Thank you to Homeaway.com for inspiring this sponsored post about saving money while planning a family vacation.
While planning our recent weekend New York City trip, I learned a few tips and tricks on how my family could save money on vacation.
While most of my tips are strategic, the goal is that our vacations (big or small) do not break the bank.
3 Tips to Save Money While Planning a Family Vacation
Find new places within driving distance to save on flights. Rhode Island is only a few hours away from great places like the White Mountains, the Berkshires, the Hamptons, New York City, and of course, Cape Cod and Boston.
All of these places are at most four hours away. Traveling by car is great for many reasons. You leave when you want to, you can take as many breaks as you need, and now you won’t need to rent a car because you have your own!
Be really flexible with your dates. Hotels often offer big discounts on quiet weekends or weekdays. Sometimes they have calendars on their site that show you the low rates.
Instead of a hotel, try using a rental site like homeaway.com. You can save money by cooking your own food in a place that has a full kitchen. Also, a home rental offers more space for big families like mine. And having a laundry machine in the house means you can pack less!
We found a place on HomeAway for our upcoming trip to North Conway, New Hampshire in minutes. We were able to specifically search for properties that would sleep 6, had a pool, was close to Story Land and had 5 star reviews. I like sites like this because they handle all the money and arrangements.
What are your money-saving tips when planning a vacation?