Having Kids Makes Travel More Expensive. Here's How We Save on Our Trips

Travel has long been a popular hobby for many people. And data from Forbes Advisor found that Americans took an average of 2.1 trips in 2023, with 36% of respondents traveling three or more times for leisure purposes.

Last year, my husband and I took our children on two trips -- a weekend getaway in Vermont and a longer 10-day visit to Northern Michigan. And while those trips weren't inexpensive, we found ways to lower our costs. Here are the tricks we used last year, and the ones we pretty much use all the time, to make travel more affordable at the family level.

1. We drive whenever it's feasible

Driving to Vermont from our home state of New Jersey wasn't so bad. It was roughly six hours on the way there, and eight on the way back due to traffic.

Driving to Michigan was a much lengthier endeavor, requiring us to make a stop at a hotel along the way. But it was also worth it to drive, because when we priced out flights for our destination, we were looking at roughly $500 a ticket. Plus, we would've needed a rental car on top of that.

Our Michigan drive was about 2,000 miles round trip. Even my clunky minivan gets a good 25 miles to the gallon on highways, so that was about 80 gallons of gas at a little over $3 a pop for a total of about $300 when you factor in tolls. Add in the cost of two nights of hotels and some extra meals on the road, and getting to and from our destination cost us about $800. Compare that to $2,500 in airfare (since there are five of us) plus a rental car, and this move made sense.

But this isn't the first time we've driven someplace within the U.S. to save money on airfare. We've done the 16-hour trek to Florida several times and have even driven as far as Montana.

Now if you have limited time off, sometimes flying is your only choice. But if you have a few extra days to spend on a trip, opting to drive over flying could result in really big savings.

2. We stay at rental homes where we can prepare a lot of our own meals

Most of the time, when my family travels, we pay for a private rental instead of a hotel. This not only gives us room to spread out, but gives us access to a kitchen and full-sized fridge.

Now I'll admit that when we're on vacation, I don't always want to spend my nights cooking. So usually what we do is have breakfast at our rental, use our kitchen to prepare something for lunch, and then treat ourselves to dinner at a restaurant to close out the day. It's a good compromise, so we're not buying every single meal out.

Of course, when we do dine out, I make a point to swipe a credit card that gives me extra cash back at restaurants. And we also tend to favor casual dining options since, well, there are kids in the mix. But that tends to help keep our costs down, too.

3. We favor no-cost activities

When we go on vacation, my family tends to do things like hike and visit beaches. These activities are often free, which works out really well. Sometimes, there will be a small fee to get onto a beach or park somewhere with access to the scenery we want, but usually, the cost there is pretty low.

If your family has historically taken theme park vacations that have cost a fortune, consider researching different parts of the country where you can enjoy nature at a minimal cost to no cost at all. You may be surprised at how much fun it is to spend a few days relaxing on the beach or exploring amazing hiking trails you never knew existed.

It's not easy pulling off travel when you have to pay for your kids to go along for the ride. But the above tips make it possible for us to keep exploring, and they may work for you, too.