Discount Tickets and Travel Deals for an Affordable Family Vacation

It IS possible to have a cheap family vacation in the Virginia Beach area and beyond. You just have to know where to get the discounts and coupon codes, the hidden free or inexpensive attractions, and the top restaurant and hotel deals.

But who has time for that?

I do! And I'm more than happy to share them with you!

Let's start with how to get in top attractions for less. For secrets of getting discount tickets, click on these links...

Busch Gardens Williamsburg
Great Wolf Lodge Williamsburg
Paramounts Kings Dominion
Water Country USA
Colonial Williamsburg
Jamestown
Yorktown
Luray Caverns
Ocean Breeze Water Park (VA Beach)
Virginia Air & Space Museum
Portsmouth Children's Museum
Nauticus

...just to name a few. Don't see the attraction you want on the list? Click here for our Attractions page.

Keeping reading for a link to a site that can help you find the lowest gas price around!

Take Advantage of Free or Cheap Attractions

We love an affordable family vacation!

Visiting the attractions in Virginia Beach, Williamsburg, and beyond doesn't have to cost you an arm and a leg.

We've found a variety of fun and unique spots and attractions that are either cheap or free and can help you make an affordable family vacation.

Follow this link for our Cheap or Free Things to Do Hall of Fame. It's chock-full of free or inexpensive sights and attractions in Virginia.

Our Favorite Cheap and Delicious Restaurants

But you don't have to sacrifice great taste or a memorable experience on your vacation. If you know how, you can even enjoy the top restaurants on the Virginia Beach resort strip for considerably less than you'd think. To find out how, check out the money-saving tips on our Best Restaurant Deals page.

If you're really on a budget, check out our Great But Cheap Eateries page.

For our favorite cheap restaurants in Williamsburg, click here.

Looking for kids eat free, buy one get one free, and other dining deals? Check out our Cheap Eats page.

Pick Up a Free Coupon Book

Alex's first time at the beach!

The tourist areas (Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Hampton Roads, Williamsburg, etc.) have a number of free visitor guides which you can pick up at stands, hotels, restaurants and attractions. All offer coupons, ranging from $1 off an all-you-can-eat buffet at Fish Bones, to $7 a family bike rental on the resort strip.

When I arrive in the area, the first thing I do is pick up as many free guide books and brochures as possible. I then take a few minutes to review them, pull out the coupons I want, and start planning my detailed itinerary around them. I then pick the best, most compact guide to keep in my purse.

In Virginia Beach, I like the Monster Guide Coupon Book, because it's chock full of coupons, includes a free Virginia Beach map, and fits easily into a pocket or purse.

In Williamsburg, I recommend The Colonial Guide. For more details on Williamsburg coupon books our own "Secrets of a Cheap Colonial Williamsburg Vacation" Guide, click here.

Buy a Museum Membership...And Save

You can. Certain museum memberships reward you by allowing you to visit similar participating museums around the world for FREE. By doing so, you can easily save hundreds of dollars a year.

There are two types of museums that offer these programs:

At the Portsmouth Children's Museum

For more information, and a list of Virginia museums that particpate in ASTC, click here.

ACM Reciprocal Program (Association of Children's Museums)

For more information, and a list of Virginia museums that particpate in ASTC, click here.

TIP! Save even more by getting a membership at a museum that is a member of BOTH the ASTC and ACM programs.

Free Events and Festivals

For example, we love September's Virginia Beach Neptune Festival, where you can listen to rollicking music, check out local arts and crafts, and spend hours viewing some of the most amazing sandcastle sculptures on earth.

Other free events for your affordable family vacation include:

A ride on the free Jamestown-Scotland ferry.

• May's Atlantic Coast Kite Festival
• Summer Fireworks on the Beach
• July 4th Stars and Stripes Explosion
• Fall's Neptune Festival
• Norfolk Harborfest

For a full list of free or low cost events at the beach, go to our Events and Festivals page.

Colonial Williamsburg also offers a free Summer Concert Series. For details, as well as our "Secrets of a Cheap Colonial Williamsburg Vacation" Guide, click here.

Save Money on Hotels and Accomodations

The lid is off! Look below to see how we planned a 3-day weekend in DC for $500!

Aside from airfare, hotels and other accomodations eat up the biggest part of your traveling budget. So you want the get the best rate possible...without wasting hours on the net searching individual sites.

One option is to travel off-season and/or take advantage of limited-time travel deals. For example, by visiting Washington DC in February, we were able to take advantage of a "Buy One Night, Get the 2nd Night 1/2 Off" deal.

As a result, we were able to spend a 3-day museum-extravaganza weekend for FIVE in Washington DC for about $500! Want to know how we did it? Check out our Cheap Washington DC Weekend page.

Or, you can use online travel resources that help you find the best every day price. Here's a great resource we've found that lets you compare hotel rates on multiple sites at once.

Just enter in your check-in and check-out dates and the name of the city where you want to stay. (Note: the search may take a a minute or more, since they're searching multiple sites.)

You'll get back a list of VA Beach hotels with room prices, hotel ratings, and --best of all, in my view-- reviews from people who've stayed there. Sort them by price, reviews, location and more. Try it!

Also, check out our Accommodations page for reviews of select Virginia Beach hotels, oceanfront hotels, B&B's, and timeshares.

Three More Inexpensive Options

Here are three more alternatives for a truly affordable family vacation.

1) Consider camping - For a review of the best campgrounds in Virginia, click here.

2) Stay at a hostel - We found a wonderful, low-cost hostel at a quaint guest cottage just one block from the Virginia Beach oceanfront. Read about this fantastic hostel deal. And here's a link to a Williamsburg hostel we've found.

3) Housesit - How does it work?

First, register with a house sitter directory. Home owners in the area you want to visit are planning vacations too, and don't want to leave their house unattended. Directories like www.housecarers.com can hook you up with home owners in your target spot who'll pay you to stay in their home!

You may have some light duties (walking their dog, taking in their mail, contacting a plumber if a pipe bursts), and you'll have to vacation on their schedule, but hey, you'll get to visit your vacation spot for free...and get paid something to boot.

For more details on house sitting, go to housecarers.com

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