Road trips are the classic budget vacation choice. There are a few great ways to make the trip fit in a tiny budget and still have a great time.
Plan an inexpensive road trip by dividing your budget to match the priorities of your trip. 30-50% of the budget will go to gas, another 30-50% on food & lodging. The rest can be spent on entertainment. Plan with your priorities, a long trip will cost more in gas and will require careful food planning. Be sure to plan for tolls, parking and lodging costs.
We all love a great budget planner, so I made this one to go with this particular situation. Download and print that baby.
After you have you budget planned, be sure to check out this post to see how to plan out each leg of the trip, there is a free printable over there too.
Budgeting for Vacations
In my family I like to have a calendar meeting in January where we discuss what trips we want to take in a year. Then we plan the budget for those adventures and a plan to save that money. I have made up a budget planner printable in this post that walks you through how to save for a whole year of vacation.
No matter your budget, you can have a relaxing vacation.
Set a budget goal and plan how you will save up the money.
I surveyed 81 people and got the stats from their road trips. I put all my findings in this post, it will tell you how much the average road trip costs per person, per day.
Those numbers are really helpful for creating a savings plan for your trip.
These numbers came from trips that happened over the past 5 years. Use the numbers as a guide, and use things like gas calculators to budget for any known expenses.
Destination
I imagine that you already have a destination in mind. Check your car’s gas mileage and local gas prices. Write down that number in your budget. Don’t forget to budget for the return trip!
Gas is the first number you need, unless you drive an electric car, gas is necessary for a road trip.
You can start with a gas budget then plan a destination with my favorite trip inspiration tool, withinhours.com. This site gives you options for cities to visit within hours or miles of your current destination.
This is the way to go on a very tight budget.
Staying closer to home will save you money, but it does not have to be boring! Drive in a different direction, find something new, be open to enjoying a vacation closer to home. There may be a very exciting attraction within an hour or two of home.
I recommend you spend some time on WithinHours.com, a website I recommend frequently. It gives you lots of destination ideas within any number of hours from home.
Driving multiple days requires a bit more planning, I have a great resource here that will tell you the exact number of hours you should plan to drive in a day.
Food
Do you eat while you travel or do you travel to eat?
We are somewhere in between. I love planning road trip meal plans, I have one here on the blog, but I also love some good fast food.
Break down your budget for food into an amount per day. I recommend that you budget at least the same amount that you spend at home for groceries!
So start there and see if you can be creative with that budget.
Select a few exciting food options for your destination to get you excited for the trip.
I like regional fast food chains because I still have young kids and going to new places can be intimidating. I can be reasonably sure that my kids’ behavior will be appropriate for any restaurant with a drive thru.
We stopped at Raisin Cane’s on a recent road trip and it was super memorable, very affordable and a neat destination.
Use Google Maps to get a bird’s eye view of your destination and find a cool eatery.
My best tip to save on food is to eat out for breakfast rather than dinner. Breakfast is almost always less expensive than dinner and it is very filling!
Lodging
After food and gas lodging is the next big category to figure out.
Camping is the most common suggestion for cheap lodging, but it is not for everyone. If your family likes to camp, I recommend HipCamp.com for finding great spots that will be off the beaten path and certainly memorable.
Hotel Loyalty Points are another great way to get a discount for the amount of nights you are staying. Marriott has the best loyalty program and they have plenty of locations.
If you need to cut the budget as much as possible, you need to stay with friends and family. This may be difficult or uncomfortable to ask, but it will give you lots of time to spend with this friend or family member.
Entertainment
Now, you have arrived at your location and you have a place to stay, what are you going to do?
The best cheap vacation entertainment:
Sightseeing – walk around the city or town, check out any local historic buildings or historic markers. You may be surprised what you find!
Visit a Graveyard – So many interesting things to learn at graveyards and there are historic ones in many cities.
Playgrounds and Parks – Local playgrounds and parks will likely be pretty busy, but they are a great place to pass the time. Some cities have really beautiful or unexpected free parks! When we visited St. Louis we really loved the Wild Bird Sanctuary, and it was less than $10 a car!
Visitors Centers – These facilities vary a lot from city to city, but some have really interesting displays or activities. We have seen visitor’s centers that have fossils on display and every one have brochures for local attractions.
Many are staffed, and those people will have great suggestions for other local free things to do.
Google Maps – You can get a bird’s eye view of the city with Google Maps, using the features I discuss in this post, you may stumble upon an unexpected surprise.
Other great ideas include renting movies or hanging out at the beach.
There are lots of ways to enjoy your time on a trip without spending too much money, the key is to research before you go and get the family excited for what you will be doing, not what they are not doing.
Document the Trip
Save the memories and display them.
You just worked hard to take a great trip, plan to record the experience with pictures, souvenirs or a journal. Display those memories so that you can enjoy those shared family memories.
Remembering and anticipating vacations make them more fun and make them more valuable to your family.
There is a list of off the walls ways to document any family trip, on any budget, in this post. Check it out!
