Budget travel

Budget travel: see more for less

A smaller budget does not mean a smaller trip. With a few habits, and someone to split the big costs with, you can travel further and longer without overspending.

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Budget travel is not about going without

Travelling cheaply does not mean grim rooms and skipped experiences. Smart budget travel is spending on purpose: cutting the costs that do not matter to you so you can spend on the ones that do, and often having a more local trip because of it.

One lever beats every other trick: sharing the cost with someone else. Rooms, transport, guides and day trips cost much less per person when two people split them.

Smart ways to travel for less

Habits that stretch a budget without shrinking the trip.

Be flexible with dates
Flying mid-week and avoiding peak season can cut fares and room prices a lot. If your dates can move, your budget will thank you.
Travel in shoulder season
The weeks just before or after peak season often bring good weather, fewer crowds and much lower prices.
Split costs with a partner
Share a room, a rental car, a guide or a villa. Splitting fixed costs is the biggest saving any traveler has.
Eat where the locals eat
Street food and neighbourhood places are cheaper, and often the best meals of the trip.
Slow down
Staying longer in fewer places cuts transport costs, opens up weekly rates and lets you see a place properly.
Compare before you book
Compare flights and stays, book ahead where prices climb, and do not take the first option you see.

The biggest saving: share the fixed costs

Many of the biggest travel costs are fixed: they cost about the same for one person or two. A private room, a rental car, the taxi from the airport, a guide, a boat for the day. Split two ways, each one roughly halves per person, and a small group saves more again.

How to split travel costs with a travel partner