25 Ways to Save Money While You’re Travelling Alone in Italy | Solo Travel

You don’t have to be rich to travel well. If you are smart, you can travel rich on a limited budget. This article is for my fellow female travellers who are so full of fantastic dreams on solo travelling but pinching pennies.

Let’s quickly deal with the 25 ways to solo travel Italy on budget.

1. Book flight tickets before three months

This age-old golden trick is known to everyone. Anyway, I take pleasure in informing it again. Book your flight tickets before three months for a cheaper fare, and save your budget on your solo travel to Italy.

It’s a shame if, as a solo traveller, you aren’t informed about it. And, various online websites are offering you additional discounts as well. So, go for the right one of your choices.

If you notice differences in the ticket fare each time, you visit a website, Chill! It is a normal encounter we face as we surf a website. It happens because the site has recorded your cookies. So, the point is whenever you go back to the same site, go incognito mode to avoid seeing a slight increase in the fare. 

2. Halt in cheaper areas

Stay at a cheaper place for a longer duration. Travel to tourists’ destinations from there instead of shifting your accommodation to every tourist location. For example, streets foods and hostels are comparatively less in Bologna than in Milan. So, you can plan your stay at Bologna as the cost of living there is relatively less.

3. Stay in a hostel

Here is why you need to stay in a hostel on your travel to Italy. I vouch for hostels in Italy. Hostels are my comfy, budget-friendly, and safest place to stay in Italy. Their features such as 24 hours front desk, free Wi-Fi, private rooms, couch area, garden area kicks up my wandering spirit with delight.

4. Find a place with free Wi-Fi facility

The next in line after choosing a guaranteed hostel is checking for a Wi-Fi facility. Unlike other countries, Italy does not provide free Wi-Fi service in public areas and major tourist spots. Hence, a Wi-Fi plan is obligatory on your solo travel to Italy.

However, you can save your budget if you pick a hostel with a free Wi-Fi facility. In this way, your Wi-Fi need is fully covered when you are in a hostel.

5. Lessen your internet plan

After placing yourself in a hostel with free Wi-Fi, the immediate step that saves your money is finding an interesting plan that best suits your need at the best price. Free Wi-Fi at the hostel is sufficient to fulfill your necessities.

So, you can opt for lesser-priced “data plans” to support your need while you are away from the hostel.

6. Buy a travel credit card

A travel credit card can save a few dollars from your pocket. What are travel credit cards? Travel credit cards keep a record of your points after every use. And, finally, you can redeem these points on flight tickets fare or as coupons on restaurants, hotels, museums, and what not!

Sounds amazing, isn’t it?

The Bank of America travel credit cards like Capital One Venture, Discover it, Chase Sapphire is wonderfully rewarding.

7. Be mindful of your bank account

One of the hurdles faced by visitors is ATM withdrawals, and the most brutal thing a bank can do is charge a huge sum of your money in the name of transaction fees.

So, talk with your bank. Subscribe to a better plan that provides unlimited ATM withdrawals abroad.

8. Shop less or don’t shop at all

Ha-ha. I can’t believe these heart-piercing words are coming from my end. But facts standstill in the flowing time, guys. We all know the villainous side of shopping.

Till now, what we were dealing with were minor ways of saving money. But shopping causes the biggest invisible hole in our wallets. The more you shop, the more you lose money. Please! Don’t take that tempting ‘C’ card on your travel.

Credit cards and shopping are like bread and jam. Your saving plan in Italy will end up ruined if you let these two make a friendship. Beware of them all the time.

9. Say ‘No’ to guided tours

I always make it a point to avoid guided tours on my travel around the world. They seem a luxury more than a necessity to me. Interestingly, you need guidance in reaching the location only. If you are successful in doing it, you don’t need guided tours. Many people spend money on guided tours only to skip lines, not because they cannot move on their own. 

10. Let photos be your souvenir

Most of us lose our money in buying souvenirs. I have an alternative in place of a souvenir. Okay. It may sound silly, but why not photos we take from Italy be our souvenir.

Save your budget! I have taken a resolution—unless I find anything so bewitching, I would not buy souvenirs anymore. The photos I take from Italy will be my living memory of Italy.

11. Fill up your Bottle

Water is one thing you will need at all points of your travel. Likewise, you cannot carry gallons of water required by your body in a day while travelling. So, most people simply skip carrying a bottle. It results in unwanted spending of money on buying water bottles.

The best thing you can do is carry a medium-sized water bottle. Whenever you get a glance of purified water amidst the tourist spots, just go and fill it.

12. Use public transport

I have discussed why public transport is the best option to travel to Italy in a separate article. If you have not read it, make time to read it. So, yeah! Let public transport be your touring wheel. Trust me—you save a lot on abiding by this rule.

For your quick knowledge, there is not any place in Italy without public modes of transport. Don’t expect buses to take you to an island. Of course, that’s not going to happen, but you have ferries to do that work.

13. Input walking into the routine

Walk!

Walking is not only a good exercise but also a healthy way to save your budget on your solo travel to Italy. And, considering Italy, walking is much preferred by visitors than any other modes of transport because many tourist locations are situated closer by. You can just take a casual walk then take a small nap in the tourist spots before starting to walk to the next place. This is surely an enjoyable experience.

14. Eat in cheap restaurants

You can have all the fun of exploring Italian cuisine or your preference for international cuisine in Italy. But, if you are planning to save money, then kindly strike-off international cuisine from your list. International cuisine is a bit at the high end. So, opt for local food only. The local street foods are super delicious and come at a lower price.

Then, if you encounter a buffet system in any area, without any second doubt, go into it. Buffets are value for money and a good option to save money. If you have plans for a buffet dinner, you can reduce your food intake in the morning/noon. 

15. Never rent cars

Here comes the rough part of transportation. Travellers like me think that travelling to various places is difficult and tiresome with public transports and walking.

At the same time, they understand the unmatchable demands of uber and taxis. So, they quickly come to a conclusion that rental cars are the best as you can drive at your velocity.

But I say rental cars are a big responsibility and a lot of work. The rental car cost may appear cheaper, but unless you empty your wallet, you cannot fuel your car to run.

16. Go for travel passes

Once again, I repeat the importance of public transportation on your solo travel in levelling up your budget in Italy. Get either a Premium Italy travel pass or a Eurail Italy pass as you set your eyes on public transportation without further delay.

Both the passes come at a discounted price, specially designed considering the travellers from the world. Furthermore, travel passes are best not only because they come at a discounted price with a set period validity, but also because they can be shown in place of several tickets.

17. Book prepaid tickets on offer

Besides your travel tickets, solo travellers face situations in which you will have to take passes to enter certain places. For example, Vatican City, Museums, and a few Cathedrals in Italy demand entry tickets.

In those situations, you can book tickets prior online so that the price will be less. Also, you can make use of the coupons, offers to get some cash back, or redeem another coupon. It’s a smart way to save your budget on your solo travel to Italy.

18. Don’t drink wine

I am sorry, guys. But if you want to save your money, you have to follow this tip. Italy will bewitch your taste glands with its distinct high-quality freshly brewed wines, but don’t fall for the spell. If you are fallen, your plan of saving money is finished!

But, visit wine estates on your trip to Italy. It is one of the unique experiences Italy has to give you.

19. Travel offseason

One of the smart ways to cut off the extra expense is travelling offseason. On your solo travel, employ this tip to save your budget in Italy. I think that people are missing out on offseason travel. Travel expense during the off-season periods is low considering the weather conditions.

But if you don’t care about the weather or want to travel to Italy during its winter months, then it is the perfect time to begin your solo travel. And, it is not travelling off-season or the wrong season. It is the best season according to you! So, go for it without any doubt.

On the whole, travelling to Italy during the winter season saves up a lot of money on travel tickets and accommodation.

20. Say no to private rooms

Do solo travellers need solo rooms? Umm. In my opinion, keeping aside the aspect of saving money, dorms are much suitable for a solo traveller. Anyway, now our primary goal is saving money. I strongly recommend you to prefer dorms over private rooms.

21. Cook your food

Some hostels provide free use of their kitchen. In that case, you can buy groceries for cheap at proper markets. Don’t go to supermarkets. Supermarkets are costly. If you cook your meal, you can eat as much as you want at a lower price.

22. Stop snacking

Yes, we are following a healthy diet on our trip to Italy. Our healthy diet is special because it extends our life and cash! Though, while strolling in the streets of Italy, you will get the urge to delight yourself with Italian street snacks. Always remember snacks are not for you. Whenever you need snacks, think about the meal you are going to have soon. Maybe you can drink water/beverages to calm yourself down.

23. Converse with the locals

Now that I am thinking about my trip, I can say that conversing with the locals saves up on a lot of things. If you are lost, ask a local first. Upon their guidance, make your decision instead of looking at maps, taking up taxis, or walking to the wrong places.

24. Try Airbnb

Hostels are by far the best, but if hostels aren’t around your surroundings, try Airbnb and stay at the rented place of the locals. It sure is cheaper and comes with free meals. Yeah! If I am not wrong, breakfasts are free. And, this will be a new experience as well.

25. Stay alert!

If you have no plans on losing out your money, staying alert is a compelling activity you need to take part in as a solo traveller. Tourist places, especially Italian alleys, are prone to theft and bag snatching. So, stay alert to keep your money safe.

How to implement these budget-friendly tips on your solo travel to Italy

The final and most important thing to do to make all the 25 ways to save money work is by planning and researching. Yes, it’s simple to know the ways of saving money. However, one needs to plan effectively to bring it to action. That can only happen if you do some individual research.

Create a map of your travel to Italy. The places you plan to visit and the distance between the locations. After this vital step, you can apply all the tips discussed like pre-book online tickets, know places fit for travel by walking, public transport and taxis, availability of hostels or Airbnb, and so on.

Create a map, plan, follow the 25 tips, and there you are, all ready to travel on a smooth budget!