We have just about 2 weeks until we leave for our wedding vacation! I feel like my to do list is 12 miles long! But I wanted to make sure to share with you how to save on your vacation! The answer is, plan ahead! Sounds easy enough right? 🙂

Most people plan on taking a vacation in advance, but they don’t plan out their vacation. I know, I know being spontaneous is a blast but if you want to save (HUGE!) you have to plan somethings out in advance.

Of course there are sites like Hotels.com, Kayak, and travelocity to compare the prices of hotels, rental cars and airfare. But here are some more sites and tips that help us save at least 50% on our vacations!

TripAdvisor

The first thing I do when we decide on a location for our vacations is I head over to do some research. I use TripAdvisor. It’s one of the best sites out there – even to check and see about cool things to do/go locally! Plus, it’s free!

I type in “things to do in (your location)”. When you click that you will have the area’s best attractions AND reviews. Reviews are awesome because they keep you from wasting your time and money!

I read through the list of attractions and I print out the ones that sound like they would be a good fit for my family. My wishlist if you will. (I keep my list in a binder, which I will show you this week!)

Now, I know in advance what things I would like to do while I’m on vacation and I’ve read the reviews so I know that they are worth my family’s time and money. If you are like me there are more things to do than time but right now don’t worry about that! If your family would enjoy it put it on your list! Also, star a couple items that are on your must do list. It’s all about priorities!

Groupon

You are probably a Groupon member (or have been at some point) for your local city but make sure you sign up for the city you will be vacationing in! I usually sign up about 3 months prior to our trip (most deals have a time limit). Each day you will get an email (don’t worry you can unsubscribe!) about things to do in the city you have selected. Use your wishlist you made from TripAdvisor and when you see some of those wish list attractions come up on Groupon snatch them up for 50% off!

By planning and purchasing your activities ahead of time you are able to save big! Plus, once you are on vacation it’s easy to go over budget – so having things pre-paid is SO nice!

Restaurant.com

Restaurant.com is a website that you can simply plug in your zip code and a list of participating restaurants will come up. You may purchase discounted gift certificates and print them out at home. There are minimum purchase requirements when using restaurant.com certificates, but they are easily attainable. For example, I bought a $10 certificate for $4. There is a minimum purchase requirement of $15, which is no problem for meals and drinks for 2 people! $25 certificates can usually be bought for $10 and have a minimum purchase requirement of $35.

Simply type in your travel destination and take a look at the restaurants available. The menus are also available online for the restaurants featured to help you decide which certificates to purchase.

If you collect Coke Rewards Points you can also redeem those for restaurant.com certificates as well. I redeemed my points for $50 worth of certificates before our vacation!

City PASS

Check out City Pass to see if your vacation location is included in their passes! City Pass offers a number of main attractions for 1 price for cities such as Boston, Chicago, Hollywood, and many more. You can save up to 50% on ticket admissions!

Entertainment books

Make sure to check out local coupons while on vacation. Visitor centers are a great place to check. Entertainment.com also has a big coupon book that has coupons for everything from food to entertainment. The books can be a little pricy if you are just purchasing one to use for vacation, but you may be able to find one on Ebay for a BIG discount.

What sites do you use to save on vacation?

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