How to plan a family trip to Florida with a budget (with money -saving advice)

A recent study by the Family Travel Association (ALE) in collaboration with New York University revealed that 59% of parents are concerned about the affordability of taking a vacation. This made me want to solve this problem with one of the most popular family destinations – Florida. So let’s talk about how to plan a family trip to Florida with a budget.

And when I say “on a budget”, I realize that each trip has a budget. Some are $ 2,000 and some cost $ 20,000. The FTA also found that the average family spends $ 6,750 on vacation. But for these purposes, I will look at a limited budget which is reasonable and practical – offering family pleasure without going so far as to require surfing or campsite in someone’s backyard.

Plan a family trip on a low budget in Florida

Since often a large part of the holiday budget is the cost of transportation to get there, transport costs also play in the place to go. For example, if you can find a cheap flight to Orlando, it could pay for it compared to flying to a smaller airport like Panama City.

If you drive in Florida, you may want to watch destinations in the north of Florida like Fort Walton’s beach, St. Augustine and Jacksonville. Of course, you have much more flexibility when you drive against theft, although some destinations manage more in your time because of the distance.

The main airports of Florida are:

• Orlando, which serves the center of Florida and to the beach of the Space Coast / Daytona on the East Coast
• Fort Lauderdale, who serves southern Florida, including Hollywood, Delray Beach and Boca Raton
• Miami, who serves Miami to Fort Lauderdale and to Florida Keys
• Tampa, who serves the Gulf coast, notably Tampa, Saint Petersburg, Clearwater Beach, Anna Maria Island, Siesta Key, and beyond
• Southwest Florida Airport, who serves Fort Myers, the Barrière Islands, notably the island of Sanibel and the Captiva Island, Naples and Marco Island

Florida’s main airports map

There are many other options, including Jacksonville, West Palm Beach, Pensacola and the Airport of the beaches in North West Florida. The options are a little more limited for direct flights to these airports, unless you live in a city of Hub like Charlotte, Atlanta or near Bwi. And small airports with connection flights tend to become a little more expensive. The final exception can be to fly southwest to Jacksonville because I have found good deals on this road in the past.

So let’s start by seeing where you head in Florida with a budget.

Find an affordable plane ticket

Fortunately, Florida airports are well served by budgetary carriers and some of the largest hubs also have competitive prices of inherited carriers. Let’s look at some examples.

Spirit Airlines

Love them or hate them, Spirit Airlines offers affordable prices, especially if you are not special on your seat assignment and you pay the additional modules like luggage when you book. Spirit has direct flights to Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers and Jacksonville.

Airlines Frontier

Frontier is another low -cost carrier which, in particular with its “Kids Fly Free” offers, offers families great value. Frontier offers direct flights to Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Orlando, Pensacola, Jacksonville, Miami, Sarasota and West Palm Beach.

Southwest Airlines

The southwest can also offer competitive prices with non-stop flights in Tampa, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, Fort Myers and Panama City Beach / Northwest Florida Beaches.

The first step would be to consider what airlines fly from your original airport and see that offer direct flights at affordable prices. Keep in mind that if you can be flexible with your dates and time, you can save money.

I strongly recommend registering for a Flight Office subscription service as To keep an eye on sales. If you prefer to use points and miles, I suggest you download the Travel the free application To follow your credit cards and learn to earn points.

Find affordable accommodation

Once you have decided where you can fly in your budget, it’s time to find an affordable place to stay. Among the various airports we have discussed above, you will find the most options for affordable accommodation Orlando.

Although if you are heading to Orlando, you can then be tempted to make follies once your children realize that they are so close to Disney, Universal Orlando and Legoland. Of course, even some of the Orlando attractions out of the off-the-beat path can become a little expensive.

To save money but always have fun, I would recommend looking for a hotel with a kitchen to save money on food. Keep in mind that Kissimmee And the center of Florida are also full of vacation rental homes. If you could travel with another family and share the cost of a vacation rental, but not only do you keep your costs, you have also built playmates for children!

Another alternative is to stay in a beach known for affordable accommodation so that you can focus on the beach and pool time, with only a few other disseminated remunerated activities. If you fly to Orlando, it’s only an hour’s drive to Cocoa beach Or New Smyrna beachwhich are known to offer affordable accommodation. You can even divide your trip between Orlando and the coast to have a little time on the beach and a little playing time.

By stealing in West Palm Beach or Orlando, you can go to a silent and affordable Vero Beach Or Port St. Lucie on the Atlantic coast.

If you fly in Tampa on the Gulf coast, you can find good deals (and free activities) Clearwater. You can enjoy the hot waters of the Mexico Gulf and soft white sandy beaches.

And if you fly to Miami, head to the family Marathon key In the Florida Keys for some living relaxed in a vacation rental or a traditional motel. Plan a day trip to Key West and hang out at the Bahia State Park.

To find hotel offers in one of these destinations, I generally turn to the following:

• Holiday house rental – I’m looking for Vrbo Or watch the website of the local tourism board for the list of local real estate agents specializing in holiday rentals.
• Hotels – For hotel offers, I tend to check the offers on Price,, Hotels.comOr Reservation.com.
• For last minute reservations, I watch the hotel this evening (which actually gives prices up to seven days in advance).
• You can also search for time connection rentals by the owner on sites like Sellmytimesharenow or Redweek. Just make sure to make your reasonable diligence and use a platform that offers certain consumer protections.

Make sure you read critics carefully! On many of these platforms, you can also search for hotels that have money saving equipment such as free parking, free breakfast and free wifi. Beware of hidden costs such as station fees and valet or parking on site.

Save money on activities

A little detective on the Internet will give you a good idea of ​​things to do in your destination and ways to save money. These are my favorite resources to save money on attractions.

• Infiltrated tourist – If you visit themed parks or other attractions, you can generally find tickets at reduced prices for Disney, Universal, Seaworld, Busch Gardens, and more using infiltrated tourists.
• Hobby – If you visit Clearwater, Tampa or St. Pete, the Tampa Bay Citypass Includes admission to Busch Gardens, Florida Aquarium, Zootampa and the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, Tropics boat excursions and the Glazer Children Museum and can save you up to 54% in admission.
• Groupon – Always check the local group for offers on restaurants, attractions and other local entertainment
• Best of Orlando – If you go to Orlando, Best of Orlando Offers offers on themed meals, attractions and activities such as plane walks.
• AAA – If you are a member of the AAA, it is likely that you can get a discount to certain attractions. It never hurts to ask or look for the AAA symbol. The same goes for AARP and other membership organizations.
• Reciprocal subscriptions – If you are a member of a zoo, an aquarium or a museum for children in your hometown, check which reciprocal arrangements they can have with attractions in the region you visit.

Another way to save money on attractions is to book online. So many water parks, plane visits and other attractions offer discounts when buying tickets or booking online. You can do it in advance or when you arrive.

Also take some of these brochures that you find in the centers or restaurants of visitors and see if you can find coupon codes. It never hurts to do a Google search for the “attraction name coupon code” or “promotional attraction code” and see what also appears!

A final advice is to consult the website of the local tourism committee (generally found by looking for “visit + destination name” or “destination name + board tourism”. Many offer reduction pass or coupons.

Finally and above all, see the tourism website for articles on free things to do in this area, or search for Google / Pinterest for “free things to do in the name of destination”. You will find information on parks, museums and other attractions that are free for the public – or at least free over certain days / hours.

I hope this gives you ideas for affordable holiday destinations in Florida and ways to save on your family trip to Florida. If you still have trouble finding the budget for a vacation, it may help you.

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