How to Travel With Kids on a Budget (Real Numbers)

Everyone has a tip for traveling with kids on a budget. Almost nobody shows the receipts.

We do. On our 57 days through El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, a family of five spent $12,913.43. That's about $227 a day for the whole family, or about $45 a person. Take out our one big splurge day and it drops to about $41 a person a day. We tracked every dollar. The full breakdown is here.

Here's what actually kept the number down, and what didn't.

1. Pick a number per person per day before you leave

Ours was about $41 a person. A daily number turns a vague "we should save money" into a rule the whole family can follow. It also makes the kids part of the plan. Our median day cost the family $167.50, about $33.50 a person, and our cheapest quarter of days ran about $106, or $21 a person. Some days are cheap, some aren't. The number is the average, and you manage it day to day.

2. Track every dollar, in categories

We split spending into lodging, food, transport, activities and extras. That is how we saw where the money really went. Lodging was our biggest line at $4,025. Food came in under budget: $2,872 against $3,210. We eat where the locals eat. Grab the free budget template and use the same categories.

3. Pad your transport budget. We didn't.

We budgeted $377 for transport and spent $2,048. That one line is most of why we finished about $1,580 over our base budget. Chicken buses, border days and long hauls add up. If you take one thing from this post, pad transport.

4. Keep your splurge separate

We spent $1,200 on one big excursion day. We logged it on its own line so it didn't hide what normal days cost. Splurge on purpose, once, and keep it out of your daily average.

5. One backpack per person

That's it. We wear the same clothes several days in a row, and nobody cares. Less stuff means fewer bags to lose and fewer fees. It's also easier to move a family through a bus station.

6. Let the kids be part of it

On our first trip to the Philippines, two or three days in, the boys asked us for change, walked a couple of blocks to a bakery, and bought food on their own. A kid who figures out one bakery will figure out the next hard thing. Kids who pay for things and order from menus they can't read stop being cargo and start being travelers.

7. Be uncomfortable on purpose

The cheapest trips are rarely the most comfortable. We take the bus, eat the street food and stay in the simple places. A 3-hour bus today makes the 20-hour travel day easier. That's why we call it unpaved.

The honest summary

We went over our base budget, mostly on transport, and we'll pad it next time. But a family of five covered 57 days in three countries for about $41 a person a day, and the kids came home more capable than they left.

Want to plan your own? Read the full Central America cost breakdown, or get the free Family Trip Budget Template.