Ten Tips for a Great Family Vacation While on a Budget

Trav­el­ing on a bud­get does not mean you have to sac­ri­fice a mem­o­rable vaca­tion expe­ri­ence. Fam­ily vaca­tions are meant to be fun and if you are con­tin­u­ously wor­ry­ing about the cost, you could miss out on some great adven­tures. A bud­get vaca­tion requires plan­ning ahead for the mode of trans­porta­tion, place you will stay, meals and what you will do for enter­tain­ment. Set a bud­get and stick to it. If you only carry cash or trav­el­ers checks, you can­not spend more than you have, so leave the credit cards at home. There are thou­sands of options avail­able to have a mem­o­rable vaca­tion with­out spend­ing a for­tune. Cre­ativ­ity and imag­i­na­tion are the two best ways to find the per­fect fam­ily vacation.

1. Trans­porta­tion: If you choose a vaca­tion spot close to your home­town, dri­ving will save hun­dreds of dol­lars on trans­porta­tion fees. Rent­ing an RV may appear to be slightly more expen­sive than trav­el­ing by car but, if you have an RV for trans­porta­tion, you will save a large amount of money that would be oth­er­wise spent on a hotel. If you pre­fer get­ting to the des­ti­na­tion with some­one else doing the dri­ving, con­sider trav­el­ing by train. Train tick­ets are usu­ally dis­counted dur­ing the off sea­sons and it is a good way to see the coun­try­side. Fly­ing can also be less expen­sive than expected if you leave dur­ing the week and book the flight a few weeks in advance.
2. Lodg­ing: Con­sider camp­ing to save a large chunk of money from the lodg­ing expenses. There are thou­sands of camp­sites to choose from rang­ing from totally rough­ing it in the wilder­ness to camp­grounds with resort type ameni­ties. If you have decided to take an RV, the major­ity of camp­grounds have hookups for elec­tric­ity, water and many have cable tele­vi­sion avail­able.
3. Meals: Eat­ing can quickly become one of the most expen­sive parts of the vaca­tion unless you plan ahead. Stay in hotels that offer free break­fast buf­fets and eat a fill­ing break­fast to avoid spend­ing money on snacks between meals. Con­sider rent­ing a vaca­tion condo or hotel room that comes equipped with a kitchen for cook­ing meals. If your vaca­tion includes going to an amuse­ment park, avoid spend­ing a lot of money at the park by eat­ing a big break­fast before going, pack a pic­nic lunch to be eaten at the park and bring plenty of healthy snacks and bot­tles of water.

4. Enter­tain­ment: If you have cho­sen a hotel for lodg­ing, choose one that has plenty of water activ­i­ties, a play­ground on the premises and offers enter­tain­ment. Spend the day walk­ing to explore the sites of the city. Hotels typ­i­cally have a brochure stand in the lobby with coupon book­lets and spe­cial dis­counts avail­able for stay­ing at the hotel. Take advan­tage of the dis­counts avail­able and plan a day or two doing things that you only have a dis­count for

Plan­ning ahead for the type of vaca­tion you will take can save you a lot of money. The goal is to plan, plan and plan in order to save money while mak­ing memories.

5. Cruises: Tak­ing a cruise can be one of the least expen­sive vaca­tions, if you plan ahead. There are two ways to save money on book­ing a cruise: plan the trip sev­eral months in advance and pay for the trip in install­ments or search for last minute dis­count deals. When cruise ships are set to sail and they have not sold out all of the cab­ins, they will offer as much as 75% off of some cruises. Tak­ing a short three day cruise can be had for only a cou­ple of hun­dred dol­lars per per­son and the cruise lines will often give dis­counts for more than two peo­ple in a cabin. When tak­ing a cruise, all of the meals and enter­tain­ment is pro­vided on the ship. The only extras you would have to pay for are alco­holic bev­er­ages, shop­ping and excur­sions off the ship.
6. Amuse­ment parks: The num­ber one rule is to never pay full admis­sion price to enter an amuse­ment park. There are mil­i­tary dis­counts and senior cit­i­zen dis­counts avail­able as well as local dis­counts. Search local news­pa­pers, soda cans or ask a local where to find a coupon for the local amuse­ment park. Buy sou­venirs out­side of the amuse­ment parks and eat meals before enter­ing or pack a pic­nic to eat while inside the park.

7. Local attrac­tions: Vis­it­ing places in your home­town for a short get away are great ways to save money and get some fun fam­ily time in. Pack the car for a three day camp­ing trip at the clos­est camp­grounds and go on hikes, swim in a lake or go fish­ing.
8. Muse­ums: Plan a camp­ing trip or book an inex­pen­sive hotel room near sev­eral muse­ums. Make it a museum week­end by going to a children’s museum, an art museum and a museum of nat­ural his­tory. The admis­sion prices are rel­a­tively inex­pen­sive and there are usu­ally dis­count coupons avail­able in local tourist books.
9. Zoos: Vis­it­ing a zoo is an inex­pen­sive way to get edu­ca­tional and qual­ity time in with the fam­ily. Most zoos have dis­count coupons avail­able on their web­sites. Make it a quick get­away by stay­ing in an inex­pen­sive hotel for the week­end and get­ting a two day zoo pass.

10. Out of the Ordi­nary: Instead of going to the places where hun­dreds of oth­ers will also be spend­ing their vaca­tions, go to unique areas and out of the way places. Visit local farms that have fruit pick­ing or a pet­ting zoo. There are also places nearby that tourists visit, but locals seem to for­get about.

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