14 February 2023

With the cost-of-living crisis prominent in many households across the UK, many people will look to cut back on their holidays, ultimately sacrificing fundamentals of what a lot of us love to do; relax and explore. We don’t want this to be the case for anyone! In this article I have explored ways in which to enjoy a great holiday and not splurge your budget along the way.

1 – Save money on your flights

Make sure to double check comparison sites before booking your flights, it’s vital to ensure you’re getting the best you can for your money. Skyscanner is a great website for this, which will search all available flights under your chosen dates and provide you with the cheapest tickets possible at the time. Additionally, if you’re open to different locations, Skyscanner has a great function where you can select ‘everywhere’ and see where the best prices are to travel across the world. As a general rule, flying on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday is likely to be the cheapest, especially on local flight routes such as UK to Ireland. Indirect flights can provide another route to save money, if you don’t mind spending more time travelling to your destination. Flexibility is often key when it comes to booking flights at the best price. By widening your outgoing flight search to nearby domestic airports, more dates and times for flights can be viewed, often providing you with the option to save money.

Important tip: If you are just checking flight prices, be sure to use incognito browser modes to avoid cookies. Otherwise, you will increase the perceived demand and subsequently the prices for the dates you are searching for may increase.

2 – Branch out from the usual destinations

By avoiding the more traditional popular destinations like Paris and Barcelona, which although are lovely places, you can often find yourself both saving money and avoiding hordes of tourists.
Here are some examples of great value destinations:
Naples, Italy – Enjoy great food at unimaginably low prices for Italy and take in the culture of this authentic, rustic and historic city. The Amalfi coast and Pompei being located nearby is an added bonus that can be combined into the same trip.
Lake Bohinj, Slovenia – One of the most beautiful destinations in Europe, Lake Bohinj is the largest lake in Slovenia (almost twice the size of the popular Lake Bled) and is as picturesque as it gets. From Bohinj, you also have the Savica waterfall within walking distance. There’s plenty of spots alongside the lake where you can enjoy quiet peace in the sun and crystal clear water to swim in. Although Bohinj itself is small, it’s easily accessible with direct buses from the capital Ljubljana and Bled, which are less than a couple hours away. This means you can visit several spots in Slovenia whilst you’re there.
Krakow, Poland – Enjoy the old town and Jewish Quarter, plenty of areas with quaint bars and restaurants at cheap prices and potential day trips to salt mines and historic visits such as Auschwitz nearby.
Marrakesh, Morocco – The city of Marrakesh is home to a bustling vibrant culture with a variety of street performers and things to see as you pass through the centre. It’s hot and dry climate lasts all year round, with temperatures around 20-25c even in December. Marrakesh and its surrounding areas play host to a number of luxurious yet cheap spa resorts to stay in. You can also enjoy desert tours in the Sahara, with a variety of tour providers offering fair prices. Return flights from the UK are currently as cheap as £35 in January and £70 going into May and June.
Budapest, Hungary – As a general rule, the further east in Europe you go, the cheaper it becomes and even with its charm and grand design, Budapest is no exception to this. Budapest is the perfect city break, a huge city with plenty to cover, from the thermal baths to the picturesque castles and ruin bars.

3 – Travelling out of season

You’ll be able to save more on your energy bill if you go away during colder seasons. Your bills are likely to rise during the winter months, so if you can take the whole household away, this can cover some of the relative costs of the trip. Combined with the £67 from the energy bill support scheme (Getting the Energy Bills Support Scheme discount – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) which is running until April 2023, treating yourself to a holiday isn’t as bad as it sounds in these months.

You’ll also be able to visit the tourist spots without the heavy crowds. Positano and the Amalfi coast for example, I visited in December and was able to enjoy all of its beauty without the regular traffic of tourists bombarding the quiet picturesque streets that give it that extra charm in the first place. You can end up having the place to yourself on many occasions, leading to a much more relaxing time at a significantly reduced price.

4 – Shop around for accommodation

Don’t limit yourself to searching through just one accommodation provider. The cheapest site to use varies on location so make sure to check multiple options. For city breaks, the value can often be located at traditional hotels and guesthouses found on booking.com (and cross referencing with the actual website to see if it’s cheaper!). Airbnb, too, is always great for checking for bargains and unique stays. Booking in advance can also have its benefits, securing great value Airbnb’s before they get snapped up by others. Being flexible on dates can also open up more options on your accommodation, with Airbnb for example having a great feature that allows you to view available options within 1 or 2 days of your original plan. You may also benefit from referral discounts on these sites if you’re a new customer and loyalty discounts are automatically activated on booking.com if you make a certain number of stays with the site. Additionally, booking.com often have some further reduced prices available on it’s app, so make sure to do your browsing there rather than on the website.

5 – Plan your restaurants and bars

It’s worth spending time to plan your restaurants and bars. For starters, make sure to take advantage of local happy hours that can massively reduce prices. If you are visiting an affluent city, its especially important to make sure to do your research on where to eat as often expensive doesn’t equal better. If you don’t have time to plan, a general rule of thumb is to avoid the main drag for restaurants, to avoid the likelihood of tourist traps. If you’re visiting a country with a very high cost of living such as Sweden or Iceland, consider making food in your accommodation one or two nights so you can afford to dine out without stress on the other nights.

6 – Consider organising your own day trips

By organising your own transport to destinations, you can often find you’ll save money and avoid crying children on the journeys (unless you bring your own!). You’ll also likely benefit from arriving outside of the crowds that ensue going on a coach trip with 50 or so other travellers. The addition of well-priced electric scooters and bike rentals across Europe can make it hassle free to avoid taxi prices and see sights as you travel freely, with the added ability to stop off wherever you like to explore. Another money saving option in many cities is to join a walking tour of the city. More often than not, the walking tours are considered “free” with no set price, just for you to make a donation of your choice at the end of the tour.

Don’t forget to make sure you have valid travel insurance, and check the government guidance for the country you are visiting www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice

Happy holidays!