If you are traveling for the holidays you may want to look for ways to save money on travel. During the holidays everything from transportation to lodging can cost more than normal making travel a bigger drain on your budget These tips can help you save on travel so you can go further and do more.

How to save money on travel

Check discount travel sites for great deals on everything from travel to your hotel stay. Be sure to shop around on multiple sites to find the best deal. Often one site will have a few dollars cheaper than another. While it doesn't seem like much it adds up fast.

How to get there

If you have time and reliable transportation, you can save money by driving to your travel destination. Sometimes for us driving and taking the Eurostar to Italy is cheaper than flying.

If driving is not an option but you don't mind going a bit slower try a train for lower prices over air travel.

Don’t book a hotel

Skip the hotel room and try AirBnB on for size. There are some real gems out there available with Airbnb that can often allow you to rent an entire house or apartment.

There are lots of other rental sites which we found useful such as Cozycozy, Vrbo, Cottages.com and Booking.com or Expedia often have private renters listed. We found an amazing agriturismo using Expedia.

We find since having children and needing more than one room it’s much cheaper and more comfortable to rent an apartment than stay in a hotel.

What to do

Save money on activities and restaurants by checking Groupon for deals on things you would like to do while on your trip. Groupon is a great place to find things you normally would not even notice while on vacation at a steep discount.

Don’t think you have to pay for tickets to every museum and attraction to feel you have ‘seen’ the city. Often taking an open top bus tour gives you a feeling for a place and you can hop on and off to explore further just the bits which look enticing.

Most cities have free attractions as well as paid. London has so many free museums and galleries you really don’t need to pay for anything. Milan has free things to see and do HERE.

Extra hacks for saving money while traveling

Set a budget for shopping and souvenirs while traveling. It can be easy to spend too much money while traveling on the cool things you find. Sticking to a cash budget for this can help you make smarter choices on your spending.

Opt to cook as much of your own food as you can. Even if this means having sandwiches for lunch. This can save you a lot of money. If you don't want to spend your time grocery shopping you can use a grocery delivery service to have food delivered to your hotel or Airbnb.

We tend to eat at home for breakfast, then out at lunch and grab a panino or slice of pizza and later eat in for dinner. Then we pop out for an ice cream in the evening. It makes it more managable and you don’t feel you are missing out.