You may be a student, a part time worker, or just graduated, or maybe just someone who is looking to get the most out of their travel experience while also not racking up a bill! This blog post will provide you with some insightful tips on how to travel on a college student budget.
I will go over:
- Ways to save money on your travels & adventures
- Top hostels to stay at
- Useful websites & resources to budget your travels and find the best deals
Ways to save Money on Your Travels & Adventures:
1. Stay in Hostels
Pros of hostels:
- Best way to meet other travelers
- Cost efficient
- Some offer free dinners, tours, and fun activities
- Great way to travel on a student budget while meeting other students and young people
A large percentage of your travel budget is dedicated to sleeping arrangements and lets be honest, hotels can rack up a bill. The biggest portion of cutting down your costs can come from staying in hostels.
Now, you might think – I don’t want to stay in hostels, or that hostels might be dirty… This did cross my mind the first time I was looking to stay in hostels. But I can confirm, this is not the case. If you do your research, you can find hostels that are similar to hotels and are just as beautiful with 10x more activities and fun than a hotel.
Not to mention, hostels are usually the best way to meet young people. There are plenty of hostels known for organized club events, baking nights, free tours, and I have also stayed in some hostels that offer free dinners. I can confidently say that hostels were one of the best decisions my friend and I made when we did our last student trip through Europe, and hostels made it possible for us to travel on a student budget.
Some of my favourite hostels throughout my travels are:
- Yellow Hostel located in Rome, Italy – Top of the list! This hostel is super trendy and takes up a whole street in Rome. It offers many fun activities, multiple tours throughout the day, free daily pasta nights, female only rooms, and an on site bar that has live music and is packed every night. I didn’t even make it to any other Rome bars because I ended up meeting friends from this hostel and had so much fun at the hostel bar. Another plus is that everyone working at this hostel is a traveler just like you, and is super friendly. They are usually in their 20’s so they also party with you.
- Cara Cara Inn located in Bali, Indonesia (Kuta region) – This hostel is located in the heart of Kuta. It was such a fun and vibrant place with a pool and water slides, multiple outside hammocks, and even had little BBQ gatherings where you can meet travelers and mingle. The rooms were very clean and they were minimalist and modern with a positive and bright atmosphere. Such a fun place!
- The MadHouse Prague located in Prague, Czech Republic – This hostel had a great sense of community and a homey feel. It was the best hostel for meeting new people through nightly games and outings. The MadHouse Prague also offered nightly hostel family dinners, bowling nights, BBQ’s during the day and is right in the heart of Prague.
Tip: If you are in a position to spend a little bit more you can find cheap AirBnB’s as well. It is nice to book both hostels and AirBnB’s so you can have a balance of both socializing in hostels, and time to yourself to refresh in an AirBnB. This is especially useful if you are traveling for a long period of time.
2. Take Public Transit or Direct Buses from the Airport into the City
Public Transit: Almost every place offers public transit. It is definitely the most cost efficient way to get around and it is always a plus if there is a subway line. Research the country you are going to before hand and get familiar with the transit system.
Airport Buses: It is also useful to research various options of getting to your destination when landing in the country you are visiting. Most of the time, there are buses offered at the airport that take you directly into the main city. These buses are cheaper than taxi fairs so definitely take advantage of them. They saved me a lot of money when traveling on a student budget!
Buses & Trains: FlixBus is a well known bus company that has some of the cheapest rates. I have used FlixBus and traveled for as low as $25 CAD from city to city. Just note that it may not be the best service, after all you get what you pay for. But, if you are traveling on a budget it does the trick. It is a simple and cost efficient way to get from one destination to the next.
You can also check out Omio to find the most cost efficient train and bus rides. I nearly lived on this website when planning my trip to Europe. Also, don’t forget to check if there are student discount rates on bus and train tickets. This will help save some bucks to so you can travel on a student budget.
3. Take Advantage of Local Grocery Stores Instead of Eating Every Meal at Restaurants
What’s better than a three euro bottle of wine in Europe, a home made charcuterie board, and a picnic in the park? There are grocery stores everywhere and you can find so many cost efficient meal options to create a meal to have on a picnic day.
The upside of buying your food from grocery stores is you can plan picnics at destinations you want to see. You also don’t have to waste a lot of time stopping for meals when you are in the middle of a busy day full of site seeing. You can pack a homemade sandwich or quick meal in your bag and pull it out whenever you are hungry.
Story time: My friend and I actually had to eat at the grocery store and cheap bakery all throughout our time in Dubrovnik, Croatia because the restaurants in Old Town were so expensive and the currency exchange was horrible. The bakeries were good though and only costed 3 euros, so it was amazing! We usually spent our meals at a nice park or a piazza and watched the sunset.
4. Refrain From Purchasing Too Many Souvenirs
Souvenirs can be great memories and time capsules into past travel experiences and life changing trips. Although, often times souvenirs end up collecting dust on a bookshelf or packed away in storage.
Instead of purchasing souvenirs you can:
DIY Photo Frame With Travel Ticket Collage:
Instead of purchasing souvenirs, it is useful to save all your travel tickets and create something that you can put up in your home. For instance, you can create a large photo frame with all your travel and airline tickets in the photo frame. I did this with concert tickets and it came out pretty nice, and it is satisfying to see when it all comes together!
Souvenirs in the Form of Polaroid Memories:
Another way to make your own souvenirs is by printing some of your favorite photos from your travels and putting them in a nice photo frame or memory book. I like to bring a Polaroid camera on my travels and have instant memories in the form of photos instead of souvenirs.
Souvenirs That Are Useful:
As someone who tries to cut down my consumption and who is conscious in the things I purchase – souvenirs that are useful, and from local shops are more valuable and usually better quality.
If you are going to purchase a couple of souvenirs it is always nice to shop local in the country you are in. Often times, they have large scale souvenir shops that get most of their products from China. It is always better to support local. Find a local market in the city you are in and you are bound to find a nice souvenir that represents the country you are visiting.
Useful Websites & Resources:
- HostelWorld – Great for finding hostels and booking them, this is where I book all of my hostels.
- AirBnB – a great site to find local homes, rooms, and apartments to stay in on your travels.
- Kayak – Cheap flights and multi-city flight booking. This means you can book multiple flights at once and build your own flight itinerary through Kayak.
- Omio – Find the best transportation deals (trains, buses, and flights).
- FlixBus – One of the cheapest ways to travel around Europe by bus. Although, I am going to be honest it does not have the best customer service and I have experienced late buses in the past. But, still one of the cheapest options and useful to consider if you are traveling on a budget.
Hopefully this blog post gave you some insightful tips to go off and experience the world, and make travel possible on a student budget!
If you’re a lover of travel, you can find more travel guides and fun adventures & destinations here.
