5 Budget Friendly Holiday Vacation Ideas

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To a lot of people, the word ‘holiday’ means a whole lot of things. While some people consider it as an opportunity to break free from their hectic lifestyles and get their mental batteries recharged, others see it as an avenue to explore the world and experience up close many of the things they’ve longed to see.

But regardless of what the word holiday might mean to anyone, money has long been the defining factor for most people. It is the factor that determines what a holiday would look like for most people. It doesn’t matter whether you’ve promised to take your kids to see the great Nile of Egypt, boasted to your friends about how you’d be spending your summer holidays at the biggest, baddest casino house on the planet, without money your plans are as good as dead.

Does that now imply that cash-strapped people cannot have a great and memorable holiday vacation? Or perhaps holiday vacations are only reserved for the wealthy and affluent. Far from it!
Even with a tight budget, anyone can still realize their holiday travel dreams, only that you’d need to get creative with your decisions and be open to whatever option comes your way.
Without further ado, here are some budget-friendly holiday vacation ideas for you.

1. Be a Local Tourist

Ok, so your life-long dream is to one day discover some of the wonders of the world. And what better time is there to do that than during your holiday vacation? But like we mentioned earlier, without the right amount of funding, your dreams might not be so realizable after all.

But who said you have to be rich to explore the world and discover some of its wonders? Did you know that there is hardly any country out there without its own tourist sites? And if I’m to take an educated guess, I’m pretty sure that not everyone has explored all the sights and sceneries that their home countries have to offer.

So, why bother searching for thousands of dollars to go see the wonders of another man’s land when you can just see the ones in your country? Believe it or not, I know a lot of New Yorkers who haven’t seen the Statue of Liberty and a lot of Egyptians who haven’t seen the Pyramids of Giza. So, the first-holiday vacation idea I’m recommending to every budget-conscious traveler out there is to be a local tourist and explore the sites in their own countries.

2. Book a last-minute Tour

Typically, tours are best booked at the last-minute? Why is that so? Some may wonder. Well, the truth is that no tour company likes to depart for a tour without completely filling their seats. Therefore, they look to fill up empty seats by offering some cheap deals and other enticing offers to last-minute tourists.

But to leverage these offers, you need to be close-by or, at the very least, have someone on the inside hinting you about their availability – an almost impossible task for a foreign traveler. Thankfully, that is what websites like Traveligo are there for. They help travelers book affordable tour deals, while also arranging cheap flight and accommodation packages for them.

3. Think Outside the Box

Let no one deceive you; there are so many budget-friendly destinations around the world. You only need to think outside the box to find them. Why go to Mexico to explore the Caribbean lifestyle when you can head to Bahamas or Barbados and still feel the Caribbean vibe?

For European myths and history lovers, you should check out Greece instead of Paris or Italy (it is really cheap). Vietnam is another destination in Asia that promises a great experience, without digging a hole in your wallet.

4. Go to The National Parks

Perhaps you’ve become hypnotized by the beautiful images of all the places you’ve seen in movies, books, and on the internet, and as such, you just want to go there. It’s all good; you can still do that with a budget-conscious mindset. All you have to do is find a National Park that is close-by to your preferred destination.

Often times, these parks offer affordable camping spaces, which cost very little money. In some National Parks in the US, camping fees can be as little as $15 per night, $15-40 in Canada, $10-60 in Australia, and can even be obtained for free in places like Japan and Europe (the Scandinavia regions specifically). Additionally, some parks also offer cabins.

So if you’re not the camp-in-a-tent kind of traveler, you can opt for a cabin. So while on your hiking tour, sight-seeing, safari, or what have you, you can just stay at a nearby National Park. Trust me; it will save you a lot of accommodation expenses.

5. Book a last-minute Cruise

Oh, this is for the lovers of sailing and boat-cruising! Indeed, cruises can be pretty expensive, with an average cruise of the Mediterranean, Caribbean, or US West Coast costing as high as $600-700. But, again, who said you have to spend that much to go on your first holiday cruising?

All you have to do is to wait until the last minute, and you’d be saving yourself hundreds of dollars in your cruising costs. It is common knowledge that passengers who run onto a ship that’s due for departure often enjoy some pretty sweet deals.

Cruise-lines often offer incredible last-minute deals, and for obvious reasons. If close to the time of departure (usually a few weeks before departure), the cruise company or ship captain discovers that almost half the cabins are empty, they would offer some sweet deals to entice travelers to join the cruise.