Travel does not have to be expensive to be fun and create great family memories! You can spend $15K on a big fancy trip to Hawaii or $1.5K going to a beach within driving distance of where you live, and your kid may say their favorite memory is playing catch on the beach with Dad on both trips. So here are some ideas to plan a great family vacation for less money:
1. Rent a Beach House
This is a pretty generic suggestion, but sometimes just having a week at a beach is all you need! You can find affordable beachfront homes all throughout the East Coast and Florida. Renting a home means you can cook meals at home and save money by not going out to eat all the time. And when the main activity is just enjoying the beach, that keeps costs low too!
A few beach suggestions:
Quiet and affordable in North Carolina:
Ocean Isle Beach. Look for homes on AirBNB >
Quiet and affordable in South Carolina:
Edisto Beach. Look for homes on AirBNB >
Affordable and close to attractions:
Anything around Myrtle Beach including Murrells Inlet, Garden City, Surfside Beach, Atlantic Beach, North Myrtle Beach, and Cherry Grove. Myrtle beach has a lot of activities to enjoy if you think your kids will get bored with just enjoying the beach. Activities increases cost though.
Beautiful water on the Gulf Coast:
Anywhere between Destin and Panama City Beach are going to have beautiful beaches and plenty of restaurants. The price ranges can vary but there are plenty of homes and condos for rent to fit most budgets in this stretch of coastline. Look for homes on AirBNB >
(I can think of way to many beaches to recommend so I’m going to stop there and write a whole post about good beaches some other time…)
2. Go Camping
Not everyone loves camping (I’ll admit it’s not my favorite as an adult), but I remember loving camping as a kid! Even if it’s just for a night or two, sleeping in a tent, cooking over a fire, and just being in nature is so much fun and creates great memories. It’s also often the most affordable vacation you can do. The only caveat is you have to have a tent and a few basic camping supplies like sleeping bags, lanterns, and flashlights, cooking utensils, etc. If you already own these things then it’s very affordable!
I recommend going to a reputable camp ground with proper security. You won’t be alone in the woods which may seem less magical but it’s safer. National and State Park campgrounds are often very good places to look. I also like the fun family amenities at some of the national campground companies like Jellystone.
Look for a good campground in driving distance to where you live and that has some interesting things to see nearby – like streams or creeks to play in, waterfalls to hike to, etc. That will keep the trip very affordable and still a lot of fun!
3. Rent a Cabin in the Woods/Mountains
Just like renting a beach house, renting a cabin in an area with free nature-driven activities and the abilty to cook some of your own meals can be a great way to save. You can look for cabin rentals on sites like AirBnB or several campground companies like Jellystone and KOA have cabin rentals at some of their locations.
Look for a beatiful area near mountains, hiking trails, creeks, etc. so you’ll have fun, free things to do.
We live in the Southeast and our favorite area is Western North Carolina. We like the Brevard area, the Sapphire/Cashiers area, the Blowing Rock/Boone area, and really pretty much all of Western NC! There are so many kid-friendly hikes, waterfalls, and kid-friendly activities in these areas.
4. Take a Cheap Cruise
Not everyone lives within driving distance of a cruise port, but if you can drive or can fly cheaply, there are often good cruise deals on Carnival, MSC, Royal Caribbean, and Norwegian. You can use a travel site like booking.com or expedia.com to search for all cruises, but always compare them to the deal directly from the cruise line sites.
If you can get to Florida easily, there are often cheap prices on 3-4 day cruises to the Bahamas. If you can get to LA, there are often cheap deals to cruises to Mexico.
Check out these current cheap cruise deals >
Cruises are great for kids because there is entertainment included! They usually have pools, sometimes waterslides, kids clubs, and lots of organized activities. Parents love cruises because there is not cooking or cleaning required!
As far as kid-friendlyness, Disney Cruise Line is the big winner, but big losers on price. When you’re on a budget, cheaper cruises can be just as fun (just different – in both good and bad ways, I’ll be writing a whole cruise post soon). Royal Caribbean is a close runner-up for kids. Some of their ships have a ton of activities for kids and they let kids sail free, but only allow 2 free kids per stateroom so it doesn’t work as well for families of 5 or more. Carnival often has good deals and is not AS great for kids as the others, but it certainly isn’t bad. Carnival has great customer service, still has ships with pools and slides, and still takes you to the same destinations as more expensive cruise lines.
5. Rent a Lake House
You may have noticed a theme to this post…renting a house you can drive to where you can cook your own meals and there are free nature activities around is a good way to do a great vacation on a budget. Another option besides beaches and mountains is lakes! Look for a rental house on a lake that includes access to boats, kayaks, floats, or other things to make the lake fun with kids. Make sure you keep a really close eye on non-swimmers and always use life jackets – even on strong swimmers.
There are SO many wonderful lakes in the U.S.! Just a few of our favorites:
- Lake Lure, NC
- Lake Oconee, GA
- Smith Mountain Lake, VA
- Lake Winnipesaukee, NH
- Glen Lake, MI
- What are your favorites? Let us know!
6. Washington, D.C.
It may be surprising to see a city on the list, but if you can find a good hotel deal (check for Hot Deals on hotwire.com) or rent an affordable condo, Washington, D.C. has plenty of free attractions and cheap public transporation that makes it a more affordable travel destination than other cities.
If you can find a place to stay in walking distance of a Metro stop, then it will be easy to get around. The Metro in D.C. is one of the cleanest and easiest to use in the U.S. Once you’re in D.C., there are plenty of free things to do, including:
- Exploring the monuments and memorials on the National Mall
- Smithsonian National Zoo (the only place to see pandas in the US!)
- Smithsonian Museum of Natural History
- Smithsonian Air and Space Museum
- The Naitonal Archives
- The Capitol (get tickets through your state representatives)
- Smithsonian National Museum of American History
- The National Gallery of Art
- And so much more!
7. Visit a National Park
The United States has so many incredible National Parks! If there are any in driving distance to where you live (or you can fly cheaply), see if there are affordable places to stay near the park. This isn’t the case for every National Park. It’s easy to find cheap lodging around Great Smoky Mountain National Park, and not very easy around the Grand Canyon National Park, for example. But once you find lodging near a park, enjoying the natural beauty of the park is free or cheap!
A lot of the great National Parks are in the Western part of the country and not as easy for most of the population to drive to and have fewer lodging options (which means they’re more expensive). Here are some great National Parks that are more easily drivable for people in the Eastern half of the US and are easy to find affordable lodging:
- Acadia National Park in Maine – check out the Bar Harbor Motel for budget and family-friendly lodging.
- Shenandoah National Park in Virginia – lots of home rentals near the park
- Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee/NC – there’s an abundance of hotel and rental options near this park, but if you want to avoid all the tourist attractions and just focus on the National Park, stay outside of Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. Townsend is a good quieter town still close to the park.
- Mammoth Cave in Kentucky – check the rates at Mammoth Springs Lodge and Cabins
- Hot Springs in Arkansas – every hotel brand and more are available nearby. Look for deals at booking.com >
In conclusion…
A great vacation doesn’t have to cost a lot of money. The old saying “quality over quantity” doesn’t really apply to travel because the quality comes from quality family time, not cost. I would always rather take 2 “cheaper” trips then 1 expensive trip because it means more time for family memories.
People often ask us how we can afford to travel so much. I can tell them about how we collect hotel points and airline miles, or how we generally prioritize experiences over nice things and a fancy house, but the other big way we do it is by not spending all our vacation budget on one trip. We spread it out and do more for less.
