Cheap Gap Year Accommodation

Find amazing places to stay on your gap year or backpacking trip without spending a fortune.

Best Hostel & Hotel Booking Websites

Find Places to Stay Around the World

When planning a gap year or backpacking adventure unless you are booking a tour or structured program, the chances are you will need to find places to stay.

There are so many accommodation options depending on your budget and destination, from luxury resorts, hotels to budget backpacker hostels. There are also other options to consider including AirBnB, holiday rentals, couchsurfing, camping and campervans.

Where you stay really comes down to how much money you have. Like planning a dream gap year to Asia and staying in all-inclusive hotels might sound like a dream, but if you are on a tight budget you might need to stick to hostels.

Some accommodation will require full payment upfront, whilst others might just require a deposit with the rest to be paid on arrival. Whatever you choose, it is recommended to book far in-advance to secure the best deals and save money. The earlier you book, generally the cheaper the price you pay.

How to Find Cheap Accommodation

You might have always dreamed of having an exciting adventure during your gap year, but these types of getaways aren’t always the cheapest and costs can quickly mount up. If you really want to head overseas for a trip of a lifetime, read on for tips on how to stick to your budget.

These are some top tips how to cut costs when booking accommodation abroad.

1. Choose destinations carefully

If you are on a tight budget try to be flexible on destinations. Some places like North America, Europe and Australia are really expensive compared to Asia and Latin America. You can travel for money in Southeast Asia for the price of a few weeks in places like Western Europe, Australia and the USA.

Hotels and hostels in countries like Thailand can start from around £5 per night, whereas in Paris, London, New York or Sydney for example, a dorm bed in hostel can be anywhere from £25-£50.

2. Book ahead

One of the best ways to beat high costs is to plan your trip many months – or even a year – in advance. With a big adventure overseas, you are likely to have been thinking about the trip for quite a long time, so booking in advance won’t be too much of a challenge.

You might find that lots of tour operators offer cheap holidays if you make the arrangements a long time ahead of departure and give a deposit to secure the booking. Flights are also often a lot cheaper in advance, so make the most of any inexpensive deals.

As you’ll be arranging your trip many months ahead, you will also be flexible with your dates, which may mean you can book a trip for a time of the year or specific days that are less costly.

3. Get last-minute deals

Conversely, you will also find plenty of cheap options if you decide to book at the last minute. This is obviously a risky strategy as you cannot be 100 per cent sure there will be any availability for your tour and flights on the dates you want to travel, so you will have to be quite flexible if you do decide to wait until the last opportunity to go ahead with the booking.

However, if you are able to be flexible and are happy to plan all your other details in a short amount of time after you complete the booking, this could be the ideal option for you. It is one to give a lot of thought to though; for instance, you might have to be prepared prior to organising your arrangements by having any inoculations, buying travelling accessories and making sure you have your travel documents at hand.

4. Book a gap year program

A lot of the best gap year companies offer packages for working holidays, volunteer abroad programs, internships and adventure trips around the world. For these you will usually need to pay an upfront fee which includes flights, transport and accommodation – meaning you don’t need to worry about the added stress or cost of finding places to stay yourself.

5. Travel with friends

Another option is to travel with a friend or friends as then you can split the cost of accommodation for the duration of your trip.

6. Book a tour

One option that can see you save lots of money is to join a guided tour around the destination of your choice. While you might think having a professional lead you from one location to another, arrange all your accommodation and transport and offer you support and assistance throughout the trip will come with added costs, but this is not always the case.

For a start, the tour operators are able to get good deals on hotels for mass bookings which could see you save money. They also have a lot more information regarding inexpensive accommodation and transport options so, while you may struggle to find an affordable hotel in Paris, Sydney or New York for instance, the one they take you to could be far less costly, which will lower the overall bill for your trip.

If you’re travelling alone, you will also find you have to pay supplements a lot of the time, including an additional sum at hotels for single occupancies. However, by booking an organised trip abroad for a single person, you will share with other members of the group, which means you can cut the cost of your adventure.

7. Look at price comparison sites

Another option to save money on booking a gap year or backpacking trip is to look for deals on price comparison sites. There are lots of travel websites now that show you the best offers on hotels, which means you can scan the top options in one glance.

This is ideal if you’re planning to travel as you can book all accommodation through such portals and some also offer membership deals and discounts. Sometimes they will also e-mail you special deals, or if you make multiple bookings, you might receive more money off towards future bookings.

8. Hostels

Those looking to travel generally head to hostels in search of a place to lay their head which can be booked in most destinations around the world.

Hostels certainly have their advantages in terms of meeting new people and saving money, some are also now really modern and offer fantastic value for money. This article with what to expect in hostels will help it is your first time.

But sometimes such advantages are rarely believed in at four in the morning. It is possible to sleep without snoring, but throw ten strangers into a room and you are guaranteed that at least one of them won’t know how to do it.

it’s important to realise that they are by no means the only option when it comes to a cheap sleep. And for those who have been on the road a few months too many, this is an even more important realisation to make.

Should you find yourself wanting another night in a hostel like you want a hole in the head, we will now outline alternatives that are just as wallet friendly. Some of them happen to be even cheaper than the offerings on hostel booking websites.

Check out these tips for how to find the perfect hostel and also what not to do when staying in hostels.

9. Couchsurfing

Adored by many backpackers, surprisingly never tried by many more, it’s the cheapest type of accommodation that can be found i.e. it’s free. Though you might have to take a couch rather than a bed and a little bit of advanced planning is recommended, you can’t really argue with a price of zero. And thanks to the sophisticated rating system, staying for free with a stranger is nowadays perfectly safe.

10. Airbnb

Airbnb continues to grow in popularity with more and more backpackers finding a private room for prices that compare favourably with shared hostel dormitories. The idea behind the relatively new site is very simple. Those with a spare room, or simply those in need of some quick cash, can advertise that room for rent for a single night or more.

The difference between Airbnb and the likes of Gumtree however is that Airbnb acts more like a hotel reservation website. Each private room advertised on Airbnb.com comes complete with both an up to date calendar of availability and the facility to pay for it online instantly via credit card.

11. Camping

Most backpackers are put off the idea of staying at a campsite due to the general lack of facilities. That lack of facilities however doesn’t always apply. The quality on offer at campsites happens to vary widely. On one side of the scale, you have a cramped field surrounded by drunk students. On the other end, you have scenic forested areas that are the very definition of tranquillity.

And while many campsites are not exactly brimming with facilities, others offer all of the facilities found in a hostel complete with the sort of scenery and outdoor vibe that no hostel can match. And unlike a hostel, privacy comes as standard at camp sites, albeit the tent version.

12. Voluntary Work

Though certainly not for the lazy backpackers out there, sites such as oneworld365.org and some gap year volunteer projects offer completely free accommodation. The only catch is that you need to put in a few hours work for the privilege. Doing so not only grants you a nice free bed to sleep on but usually some home cooked food to boot.

A word of warning however, though many work for accommodation offers are very much reasonable, not all of them are. Quite a few people do seem to overestimate just how much work the average backpacker is willing to put in just to get a free bed for the night.

If you are looking to travel without massive funds hopefully our guide has given you ideas how to find accommodation for a gap year or backpacking trip on a budget.

Similar Pages