🏖 Affordable vacation

A trip budget rarely adds up on the first try. You have already picked a destination and want to know what a day there costs, where you can save and where overpaying is almost unavoidable. The "Affordable vacation" category is built around these questions. It contains calculations, not general advice.

The core of the category is budget breakdowns by city and country. The cities include New York, London, Prague, Lisbon, Athens, Florence, Venice, Baku, Bangkok and Dubai. The countries and resorts include Croatia, Estonia, Georgia, Japan, Turkey, Phuket, Alanya and Paphos. In every article the costs are split by item: lodging, food, transportation, tickets. We show separately which item takes the most money.

The second group of articles covers tools for saving. We look closely at the Rome city passes, the Paris City Pass and the Prague Visitor Pass: what they include and on which itinerary the card pays for itself. There are pieces on ski passes for the large ski areas in France and on ways to save on a ski vacation in Austria. Separate articles explain how to pay by card and in cash in Croatia and how to cut the cost of mobile service and taxis in Georgia. For Japan we describe the combination of a rail pass, a hostel and a night bus.

The third group has to do with the season and with short itineraries. These are roundups of beach destinations by month, Istanbul in November, the surcharges European hotels add on New Year's Eve and the prices of mulled wine at Christmas markets in Germany. The day in Munich is built around free places and cheap lunches, the day in Pattaya is split into stops with a total worked out in advance. In the Marne Valley we show tastings at family winemakers as an alternative to Épernay, and in Qatar we compare the beach clubs of Doha with the free shores.

All the articles follow the same structure. A short conclusion comes first: how much money you need and what it will go on. Then come practical sections by cost item, so you can plug in your own conditions. Every figure has a source and every article has a date of last check. We verify prices against the official websites of carriers, museums and city services. We write about the downsides plainly: if a pass does not pay off on a typical itinerary, the text says so.

The category is for people who plan a trip on their own and work out the costs in advance. It suits both a weekend in one city and a long trip around a country. It will be of little help to those looking for a ready-made package with no calculations or for a vacation with no budget limits. We do not promise the lowest price. We show what the total is made of.

Start with the article on the budget for your destination: it gives the overall sum for a day or a week. Then read the piece on the city pass or transit pass, if there is one for your city. After that, look at the seasonal articles to check the dates you have chosen. General ways to save are best read last, once the main costs are already clear.

"Affordable vacation" is part of the "Types of travel" section. If you have not picked a destination yet, take a look at the neighboring categories "Vacation ideas" and "Tourist ideas". Practical questions beyond the topic of money are gathered in the "For a note" category. For trips with sports and children, "Active recreation", "Water parks" and "Entertainment" will come in handy.

Prices change fast, so we update the articles in this category regularly. With each update we check the amounts against official sources and change the date of last check. If a year appears in the headline, the calculation applies to that year specifically. Exchange rates and fares are given as of the date of the check, so the total for your trip may differ. Before buying tickets and passes, open the official website and compare the price with ours. When the costs are worked out in advance, it is easier to decide what to save on and what to spend more on.