Budget Travel: 12 Secrets to Saving

There is nothing difficult about making your trip on a budget. A little planning and knowing a few saving secrets is all it takes. Flights, hotels, visas, transport, food, communications - on all these points, you can reduce costs if you try a little. MAKE-TRIP shares a dozen helpful tips with you, how to travel cheap... Hurry up to find out!

1. Travel on your own!

The first (and most important) law: don't be afraid to travel on your own... It's simple, it's interesting, it's cheap. Some people do not even imagine that it is possible to travel abroad without the involvement of agencies and other organizations - they believe that this is the only way to guarantee their safety. And in the end, they either get a boring rest, mainly in a supine position, or spend unthinkable amounts on more or less non-standard rest. Traveling independently is not only possible, but also necessary! Only an independent trip can be considered a real trip, everything else is a tourist vacation. Anyone can organize a great trip for themselves, you just need to show a little independence. Check out our tips for planning independent travel to different countries and cities.

In our opinion, it is especially interesting to travel by car (personal or rented) - complete freedom of movement! If you are interested in this option, read our tips for traveling by car. Traveling on a motorcycle is amazing too!

Going on a package vacation, you limit yourself and will hardly get as many impressions and memories as from an independent trip. But we understand that many people are not ready to decide on an independent trip (especially abroad). One way or another, a ticket is better than not going anywhere at all! Vacation on a tour package can also be budgetary. If you are lucky enough to find a profitable last minute tour, you can fly on vacation for only 5-10 thousand rubles per person. To learn how to find such deals and vacation on a budget, read our tips for finding cheap tours.

2. Find the cheapest flights

Finding and booking flights at the lowest price is the most essential skill for budget travel. The main rule that must always be remembered is that the earlier a purchase is made, the more chances you have to find an attractive option. Our 15 Jedi Tips will help you become the master of finding the cheapest flights. It makes sense to track the current airline promotions on our website and see our special reviews of the cheapest ways to get to a particular country or city.

Also, be sure to read about how to travel to Europe cheaply - in this article we talked about the schemes of budget entry into the Schengen countries through the European countries bordering Russia. In addition, we advise you to find out about low-cost airlines that allow you to fly for amounts close to zero (it will not be a problem to buy tickets for 20/30/40 euros).

The best way to search for flights is Skyscanner, which will find you the best deals to any destination. This is a good helper for independent travelers, as he searches for tickets among hundreds of airlines and does not charge a single ruble of commission from the buyer. The search engine makes it possible to view the cost of tickets to any country at once from all cities of Russia (or any other country) - a very convenient function for budget travelers, it allows you to find an option at the best cost.

We also recommend that all travel lovers get an All Airlines Tinkoff-Bank bank card (as a gift: the first year of service is free). For all purchases, you will receive cashback in the form of miles, which you can use to pay for tickets purchased from any airline! Especially high cashback is accrued from booking tickets and hotels (up to 10%). Also, the owner is provided with a free travel insurance policy for travel around the world. This is a really great card - we use it with pleasure and get nice bonuses (for example, in 2017, we flew to Istanbul and Phuket for free). Find out more in my review of the Tinkoff card >>

3. Make a visa yourself

Why resort to the help of an intermediary and pay him twice or three times the amount for this? You don’t turn to agents if you want to buy something in the supermarket, so you don’t need it here either. After all, we were going to travel economically, and not to increase the well-being of strangers.

Find on the Internet information about the nearest consulate or visa center of the required country, collect all the required documents and go to them. Many people believe that it is safer to do through an agency, as if the probability of a visa refusal is lower. This is a misconception, since the whole mission of these intermediaries is that they will take the documents to the consulate instead of you. Tips on how to properly collect documents to increase your chances of obtaining a visa are easy to find on the Internet. Our website also has a section on visas for a number of popular destinations.

4. Search and book accommodation correctly

To make travel cheap, you need to find affordable accommodation. You can use the excellent Roomguru.ru metasearch engine and choose the hotel you need according to your criteria and at a reasonable price. This resource compares prices among different booking agencies and finds the best deals. A large database of hotels, hostels, guest houses and so on. We recommend that you read our tips on how to book hotels cheaper.

An alternative to hotels is the popular private rental service Airbnb.ru. Try to find an apartment or house for your trip. It is much more comfortable and often cheaper (especially if you are traveling with a company or family). The service has a huge selection of unique accommodation (beautiful apartments, villas, and even residential boats and castles!), Which will make your trip much more enjoyable and memorable.

And for those who generally want to live for free, the resource Couchsurfing is vital, where, after registering and creating a personal profile, you can find people who are ready to shelter travelers at home. The network covers millions of users around the world.

5. Travel light

Take only what you really need - don't burden yourself with unnecessary baggage. As a result, there are a number of advantages: there is no need to wait long for baggage claim, there is no threat of losing it, there is no need to pay for overweight (and with low-cost airlines, any baggage in general is always paid separately and can cost you up to hundreds of euros), and even moving around the airport and in the destination will be much easier and more enjoyable if you do not have to lug huge suitcases and bags with you. We even fly to Asia for six months of wintering with only one backpack per person.

Read also our tips on packing for your trip and building a travel medicine cabinet. By the way, we recommend shopping at Aliexpress (we order camping equipment, equipment, and numerous accessories there) - it turns out much more profitable than shopping in ordinary stores. Pay attention to reviews to choose the best product. Another good store for sports and travel goods is Decathlon (where we bought a tent, hiking clothes and other equipment for trips to Altai and the Caucasus).

6. Inquire in advance about airport transfers

Taxi is always the most expensive way to travel, it is much more profitable to use public transport: bus, metro, train. Read about all the possible options for getting from the airport to the city before departure - this way you will save a lot of money.

However, sometimes it is more convenient and cheaper to use an individual transfer - for example, when you are traveling in a large company and order a multi-seater car. For these cases, we can recommend the reliable KiwiTaxi service. Better yet, rent a car right at the airport (you can find the best deal on Rentalcars.com).

7. Night transfer instead of a hotel

Night travel by train and bus will make travel cheaper. This is a good opportunity to simultaneously save time and money on the hotel. Better to take first class tickets - you will have to overpay a little, but you will be comfortable and you will have a good night's sleep. It is not so convenient to travel in buses, so it is better not to overdo it and not plan for yourself daily night journeys - your body will swear. However, in some places there are slipper buses, the peculiarity of which is recumbent soft shelves instead of standard seats (we have made night journeys on these more than once in Vietnam). This is definitely a great option for a budget trip without sacrificing comfort.

8. Use discounts

Groupon gives you the opportunity to buy coupons with a significant discount for a variety of things and events: restaurants, shops, entertainment, attractions, outdoor activities, etc. If you are a student, a young teacher, or you are just less than 30 years old, then it makes sense to get a card ISIC, ITIC or IYTC. In Europe and North America, you can get good discounts on them in a variety of places - from cafes to museums.

9. Save on communications

Use Skype or Viber to communicate with Russia. Connect to local operators for local calls and 3G internet. By the way, you can use Skype to call any landline and mobile phone numbers - these calls are paid, but inexpensive (for example, we used this opportunity to call from Vietnam to Russia and unblock the Sberbank card).

10. Use travel passes

Find out about the city transit ticket system. Typically, there are many types of passes, depending on the mode of transport, duration and travel zones. Think about what type of ticket is most suitable for you. If you want to save money and decide to travel like a hare, keep in mind that in many countries (especially in Europe) the fines for free riders are very high.

Also in many popular tourist cities there are special museum mapsthat offer discounts on attractions and skip lines.

11. Organize excursions yourself

It is always cheaper to get to the place you are interested in without the participation of agencies and guides, besides, you yourself make up your visit program - there is no need to adjust to the given schedule and rhythm.

12. Eat in local establishments

Eat cheap and tasty while traveling! Restaurants catering to tourists always charge prices. And in places preferred by the residents themselves, you will find real national cuisine, minimal prices and the most delicious dishes. If you see a lot of local visitors in a restaurant or cafe, it means that the food is excellent there - feel free to come in too!

To find a good establishment, as well as learn about the most delicious local cuisine and food prices, refer to our gastronomic reviews for different cities and countries: Abkhazia, Bulgaria, Greece, Cyprus, UAE, Montenegro, Amsterdam, Barcelona, ​​Paris, St. Petersburg.