About.com for Travel Tips

I recently discovered that the website About.com has a section on budget travel http://www.budgettravel.about.com with some interesting tips. Unfortunately it does what many Websites do, puts each tip on a different page to make you stay longer on the site.

Still, if you can tolerate that, it has some useful information. One recent article has tips on things to avoid if you want to stay within a budget, such as eating in the tourist zone of certain cities such as Rome or Venice. Also, avoid taking a bus tour if a walking tour will cover more or less the same territory. In addition, don't fail to consider cruise options if you want to visit cities that are particularly expensive or hard to reach--places such as Venice or St. Petersburg, Russia. The latter is cheap now, but still a hassle because of the visa requirement. However, if you take an approved shore excursion you may not need a visa.

The article also counsels travellers not to fail to consider options such as staying in convents in Italy. They may not be a lot cheaper than budget hotels, but some have much better locations, such as the convent of the Little Sisters of the Sacred Family, near the Vatican in Rome. A double with breakfast goes for less than $100.