Keeping costs down when travelling is important, so let us show you how to find the best budget travel deals.
Searching online for the best budget travel deals is something we can all do now. We’re all our own travel agent!
Granted, with so much to choose from it can be tricky choosing the best sites for cheap flights and holidays. Switching between tabs, signing up for newsletters, comparing one for the other… Yeah, it’s a bit of a pain.
If you’re trying to get the cheapest holiday or looking for cheap flights or cheap hotels, we’ve got you covered. Here at GoneTravelling we swear by these sites and have used them numerous times to great effect.
Finding Cheap Flights
Getting there can sometimes be the most expensive part of your flight, especially if you’re going long haul. But finding cheap flights is childs play with SkyScanner.
You don’t even have to be exact, you can just browse the cheapest flights across a whole month. Enter your departure airport and try putting in ‘everywhere’ in the destinations. In the date box you can then put ‘whole month’ or ‘cheapest month’ to find the absolute best flight deals.
If you didn’t know now you know. And it will change your flight booking habits forever.
We also like uGOamigo for great flight deals and travel experiences, which is definitely one for the bookmarks.
Finding Cheap Beach Holidays
Who doesn’t love a good beach holiday? How about finding the best deals on budget beach holidays? Yes, we thought as much.
One of our favourites here at Gone Travelling is the very popular OnTheBeach. A UK based site, it offers some of the cheapest package prices for the most popular beach holiday destinations. You can select if you just want to book the hotel package only or the whole shabang.
Our favourite way to find a deal is head to the ‘deal finder’ tab, select your departure airport and date and run a search. In the side bar you can then thin it down by country, actual date of departure and type of accommodation.
OnTheBeach generally deals with very popular resort type areas like Tenerife, the Costa del Sol, Cyprus, Crete etc. However we did find a fantastic cheap package deal to Malta out of season. This included half board, flights and transfers for 2 which came in at under £500. Very highly recommended.
Another recommended site is BlueSea which also offers a selection of package destinations.
If you’re flexible then take a look at HolidayPirates who can offer some crazy deals to all kinds of places.
TravelZoo also have some great cheap holiday package and flight options.
Finding Cheap Hotels
Another big expenditure, finding a good deal on hotels can be a challenge. However there are now so many ways to find a cheap hotel deal, or at least an affordable deal.
Our go to hotel booking site is Booking.com. It’s easy, has a great range of hotels, apartments and hostels and offers things like free cancellation on many bookings.
Another firm favourite is AirBnB which has revolutionised the world of hotels. The deal is finding local apartments to stay in often much cheaper than hotels in the area and often without the city tax. If you haven’t signed up yet then take a look.
You’ll often find great deals at TravelZoo, a multinational site which often lists entire top notch hotels for knock down prices. We’ve had some great deals in the UK and Spain thanks to TravelZoo.
For those looking for the cheapest possible option, for example when backpacking, HostelWorld gives you the best deals on backpacker hostels and hotels around the world.
For those on a super shoestring, try CouchSurfing. This is essentially staying at someones house for free so you will need to respect your guests and not necessarily treat the place like a hotel. It’s often good form to bring a gift too. Usually a box of chocolates or bottle of wine.
Finding The Best Activity Deals
One of the best things about travelling is doing ‘stuff’. Going wakeboarding in Jamaica, desert safari in Dubai, scuba diving in Australia or skydiving in Italy.
If you have a look before you leave you can often find cheap deals on adventure or activities by checking sites like Groupon. Look under the ‘things to do’ category for cheap deals on everything from hang gliding to jet ski hire. There is often a local variant – for example Malta has DealToday, New Zealand has BookMe.
Search online for ‘activity deals+country or city’.
Cheap Skiing Or Snowboarding Deals
Us at GoneTravelling like a few board sports and so have been on a few ski holidays. The best and cheapest ski/snowboard packages we’ve found yet were at SunWeb.
We got a hotel for 5 days in Mayerhofen, Austria with lift passes and equipment rental for GB£389. This was an all inclusive deal with transfers to the gondola, although flights and transfers from the airport weren’t included (optional extras that we passed on).
SunWeb are a Dutch company and offer European ski destinations including France, Italy and Austria. We can also testify that their customer service department are great as we had to do several fiddly changes to our booking.
This is by far the cheapest ski and snowboard deal we have found online. However, we have also spotted some great deals on Inghams
Ski Total are another great site who specialise in chalet bookings but offer the whole package too.
Best Travel Insurance Deals
One thing you don’t want to scrimp on is travel insurance and considering it is often reasonably priced there is no excuse. You never know what could happen, so make sure you check the details such as the excess, if it includes being airlifted home and if any pre-existing conditioned are covered.
Check out Big Blue Travel Insurance who are specialists in the field of travel insurance.
Getting Around – The Cheapest Options
Travelling from place to place can be expensive and really adds up if you’re zipping around here and there. Finding the cheapest way to get around depends on where you are but as a general rule.
- If you’re in a larger city for a few days, hire a bicycle. Remember to get a helmet too!
- Walking is often the best way to see a place, even in bigger cities. And it’s free!
- Local buses are usually cheaper than trains and the metro.
- Check for travel cards or smartcards which often save you money.
If you’re travelling inter-city then it usually helps to book in advance. Buses are normally cheaper than trains although sometimes the distance/effort may warrant spending the extra money.
- Book in advance.
- Use buses where possible.
- Check local budget airlines for the best deals (in advance).
Hitch-hiking can be a good way to get between cities. You can also use car sharing sites such as BlaBlaCar which can save you a lot of money and even make you a few friends!
Don’t forget to check out our article about the best and cheapest places to travel.
If there are any special tricks you use to find the best budget travel deals then please let us know in the comments below. Found this information useful or interesting? Remember: Sharing is caring!
