Since we began to make family trips, many were those who asked us, and still ask us, the question of how do you do it, are you rich? They also add, we can’t, traveling as a family is expensive! Not satisfied at all! Neither with the question nor with the affirmation. Making cheap family trips is possible, but there are many factors that depend on it. Next, we give you some tricks so that traveling as a family is more economical. It always works for us.
Cheap family trips: where and how to save
Save on transportation
- travel by train
Another ideal means of transport for family trips to be cheap and for the comfort it entails, is the train. Companies usually have discounts for families and if you travel outside of high season, all the better. If you choose the cabin or sleeping car option , you sleep in it and save a night in a hotel . You can also take the food with you.
- Travel by airplane
Perhaps this is the least appropriate means of transport if we want to travel cheaply as a family, but it is clear that it is also the fastest and there are destinations that would be impossible to reach if not by plane. For the purchase of tickets to be more economical, we must rely on flight search engines online , there are several, it is only a matter of comparing the prices between them. The other solution is to get your tickets in advance if you are going to travel in high season, another trick is to avoid traveling on the weekend, tickets are usually cheaper from Tuesday to Thursday.
- Travel by car
An ideal option as long as the chosen destination is relatively close to where we live. Traveling by car when you have a family is very comfortable, both for the transport of luggage, and for the autonomy of being able to stop where and when you need it. If we travel in our private car, we will be saving the car rental and the baby carrier seats, beware of this, there are rental agencies that charge them separately and in the end it is for a pasture. Also, moving by car, you can bring your own foodwithout the need to stop at any establishment to eat, being able to do so in any road siding or in any rest area, which also usually have free toilets. One piece of advice, to save money when filling up the tank, it is better to do it off the highways, it is more expensive, ideally at gas stations on secondary roads and large supermarkets.
- Travel by bus
Another good option when traveling through a country. There are many companies that have VIP buses , which have reclining seats, the closest thing to a bed, with catering service and bathroom. Ideal if you travel at night, the children and you rest and also save the hotel night .
Accommodation
- Hotel
It’s getting cheaper and cheaper if you stop looking for a bit. City hotels usually have cheaper prices than beach hotels or rural hotels, the further away from the historic center of the cities, with equal services, the cheaper it will be. On the Internet there are countless hotel search engine companies that are very practical when considering cheap family travel.
- Apartment
Lately it is one of our favorite options to stay, especially if the trip is for a few days. The option of the apartment when you travel as a family is economical as well as comfortable, since you have total autonomy in terms of schedules , and if you want to save money you can make the decision to cook yourself, especially it is very practical when the children are small, or suffer from some food intolerance as is our case. There are many companies that are dedicated to renting apartments and rooms between individuals, without a doubt a very good option that exists in the market and it is also very economical.
- Motorhome a van
In addition to being a tremendously fun experience, this is a great way to get around cheaply on family trips. You have accommodation and a car all in one , plus, as with the case of the apartment, you can prepare meals yourself with the consequent savings that this entails. In many European countries, it is not even necessary to spend the night in a campsite, since they have numerous fully equipped motorhome parking lots to spend the night and the prices are well below those of the campsites.
Family travel insurance
Another aspect that can help us travel cheaply as a family is travel insurance. Nothing more important on a trip than being well covered in case of illness, accidents, a possible cancellation or early return, flight delays or cancellation, theft and loss of luggage. In the market there are numerous insurance agencies, if we do not know how to choose well, it can cost us a kidney since not all of them meet the same conditions in their policies.
Is there still someone who, at this point, still thinks that taking cheap family trips is an impossible mission?
