Here are our top tips for cheap travelling as a student, whether just a quick weekend away or a month long jaunt across Europe.

These are our top 15 thrift money saving travel tips for students for cheap holidays and feel free to add more in the comments below.

PLAN!

Make the most of any trip – especially short getaways – by planning as much as you can in advance. Military precision will allow you to do and see so much more in a short space of time, without whiling away hours getting lost.

Consider your options

You can save a load of money from the off depending on how you get to where you want to be so look into various ways of travelling from driving yourself to coaches, trains and planes.

> A Student Guide to Cheaper Travel: From trains to coaches to driving

Learn how to get cheap flights

If you do decide to fly, knowing the secrets to when to book your flight can save hundreds of pounds. Tuesdays and Thursdays tend to be the cheapest days while booking far in advance may not always prove the cheapest way of doing things.

Cheaper flights flying indirect

You can also sometimes find much cheaper long-haul flights by going indirect via another airport.

InterRail

The InterRail is a single train ticket that’s valid right the way across Europe. It gives you completely unlimited travel on almost every train from Spain, France and Germany through to Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria and even Turkey. There a few exceptions but you can find out all you need to know and buy tickets on the InterRail website

Bring your own food and fun

On a long trip, bring your food, refreshments and entertainment. Especially when flying, these can be costly extras on a lot of airlines, just be aware of hand luggage and security restrictions.

Eat like a local

But once you arrive, don’t visit expensive restaurants every night, find out cheap eateries, try local delicacies or even just visit the local budget supermarket for food.

Use your feet

Rather than waste money on often expensive taxis, trains or even buses, just use your feet and walk around to see the sights. You’ll also enjoy the location a lot more than if you spent the time in the dark on an underground train.

Get cheap travel money

Don’t get caught out by rip-off exchange rates or fees for using your bank cards abroad. Check out the TravelMoney website for the best deals at the moment.

Avoid crime

Don’t find yourself being the victim of crime abroad whether it be pick-pocketing or something more serious. The UK government’s Foreign Travel Advice website as all you need to know about the risks in each country, as well as local laws that YOU should obey to avoid getting yourself into trouble. And there are some strange ones.

Travel off-season

Certain times of the year see huge peaks of visitors to certain countries pushing prices WAYYY up. Try to go off-season for cheaper deals and it really goes without saying that school holidays also see costs shoot sky high.

Check reviews

Do your research before you book and look online for reviews of where you plan to go. Use a variety of websites and don’t get put off by one or two negative stories, there will always be some, but if no one has anything nice to say then consider somewhere else.

AirBnB

Snub major hotel chains but avoid slumming it with AirBnB, whereby locals rent out their homes, apartments or rooms for much cheaper prices, currently available in more than 190 countries.

Word Lens App

The World Lens App is a super cool program for your phone which will use the camera to translate signs and such on the fly. It’s actually amazing and will make travelling and getting around in foreign-speaking countries a breeze.

Citymapper App

CityMatter is the ‘ultimate transport’ app which provides instructions on getting around in a load of major cities across the world. It’s a great tool to have on you.