See minimum budget travel for more radical advice.

If you want to see the world on the cheap, for necessity, lifestyle or challenge, there are some ways to do that. Basically, they fall into two categories: Either work while you travel or try and limit your expenses. This article is focused on the latter. For those willing to sacrifice comfort, time and predictability to push expenses down close to zero, see minimum budget travel. This article also assumes that travellers do not steal, trespass, obtain goods or services on the illegal market, beg, or otherwise exploit other people for their own gain.

Consider where you're going in the first place, especially if you are staying for longer periods. Low-income countries and places that can be easily accessed (overland) are much better if you are on a tight budget. If you on the other hand would like to go to e.g. Norway or Greenland, be prepared to spend: although you can avoid many costs, trying to avoid everything expensive can ruin a visit to such regions.

Timing of the journey is also decisive; especially transportation and accommodation are expensive during major holidays and a destination's main tourist season. A ski resort might offer bargains at summer; even without snow, hiking can be enjoyable. Travellers who are retired or on long-time leave are less time-dependent, and can find cheaper dates than full-time workers.

Travel slowly. Staying in the same location or region a longer time (several days to several months) reduces transportation costs and gives you time to determine the cheapest places to stay, eat and visit. You can usually also negotiate lower rates for extended stays. Rushing around compounds costs and hinders any deeper understanding of places you visit.

Generally, a slow mode of transport allows you to cover a smaller area, but instead of wasting time on getting somewhere (or waiting at an airport), you can use every minute to experience the place where you are at the moment.

The only cost you incur while walking are new shoes as they get worn down a little faster. It is the cheapest mode of transport hands down. If you are an experienced walker, can carry around the stuff you need and have several weeks or months for your travels, you can cover even long distances by foot only. After all, this is how our ancestors moved around on land before any other kind of transportation was invented – and check Long distance walking in Europe.

Almost all old towns are compact and walkable almost by definition and even many younger cities can be explored quite comfortably on foot, giving you a much better feel for the area. The latter is true also in the countryside, and you can choose routes where no bus is available, and perhaps not even cars can drive. In some places a car is more hassle than it's worth, and not having to bother with metro-cards that only work in one city, having to pay exact change for the bus, and details of lines and timetables, can leave your mind free for actually seeing the city you're in.

See also: Tour cycling

Cycling can be a good and cheap way to explore areas a little (or much) further apart than what is practical to see by walking.

One advantage of a bike is that there are little running or fix costs once you have the bike. Small repairs or the occasional drop of oil/grease for the chains hardly amount to more than a hundred euros per year even for heavy users, whereas a car costs in excess of two hundred euros per month just for maintenance and fixed costs. Furthermore a bike is a simple enough mechanical system, even if you aren't a technical expert, and all pieces except the frame are easily replaced and fixed within a couple of hours. Modern cars and motorcycles on the other hand need electronics expertise on top of mechanical knowledge as their systems are getting ever more complicated, replacements can get prohibitively expensive and many things just cannot be fixed by laymen. In low income countries, you can usually have your bike fixed for quite a low price if you don't want to do it yourself, while big cities in many high income countries have "do it yourself" or "help each other" -style bike repair shops where tools and experts are provided for free or a nominal fee and you can learn how to do it on your own the next time while they and/or you fix your bike.

In some cases a traveler may be able to bring a bicycle from home; usually the handlebars and pedals need to be turned or removed to fit the bicycle into a "bike box" for transport on intercity bus or rail. Airlines may or may not accommodate bikes, though their exact policies vary and change so much that you should rather check with your airline directly. Car ferries usually take bikes without hassle.

Some cities, especially in Europe, have cheap bike share schemes run by (or in cooperation with) urban governments. These can be good value for money and a dirt cheap way of getting around fast. Check them out before you go, as some need advance registration.

While bike-share systems are getting increasingly common, not all of them are a good choice for visitors, as some require a local ID or bank account as proof of identity and the location of their stations may be better for commuting than sightseeing. Furthermore, unsubsidized systems, which are common in North America, can be rather expensive (membership in the range of US$100 per year and day passes for $10 and more plus usage fees for longer hire) and may not compare favorably to public transit after all.

Renting a bike can be a good option also for shorter tours in the countryside. While the price is not always cheap, it may be cheaper than getting transport for your own bike and is certainly cheaper in most countries than renting a car, and can give you the range you need with little hassle. However, in some countries like the USA or Australia, rental bikes for two people can easily cost more than a rental car for the same period.

Note that travel insurance, which usually covers rental car damage or excess payable, usually does not cover loss or damage to a bicycle you may rent.

For an extended trip it will be much cheaper to buy a used bike rather than rent. Used bikes can usually be purchased for reasonable prices at thrift shops, pawn shops, and garage sales. Unfortunately the market for second hand bicycles can take time to sell into.

Sometimes used bikes can be scavenged for free off the street when abandoned by others. It may however be difficult to know whether the bike is abandoned or just left for some time – unless it is in so bad condition that it requires significant repairs – and whether it is abandoned by the owner or by a thief.

While yachts are expensive, smaller boats or a canoe or kayak need not be. If there are suitable waterways and places to sleep, a boating voyage can work out very cheap – in addition to possibly being a nice alternative way to experience a region. You need to do your research, though; if you need transport for your boat past rapids, dams or otherwise blocked passages, your saving may quickly be gone, and spending may be hard to avoid also on stretches where you cannot camp wild in or near your boat. Not to mention possible hazards. If you are buying a cheap boat instead of renting or bringing your own, there are all the issues with buying a potential lemon away from home.

Hitchhiking, while faster than walking, is one of the least predictable modes of travel by its very nature. If you are lucky, you will be almost as fast as if you were driving yourself. If you are unlucky you will be mostly waiting or walking for days. A foldable bicycle may significantly increase your speeds for the times you are at the wrong place for getting rides.

An alternative to hitchhiking is ride sharing, where a ride is arranged in advance with another voyager travelling in the same direction. Typically, ride sharing passengers pay some token amount to defray the cost of the trip, but this may still be more economical than scheduled bus or train lines.

Use mass public transport (such as urban rail and buses) instead of taxis or cars. Some cities even offer some forms of free transport in city centers.

However, in some places, it can be cheaper for three or four people to share a taxi than to take public transport. Shop around and compare. Motorcycle taxis (tuk-tuk) are common in Asian cities, and cheaper than taxis.

For public transport, look into multi-use tickets. Many systems have tickets that can be used a certain number of times, or over a certain time period, for a considerable discount over buying each ticket individually.

Even national and international rail and bus networks may have discount tickets for a month's or several months' travel. You should also check what discounts you're eligible for: Western Europe frequently has blanket discount schemes for people under 26, Great Britain has a youth discount card that you can buy and which pays for itself after three or four journeys (a 'Young Person's Rail Card'), and many countries have discount schemes for students, pensioners and sometimes disabled people. Increasingly train operators sell discount cards offering either 25% or 50% on all or certain types of travel. Though they mostly have a minimum validity of one year, some special offers for short term cards are sometimes available for cheap prices. Though be careful with those offers as you often have to cancel early to avoid being "trapped" in a rather expensive subscription with yearly cancellation. Most discount cards also offer a discount for a trip starting or ending in their country and crossing one or several borders.

Local transport is often considerably cheaper than express or long distance transport. In European countries in the outskirts of a city, the public transport system can often overlap with a neighbouring city, providing a cheaper method of transport than explicitly paying for an inter-city trip. In countries like Japan, local trains are cheaper if you have time on your hands and can manage the connections. However early bird fares (where they exist) for long distance public transport such as trains can sometimes be the cheapest option available. However this comes with the downside of limited flexibility (they may be limited to certain days or times of days) and often no possibility for a refund.

Buses tend to be the cheapest option of getting anywhere and in some places they are the only alternative to a car. While Europe used to be an exception to this rule, the deregulation of Intercity buses in Europe has created a dynamic market with several players trying to undercut each other (and the railways) in terms of price. Once more, the key to low prices is booking early and shopping around. Sometimes cobbling together a connection between two different companies works out even cheaper than buying the whole route from one operator, but naturally you are the only person responsible for such connections working out and should you miss your connection due to any type of delay your ticket will almost certainly be worthless.

For distances up to 1000 km (but sometimes even for longer routes) trains may be cheaper than flying. Shop around. Sleeper services are usually more expensive than non-sleepers, but you might consider them for the money they save you on accommodation. Taking a seat instead of a sleeper for a ride 24 hours or longer is very uncomfortable and thus often steeply discounted. Some railways only charge the sleeper surcharge once per unit of accommodation, thus enabling pairs or small families who share a room(ette) to get a sleeper at quite an affordable price. If traveling as a couple, this of course also has a certain romanticism to it that is hard to find in other ways of travel.

First off: a car is often the most expensive way of getting anywhere, even if gasoline happens to be cheap where you live. Maintenance and fixed costs, tolls and taxes are things that make owning a car expensive (sometimes prohibitively so) before you have moved it a single inch. If you can at all live without a car, you will usually save big amounts of money, that you could not save while owning a car even if you hardly drive. However, there are some ways to mitigate the costs of car use.

In many parts of the world, especially Europe, it is possible to save money on travel by "ride sharing". There are websites where people post their travel details: where, when, what kind of car they have, how many spare seats, and how much they want you to pay them. It's not just a great way to cut travel costs, it can also be a great way to meet new people! In Germany, this kind of travel is called a "Mitfahrgelegenheit", in Portugal "boleia" and in France "covoiturage".

In the United States, you can try a driveaway car service. These most often serve "snowbirds", seasonal travellers who want their vehicles brought south to them in the winter or back north in the spring. In this service, you pay a small fee to an agency to deliver a car to a business or individual in another city, often hundreds or thousands of miles away. The customer wins by reducing their shipping costs, and you win by having a car to drive for cheap – but likely only one way. You are often allowed a certain amount of flexibility in the route and delivery time, allowing you freedom to explore. This is also possible, although not very common, in Canada. HitTheRoad.ca is a Canada based driveaway service.

Some repairs can be done by laypeople as well. While the increasing number of electronic components and onerous warranty provisions make this more and more difficult, things like changing tires or measuring the amount of oil in the motor can and should be done by yourself. Some other small repairs don't require an expert either, though this may depend on your technical knowledge and the model of the car. Not only does it save you money (particularly in high income countries), it also familiarizes yourself with your vehicle and enables you to detect problems before they cause expensive damage. Furthermore the ability to make a broken down car run again can be life-saving in remote areas where help may be days out.

In spite of the remarks on costs above, if you own a car, it may nevertheless be good to use it for a trip. The major advantage of a car is that it offers a lot more space than other modes of transportation, which is something that can be used for saving money. Not just RV's, but also vans or large station wagons are suitable for sleeping in (as long as it's reasonably warm outside); if you travel in places where it's safe and legal to do so outside designated camping areas, you may not need to pay anything for lodging. Even if you can't sleep in your car itself, you can usually pack a tent. It's also comparatively easy — especially in rural areas — to travel to places with more affordable lodging. Moreover, self-catering is fairly easy; you can bring cooking equipment and a small refrigerator and shop for larger quantities of foodstuffs where they cost less. If you travel abroad, there may be products from alcohol and tobacco to clothes and home electronics that for various reasons cost a fraction of what you'd need to shell out for them at home, and a trunk offers much more space for them than a backpack. This also works the other way around: If you travel to an expensive country by car you'll be able to bring inexpensive stuff you'll need on your trip from home.

See also: Flying on a budget

Riding first or business class is of course expensive, but even seats in economy class can differ by as much as a factor 5, depending on booking time, flight time, and ticket class.

Look for bargains. Budget airlines sometimes offer air tickets for very low prices. With a bit of luck you can fly even below the price of airport taxes and charges.

In general the economies of scale tend to work against aviation for "short hops" and in favor of it the longer the distance gets. Once crossing an ocean is involved, aviation is usually your only and almost always your cheapest option. For shorter distances however, and especially for routes that are only served by one or a select few carriers, overland transport may be cheaper, sometimes even by orders of magnitude. This however often comes with a reason. The three hundred-odd kilometer flight costs two hundred dollars? Well, that's 'cause the only other option is a 24-hour bus ride (if you get through fast) with no place to sleep and little legroom. The flight to the place you never heard of takes twenty minutes and costs a month's wage? Well maybe that is because the only other option is a boat built under the auspices of the German Kaiser, with little maintenance since, together with a bunch of shady types.

Still the pricing structure of aviation does not follow a strict relation between cost and price (often there is none whatsoever) and sometimes cheaper fares can be had by actions that seem to defy logic, such as going hundreds of miles in the "wrong" direction first to go to another airport with cheaper flights or buying a flight A to C via B if you want to go from A to B and never boarding your connection to C. The airlines have in recent times tried to crack down on some of those "tricks" while they generally don't care about some others. Conditions may vary wildly locally.

Another option worth considering, especially if you are flexible with your origin and/or destination airport are air rail alliances, which allow you to for example fly into Frankfurt airport and take a train to Hamburg or the other way around for possibly much cheaper than the flight to the city itself would have been.

Many art galleries, museums and other attractions are free. Of those that require an entry fee, some have discounted or free days at least once a month, or a time after which admission is discounted or free. Tourist information offices will sometimes be able to tell you about these. In some countries you get a discount if you are a national of that country. Students and elderly people also often get discounts, but the need to prove this status may apply. In Finland there is the Museokortti card, which at a moderate price offers free entrance to many museums all round the country for a week or all the year – a real bargain if you like such venues.

Some national parks and hiking trails charge an entrance fee, but it's often lower if you're a biker or hiker compared to if you're driving. There may be year passes for national parks in a country, which can be worth considering if you'd like to visit several parks. Also, it's possible that a lower or no fee is charged off-season (though remember that the weather may be really awful then).

Gambling is set up so that the house always wins. Still, casinos in places such as Nevada offer food, drinks and entertainment to guests at large discounts (for a reason: you need significant self control not to lose also on these, by spending more at the table). In less glamorous destinations you may be allowed to gamble with smaller sums, limiting the amount of money you'll likely lose.

Travel photography used to be a major part of the budget. In the 2010s, a smartphone is usually enough. If you don't carry one, you can take a single-use camera instead. Travel writing and urban sketching are cheap options to eternalise travel memories.

See also: Shopping

Retail prices differ a lot between countries. If you find travel equipment, clothes, electronics or other commodities much cheaper than at home, and you would buy them anyway, you might save a lot. Duty-free shopping can also be economic. You can buy things for a friend at home, and split the savings.

However, you risk damaging or losing things, and paying customs duties or overweight fees. Packing and carrying excess baggage takes effort in itself. If the price difference is only marginal, it is not worth the effort.

Avoid shopping until your last days on the destination. Then you are more familiar with price levels, and you know how much money you can spare. Local retailers are usually cheaper than hotel and airport shops.

In many places in Western Europe, and possibly also in other parts of the world, you can find give-away shops, shops where you can take things you want for free (as long as you don't take too much), and where you can leave stuff you don't need anymore. Flea markets run by charities sometimes have perfectly good items for ridiculous prices.

BookCrossing is a book exchange network. Books are travelling through the world, looking for people to read them! You might have encountered books with BookCrossing stickers already, but on the website you can look for places to find them. There are also exchange shelves not part of the network, where you can leave books you no longer need or take ones you find interesting, e.g. at some libraries, student union offices and accommodations.

Mass-produced souvenirs differ a lot in price. Prefer items that will be useful on the journey or back home, such as souvenir clothing. In low-income countries, handicraft items are usually worth their price. Haggling can also save money.

The cheapest places to buy food are traditional markets, supermarkets and street vendors.

In some cities there are very cheap restaurants in squats, usually selling vegetarian or vegan food for the price of the ingredients; for example Germany's Volksküchen. Some countries also have heavily subsidized university restaurants sometimes open to foreign students as well. Germany for instance has Mensas, offering famously tasteless (but in modern times more often than not surprisingly edible) small-sized meals for €2–3 (for non-students a substantially higher price may be charged, making the fast food chains cheaper, but e.g. in Finland also the outsider price is great value); in large cities, there are also restaurants run by immigrants offering food for €4–6; restaurants offering German cuisine tend to be cheaper in districts with a high unemployment rate and in rural areas. As with hotels one of the most important things for a restaurant is its location, and if you dine in an out of the way location with low property values this may be reflected in the price.

Self catering, buying your own ingredients and preparing your own meals, is a great way to stay on a budget. Many hostels provide kitchens where you can cook your meals. When camping outdoor cooking comes in handy.

For restaurants, avoid eating in the main tourist thoroughfares. If you get into the side streets and back alleys, you'll find cheaper restaurants that often serve tastier, more authentic meals. The ratio of locals to tourists generally correlates well with an eatery's value vs. cost.

Abstaining from alcoholic beverages saves both health and money; mostly indirectly, as intoxication might cause poor judgement, and reckless spending.

A good drink does not need to be expensive, though. In general, the cheapest beverages are found in supermarkets and dive bars, and the costliest ones in hotel bars, airports, and nightclubs. In high-tax countries such as the Nordic countries or Japan, there is hardly such a thing as a cheap drink. Visitors who enjoy strong beverages should consider bringing alcohol from a low-cost country, or duty-free shopping; within legal limits.

While some nightlife venues take hefty cover charges just to let you through the door, others offer free entrance. When it comes to finding a good party without spending a fortune, local know-how might be more valuable than ever.

See also: Sleep#Finding bargains

Camping is an obvious choice for cheap accommodation, and it's often the closest accommodation to lots of natural attractions. This will mean burdening yourself with whatever camping equipment is necessary to protect you from the weather at your destination. Also, many popular sites like national parks limit camping to particular spots and often have you pay for a site. This is still almost always cheaper than hostels, except in very very popular camping spots.

Sweden, Norway, Iceland and Finland have the Right to access principle allowing you to camp wild on most undeveloped land. Similar but more restricted rights exist in many other countries. In Japan you can participate in the nojuku tradition.

You could sleep in your car. Although also illegal in many areas, if you have a van style vehicle with limited rear windows, it is often easy to get away with.

The objective of hospitality exchange networks is to meet new, and local, people. It can be a great way to get a free place to stay the night, but besides that it's a fun and easy way to get acquainted with an area, city or culture. Active users of online hospitality exchange networks also tend to have broadband connections, which you can use while you are staying there.

If you have friends in the area, they might welcome you for a night or two. With today's travel speeds you might very well have a dense enough network of friends to avoid other lodging most nights. You should be sensitive, though, not to abuse their hospitality. In general visiting friends and family has become an ever more popular reason for travel in the last few decades and there is no reason not to make the visits a mutual thing – them staying at your place and you at theirs. Just remember – after three days fish and guests start to stink.

You can stay in hostels or guesthouses, usually the cheapest type of commercial tourist accommodation. Many hostels offer cheap one- to four-person rooms, but the cheapest of all are dorms shared by up to twenty people: you'll usually be given a key to the room and left to choose a bunk bed. Dorms are a great way to meet fellow travellers. There are some international hostel associations, members of which get discounts at participating hostels. Linen is included in most regions, though not everywhere.

Especially when traveling long distances it can be very convenient to already have a place to crash, but only book a hotel or hostel for one or two nights – spend the first day at the destination to shop around for cheaper accommodations (which often don't have a web presence). Also, for long term stays: Most web sites don't offer any discounts but when asking at the reception very good deals can be had (sometimes 30% of list prices when staying for a month). However, when travelling during peak season, having reservations for the entirety of your stay can work out both cheaper and easier. Once almost all hotels are booked out and only a handful of rooms remain in a city, the bargaining advantage turns decisively against you and if you don't speak the language and don't know your way around town this becomes even more pronounced.

If you have a long distance train or bus pass, you can often sleep on a train or bus. Ferry passages of suitable length sometimes have affordable cabins (or other places where sleeping is possible) – sleep on board instead of searching for accommodation when you arrive.

The most straightforward way to earn money on the road is obviously to find some work. This is more easily done through contacts, and as a matter of fact hitchhiking may come very handy here. Contacting expatriates may also provide opportunities.

Obvious jobs for travellers include harvesting, Teaching English and waiting at restaurants or bars in tourist areas.

Wwoofing is a term for working 5 hours or so a day on a farm in exchange for lodging and food: it stands for World-Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms. See wwoof.org.

If you have a talent for music or other performance arts, you can go busking (performing in public for tips). These activities are however prohibited or regulated in many places.

Don't get thrifty when it comes to health. Abstaining to treat a wound or other illness might in the end cost you more than if you took care of it quickly.

Countries with universal health coverage with free or heavily subsidized fees often have bilateral arrangements with some other countries. For the European Union and EEA the reciprocal arrangement covers all residents of the area.

Healthcare in low-income countries is usually much cheaper than in high-income countries, especially for service not covered by universal healthcare, such as dentistry or optometry; medical tourism can give the traveller a net earning.

Fees for mobile telephones and Internet connections can be hefty, especially when you are in a foreign country. If you are in a foreign country with plenty of Wifi hotspots, you might do well without mobile Internet. Inside the European Union there should be no roaming charges, but there is often fine print regarding territories such as the Channel Islands or Åland which have a special status and may or may not be included in the "roaming free" area, depending on your provider. In other countries, notably Mexico or the US, you may even be charged roaming even if you do not cross any international borders, simply for being in a different "zone" of the same country.

Some money-saving tips, often usable also without a limited budget to lessen your environmental impact:

• In places where drinking bottled water is necessary, buy the biggest bottle of drinking water you can find in the local supermarket. Leave it at your place of accommodation, and use it to refill a smaller bottle you carry around with you. That way you can save through bulk purchase and reduce waste. Or boil your water (where this is sufficient treatment) and use it to refill bottles.
• Join a group tour – often there are significant group discounts and you can visit places that would be far more expensive if you visited on your own (especially if you want to book a guide or own transport).

Many discounts for senior citizens are available to people as young as 55, or even younger people in welfare programs.

Youths and students can also get discounts.

• Minimum budget travel