing a break for the weekend? An overnight stay is the answer. You can book a 2 day, 1 night trip to anywhere you want. Though I would recommend not going more than 3-4 hours away because you’ll be driving that on both days.

All you’ve got to do is book a night somewhere, leave early on a Saturday morning, stay that night and head back the next night (Sunday night). That’s a couple days and you’re only paying for 1 night of hotel or AirBnB.

5. Save up all year: one easy way to not have to pay for an entire vacation at once is to save up, every month, throughout the entire year. Once you‘ve taken your vacation, start saving up again for the next one. This can save you money by not having to pay for the whole vacation at once. Because of that, most will put it on a credit card and waste a ton of money in interest payments.

It will also make you feel pretty good knowing that you’ve saved up the entire year. You worked hard for that money and now you get rewarded with a nice vacation!

6. Set a special savings account or savings envelope: if you simply set up a designated savings account or envelope at home, you’ll be much more motivated to have some cash savings for your upcoming vacation.

I have a personal money envelope that I tuck about $100 bucks a month into for our vacations. It may not pay for the whole thing, but it gets pretty close.

7. Pay with cash (or a debit card): Never EVER pay for a vacation with a credit card. This is bad for 3 reasons: First, you’re inevitably going to pay MORE for the vacation than you really need to. Having a high credit limit means you can spend more than you can afford on vacation. And that’s bad. Second, by doing this, you’re going to be paying even more for the interest every month. Lastly, after that vacation is over, you’re most likely going to be paying for that few day vacation for several months. That sucks. So don’t do that.

8. Split an AirBnB with another family/more people: if you’re really looking to save money, try splitting a large hotel room or an AirBnB with other friends, family, or other families. You might have to put up with extra people on vacation, but you can split the costs in half (or more)!

9. Go on vacation during off-peak months: if you want to take a vacation, but don’t want those peak summer or winter prices, just go on an off-peak vacation. You may not get super nice weather at the beach, and it might be a little warmer at that mountain cabin, but at least you can save a little bit of money on vacation this year.

10. Don’t book on the beach (1-5 blocks away): if you’re taking a beach trip, you don’t need a huge beach house with private beach access. Nah, that’s ridiculous and way too expensive. Try going for an AirBnB house or apartment 1-5 blocks away from the beach. That’s what we’ve been doing every year for the last couple of years. My wife and I found a very reasonably-priced house about 5 blocks away from the beach. It’s an easy walk and a heck of a good time.

11. Book outside the city: whether you’re at the beach or checking out the big city, booking on the outskirts of town can save you half or more on your lodging. Then, you’ve got more money to spend on fun!

12. Book in a central location: if you do visit a large city, you could also try to book in a central location to save money on transportation. The city might be a little bit more expensive, but walking instead of paying for Uber can save you a chunk of money during your vacation.

13. Find your home away from home: remember that small house that my wife and I found? Yep, that’s now our official home away from home. We love it and we know it’s not going to be that expensive when we go on vacation. Find that for yourself, wherever you like to visit!

14. Consider camping: if you don’t want to go on a traditional vacation due to the costs, consider a family camping trip. Camping is extremely inexpensive and can be insanely fun. You may have to pay the cost of the campground, gas, some food, and some supplies, but that doesn’t even come close to the cost of a traditional vacation.

15. Have a spending budget: next up on this list, the spending budget. I know you want to have fun and no worries while on vacation. But that’s dumb. You’re going to end up spending way too much money by the end of the trip. So here’s what we do:

My wife and I save up monthly for our trip. We then take a chunk of money and pay our lodging in full. We usually have a couple hundred left over after that. So we allocate that extra money toward trip expenses. We say, “okay we have $500 bucks to spend with a little bit of wiggle room.” We try to stay within that spending limit and we allow no more than $50-100 dollars extra over that. We don’t go crazy and we still have a fairly strict amount to spend.

If you don’t have a lot of money, I’d recommend getting the lodging paid in full and setting a strict spending budget. I also recommend that you track expenses…

16. Track expenses while on vacation: keeping up with how much you’ve spent while on vacation is super important so that you don’t overspend and waste A LOT of money. Here are two ways you can do this:

First, you can track every single expense like you would in your normal budget. Give yourself a set amount to spend with a little bit of wiggle room. Track all expenses in your budget and you’ll know where you’re at throughout your vacation. This is normally what we do.

Second, use all cash. Pull out a certain amount, say $500 bucks, and set that as your limit. Whenever you pay, pull out the cash. At the end of each day, count how much you have left and do your best to make it last throughout the vacation.

If you just simply put in a little bit of effort to track your spending while on vacation, you’ll keep from overspending and going completely broke.

17. Don’t use credit cards: skip the credit cards and only use your debit card or cash while on vacation. Those credit cards are costing you big time in interest payments and the points and miles you’re getting aren’t worth much at all.

18. Bring multiple debit cards with you: bring a couple of cards with you and some cash. Then store some cash and a debit card separately. While this isn’t going to save you a whole lot on your vacation, it will save you if you lose your card or it gets stolen. You don’t want to be on vacation with no access to your bank or any cash. So prepare ahead.

19. Always have cash on you: carry a little bit of cash. You never know when you’ll need it while on vacation.

20. Plan out meals and eating expenses: one of the best ways to save money on vacation is to plan out all of your meals and eating expenses. Now you’re not going to get the money exactly right up front, but you can at least get close.

However, I would plan as much as possible. If you’re looking to spend much less on vacation this year, set out a meal plan for the week. You need 3 meals per day, with at least two of them being meals cooked at home.

Literally print out a calendar and write down the meals you’re going to make. Depending on how many days you stay, you’ll need to plan out two meals per day. So if you stay for 3 days, you’ll need to cook about 5-6 meals. You can also do leftovers depending on how much food you cook.

The more you cook, the more you save. And then you’ve got more to spend on fun activities on vacation. But I’m not against eating out on vacation…you just don’t need to for every meal.

21. Get a place with a kitchen: the easiest way to make sure that you’re cooking food is to book a hotel room or AirBnB with a kitchen. A kitchen might cost a little extra, but it can save you SO much money over the course of just a few days.

22. Get groceries and cook some while on vacation: we already talked about cooking meals so this will be short and sweet. Go to your local grocery store, get a decent amount of groceries with a prepared list of food that you need, then cook all of your meals. That full load of groceries should cost you around $100-200 dollars depending on the size of your family, but should last you at least a few days to a week.

23. Eat out for one nice meal per day (instead of for every meal): my wife and I always plan to eat out for one of our meals every day of vacation. We pick a place, go there, and get whatever we want. We check prices but we’re not hardcore on pinching pennies because we know that this is our nice meal out for the day. We know that we will be saving money on two meals for the day, so we usually order whatever we want.

24. Skip dessert: but we do usually skip dessert at restaurants because it’s overpriced almost all the time. Plus, we usually hit the local ice cream shop or dessert place during the day with our son anyway.

25. Avoid tourist restaurants: I highly encourage you to do some research on restaurants before you go on vacation. Because some places like to overcharge just because they know they can. If you’re going to overpay for a meal or two, at least find the best restaurants in that area. Some local spots may even have cheaper food. But you have to know where to look. Check out tip #34 for how to find those places.

26. Book a hotel with a continental breakfast: a decent continental breakfast can save you a good chunk of money over the course of several days. That can also save you on some groceries and cooking as well!

27. Snack stash: this is something that my wife and I always do. We stock up on snacks before the trip and also after we get there. So there’s basically an unlimited supply of snacks to tide us over between meals. Snacks aren’t cheap, but they can help you not eat out as much while on vacation. And that can save you a little bit more dough.

28. BYOB/liquor/wine (21+): if you’re heading on vacation, and you plan to drink, definitely plan on bringing your own alcohol. Because the bar and the liquor store where you’re traveling is probably going to be insanely expensive. Grabbing what you need at the grocery store, or bringing a handle with you, can cut your alcohol costs in half.

29. Skip the alcohol: if you really want to save some money, though, skip the alcohol altogether. Not only is it expensive, but it’s bad for your health, too. On top of that, drinking too much tends to lead to hangovers. And those are horrible to have while on vacation. I like to really enjoy my vacations, so we normally don’t drink that much. Up to you, though.

30. Take a reusable water bottle or buy a big pack of water: if you’re buying water at local souvenir shops and other places around town, you’re going to be OVERPAYING FOR WATER. Don’t do that. If you know you’ll have access to good water, take a reusable water bottle with you. You won’t pay a dime for water if you can do that.

But if you have to, buy a couple big packs of water to drink while you’re on vacation. This won’t cost you much at the local grocery store.

31. Buy sunscreen before you get to the beach: if you’re headed to the beach, go to Walmart and buy all your sunscreen and suntan lotion beforehand. That stuff costs double at the beach. I found out the hard way on our last beach trip. We ran out about half way through the trip and had to pay top dollar for sunscreen the rest of the trip.

32. Use public transportation: if possible, while on vacation, use the local transportation system to get around. It’s cheap and it will do the job almost as good as Uber.

33. Walk around and explore: if you’re at the beach or in a populated city on vaca, I highly recommend that you walk around and explore. You never know what you’ll find – a cool museum, local food joint, hip coffee shop, or something awesome just waiting for you to find it.

34. Talk to the locals: if you can figure out who the locals are, start talking with them. Most locals are super nice and they’ve always got valuable insight – whether it’s a really cool place to go for fun or the best restaurant in town. Don’t be afraid to say, “hello!”

35. Find free things to do while on vacation: wherever you go, simply Google, “free things to do in (the city/place you’re visiting).” There’s always something free to do in every city!

Check out this post here on peanutsorpretzels.com for a few ideas.

36. Find cheap things to do while on vacation: I would also encourage you to find cheap things to do while you’re on vacation. If you’re trying to save money, but still have some fun, check out this list here on onenewdream.com.

There are a lot of things that are both cheap and super fun to do. You can also Google, “cheap things to do in (the city/place you’re visiting)”

37. Disc golf!: I LOVE disc golf. In fact, I love it so much that I started a whole website about it! It’s awesome because it’s ridiculously inexpensive to start and because you can play for free at almost all disc golf courses. Here’s the kicker – there’s probably at least one disc golf course near where you’re going on vacation!

If you’d like to give disc golf a try, check out this post – “Disc Golf 101: A Step by Step Beginner’s Guide.”

If you’d like to search for disc golf courses near your vacation spot, check out this site here – Disc Golf Course Review.

38. Get a multi-attraction pass or discount card: if you can, try to find some kind of discount card or multi-attraction pass where you’re going. That can mean BIG savings.

39. Check AirBnB/Groupon for deals on activities: a lot of the time, AirBnB and Groupon will both have deals on activities to do while you’re on vacation. Whatever you can do to save money is always a good idea!

40. Military I.D: if you’re retired or active-duty military, don’t be afraid to ask for discounts! You already know that a lot of places give them, so make sure to ask while you’re on vacation, too!

41. Use gas apps to save money: if you’re driving a lot on your vacation, don’t forget to use a gas app on your phone to save a little bit of dough along the way. I personally use Upside (formerly GetUpside) and have made well over $400 dollars with it. You won’t save a whole lot, but every dollar counts, right? You can also try the GasBuddy app as well. They’ve just recently started giving cash back. But I used to use it to simply find the cheapest gas around.

42. Don’t buy junk: while you’re vacationing, there are going to be hundreds of souvenir shops and crappy treasure trove stores just waiting on helpless tourists to buy things. Don’t continually buy junk every day while you’re on vacation. Most of that stuff is gonna’ get tossed in a few weeks or never used at all. So only buy stuff that you can keep as a legitimate souvenir – like shot glasses – or things you’re going to use at home. Random junk is just wasted money. Don’t buy that stuff.

43. Limit your souvenirs: even further with that last concept, try to limit the amount of actual souvenirs that you buy. You don’t NEED a lot of stuff. We normally buy a couple of pieces of clothing from the beach, my shot glass, a couple things for my son, and that’s about it. No need to spend $400-500 dollars on souvenirs.

44. Shop around and haggle: whenever you’re out on vacation, you might come across markets or festivals. Don’t buy everything in site…you know, like all that junk we just said that you shouldn’t buy. Shop around places and find a few of the best or coolest things to buy while you’re there. If you can, haggle on price. It never hurts to…

45. Always ask for discounts: whether you’re on the beach, in an ice cream shop, or walking around the city, you should always ask for discounts where ever you are (as in ALL the time). But especially while on vacation! You never know what people will say.

46. Purchase plane tickets in advance: this is HUGE for saving money on flights. If you’ve always purchased your tickets the week of your flight, you’re wasting A LOT of money. The earlier you buy those tickets, the more you’re going to save. If you buy them a few months ahead of time, you’re likely to save 20-30% percent off your flights or more. So plan ahead and get your tickets. Because it could mean saving a bunch of money or having an extra day or two on vacation!

47. Download movies/shows to your phone: one simple way to keep yourself entertained on a flight and not have to pay for an in-flight movie is to download a few shows or movies to your smartphone. Most streaming apps these days, like Netflix, will allow you to do this. And it can save you $20-30 bucks or more on your flights.

48. Pack as light as possible: most airlines set a designated weight limit for bags – somewhere around 50 pounds or so. So keep your bags under the designated weight limit (you can always check your airline’s policies beforehand) to keep from going over the limit and costing yourself extra money in fees.

49. Get to the airport early: getting to the airport just a little bit early can help save you money in a variety of ways:

First, you won’t be rushed and you won’t miss your flight. That could mean buying a whole new plane ticket.

Second, you can bring food with you…

50. Bring food to the airport: now you may not be able to bring stuff past a certain point in the airport, but if you can get there early enough, you can sit down and have a decent meal before you start your flight. Because there’s not much you’ll get while on the flight. But making food beforehand and eating in the airport can save you a good deal of money. I mean, those restaurants are ridiculously expensive.

For food on your flight, just check with the TSA website on what is and isn’t allowed on your flight if you want to bring some with you.

51. Plane/rental/hotel packages and bundles: sometimes you can save a TON of money by simply bundling plane, rental car, and hotel packages. Check on this whether you’re out of state or heading out of the country.

52. Notify your bank of upcoming travel: whether traveling domestically or internationally, it’s always a good idea to let your bank know of your plan to travel away from home. This pertains more to international travel, because you never want to be out of the country with no access to your bank. But some local banks will deny access out of state if they think that your purchases are fraudulent. So get on the phone and let your bank know!

53. Check the international exchange rates: exchanging your country’s money for another country’s money can be an expensive process depending on where you do it. Make sure you check with your bank to make sure they don’t have currency exchange fees for using your debit card. Because if they do, try to exchange your money at your local bank before you leave. Most banks can exchange for foreign currency and give you a good rate if you order it early enough.

Also, avoid tourist exchanges, like those at foreign airports and train stations. They’re usually much more expensive than your bank’s card conversion fees, which means those locations are a no-go. If you’re already in another country, find a local bank and pay their small fee to exchange.

54. Check your phone carrier for international costs: make sure you check with your cell phone carrier for the costs of using your phone out of the country. Because some of the costs associated can be INSANELY expensive…like tripling or quadrupling your bill if you’re not careful. So check to see if you have international service or what you need to do to get it. If costs are too expensive, simply use an app to communicate with people back home.

55. Apps for communication: instead of paying for an expensive international plan, simply download WhatsApp or Skype to your phone before you travel and use local Wi-Fi to connect. You might have to pay a couple bucks per day – if it’s not free – but that shouldn’t cost you very much at all over just a few days.

56. Travel insurance: travel insurance is always something good to have if you’re traveling outside of your country. It can be a cheap way to help save money if you end up getting injured or sick, lose your luggage, or incur any substantial damages or losses while you’re traveling.

This might not be worth it if you’re simply traveling around your own country, but internationally, it could be worth it.

57. Secure your valuables/wallet/purse: last but definitely not least on this list! Whether you’re traveling to another city or another country, this concept applies across the board. You should always be seeking to secure your valuables including jewelry, wallet, purse, phone, money, passports, and anything else that you would hate to have to replace.

When my wife and I went to Italy for our honeymoon, my wife made the mistake of not securing her purse well enough and she ended up getting pickpocketed for a couple hundred dollars. They didn’t get anything super valuable, but those crooks distracted us and pickpocketed my wife super quick. So you have to be careful and really secure EVERYTHING while on vacation…especially if you travel out of the country!

Finally

So that’s the list. 57 of the absolute best ways to save money on vacation this year. And I know you’re not gonna’ use everything on this list every time. But it’s something to think about. Because we need to save some money. You shouldn’t just frivolously spend everything you have while on a couple day vacation. You should plan, budget, track, spend some, and have as much fun as possible…all while saving at least a few dollars here and there. That’s the idea. So have fun on your next vacation!