Travel is life-changing.
Every trip opens doors to new cultures, new people, and often, new parts of yourself. The more I travel, the more I feel like I understand the world — and myself. Getting off the beaten path, meeting locals, and visiting incredible sites has made my life better.
If you've never traveled solo, I encourage you to try it at least once. Solo travel is the greatest teacher.
However, travel has gotten more expensive over the last few years. With demand surpassing even pre-pandemic levels, high prices are here to stay for a while.
So what’s a traveler to do?
Budget travel isn’t impossible these days, but it does require more strategy.
Even for me — a seasoned professional — finding great deals takes a little longer now. Many old tricks faded during COVID, but thankfully, new ones have also emerged. While I dive much deeper into this topic in my new book on budget travel, I want to share some high-impact ways you can travel cheaper, longer, and smarter in 2025.
Stay in Hostels
Hostels are cheap, organize events so you’ll meet a lot of people, and are just tons of fun! Plus, hostel bars sell cheap drinks. And hostels aren’t liked they used to be. They have nice facilities, co-working spaces, ensuite bathrooms, private rooms, and privacy curtains in the dorms. They cater to people of all ages, not just young people looking to party. Don’t skip them. I still stay in hostels (private rooms only) because they are wonderful value, and I always meet people there!
Hostelworld is the best hostel-accommodation site out there, with the largest inventory, best search interface, and highest availability. (Here's my list of all my favorite hostels around the world broken down by city.)
Ask Hostel Staff for Tips — Even If You’re Not Staying There
Hostel staff deal with budget travelers all day, every day. They know exactly where to go for cheap meals and attractions. They also tend to be locals, so they know the city very well.
Even if you're staying elsewhere, pop into a hostel and ask for advice. They’re usually happy to help!
Take Free Walking Tours
Besides being free, these tours will give you a good orientation and background of the city you are visiting. I love, love, love taking walking tours when I travel. You pass the time, you get to pepper the guide with questions, and you get to learn so much about where you are. Plus, the guide is usually a local or long-term resident who can point you to places off the beaten path for food and drink. They have exploded in popularity in the last few years, and you can now find them in pretty much any major city in the world.
Hostels usually have them listed, but Google and the local tourism office will both have information about them if they are in the city you are visiting.
Follow the 5 Block Rule
Don’t eat within five blocks of a major tourist attraction or area! Walk in any direction and search for a place to eat when I hit five blocks. There’s an invisible line at five blocks, and tourists don’t go past it. Once you pass it, all of a sudden, you’ll notice that the crowds are gone, the menus stop being listed in multiple languages, and the prices come down.
Sure, you might find a good meal in a tourist area, but you’ll find a better, cheaper meal outside it. Go where the menus aren’t in multiple languages. Go to those little tiny hole-in-the-wall places that you are unsure about. Tourist restaurants don’t care about quality since people aren’t coming back. Residents care, though, so places catering to them have to be good or they go out of business. Those are the places you want to eat at.
The meal might not knock your socks off each time, but it will be a memorable and more local experience. Use websites like Yelp, Seamless, LaForchette, TasteCard, and RiceBowl to find cheap eats. I also like using TikTok and Instagram to see what local food writers have found.
Additionally, be sure to ask locals the question, “Where do you eat?” not “Where should I eat?” If you ask people the second question, most people will think to send you to the popular restaurants tourists visit because that will be what comes to mind. They’ll think, “Hmmm, where do visitors go to eat? What’s popular in town?” But if you ask them the first question, they will tell you about that tiny Thai place with the out-of-this-world Pad Thai they take all their friends to. A small change in words that leads to big results.
Get Travel Insurance
Travel insurance is one of the most important things you need when you travel — yet it’s often overlooked by travelers planning their trip.
You wouldn’t drive a car without car insurance or own a home without home insurance. Why would you risk traveling the world without travel insurance?
Travel insurance has been there for me on multiple occasions. Remember, the past is not prologue. Just because nothing has happened to you before doesn’t mean something won’t happen to you in the future. If something goes wrong, you don’t want to be out thousands of dollars in bills. Travel insurance will be there if you get robbed, flights get canceled, you get sick or injured, or have to be sent home. It's comprehensive and, for just a few dollars a day, one of the best investments you can get for a trip.
Collect Points for Free Travel
Collecting points and miles is a great way to travel on a budget. By getting point-earning credit cards, you can get hundreds of thousands of miles, without any additional spending. I've earned countless free flights, upgrades, and hotel stays from my points and miles. By optimizing my spending and paying attention to which cards earn the most points where, I've saved thousands of dollars. This is the number one thing pro travelers do to save money on hotels and flights. This website, Daily Drop, can get you started!
Use the Sharing Economy
The sharing economy has led to a plethora of new money-saving and community-building platforms that have made travel even more affordable, personal, and accessible. I live by these websites when I travel because they connect you directly to locals so you can save on accommodation, activities, food, and transportation. There’s no aspect of travel that isn’t doable with these websites. Some of my favorite services are:
Find a Travel Buddy (Facebook Group)
Visit the Local Tourism Office and Get a Tourism Card
Local tourist offices are a wealth of knowledge. They exist solely to provide you with information on what to see and do. We think of them just as places to sell us on cheesy activities and touristy tours, but they often have tons of discounts not found anywhere else and can also keep you updated on local events, free tours, and the best spots to eat. After all, they are staffed by people who live in the destination. When you go there, be sure to also ask them where they go when they get off work. Ask them for their favorite bars and restaurants so you get told the local spots, not the touristy spots!
Moreover, most of them offer city tourism cards that can allow you to get admittance into the major attractions for one low price. They are an invaluable way to save money if you plan to do lots of sightseeing. Most even come with free public transportation, so that’s a double win!
Travel Like You Live
The majority of people in your destinations don’t spend lots of money per day like tourists do. Neither do you in your day-to-day life. Take that mentality with you. Walk, take public transportation, grocery shop, spend a day in a park, and look for deals. Do the things you do at home every day to keep your costs down.
Too many people get into this mindset that when they go on the road, they just have to spend, spend, spend, spend. That’s not true at all. There’s no law that says you have to spend more. Be smart with your budget — just like you are at home. That will help you save money and prevent you from going home early (and broke).
Bottom Line
It may be a lot harder to travel on a budget, but by being flexible, getting creative, and embracing the right mindset, you'll be able to travel without spending a fortune. If you follow these nine tips, you’ll ensure that you don’t overpay for travel and find as many deals, free activities, and local spots as possible on your next trip!
Matthew Kepnes didn’t take his first trip overseas until he was twenty-three, but a trip to Costa Rica got him hooked on traveling. In 2005, a trip to Thailand inspired him to come home, quit his job, and backpack around the world for a year. He liked it so much he never stopped. In 2008, he started his website, Nomadic Matt, to help others travel better, cheaper, and longer, and has helped millions of people a year realize their own travel dreams. He can be found at his website as well as on Instagram at @nomadicmatt.
His new book, How to Travel the World on $75 a Day, is out now.
