My Top 5 Tips for Budget Travel to Europe

 Kevin and I love to travel on a budget, but when we found ourselves with 4 young children, it was clear we needed to find some creative ways to save money or else we just wouldn't be traveling! And not traveling wasn't an option for us, haha! 

Soooo....with a shoestring budget and a "can-do" spirit, we dove in to the research on how we could get 6 people to Europe for less money! 

And let me tell you...WE FOUND A WAY!! (where there's a will there's a way, right?! ha) 

For the same price as renting an Airbnb on the California coast (just hours away from our hometown), we somehow got ALL OUR FAMILY TO FRANCE and spent a glorious two weeks enjoying the beautiful countryside and coast:) 

If you're still following, here's my top 3 tips for making it happen: 

1) MILES CREDIT CARDS:

If flying abroad is a priority for you, don't waste any time in applying for miles credit cards. Most miles credit cards will give you 50-100K points if you spend a certain amount of money in the first 3 months. It's usually a very attainable amount. In the last 15 years, Kevin and I have got the majority of our flights for free because we keep opening miles credit cards and cashing in on the bonus points they give when you sign up! My only caveat to this one is that every card we open and put money on, WE PAY! Do not open a card if you can't pay it. But if you are able, you will never go back to paying for flights!! 

Our favorite cards are from Chase. We've had the Chase Sapphire (which is the best!), the Chase Ink (for our business cards), and the Chase Reserve 

But we've also used...

United

Capital One Venture 

Southwest

To read more about using miles credit cards, see my post HERE

In 2023 we took 3 international trips and used the bulk of all our points for these 3 trips. So...when we flew to France in 2024, we had enough points to get 4 free tickets, and then still had to purchase 2 tickets. But this still saved us thousands of dollars! 

2) HOME EXCHANGE: 

(This was one of the farmhouses we stayed in France, so incredible!) 

Holy Moly, this one has been an ABSOLUTE game changer for our family!! This website allowed us to stay FOR FREE for 2 weeks at the most amazing locations in France. We stayed in 2 gorgeous French farmhouses in Provence, and then a stunning apartment in Nice! ALL FOR FREE! 

Here's how it works...you sign up on Home Exchange and list your home/apartment/whatever! You do not even have to own your home. You can use Home Exchange while renting! People can contact you to stay in your home. They can either stay when you are gone on your own vacation, and you will earn Guest Points. OR you two can do an exchange. There is absolutely no money involved in the exchange, which makes it so nice! 

You can read more about our experience HERE and HERE, and use my link to sign up!! It's SO easy and so amazing. We've met the most lovely people all around the world through it:) 

3) EATING IN

I might sound cliche to suggest eating in for meals, but do you know how much money we saved doing this? A lot. Now don't get me wrong, food is such an important cultural aspect of travel, and I spent years traveling as a single and married person where we tried everything and ate out for all the meals. But if you have a passel of children and are trying to keep to a budget, this is the way to go! 

Let's break it down. Most dinner entrees you buy are going to be at least $10-20. Let's say we use the cheaper end of that number and multiply $10 times 6 people in our family. At the cheapest, our dinner will be $60. Then multiply $60 times 14 days and that amount comes to $840. If your entree is more than $10 (which is more than likely), just dinners will cost you over $1000, not to mention breakfast, lunch, snacks, and of course....gelato! haha! 

So instead, we went to the local grocery store and picked up bulk items we could eat each day. 

For breakfast we ate eggs, toast, yogurt and fruit. 

For lunch we literally ate baguette sandwiches every day. A baguette cost us like $1 and fed our whole family. We added cheese or meat which we could stretch out a few days before buying more. We also ate apples, carrots and some sort of chips or crackers. 

For dinner we made very basic options. Here's a lineup of some of the things we made:

- Pasta with sauce and roasted veggies. The entire meal was around $7 for our whole family to eat. We rotated pasta types, and sauce types (red sauce, pesto, etc). 

- Pizza- We found frozen pizzas for a few bucks each. These are not the same as your junky American frozen pizzas. Many of these frozen pizzas were made with healthy, local ingredients. Our kids loved it! 

-  Salads with chicken. Veggies are very cheap in Europe, and then we'd get a chicken to add for protein. 

- We'd often try the local foods they had at the grocery store! In France, Kev and the kids loved the Croquettes. 

For snacks, I actually packed a TON of snacks from Costco in our suitcases. I got bulk items of dried fruit, nuts, granola bars, etc. I brought them so we didn't have to purchase any thing extra! However, we did let the kids get a gelato every day from a store, so that was our one special treat:) 

So, all that to say, if you can eat super simple from a grocery store, DO IT! Kevin estimated we probably saved $500-$1000 on food alone by not eating out for every meal! 

4) USING TURO FOR CAR RENTALS

The biggest expense on our trips usually ends up being a car rental. With 6 people, we always have to go with the biggest car option (we literally thought about this before having a 4th kid, but we figured that wasn't a good reason not to have another child haha!) Because of that, we've started using Turo, which is essentially like Airbnb but for cars. People will list their cars to use, and you can book their car for your holiday. We've used Turo many times, and for the most part it's been a great option. We've saved a lot of money going this route. However, we did have one tricky experience where the car we rented didn't have working air conditioning. They actually did list that in the description, but we somehow missed it, and it was so hot we asked for another car. The guy was great and actually found another car to swap it out with, so it all worked out in the end. Sometimes cars on Turo are not cheaper than a rental car, but sometimes they are a LOT cheaper. So it's always worth a look before you book a rental car. The other really nice thing about Turo is that they will often deliver it straight to you. One time we stayed 4 days in London, and then headed to the countryside. The Turo car owner drove the car to where we were staying in London so that we didn't have to go back to the airport to get the car! So convenient.  To check out Turo click HERE 

5) Choose FREE Activities

This one also may sound like a no-brainer, but it can actually really help inform what country may be the best budget option! Going to the South of France was a wonderful option for us because there were so many "free" things to do that required no entrance fees or money. We stayed 10 days in Provence, and it cost almost nothing (except a few parking lot fees) to wander and explore the little hilltop towns. We then spent time in the French Riviera, and all the beaches we went to were totally free. We would find a little spot on the beach, swim and play in the sand all day, and then head home in the evening to cook dinner. We also found some kid friendly amusement parks that had free entry, and then you could buy tickets for the rides, and they were very cheap! 

At the end of the day, ANY vacation you take will cost you money. However, if you're savvy about it, you CAN take your family to Europe and save thousands of dollars!! 

Lastly, I want to just break down how much we saved using these tips: 

2 Weeks in France without using TIPS    = $12k                        

Airfare from California to Marseille- $800/person x 6 People = $4,800

2 Weeks Accommodations in France- $250/night x 14 Nights = $3,500

Eating Out for Meals- $25 x 14 days x 6 people = $2100

Rental Car- $1,250 (7 passenger van for 14 days)

Gas- $250

 2 Weeks in France Using TIPS = $3380

Airfare from California to Marseille- 4 free tickets/2 paid tickets 1,480 

Lodging- $0

Eating In for Meals- $600

Rental car Turo - $1,050 (7 passenger van for 14 days)

Gas- $250 

I hope this was helpful for you! 

YOU TOO can take your family to Europe if you get creative in the way you go about it!! 

Let me know if you have any questions, I'd be happy to share resources with you!!