How to travel on a budget

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No matter where you want to travel as a student, budgeting can be difficult and put you off going anywhere. In December, I booked a 4-day trip to Dublin the week of Christmas for myself and my partner, which was an amazing experience, especially around the festive season. But with Dublin being one of the most expensive cities you can visit, it’s hard not to worry about how much you spend, especially in the city centre. So here are some ways to save as much as possible when travelling.

The booking of the flights can often be one of the most expensive parts of the trip. For Dublin specifically, I usually use Ryanair, and flying mid-week is the cheapest option. Depending on what luggage you want to take, your tickets will cost just under £100.

For other holidays, though, I would use other budget airlines like EasyJet and recommend going outside peak times like April or October to save money and avoid overcrowded tourist destinations.

As for hotels, we booked the Temple Bar Inn located in the city centre and used Booking.com. It was one of the cheapest hotels, yet it was nice.

Staying in the city centre is excellent as you are a 5- or 10-minute walk away from most attractions and restaurants; however, staying outside the city centre will help save you money. A lot of times, cities will have Metro or bus routes which can take you into the city quickly.

Once you have everything booked, this is when I recommend booking restaurants and attractions. Depending on where you go, some attractions have free entry, but with the ones that don’t, I recommend going to one per day.

I use Tripadvisor to see other people’s reviews and to save the places I want to try. Also, with Tripadvisor, you can filter restaurants by traveller ranking, the type of meal you’re looking for, how much you’re looking to spend and other specific features.

Especially if you’re going on a city break, I recommend booking everything because there is nothing worse than going to multiple restaurants that are all booked out.

My number one tip for travelling as a student is to book everything in advance so that you can save as much spending money as possible and enjoy your trip as much as possible.