How to Travel on a Budget Without Missing Out (Smart, Real-World Travel Tips)

Some of my most memorable travel moments didn’t come from five-star hotels or big-ticket tours. They came from wandering side streets, eating where locals eat, and realising I didn’t need to spend more to experience more.

Travelling on a budget has a reputation for being restrictive... like you’re constantly saying no, missing out, or stressing over every dollar. But in reality, when it’s done well, budget travel can be incredibly freeing. It pushes you to travel more intentionally, more creatively, and often more authentically.

In this episode of Tourist to Traveller, I’m sharing how to travel on a budget without sacrificing the magic... the exact strategies I use to stretch my money further while still having rich, unforgettable experiences.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• How to choose destinations where your money naturally goes further
• How to find cheaper flights without obsessing over deals
• Accommodation hacks that save money without ruining the experience
• Simple money-saving habits that add up while travelling
• How to stop overspending before you even leave home

Budget travel isn’t about cutting joy... it’s about spending with intention. In this episode, I break down how planning smarter (not harder) allows you to travel more often and with far less financial stress.

Helpful Resources & Links

• How to Travel on a Budget - Read the full blog guide expanding on these tips, including tools and real examples 
• Travel Planning Like a Pro - My 5 step travel planning guide to help you budget, book and plan without overwhelm 

Connect & Explore

Find destination guides, travel planning resources and more at touristtotraveller.com, and follow along on Instagram @_touristtotraveller for behind-the-scenes planning and future travel inspiration. 

Transcript

Speaker 0:00

Welcome to the Tourist to Traveller Podcast, the show that helps you go beyond the guidebook and turn your bucket list dreams into real adventures. I'm Tahnee, a travel blogger, podcaster, and everyday explorer who's been ticking off epic destinations for over 20 years while balancing a 9 to 5. Each week I'll bring you inspiring stories, destination deep dives, and practical tips to help you plan smarter, travel deeper, and capture those unforgettable moments along the way. So, grab your passport, pack your curiosity, and let's get started. If you've ever wanted to travel more but felt like your budget was the thing holding you back, this episode is for you. Because here's the truth: some of the most unforgettable trips I've ever had weren't the expensive ones. They were the trips where I stayed in unexpected places, ate where the locals actually eat, and made really intentional choices about what was worth spending money on and what wasn't. Budget travel isn't about cutting corners or missing out. It's about making your money work harder so you can travel more often and more meaningfully. Today I'm walking you through how to travel on a budget without sacrificing the experience. The exact strategies I use to plan trips that feel full, exciting, and completely worth it, even on a limited budget. Today I'm sharing eight budget saving travel tips. Starting off with number one, which is choose the right destination for your budget. Now, of course, there are destinations that you probably prefer, but some of the best experiences that I've had have actually been in very cost-effective destinations. So with a little bit of flexibility, you can find some really great, very cost-effective choices for you for your next trip. Here are some budget-friendly destinations. Southeast Asia. These are places where your dollar can go a long way. Typically, you are paying significantly less in terms of accommodation, food, tours. And in some of these destinations, you can hire a private driver for a whole day for less than the cost of a half day tour in more popular destinations. Second of all, Eastern Europe. Now I know there are so many popular destinations in Europe where everyone is just dying to go, me included, and they are worth it. However, there are so many underrated destinations that get overlooked and they are more cost-effective. So rather than looking at places like Italy, Spain, the Greek islands, think about going more so towards Albania, Hungary, Poland. And if you pick the right time of year, you still can get great weather and a beautiful experience at just a fraction of the cost. And the third region that I would suggest exploring here is South America. Think about places like Peru, Bolivia, and Colombia. Now, regardless of how cheap some of these destinations are, of course, you need to think about their location from you and which ones are going to be cheaper or more expensive to actually get to. So for example, I'm Australian and from Australia, Southeast Asia is by far the cheapest to get to. But also for us in Australia, the South Pacific Islands are also very cost effective for us. But if you are living in other parts of the world, have a think about what is the most cost effective for you. So what are some of the most expensive destinations that I would probably avoid if you were on a budget? Starting off with Western Europe, such as UK, France, Spain, and a couple of the destinations that I mentioned earlier. North America, places like USA and Canada. Australia and New Zealand, as much as that pains me to say, if you are not from Australia or New Zealand, it can be really expensive to get over here, and our cost of living is actually really high. Things are not cheap in Australia. And finally, luxury islands, places such as Bora Bora, Maldives, Mauritius. They can be really expensive based on their location, based on the luxury, but also because they've kind of become honeymoon destinations. And anywhere that has a wedding or honeymoon tagline is always going to be more expensive. If you're unsure where to go and you're looking for somewhere cheap, a little tip is that I love to use two platforms, Sky Scanner and Google Flights, because on these platforms you can click to go anywhere, and then you can filter by price. So from wherever you're based, wherever you're leaving from, if you are open to flying anywhere in the world, you can use them to find the cheapest destinations anywhere in the world within the time frame that you're looking to travel. You can also set alerts to make sure that you always know the best destinations. Tip number two is to research the costs before you go. Even if you've chosen a destination with cheap accommodation and cheap flights, you want to know what the prices are like on the ground when you actually arrive so that there are no nasty surprises. It's pretty easy to research and budget for accommodation and flights, but don't forget the extras. A perfect example of this is when I went to Palau in Micronesia. Palau is a very short flight from Australia. It's a very cost-effective flight from Australia. The accommodation wasn't great. I would say it was about medium in terms of price point. But once you're on the ground in Palau, things are actually quite expensive. And I knew this in advance through my research. In Palau, this is by design. The government there is really trying to take care of their country and their environment. So they've made a decision that rather than having more tourists, they would rather have less tourists who are paying a higher price point to help prevent over tourism and help protect their environment. And as much as it hurts my back pocket, I actually really love that strategy. So some of the things that you need to have a look at in terms of prices include airport transfers. But you need to know what the prices are. The local transport once you're actually on the ground, and that could include high car, public transport, private drivers, tool guides, what does all of that look like for you once you're on the ground? Travel insurance, if you are going to a high-risk environment, it can be hard to find travel insurance, and the premiums can definitely increase. Tours and activities, you want to know what are the bucket list items, what are those key things that you absolutely must do in your destination, and what is that going to cost you and is it worth it? I recently got back from Vanuatu and I traveled there to an island called Tanna. And Tanna has one of the most accessible volcanoes in the world. For me, it was a huge bucket list item to walk around the rim of the volcano and see actual lava. It was the most expensive tool that I could find in Vanuatu, but for me, I had to do it. It was a bucket list item. I couldn't justify going all the way to Vanuatu and not ticking off that item. So flexibility is really important and it's important to identify what you really value out of your trip. Also, don't forget meals, daily spending money, and tipping if tipping culture is present where you're traveling to. So a little hot tip here if you're unsure or you're struggling to find this information, is to join travel Facebook groups for that destination where you can ask these questions and ask around the costs on the ground or ask what people have budgeted to travel to that destination for the time frame that you're looking to go. I guarantee so many people have been there and done that and will be willing to share their experience with you so that you can become better prepared. Number three is finding cheap flights. Now, I already talked about my little hack around using Google Flights and Sky Scanner to search for the cheapest flights and also to set alerts. By the way, those alerts will go straight to your email inbox so that you don't have to always be researching. You'll be notified when the price drops to your destination. How handy is that? But you can also use Google Flights and Sky Scanner to compare routes and compare dates. Once you know where you want to go, their calendar makes it really simple to see which are the cheapest days, which are the cheapest months, and also which are the cheapest airlines to go with to continue and place your booking. Once you know the cheapest, uh, you can go through Google Flights or Skyscanner to the airline or to the booking platform. Personally, I like to book directly through the airline where possible and where it's cost effective. Sometimes you can actually save hundreds of dollars by going through a booking platform. Just know that if your flight is cancelled or delayed, in my experience, it is so much more difficult to work with a booking platform compared to working with the airline directly. So, you know, there's kind of some pros and some cons to each of those. Being flexible with your travel dates will really help to keep your flight costs down. Think about the cheapest days to travel and where you can try and fly shoulder season. Off-season can result in some really terrible weather, and often a lot of destinations have, you know, a lot of things that are closed in the off-season. Shoulder season means that you kind of get the best of both worlds. Everything is typically open. The weather, while it might not be perfect, is still usually quite pleasant, and you get to travel at cheaper prices and without the crowds. What's not to love about that? It can save you hundreds or thousands of dollars for your trip. And consider budget airlines for your shorter trips where possible. Now when it comes to your flight costs, of course, don't forget to think about your baggage and extras because the first price that you see on a flight may or may not include these items. You might see a price that looks really great, but by the time you add the luggage and by the time you add a meal, because it's a long haul flight, and hey, you need to eat, it might actually be more expensive than going with a more reputable airline. So just something to consider. Tip number four is accommodation hacks. Accommodation can be really expensive, but it doesn't have to be. When you're booking your accommodation on booking platforms such as Expedia or Booking.com, use the filters wisely. Once you search for your destination, there are plenty of filters that you can select to have the best options for you. First of all, you want to make sure that you are setting your budget range so you're not being presented with a combination that is out of your price range. And it can be really tempting when you see something beautiful that is more expensive to book it. I would just filter that out right away so that you're not even tempted. Select your guest rating. Personally, I always select a minimum guest rating of a 7 out of 10 because that is the standard that I'm looking for from my accommodation. Filter based on your location preferences and anything else that you might be looking for. For example, for me, I'm always looking for a private bathroom, I'm always looking at the star rating. And depending on how long I'm there, I may or may not be looking for a washing machine. Stay centrally when you can. Now, this is a little bit tricky because if you're staying centrally, the accommodation can be more expensive than out in the suburbs. However, if you're staying centrally, you're saving significantly on transportation costs. And that is really the trade-off there. If you can find good quality, reasonably priced accommodation that is central, a lot of things are often in walking distance and you don't need to get drivers or cabs or public transport or anything else to try and get around because you're already in the thick of it. Look for extras, such as free breakfast. Whether you are a breakfast eater or not, free breakfast can really make your day because it can fill you up, which means that if you eat a really full breakfast, you may need to purchase less meals throughout your day. So, buffet breakfast, especially. This is something that I've done for years. If there is a free buffet breakfast, I will eat a lot more breakfast than I normally would. That way I'll normally skip a lot of the meals throughout the day because I've been really full. I'll have a couple of snacks and then I'll have a really lovely dinner. It means that I save so much money on food when I travel. Other extras that you might be looking for could be kitchen access. Maybe you actually want to go to a local supermarket and cook your own food. So kitchen access might be key for you. And also look for booking platforms that have loyalty discounts and added value. To get loyalty discounts, if you book frequently on the one platform, for example, if you use booking.com and you use it regularly, they have a genius program and you will go up different levels in the genius program based on how much you have booked through booking.com. Something just to keep in mind. And use cashback platforms if they are available to you. For example, in Australia, there is a platform called ShopBack, and I found that if I book through the right websites on ShopBack, I can save or get back $30 to $50 per booking, sometimes even more if they have a special deal or they're boosting that particular platform on that day. So you can pair this up if you're booking, just as an example, through booking.com using a genius discount. And you also get genius perks. So you might get a genius discount and a free breakfast because you are a genius member. So you've saved there and you've had extra value, and then you've got money back because you've booked it through the cashback platform. It is a win-win-win. Another tip here is don't overlook hostels. Personally, hostels are not my vibe. I feel like I'm way too old for hostels now. Yes, that's something I would have done in my 20s, but definitely not looking for a hostel vibe now. However, on my recent trip to Barcelona, a lot of the accommodation that was labeled as hostels uh were actually all private rooms. And they were just really cost effective. And we actually stayed in quite a lot of those, and they just felt like boutique hotels, but they were listed as hostels. Even many hostels that have dormitories do also have private rooms at pretty good prices. So don't rule them out if budget is really important to you, because there are often some hidden gems there. And some extra perks to hostels is it keeps you really well connected to the travel community. You can find some travel buddies there and really great trips, really great tips from other travelers. Number five is the really boring, really obvious tip of saving before you go. I know, surprise, surprise. What I recommend doing here is to set up a separate bank account or a separate uh account under your bank account, if that makes sense. Label it something like travel fund or road trip or whatever you want to call it, and set up an automated weekly transfer from your normal account into that account. So it could be $10, $20, whatever it might be. Small amounts are totally fine. The key here is to automate it. So it's a set and forget. And if you always set it up to come out the day of or the day after you get paid from your work, even better because the money has gone out straight away before you've had to think about other expenses. So that way you can set this up and not even have to think about it. And then if you do this correctly and you've given yourself enough time by the time of your trip, all of the funds you need should be in there. Number six, money saving tricks while traveling. Starting off here with your airport transfers. Now, this can be so expensive, unnecessarily expensive, in my opinion. But if you skip the shuttles and the taxis and all of the other options that are usually available to you and stick with public transport, you can save a lot of money. Now, this is not always available in your destination, but recently when I was traveling to Barcelona, uh we got off the plane and took a public bus and paid just four dollars. It was so cheap. So that was the equivalent of four Australian dollars instead of the 40 that apparently a taxi would have cost. Next is food. I like to eat where the locals eat. It's usually so much cheaper and more authentic and better quality because that's why the locals eat there, right? Also, if you can find a grocery store pretty early on in your trip, so you can buy at the very least some snacks so that you're not always buying things out. You can also purchase alcohol instead of always going out to bars. That is a hack that we always use. While I was on my Spain trip, we were buying bottles of wine. Oh, I'm trying to remember what we paid. It was either two or four euro. It was ridiculous for a bottle of wine. And it was some of the best wine we had there. We were buying it from the supermarket and we would share a bottle of wine each night, and it was perfect. Can you imagine how much we would have spent on cocktails had we been going out each night? The next is tours, pay for the must-do experiences. Absolutely. You don't want to miss out on those things, but the smaller items that you can do on yourself uh can save you so much money to travel that way. Even if that means getting a high car or seeing them via public transport or seeing them via a free walking tour or just pulling out good old Google Maps and working it out, it can save you a lot of money. And finally, there's souvenirs. Are they necessary? That's a decision for you to make. But if you are going to down go down the souvenir route, first of all, don't buy them at the airport. They're the most expensive souvenirs that you're going to get. But so many people do because it's an afterthought. It's usually after your trip, you're at the airport, you're about to come home, you're like, oh crap, I didn't buy something for this person, I didn't buy something for that person, and you end up spending a lot of money. So you've got to decide are souvenirs even worth it? And if they are, maybe buy something that is more practical and usable, other than a typical photo frame or fridge magnet. Number seven, resist the urge to shop before your trip. Once your trip is booked, it can be so tempting to want all the new things. Especially when we get excited and we go, Oh, I need some new cute little travel outfits and a new bikini and a new GoPro and a new suitcase and all the things, and those are all really nice to have, but probably not necessary. So if you can resist the urge to shop beforehand, look at what you really need. Maybe you have four broken wheels on your suitcase, and that is going to be a good investment. But just choose wisely. A and when it comes to this, a lot of travel items can now be bought in department stores at a really great price. Here in Australia, we have a store called Kmart, and you can buy suitcases and travel plugs and all of the things that you need at such a cheap price at Kmart compared to going anywhere else. So it look, if it's if you're really trying to save money, you would much rather spend it on a bucket list experience than just on a new suitcase. And finally, tip number eight is to align your travel budget with your travel companions. So if you are traveling with someone or with a group of people, it's really important to discuss budget before you go. If not, you can end up spending a lot more than you and everyone else anticipated on spending. And it's funny, you might actually come back from your trip and work out that no one wanted to spend that much, but no one wanted to be the buzz-kill in the group. So everyone just kind of went along with it. Just discuss it before you go. Get rid of all of the awkwardness. It's okay if everyone isn't um completely aligned or everyone's budgets aren't the same. It's just important that you have the discussion so that your travel companions know what is important to you and where that limit is for you. So I think the big takeaways here when it comes to budget travel is that budget travel equals freedom and frequency. By knowing your budget and saving more money, you have more freedom and flexibility on your trip. But also, you can travel more often if you were saving money through your travels. And if you love travel as much as I do, that's pretty cool. Because every dollar that is saved is a dollar that can go to your next adventure. So if there's one thing I want you to take away from this episode, it's this traveling on a budget isn't about missing out, it's about being intentional so you can travel more often and with way less stress. And if you want more detail on any of the strategies we talked about today, I've written a full guide on the blog www.touristtotraveller.com, which I'll link in the show notes. All right, let's get you planning your next adventure, and I'll see you in the next episode. Thanks for tuning in to the Tourist to Traveller podcast. I hope today's episode has inspired you to travel more authentically and plan your next adventure with confidence. Don't forget to head to www.touristtotraveller.com for today's show notes, resources, and free guides to help you plan like a pro. And if you love this episode, please hit subscribe and leave a review. It helps more travelers like you discover the show. Until our next adventure. Go beyond the tourist track and level up your travel experiences.