The last few years I was lucky enough to have been able to go solotravelling at least once a year. Whenever I did, a lot of people at home asked me, how I can afford it to go travelling „all the time.“ Well, I learnt on the trips itself, that it’s actually easy to travel on a low budget. Of course, there are countries which are automatically pretty cheap (if you don’t decide to stay in five star resorts all the time). That makes it easier to stick to your budget.

Low budget travelling starts with your mindset at home. If you spend everything you earn immediately, obviously it won’t be easy to save up enough money to even start. Know your priorities! For me, it’s travelling. Contrary to a lot of peoples opinion, I do not renounce a lot at home. But: There’s a fixed amount of money that goes into my savings account immediately. The amount is set, so that I still don’t have to dispense of anything at home; I can afford my apartment, my car, going out, even some shopping from time to time. But I do it moderately. I ask myself: Do I really need it or is travelling more important to me? Usually it’s the latter 😀

Once you’re abroad it depends on the country you are in. While I was in southeast asia you could get hostels for 3 euros per night. Food was also pretty cheap. But here are some general things (some are obvious, but I still list them) you can do to make travelling affordable:

• Stay in hostels for most of the time. You can still treat yourself by staying in fancier hotels from time to time. Although you would be surprised how fancy hostels can be!
• Cook your own meals at the hostel. Usually ingredients are pretty cheap and you level up you’re cooking by trying out new recipes with the traditional spices.
• It can be really convenient to book tours for some activities and in some countries I would also recommend it for safety reasons to not go on your own. But if you are travelling in considerably safe countries, try to explore places on your own (or with people you met on the way) by using public transport, rent scooters/cars to get around. Maybe you’ll find some hidden gems by doing so. And exploring on your own is a great adventure itself!
• Book your flights well in advance. Sometimes these are special offers on short notice as well, but booking a few month in advance saves you a lot of money already.
• Also book your hotels/hostels well in advance. I have to admit, this one doesn’t work for me as I usually decide quite spontaneously where I’m going next 😀
• Join free activities offered at your destination for example free walking tours. Some hostels also offer cool stuff to join for free (yoga, karaoke night, language classes, game night,… ) keep your eyes open for social accommodations like this while booking.
• Share costs with fellow travelers (shared taxi rides for example)

Low budget travel is not for everyone and it’s also not easy in every country. While I was travelling in the US and Canada I also used Couchsurfing as a possibility to save money on accommodations. Check out my post about useful apps to learn more about useful apps.

If you have other useful tips to travel on a low budget, let me know in the comments!