7 Budget-Friendly Travel Tips to Make Your Next Vacation More Affordable
From saving costs on accommodation to dragging your best friend on your next vacation. Anything to save money on your travels.
There are many budget-friendly travel tips that we can think of, but this blog is all about our 7 Budget-Friendly Travel Tips so that you can also save money for your next vacation.
More savings = more money for other vacations!
We will let you know our 7 actionable travel saving tips to keep costs as low as possible and not put yourself under financial stress due to your travel budgets.
1. Plan and Book in Advance
Planning and booking your travels in advance is one of the most cost effective ways to save money on your next vacation.
If you are like us, planning in advance isn’t always fun…. We are all about being spontaneous, but we prefer saving money!
Having been in the travel industry for over 6 years, I am quite familiar with the creating and planning of travel itineraries. It almost is like second nature to me, ideas flow and all of sudden we are ready to leave.
Which Destination Are You Traveling to?
Decide on the country that you are wanting to travel to, your budget that you have to spend and who is traveling with you. Knowing that your travel bestie is on the same page as you, makes travel planning a lot easier – luckily for me, Julia goes with the flow and rocks up at the airport.
Budget-Friendly Car hire Tips
We recently booked car hire with Avis, and noticed that they offer a discount for paying prior to your travel dates. Which we of course opted for.
Booking Your Flight In Advance
Booking flights ahead of your travel dates on early bird discounts will give you an option to play around with flight availability, arrival and departure times.
There are plenty of platforms to look for early bird discounts and monitor flights. Using Google Flights
Planning and booking your next vacation well ahead of your travel dates eliminates unnecessary higher costs and reduces last minute travel stress.
2. Be Flexible with Travel Dates and Destinations
Almost all of our travels have been for a purpose, besides our trip to Bali. That was a really spontaneous vacation and most definitely one of the best destinations that we have traveled to. There is this spiritual – soul refreshing thing about Bali. If you have traveled to Bali, I think you would know exactly what we are talking about…
Julia, being a teacher during our Bali trip, we had to travel during school holidays. Luckily she was able to take the last day off school, so that we could save a few thousand rands.
Traveling during off peak season
Making use of public holidays, vacation time off and working around school break if you have children. It definitely is easier if your job allows you flexibility and to be location independent.
Luckily for Julia and I, we are both currently working fully remotely and have flexibility to travel and work.
Selecting your travel dates
Air fares do increase over peak season and by demand. For example, flights will be a lot cheaper over a midweek day, compared to the same routing the day before Christmas.
Be open to traveling during off peak seasons, shoulder seasons, as well as week days.
Another aspect to look into is traveling outside of the “best time to travel”. We traveled to Bali over December, which is classified outside of the best time to travel, and we had the best time ever.
Yes, we had a few days of rain, but it was so lovely in between some super hot weather.
3. Consider Alternative Accommodations Types
There are so many alternative accommodation types besides booking a hotel.
Yes, hotels are luxurious, but have you seen some stunning Airbnb’s in and around Cape Town and surrounds?
During peak season, hotels are packed to maximum capacity and can get rather chaotic. We are very much into our self care routine and always looking for ways to de-stress, away from the hustle and bustle. If you are like us, and prefer the more laid back accommodation type, Airbnb may be the best alternative accommodation type for you.
Rent Airbnb accommodations
We are all for staying at Airbnb mainly for three very specific reasons.
- We prefer having a self catering accommodation unit for us to prepare our own meals and stick to our eating plan.
- Support smaller properties who rent out their homes or second home to make an additional income.
- More personalized travel experience with first hand knowledge from hosts, especially super hosts like Colin Flynn at his Airbnb in Pinelands.
We have stayed at these Airbnbs and would highly recommend them for your next vacation to South Africa.
Other Airbnbs that we have stayed in are:
For those interested in traveling to New Zealand, here are our top 5 places to visit in New Zealand.
House Swaps with Family and friends
If you are planning on traveling to a country where you have family or friends living there, let them know your travel ideas and perhaps consider a house swap. A house swap is where you swap houses with each other, usually for the same or similar travel dates.
Of course staying with family and friends saves a lot of money, especially in countries where our Rands (ZAR) don’t go as far and accommodation is a huge chunk of your vacation budget.
House and pet sitting
Collaborating with companies like Trusted House Sitters who link you up with suitable families to care for their pets or houses.
Each listing is unique and differs according to the listings requirement. For example, a family requires you to walk their dogs twice a day for one hour each or water their garden and accept parcels arriving at their houses.
This is an awesome way to travel and save money while doing so.
4. Utilize Reputable Travel Agencies
There is nothing worse than dealing with someone in the travel industry that is not an expert in their field and can’t answer simple travel related questions.
When it comes to making your travel booking, make sure to book with a reputable travel agency.
Do your homework to find out if they are a legit company, before you give them all of your money.
There are plenty of horror stories where travelers have been scammed out of thousands of Rands. And sadly, there are people out there that are trying to scam you of your hard earned money.
Fear not, we will share two reputable travel agencies that we recommend you book your travels with.
Reputable Travel Agencies That You Can Book Your Next Vacation With
We have booked with both of these reputable agencies before and highly recommend them to others.
Thompsons Holidays
Thompsons Holidays is a trusted travel agency in South Africa with over 40 years of experience in the industry.
FYI: they are a trusted travel agency not only because I used to work at Thompsons Holidays, but because we have booked a few holidays with them. All of our bookings have been a breeze and the process of booking with them is super simple.
They offer a variety of travel options for both local and international destinations, and have a team of expert travel advisors to assist you with any kind of vacation.
Whether you’re looking for adventure, luxury, or a family getaway, they provide tailored options to suit your needs, making your travel experience hassle-free and enjoyable.
Travel Start
Travelstart is one of South Africa’s leading online travel agencies, offering affordable flights, hotels, car rentals, and holiday packages.
Being able to book all the above on one platform sounds lovely right? It sure is!
Their user-friendly platform makes it easy to compare prices and find the best travel deals, for both local and international trips.
It is definitely one of the easier platforms to navigate with a great user experience.
5. Make Use of SADC Benefits
This one is for our fellow South Africans.
Have you heard of SADC before? Do you know the meaning and how you can benefit from using SADC rates?
We all know the feeling.. Over priced tourist attractions in and around the country, where you end up not participating in seeing beautiful attractions in and around South Africa.
Let’s put an end to that and take your family and friends to see local attractions in and around your area. It might not be a big difference, but it all adds up especially with larger travel groups.
What is SADC?
SADC = Southern African Development Community
For some people, this might be the first time seeing this term. Don’t worry, I only know of it from my days working in the tourism industry.
Which Countries Form SADC?
Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
How to Make Use Of SADC Rates?
When booking accommodation at hotels or lodges, tours and activities make sure to ask if there are discounts for SADC residents. You will most likely have to present your ID or passport to prove this.
You will be able to receive discounted rates on entrance fees to National Parks, lowered pricing for accommodation and sometimes good deals for groups.
Your South African green ID book or ID card isn’t completely useless after all 🙂 Take it with you when traveling to these destinations and attractions and receive the discount you deserve.
By taking advantage of these SADC rates, you and your family can travel more affordably throughout South and Southern Africa.
6. Travel with Your Best Friend
Drag that bestie with you!
Luckily for us, we have each other and whatever travel ideas I recommend, Julia is very much keen.
For those who are new here and don’t know us, you can find out who Off two wander are and the reasons behind our travel blog.
Why traveling with your best friend can save you money
Have you heard of single supplement fees? If not, it is a fee that you are charged for traveling alone. How dare they?
A single supplement fee is an additional fee that is charged to single occupancy travelers when they occupy a room that can accommodate two people. This fee covers the cost difference, as prices are usually based on double occupancy. The single supplement fee varies depending on the provider, whether it be train, hotel, transport or activity.
So, to avoid that single supplement fee, we suggest rounding your friends up and making one amazing friend vacation out of it. It is a lot trickier when it comes to larger groups and accommodating different needs and wants for vacations.
That is why our number 1 pointer, planning is also a huge factor, to avoid any disappointments and unrealistic expectations.
7 Ways To Convince Your Friends to Travel With You
- Reduce accommodation costs: sharing a twin room with two people compared to being charged for 1 person in a hotel room.
- Group discount: Groups are usually offered a discount rate if you can round up a set number of friends. Find out from your travel agent if the trip offers group discount pricing.
- Safety in numbers: yes solo travel is great! But having your friends travel with you is another form of safety so that you have someone with you at all times. Especially in case of emergencies.
- Transport discount: With group bookings, you are usually allocated a bigger vehicle and it is dedicated to only you and your group. Talk about VIP service!
- This is really lovely when you are on a guided tour and have your guide educate you on historic buildings or areas.
- Guide feedback and answers are also more personalized
- Memories: take lots of photos and share your memories on social media platforms like we do on Off two wander’s Instagram page.
- Socializing guru: no need to make new friends in a foreign country. Although this is extremely fun and highly recommended by us 😀 Depending on the country that you are traveling to, it can sometimes be daunting to make new friends.
- Group fun: if you have the same interests as each other, traveling in a group with your friends holds each other accountable to do certain activities and try things that you would never have before – For example: Microlighting over the Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe.
7. Set a Trip Budget and Stick to it
Of course with any holiday, you need to know what kind of budget you are working with. Some countries have set requirements for visa purposes – for those who don’t know, South Africans require a Schengen Visa to travel to most European countries.
For example, Norway requires you to have 500 NOK in savings per day as the guideline for expenses in the country. Another requirement is to have an itinerary planned to submit to the consulate. Luckily, this comes as second nature me as I previously worked in the travel industry. This also made working out daily expenses easier.
We pay everything upfront to make sure that the majority of the bigger expenses are out of the way and stay keep our travels budget-friendly. Knowing that whatever money we spend during the trip are extras, and there are no more surprise bills that still need to be covered.
During our last winter vacation in Norway, we opened up a Credit Card with FNB, and swiped our card on the day to day expenses. It was very simple using our FNB Credit Card while traveling abroad. The only thing that we had to do before leaving South Africa, was let the bank know of our travel dates to prevent them from blocking our card and thinking that it was fraudulent banking activities.
Once we returned from our trip, we split the total in 2 and paid off the total. The total wasn’t too scary, knowing that all the bigger costs were paid off prior to us departing from Cape Town.
Travel Budget Apps To Set a Trip Budget and Stick To It
We are living in a world where apps and software are all around us. And continuously adapting and evolving with the times.
Great for travelers like us, who are all about Budget-friendly travel tips and prefer to stay on track with our finances.
Monefy
Monefy is a user-friendly budgeting app that can be used to track your travel expenses in real time.
It’s your “must have” app to stay on budget, as it allows you to log every purchase, categorize it and gives you an overview on your expenditures.
Being easy to navigate you can easily set daily or trip-specific budget limits, monitor how much you’ve spent, and adjust your spending accordingly.
By keeping everything organized, Monefy ensures you stay within your financial goals while enjoying your travels.
Trabee Pocket
Trabee Pocket is another travel budgeting app, designed to help you stay on top of your expenses while traveling.
It allows you to categorize your spending, track your cash and card transactions, and even create multiple budgets for a single trip.
With features like visual reports and customizable categories, it helps travelers monitor their budget in real-time, ensuring you don’t overspend.
By breaking down your expenses into clear categories, you can better manage your finances and stick to your travel budget effortlessly.
Splitwise
Splitwise is a great tool for managing shared expenses, especially during group travel.
It allows you to track who owes what, split bills evenly or unevenly, and keep a clear record of expenses among friends or travel companions.
This helps you stay within your travel budget by ensuring transparency and accuracy in cost-sharing.
Splitwise also sets reminders for payments and makes settling debts easy via integrations with payment platforms, keeping your finances organized throughout your trip.
Which one of these travel budget apps will you be using to keep track of your spending while on vacation?
Make sure to use one of these travel budget apps to keep track of your expenses and make your travels memorable. No one wants to return back home having overspent, being miserable, and in financial stress where you aren’t able to enjoy your weekends doing unique activities in Cape Town.
Next vacation, let’s go!
There are many different types of travelers these days and various reasons why people travel. From slow travelers working remotely as digital nomads, to travelers who prefer jam packed one week itineraries.
We do prefer slow travel, depending on the country and reason for our travels. Our best slow travel adventure was when we traveled to New Zealand for 3 months. We used most of the above mentioned budget-friendly travel tips to make our Rands go a long way.
We hope that you can use these 7 budget-friendly travel tips to make your next vacation more cost effective.