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Tips for Saving Money on Family Vacation

Spring break and summer are around the corner, which might mean it’s time to plan your next family vacation. Trips together as a family are a great chance to take one big recess and make long-lasting memories.

We believe when your family makes time to get away to unplug, reconnect, and share experiences and adventures together, your family will build stronger bonds for the long haul.

We also understand that taking a family trip can get expensive super quick. Airfare, gas, lodging, adventurous activities, plus eating out and ice cream stops can make a big dent in your wallet faster than you can say Wally World.

No one wants to come home to the cost of a vacay looming on their credit card for months after.

There are lots of simple ways to save money on family vacation, so we’ve rounded up 27 smart tips to help you take an awesome vacation on a budget and avoid racking up debt. Get the upper hand on your finances by practicing some of the following tips to save on your next trip.

1) Be flexible

If you can flex on your travel dates, even within just a day or two, you stand the chance of saving considerably on airfare and hotels. If your kids are in school, consider allowing them to miss one day if it means saving hundreds on flights or activities. Many of the following tips will lean on your flexibility.

2) Travel in the off-season

Every two years, all the girls from my maternal grandmother’s side take a trip together as a way to stay in touch since grandma’s passing. We always travel the weekend after Easter, when most everyone else is back at school or back to work. This year, we will stay in a beach house in warm, sunny Cape San Blas, Florida in April for low off-season rates.

3) When flying, leave a day earlier

Get a head start before everyone else heads out over a holiday. For example, we flew out to Arizona on a Thursday evening, one day before our kid’s official Winter Break began. Our teenagers arranged to take their Friday finals earlier in the week, and we saved even more on the plane tickets when we returned the following Thursday.

4) book flight legs separately

When looking into longer flights that will require a layover somewhere, act as your own travel agent by researching flight costs as if you were booking each leg separately. This summer, we’re headed to Europe with our four kids and we saved thousands of dollars by booking our first round trip leg from Denver to New York City with Frontier Airlines. We’re opting to stay and play in NYC for 36 hours before we embark our flight with Level Airline to Paris. We are paying less than $495 for each person to get to Europe and back in June. We saved considerably in the same way when we flew to Andalusia Spain for my parents’ 50th wedding anniversary.

5) Travel light

We recently flew to Arizona over Christmas, and since we knew we could do laundry at my mother’s house, we packed only a few outfits each and walked on the airplane with just a backpack each. Likewise, we saved big on our trans-Atlantic flights by not paying for carry-ons or checked baggage. We plan to travel with smaller backpacks holding just a few outfits each — along with our bare necessities that can fit under the airplane seat. This will also make traveling easier as we make our way through big cities on the Eurail and public transportation.

6) Rack up travel awards for a free flight

If you use credit cards* for their rewards and pay your entire balance off each month like we do, consider one like the United Explorer Card*. In the last six months, we have very quickly racked up travel rewards (that never expire!) and it looks like my husband and I will reap two free round trip flights to Hawaii. Plus, the awards never expire. *If credit cards are bad news for you, please consider this tip rubbish.

7) Book early

Especially if you’re planning travel around major holidays, it pays to book your flights, rental cars, or lodging early. Don’t wait til the week of a holiday as most everything will have shot up in price.

8) book at the last minute

If you like living on the edge, and you’re flexible about where you’re going or staying, wait to book your vacation home about two weeks out when some owners are willing to drop their price if you ask them. We booked a vacation home in Marathon, Florida - the middle Keys - just a few weeks before spring break began. We asked the owner if they’d rent us the house at a reduced rate and ended up saving 25%. It never hurts to ask — and the Keys ended up being one of our top favorite vacations.

9) Ship your stuff instead of paying for checked bags

Instead of paying for checked baggage, it might be cheaper to ship your stuff instead. If you are going on a camping trip or some other travel that requires a lot of gear, it might make more sense to ship your luggage ahead of time instead of paying checked bag fees at the airline. I read on T&L that there are also services like LugLess that can make your travel easier. Order big items like diapers or last-minute snacks etc. and have them sent directly to your hotel or rental. Amazon offers same-day delivery at some Disney World hotels.

10) Rent your car from outside the airport

Add bringing your own toll transponder to avoid fees from the rental agency, and you can save big when renting your vacation vehicle. Say no thank you to any insurance offered by the rental company (after you’ve double checked with your insurer or credit card company to make they’ve got you covered in rental cars). Decline all prepaid gas options at the rental counter, and always fill up the tank before returning the car.

11) Hit the road instead of flying

As a family of six, it often makes more sense for us to drive instead of fly to our vacation destination. Plus, there are always fun places to stop along the way. When we drove 800+ miles to Arizona for our epic adventure to Havasupai Falls, we were also able to stay in a historic Route 66 town, drive to Horseshoe Bend, and have adventures in Zion National Park.

Rent a Class C RV for your next outdoor adventure vacation.

12) house swap

With friends and family you trust, consider house swapping. We’ve allowed different friends and family to stay in our home in Colorado even while we’re away, knowing they have offered to return the favor. Got close ties with friends or family who own a second home? Reach out to see if they would “rent” it to you for a fair price, offering to pay a cleaning fee or to clean it well before you leave. This has worked out for us many times.

13) Tent camp in national parks

Many of our best family vacations have been in America’s National Parks. Tent camp within the national park or in a campground just outside the park entrance, and treat yourself to eye candy, hammock hanging, and outdoor adventure for days. Not into camping? Rent an RV. Here’s 21 of USA’s best national parks to explore with your kids - we’ve been to most of them.

14) Vacation homes are often cheaper

Since there’s six of us, renting a vacation home, condo, or cabin is almost always the budget friendly option. Not only can we spread out, have the luxury of more than one bathroom, but we can buy groceries and eat most of our meals in, saving a couple of nights for eating dinner out. On the flip side, consider renting out your own home as a way to earn money for future vacations if you happen to live in vacation-worthy area.

15) Crash with family or friends

This is a gimme, and comes with the assumption that you are willing to return the favor. Our kids favorite part of our two week California road trip? Spending four nights with long-time, super fun friends who just happen to have a backyard paradise complete with swimming pool and trampoline.

16) Mix up your sleeping accommodations

Most of our long road trips find us laying our heads in a variety of places, from nice hotels, to primitive camping. On our Utah road trip, we stayed in Hampton Inns, tent camped in national parks, booked a last minute cabin in Bryce, and crashed in a friend’s home along the way.

17) Pack a cooler

On road trips, we always travel with a cooler. That way we can stop for picnic lunches, spend a lot less money on food, and eat healthier too. My grandma was a pro at road side picnics, and I’ve carried on her tradition. Our Stowaway Max Cargo Carrier fastened on our hitch allows this family of six to pack a cooler and still have leg room.

18) stay in hotels with free breakfast

This one’s a no-brainer, but it should be mentioned nonetheless. Also, check to see that your hotel has a mini fridge in the room and a microwave somewhere on the premises for making popcorn for those late movie nights back at the hotel.

19) Know where to look for deals

We used the Hopper app and Google Flights to watch flight prices for our upcoming trip to Europe this summer. Hopper predicts prices for flights and claims 95% accuracy up to 1 year in advance. Watch a trip right in the app and they’ll send you a notification when it's the best time to buy - either suggesting you book now or wait a little longer. Hopper is how we discovered we could fly cheap to New York City, and searching Google Flights led me to cheap airfares to Paris via Level Airline. When it comes to vacation condos, look for inexpensive or last-minute stays in someone else’s timeshare on Ebay or last minute hotel stays via Hotwire.

20) Bring your own gear

If you own it and have room to bring it, then throw your bikes or kayaks up on the car rack. Going to the beach? Toss in your snorkel gear and shade canopy. Camping? Throw in your wiffle ball and bat, and don’t forget your fishing rods. ALWAYS pack a swimsuit wherever you go, a frisbee for road trip breaks, and maybe even a couple of inner tubes for floating. Using your own gear allows for loads of free fun at your destination.

21) Stay outside the city center

Prices for vacation homes and condos drop the further out they are from the city center. Look for homes near a bus or light rail station that can get you into the heart of the city quickly. Neighborhoods on the outskirts of town will surprise you with their own bit of charm and local flavor.

22) Check to see if your hotel price drops after you’ve booked

Travel & Leisure (T&L) offers this great tip. Set a reminder to check the price again periodically before you travel. Or download the Pruvo app, which tracks the price drops for your existing hotel reservations and notifies you when they do. Then you can call and request the lower rate.

23) Use public transportation

Ditch the idea of a rental car and expensive parking fees when exploring a big city. Use public transportation instead - bus, light rail or the subway - and experience cities like a local.

24) Or take an Uber

When our family of six visited Washington D.C. over an extended weekend, we found that hiring an Uber driver piloting an extra large vehicle was even cheaper than using the Metro. We only used the Metro to and from the airport, and otherwise hired Uber drivers for short jaunts throughout the city.

25) Look up self-guided walking tours

Search online for city scavenger hunts like these in Washington D.C. Pick up the pace: for those 18 and older, you might be in a city where you can pay by the minute to zoom around town on an electric scooter, seeing more sights in less time.

26) Set a realistic vacation budget

Sit down with your spouse, plan your trip according to your budget and agree to stick to it. We took a two week road trip through California and knew we could spend a pretty penny if we didn’t establish our spending boundaries ahead of time.

27) Learn more ways to save

12 Budget-Friendly Family Vacation Ideas: How To Plan a Vacation on a Budget by the Busy Budgeter
75 Ways to Save on Your Next Vacation (like book flights in a different currency!) from Our Next Adventure
15 Easy Ways to Save Money for a Family Vacation from more experts over at Traveling Mom

We hope these tips for cheap vacations have helped you discover more creative ways to save money as you travel with kids and teens. What are some creative ways you have found to help save money on a family trip? Leave a comment below, we’d love to hear them!