How to save money on a long holiday by car in Andalucía

1. Plan carefully and do your research

That is, use your time and money wisely

2. Accommodation

This is a difficult issue on a long trip in the sense that the best accommodation in the sense of nicest for the price gets booked up early. However well you do your research on a long trip to have all your accommodation booked up in advance is going to create problems. The main bugbear is the weather. If you are planning to visit a certain place for the hiking and the forecast is for rain it's going to be better to go first to that large city with the museums and leave the hiking for the following week. This is especially true if you are travelling out of season which you probably will be, if you're reading this and therefore interested in saving money! Freak weather is becoming common place and can easily disrupt carefully made plans based on historical averages. Also, inevitably, you don't know how long you are going to want to stay in one place until you actually get there so keeping your options open can be a good idea.

For our two-month trip to Andalucía we used campsites, usually with our tent but once with a wood cabin, Airbnb and Booking.com.

Campsites are ideal for flexibility outside of high season because you don't need to book and can pack up and leave whenever you like, are the cheapest option and your car is safely parked. But camping isn't for everyone and camping in the rain will quickly put you off.

Airbnb offers entire apartments or just a room in someone's house. An apartment is at least slightly more expensive but a more  comfortable option on a long trip because you can cook your own food, get your washing done in the luxury of your own washing machine (often), and generally get some home comforts on the road. You can find some advice for booking on Airbnb here . Read it if you plan to use Airbnb for the first time, we have been using Airbnb for several years and also rent an apartment with it so we've worked out quite a bit about what to look for.

It's cheaper to just rent a room in someone's house, and we did this a few times. Results vary, it's undoubtedly a good option if you're stuck, that is - it's the weekend, prices are higher, it's a last minute booking, or you're just staying for one or two nights. If you're thinking of doing this, read this article first.

We used booking.com twice. If booking an apartment be VERY careful about extra and hidden costs which appear as you proceed with the booking process, such as extra for cleaning (sometimes absurd amounts), sheets, heating, parking, etc etc. However, if booking a hotel it may well be cheaper on booking.com than booking directly with the hotel. Either way booking.com definitely comes into its own on last minute bargains. Some owners may put property on both Airbnb and booking.com, but you're more likely to find a last minute special offer on booking.com.

3. Travel off season

Ok everyone knows to avoid the Christmas holidays and the peak of summer but look at a list of National holidays before planning your trip. Any national holiday near a weekend can become that dreaded danger for long-trippers: a puente or long weekend.

For example in Andalucía 28 February is Fiesta de Andalucía and 12th October is Fiesta de Pilar. We planned on visiting the pueblos blancos in Sierra de Grazalema around Puente del Pilar 2018 but reasonably priced accommodation, which had seemed plentiful, suddenly disappeared!

4. Take a few basics with you even if you're not camping. Specifically,

-  a travel kettle which means you can get your own breakfast wherever you are (presuming breakfast means a hot drink,  bread and jam, flakes, juice and not a fry up!)

-  powdered milk, if you use milk,  for the same reason

-  sheets and towels (space-saving microfiber towels are fine). Most Airbnb hosts provide them, but not all, booking.com apartment hosts usually don't, or rather, want you to pay extra. Costs are usually per use not per night so can tot up for a series of shorter stays.

-  your favourite nonstick frying pan. Even in nice apartments this item is often unappealing or nonexistent

-  small container of washing up liquid

-  disinfectant for cuts, insect bites and also to disinfect anything you don't like the look of.

-  4 plastic cups and plates and a minimum of cutlery

5. If you want to save money don't pay extra for breakfast in a hotel unless you're really sure it's going to be worth it. Either get your own, if you have the necessary (see above) or go to the nearest bar, where it's likely to be better too.

A second breakfast at 100 Montaditos in Ronda

6. In the end I didn't use it but keep an eye on Groupon and similar for whichever country you are in. Bear in mind you will need to register separately for that country's Groupon. Thefork website is called eltenedor in Spain.

7. Never pay for parking unless you have mobility issues, usually you just need to walk a little farther and you can avoid paying.

8. When travelling by motorway consider putting the toll-free option on Google maps routing. Spanish main roads are generally good and fast. We did this on the way back and it was generally successful with one mountain exception!

9. Café con leche is often cheaper than cappuccino but indistinguishable! Really!

10. Many attractions in Andalucía are free at certain times or days. You can find info here on Malaga, Antequera and Ronda, here for Cadiz and the sherry triangle, and here for Jaen and Cordoba. The vast majority of tourist offices in Andalucía have a PDF page on their website (where varies, usually under horarios) or you can get one directly in the tourist office, showing updated opening times, prices and any free slots for each week or month. This is extremely useful in planning.

11. Do your shopping at Mercadona. No I haven't got shares in Mercadona, nor do they pay me for saying this (nobody pays me for saying anything!), but over our two-month trip we consistently found Mercadona stuff to be cheap, good quality, and well.... Spanish. Because there are lots of Lidls and Aldis too, but do you want to eat the same things you eat back home? Presuming you shop in discount supermarkets anyway, because Mercadona is just a reasonably priced supermarket with good quality goods, not a discount. Further north Consum seemed good too.

12. Eating out in Andalucía is not expensive. Bear in mind you don't need to order a dish each, you can order tapas, raciones o 1/2 raciones or even share a Menu del día.

13. Stock up with fuel when you see it cheap and don't leave it until the motorway because often you have to get at least a little way off the motorway to find a service station in Andalucía.

14. Don't pay for guides or audioguides. Do your homework before you go and find out what you are interested in, invest in a good guide book or often information is provided in panels in the attraction itself or . Be aware of how much detail you are really going to want on a long trip according to your interests. There's no teacher to test you on what you learnt when you get back home, and no obligation to fill your brain with facts you are unlikely to remember. Nevertheless, it could be a good idea get a basic idea of the history of Andalucía before you go because things will make more sense.

15. The Cervecería 100 Montaditos do a special offer on Wednesdays and Sundays whereby everything (almost) costs one euro. This means you can eat 3 sandwiches and a plate of chips and a Caña for €5, pretty unbeatable, even in Andalucía...

16. You can often find three barras de pan for €1 and jamón serrano costs about €1.80 for 100 grams, find a pleasant place to sit and have a picnic sometimes.

17. Small bottles of water are a lot cheaper in the small open all day supermarkets than at the bar.....

18. A 'Hostal' is not a hostel but a basic guest house so don't exclude it from your accommodation options.

19. Keep an eye out for fiestas and special events, which may well involve something free. We were in Arcos de la Frontera for Dias del turismo and so were able to take part in free guided tours and see a free flamenco show. At a shopping centre in Barcelona a few years ago there was Andalucía day which included free shows, food and drink and brochures.......

20. Our two-month trip to Andalucía, including absolutely everything so the trip from north Italy, motorway, fuel, all food and drink consumed in two months, any entry fees, other transport and accommodation cost €4040 euros for two people. It was worth every penny.