The art of Budget Travel

Travel has been so cheap for so long that we have all forgotten how to get the very most from our travel budgets, whatever their size. Flights have been so cheap and package deals so easy to take that the art of budget conscious independent travel is all but dead; so how exactly is it done?

At first glance, there appear to be three major areas to consider;

1) Destination
2) Accommodation
3) Travel

Firstly; destination. Once you have decided what sort of holiday you are after, be it a ski break, gourmet tour, lazy beach getaway, family holiday or romantic escape, naturally, thoughts turn to destination. This is where a little research comes in. Eastern European holidays are notoriously good value for money, especially for ski holidays, although Andorra will always be a leading light for cheap ski holidays, especially for those that enjoy a good night out after a long day on the slopes. Generally though, resorts are expensive, and the more independent your holiday, the larger the possible savings.

Accommodation tends to be the greatest area where you can save money. Amazingly, research shows that taking a private holiday home is actually cheaper than a hotel room, and by some 30-40% too. So, not only are you getting space, privacy and a little luxury, you can save some significant cash too. The more people you get together, the lower the prices too…the biggest selection of holiday homes to rent can be found at Holiday-Rentals.

The location of your accommodation makes a huge difference too. Again, the vague rule that resorts are expensive applies, and by staying just outside the main resort you can enjoy significantly cheaper prices for accommodation, food and even tours and trips.

Travel; travel is always a slightly sore point, and with budget airlines going out of business left, right and centre, it is a subject that I feel is very important to highlight.

The old rule of early birds and worms still applies when it comes to finding the cheapest flights, but of course, this is a risky strategy in the current financial climate, so what can you do? As far as flights are concerned, it is a risk. Booking with major airlines is the best way to ensure the company is still in business by the time it comes to actually boarding your flight, but this immediately negates the early-bird savings.

There is no easy answer to this see-saw I am afraid. However, you can always think a little ‘outside the box’. Europe’s rail network is astonishingly good, even connecting our little island to the rest of the continent, and you can be in any far flung corner of Europe within 36 hours for very little money. If you have decided to fly, just check to see if a hire car doesn’t actually work out cheaper than the airport shuttle bus both ways. Should there be a small group of you travelling together, this is an especially good way of saving you money during the week.

There are plenty of other ways to save significant money on holiday without reducing quality, luxury or enjoyment too, self catering accommodation and independently arranged tours and trips being among the most obvious.

Jack Norell works for Holiday-Rentals.co.uk and writes about finding cheap flights among other holiday topics.