The times of staying at home and lockdowns are finally over. We try not to say the C-Word so often anymore and we are just SO ready to spread out to finally travel the world again.
If that would be just so easy…
The expolding energy costs, rising grocery bills and sky-high transportation prices don’t make life so easy on us. But with the right tips and tricks you can still fullfill the dream of visiting other cultures and places.
Read about your 39 travel hacks to save good money and travel on a budget:
Table of Contents
Transportation hacks
Destination, day and time:
#1 Choose your destination wisely. You can apply as much travel hacks as you want: if you fly to Dubai, it will always be more expensive than doing a backpacker vacation in Indonesia.
If you aren’t flexible about your destination, because you travel for work, education or to visit someone, than keep on reading. The next 38 travel hacks are for you!
#2 If you can, try to travel on Tuesdays or Wednesdays. Not only are those the cheapest days for travelling on airplanes and trains. You also aren’t as likely to have too much traffic when travelling with the car. The most expensive and crowed days (as you might already imagine) are Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
#3 Not only the day, but also the time of you travel can have a huge effect on your travel budget. Night travels are not so popular and therefore cheaper. While sleeping on an airplain, train or bus you also save the money for another night in a hotel. So with this travel hack, you save double!
If you are like me and you are quite sensible about your sleeping position, lights or noises, you might want to apply this travel hack only to your way back home. Nobody likes to start his vacation exhausted and tired.
Travelling with the car:
#4 The prices at the gas station are climbing high up. So why not using the empty seats in your car and make some money with them? With carpooling apps like BlablaCar or twogo you can find co-drivers and save up to 3/4 of your fuel costs. I personally like to use BlablaCar and made just great experiences with it as a driver. Give it a try!
#5 If you don’t own a car, carpooling can be still for you. Travelling together in someone else’s car can be really fun and more important gentle on your travel budget. I never tried BlablaCar as a passenger, but the most people I met on my journeys had only good experiences.
Personally, I recommend you carpooling only if you don’t have an important appointment at your destination. Being a passenger you still depend on the travel plans of someone else.
#6 Check out the fuel costs before you travel. In some countries the price for benzin and diesel varies a lot during the day. Make sure to inform yourself when it’s the cheapest time to fill up.
When passing through countries you might as well get informed about the fuel costs abroad. Try to fill up your car in the country with the lower price and in the meantime just get what is absoultely necessary.
#7 Get informed about the traffic ruels of the country you are driving in. Nothing is more annoying than getting a ticket because you didn’t know about the parking ruels, speed limits or traffic-restricted zones.
Travel hacks for flying:
#8 While saving money on an ariplane ticket, the biggest effect has the right platform of booking. I’ve been using Skyscanner for the last years and never looked back. Sometimes, just out of interest, I tried other platforms, but never found a cheaper flight.
#9 In order to get the really cheap flights you still need to apply some tricks. Skyscanner, just like Booking and other comparison portals are quit big on Cookies. Did it ever happen that everytime you got back looking up the same flight, the price got a little higher? Yep, that’s exactly what I’m talking about.
Use their own tricks against them and book your flights only after deleting all your Cookies and using the Ingonito tab of your browser. Sometimes it lowers the price even more using a VPN of another country.
#10 This one is a travel hack I learned painfully myself. Since some time cheap airlines “recommend” you to do the online check-in. Only that it is not a recommendation, but more an obligation. If you want to avoid paying extra at the airport, always make sure to get the online check-in done from home.
#11 This one is kinda obvious: try to bring as less luggage as possible. The cheap airlines not only make you pay extra already for the hand luggage, they will punish you immediately if your luggage is overweight.
So think twice when packing. A lot of things you think you will need are actually unecessary. For example the 15th shirt for a five day trip. Even if it’s your favorite 
#12 If you travel overseas, it could be a good idea to check out different airports. It can be cheaper to fly to an airport far away from your destination and take in in-country flight after. Remember that some caribbean islands are french. So flying to the Carribean is considered as an in-country flight if you take off in France. The same is true for very big countries, like China, America, Brasil and Russia.
Even if you travel smaller distances, checking out different airports can save you some cash. You can still take the train, a Blablacar or a rental car the hit your final destination.
#13 Getting a tour and stay in a foreign country instead of just waiting hours for you connecting flight? Sounds crazy, but it is possible. To be honest, this is the only one of all 39 travel hacks I haven’t tried out myself yet. Thrifty Nomads explains you how to do almost free layovers. I have to say, I’m convinced!
A train ride: your travel hacks
#14 Let’s not pretend: train rides can be quite expensive… Even if it’s bad for the planet, sometimes taking the car or travelling in the air is just a lot cheaper.
For travelling within Europe, my favorite tool is The Trainline. It includes tickets and prices for the state companies of Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, France, Spain and international companies like Flixbus, Eurostar and Thalys.
Sometimes it can make a huge difference if you book the same train ride with the Italian or the German train company. Let’s make sure you get the best offer!
#15 Instead of booking your international or interregional travel all in once, check out the prices of each regional train line.
I know, this means making a big effort. You will have to spend some time. But if you can get the same travel for half of the money, isn’t this a good deal?
#16 If you plan to stay and move in a country for a longer time, monthly packages might interest you. The same is true for very expensive connections.
Depending on your destination, monthly tickets are more or less expensive. If you are travelling regional instead of international, also the regions special offers might interest you. You probalbly won’t save hunderest of Euros, but giving it a try won’t hurt you either.
Carsharing: The short distance travel hack
But one important thing you shouldn’t forget to do: make sure that your drivers license is valid in the specific country, especially if you travel overseas!
Travel hacks for Accomondation
#18 All-together it’s often cheaper to get an apartment instead of an hotel room. You will be able to cook for yourself and you’re not depending on expensive restaurant food.
When travelling with the car or train, you can even bring some food from home. I don’t recommend doing that when travelling by plane, since your luggage will get heavier and you eventually have to pay the overweight or extra luggage
#19 Some credit cards offer you a little discount when booking hotels with them. Some other might offer you bonuses if you spend a certain amount of money by paying with the credit card.
Either way, use the benefits of paying with the credit card if you will spend that money anyway!
Booking an AirBnB: two travel hacks
#20 When you found a nice apartment (and there are plenty!) on AirBnB, always double check it with Booking.com. Sometimes you might find the same apartment on Booking.com for less money.
And even if you don’t, Booking.com has a best price policy. So you might get some extras like an inluded breakfast there and reclaim the difference of pricing after.
#21 So you already chose to save yourself expensive restaurant bills every evening by booking an apartment. Let’s see now, how you can save buying groceries.
The first thing to do is asking your hosts about the weekly market of the town. Especially shortly before the closing hour you will get a lot of food with a big discount.
Another trick are foodsharing apps like toogoodtogo. Depending on the app, you can get groceries completely free from privats or with a big discount up to 75% from supermarktes and stores. Try it and you won’t regret it.
Saving with Booking.com
#22 It makes quite a difference if you are booking your hotel room over the desktop or phone. Booking.com has a lower pricing if you are booking from a mobil device. So be smart and book from your phone!
#23 You definitely want to take part in the Genius Program of Booking.com. Not only might you get a free breakfast, you will also have acess to special offers only for members of the program.
It doens’t cost you anything to take part in the program, you simply collect points everytime you book via Booking.com. It never hurts to use some free discounts.
#24 The same that was true for Skyscanner, is true for Booking.com. With the power of Cookies, they are using your browser feed against you to rise their prices and make you book faster.
Make sure to search and book your hotes in the incognito tab, after deleting all of your Cookies. Booking with a VPN might save you some extra cash.
Travel hacks for safety
The right insurance
#25 The insurance: the one of the travel hacks you never think you need, until you really need it. Let’s say you booked a flight and you are absolutely sure you’ll take it. But then some idiot crashes with their bike into you and you can’t travel anymore.
Now what you don’t want to do is buying a travel insurance with the cheap airline you booked the flight with. They usually do not include a lot of scenarios and they still make you pay.
Before buying another insurance, check out, if your credit card does already include a travel insurance. If it doesn’t, here you find an overview over the best travel insurances in 2022.
#26 Even more important than the travel insurance is an international health insurance. Same scenario, somebody crashes into you with their bike. Only that it happens abroad and not at home.
Also with the health insurance you should check out, if it is already included with your credit cards. If it’s not, than ask your national or private health insurance, if they have some options for you.
Travel hacks for financing
#27 Be aware that it can cost a lot to exchange money. Try to pay with the credit card as often as you can. If you have a decent card, it won’t cost you a cent.
You still want to bring some cash. If it is cheaper to withdraw money from your bank or to exchange your money depends a lot on your credit card conditions and the country you are travelling to. If you want to go to an currancy exchange, check their reviews on Google Maps. 4.0 – 5.0 Stars means, that they don’t ask a high comission.
#28 Even if you can pay with credit card in most countries, you should always bring as much cash as you could afford to lose. You never know what happens and abroad you have to solve upcoming problems mostly by yourself.
Try to divide the cash and put it in different bags or pockets. The risk will be smaller to lose it all at once.
#29 Budget travel hacks apply to everyone, no matter how much money you have. Before you head off, think about you fix costs like hotel and transportation and about how much money you can spend on food, activities and shopping.
The most important part though is to stick to your travel budget! Every extra coffee or trip with the metro costs you extra money and you might spend more than you can afford.
If you want to know how to attend fun activites and eat out for less money, keep ready for the discount travel hacks!
Discounts: the fun travel hacks
#30 If you want to save on attending fun activities, you should check out Groupon. The plattfrom offers coupons for 48 countries and a big vary of activities. I’m sure you will find some fun things to do there.
#31 Even cheaper than discounts is the free stuff you can do. You don’t always have to spend a lot to have a good time. Wether you take a walk in Rome to visit the sights of the city or you take a hike in Peru – sometimes the unforgettable days are the ones with lowest costs.
Extra tip: In Italy you can enter many museums for free on the first Sunday of the month.
#32 There are also some travel hacks how to save eating out. You can surely find some restaurants offers on Groupon. On specialized plattforms for food like The Fork you can even find some pretty decent restaurants with a discount up to 70%.
#34 Always, always, always bring your student card and ask if you can get a discount with it. Especially in Europe many activities have a lower price for students and young people. If you want to be sure, that your Student ID is valid abroad, upgrade it to an ISIC card.
#35 While others turn totally crazy during the Black Friday, be clever and book your flights and accommodation for your next trip on this day. Not only fashion, beauty and electronic shops have big discounts during the Black Week. Also Airlines and Hotels have some fine offers.
#36 Join free member programs of stores you shop in. Just lately I saw that my H&M member card included a temporal discount code of 20% for Booking.com.
Let me know in the comments where else you got discounts in member programs!
Earn money while travelling
#37 You could think about renting your own home while travelling. You anyway won’t need your own bed when you are out travelling. With subrenting your place, you could earn some money while exploring the world.
If you live in a rental, be sure that your landlord and the roommates you might have, are okay with that.
#38 Same like renting your place, renting your car while you are out travelling is a possiblity to earn good money. Check on Google if your country has a platform to rent privat cars.
#39 This one is a classic travel hack of backpackers: work abroad! Whether you get a propper job or you offer your skills to other travellers: your creativity is the only limit!
So these were the 39 travel hacks that help you to save a lot of money on your next trip!
Let me know which ones you have already applied and which ones you want to try out next.
If you have some more travel hacks how to save money travelling, share it with us in the comments.
