The benefits of off-season travel for vagabonds on a budget
It’s winter where I am at the moment (in Cape Town) and everyone’s response when they hear this is, “If you’ve been following the sun for the past 18 months why on earth did you go somewhere that’s in winter?”.
I’ve discovered however that the benefits of being here out of season (almost) outweigh the drawbacks of fairly rainy, occasionally very cold weather; and for vagabonders on a budget traveling out of season means you can often do what you’d never have been able to afford during silly season (or you could save even more money).
Some examples of this include:
- Upgrading your accommodation to stay somewhere you’d never have afforded normally
- Getting more closely acquainted with the locals who aren’t over-run and fed up with hordes of other tourists and travelers
- Discounts on almost everything including tours, trips and attractions
Of course there are some places where it might be wise not to visit when it’s off-season if everything shuts down and the things you want to see aren’t open or accessible, but many places are more than bearable for visiting out of season if you want to make your money stretch further. Where would you suggest?
July 17th, 2008 at 6:55 pm
We happened to be in Krakow for Polish Independence Day last November. Yes, it was snowing and yes it was cold. However it’s a great memory thinking about watching and listening to the Polish people singing patriotic songs in the plaza. We would have missed that if we had traveled in peak season.
July 17th, 2008 at 8:25 pm
I would suggest traveling to the Caribbean. The good thing is that all the seasons are like summer all year long, but of course you must be aware of the hurricane season.
July 21st, 2008 at 11:40 pm
“off-season travel” is really a good choice to avoid big crowds and discover more of the local stuff.
July 25th, 2008 at 3:02 am
I agree, my wife and I got married in Negril, Jamaica in October of 2003. We pretty much had the beach to ourselves. We also went to the Grand Canyon in September of 2007, their were probably only 200 people on the South Rim all day.