Great Tips For Planning Cheap Family Vacations
Category: Cheap Family Vacation | Nov 24, 2009 |
Planning cheap family vacations is often something that we need to do because travel and entertainment is just so expensive. Caring for a family is very expensive, and when you want to take your family on vacation costs can get out of control. But, family vacations don’t need to break the bank. With some careful planning and some flexibility you can save hundreds or even thousands of dollars on your family vacations. Cheap doesn’t mean that you have to give up the things that you want, it simply means that you have to get creative to get the things you want without spending every dime you have (or don’t have).
Cheap family vacations can be just as great as something that you pay a lot of money for if you plan ahead of time. Most of the time, planning ahead can save you hundreds of dollars. Most people are aware that when you purchase your airline tickets several weeks or months in advance it’s typically much cheaper then when you buy in the days leading up to your departure. So, when you are planning your family vacations, purchase your airline tickets as far in advance as possible. Your savings here can go into buying fun things, eating out, or other forms of entertainment while on vacation.
Another great way to save money on airline tickets and car rentals is to book them online. Several of the online travel web sites offer substantial savings to customers who book all of these things at one time. Even if the savings is only ten percent, ten percent adds up when you consider the amount of money you’ll be spending when you buy plane tickets for your entire family, rent a car, and pay lodging expenses. That ten percent can go to fun things, or go into the planning of future family vacations.
Vacation rentals are a great way to save money on family vacations. Vacation rentals are bigger than hotel rooms, giving your family more space. Since most come with full kitchens you can cook some meals and save on restaurant expenses. Another way to save is to book a vacation rental direct from the owner, instead of through a management company, who essentially is a middleman.
Another great way to take cheap family vacations is to stay in an area right outside the popular area you wish to visit. Hotel rates and rental fees are usually outrageous in very popular areas, but if you travel even a mile away the rates are often much lower. Rates skyrocket during the seasonal months; you’d be surprised by how much. When you are first considering family vacations, call ahead to your destinations and inquire what their off season prices are, you’ll likely suffer sticker shock when you hear how much the prices are inflated when the tourists come around. You can save so much that it’s worth waiting just a week or two to literally save hundreds or even thousands of dollars during your family vacations. It doesn’t matter how big your family is, the price difference between the seasonal and off season prices may be enough to keep the richest man home until prices drop!
Family vacations can easily be great experiences for every member of the family, especially when money isn’t a constant worry on the trip. Planning ahead and taking the steps to save money where you can, will help alleviate the financial pressures so that the whole family will have a good time, including mom and dad. Cheap family vacations are not synonymous with poor quality because nothing has to be given up, no compromises made. If you plan it right, you can stay in nice places, enjoy the things you want to enjoy, you can just do it for less!
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The kids have wrapped up their school year and the pressure to plan a fun family vacation is on. If you haven’t firmed up your plans — it’s not too late for a last minute family trip that is fun, economical and safe. “When you take a family vacation, you have to consider who you’re traveling with,” says Lynn Hayes, editor of FamilyTravel.com. “Kids want to be entertained, and believe it or not, there are great trips you can plan that will keep everyone smiling.” Hayes gives viewers great …
"Cheap" and "beach" go together like oil and vinegar. They tend to be mutually exclusive. If you like camping, try getting reservations at Carpinteria State Beach, Leo Carillo, or Doheny. http://www.reserveamerica.com.
Ocracoke island
Honestly, the 10 and 5 year olds would love anything you can think of to do in Florida. The 1 year old is too young to enjoy a lot of Disney and the associated whirlwind of activity.
You can rent a condo or a private house with a pool in Orlando or close for a reasonable amount. That will save you some bucks, you can plan to eat breakfast and dinner at home. The trade-off is getting back and forth to the parks. Disney often runs a special, usually in September, to get free meals with your park tickets and hotel stay on property. That plan was going to cost our family of 6 (4 adults, 2 kids) about $2800 for this September. That was for 2 rooms at the Pop Century resort. As it happens, our grand children decided they wanted to go to Washington DC instead. So we aren't doing Disney this year after all.
Other parts of Florida have things to offer if you aren't planning to do theme parks every day.
If you've never been to Florida, I will warn you that it is hot, sticky, buggy, and miserable from June through mid-September.
There are alot of Festivals in the summer at the Beach for free.
You can make trips to D.C. (about 4 hours) Charlottsville, Jamestown or Williamsburg, even to the Outer Banks. Virginia Beach has a large Beach, Aquarium,Zoo or you can take a boat trip to watch dolphins.
http://www.vbfun.com/visitors/default.as... Virginia Beach
http://www.norfolk.gov/visitors... Norfolk
http://www.history.org/ Williamsburg
http://www.apva.org/history/index.html... Jamestown
http://www.apva.org/history/index.html... Charlottsvile
http://www.apva.org/history/index.html... Washington DC
Little Rock has a great kids museum by River Market (and if you go on Tues or Sat the Farmer's Market is there and fun to walk around). Down in Hot Springs there's a ton of stuff to do for kids from playing in the streams around there to the Mid America Science Museum to walking around downtown to mini golf.
If you are thinking AR around the LR and HS area I would suggest staying in Benton, it is 1/2 way between both cities and not crowded at all. Have fun!
Branson Missouri? Me and my family love going there:)
I was surprised myself to find that LA could actually be done on a budget. I've been hoping to go a while and now I'm quite tempted to actually do it. I did a quick search and found an article… Apparently you don't need a boatload of money to visit Los Angeles. I'm more interested in the city itself, but my guess is that other than the stuff in the city it might be even cheaper to stay outside the city. Maybe try going to some of the parks in the area, like Universal and such. I'm not sure how much admission is, considering you're looking for a cheap vacation…
I would have to say that it really does depend on where you live. If you are near or live in driving distance to Orlando you can easily stay at the Tropical Palms Resort each studio comfortable holds up to 8 people, it's 59-79 a night depending on when you want to vacation. And the Tickets to Universal Studios are only 99 dollars for 5 days and a free kids ticket for each adult one purchased (3-9 years old).
If you live in or around New Jersey you can do the same thing for Six Flags Great Adventure.
When we were young my mom really couldn't afford a traditional vacations so we would go to local hotels and live it up tourist style for a few days.
Find the nicest hotel within 50 miles of your home, call for rates and visit the websites (sometimes they have internet specials). You can get 2 or 3 rooms for a few days, enjoy the pools, go to the malls and movie theatres and restuarants.
Another option would be to rent a cabin near any body of water in driving distance. You can stay at a hotel near the Turning Stone Casino.
Have you thought about Virginia Beach?
Below is a link to help coordinating family vacations on the cheap. Best of luck and I hope, no metter were you end up, that you have a great time.
Asheville is the hub of the mountain and can be cheap but it really depends on what you want to see (Biltmore House), where you want to stay (Grove Park Inn), and what you want to eat.
There are tons of websites with information on the North Carolina Mountains.
Once you decide what you want to do, then call the hotels/motels and ask for a deal.
Let me know if you have other NC questions.
Mike Honeycutt
honeycutt@unca.edu