Thrifty Sightseeing
March 5, 2009 by Katelyn Thomas
Filed under Thrifty Travel
We love the zoo. We love the museum. We love the science center. Since we are thrifty, we don’t love paying to visit all the fun attractions available in our area. Luckily, we often don’t have to pay or, if we do have to pay, we can score a major discount.
I usually start my search for cheap or free attractions we can visit at my credit card company’s site. Bank of America gives card holders free admission to a limited number of museums on the first weekend each month. If I can find one we want to visit and kids’ admission is very cheap or even free, we’re good to go.
Next, I check individual attraction sites to see if there are any special offers. For example, the National Aquarium in Baltimore has $5 Fridays that start after 5 p.m. and has a dollar days special that always is held sometime in December. Dollar days are really awesome, because almost all the other family friendly Inner Harbor attractions jump on the bandwagon. You can spend about $10 each and wear yourselves to the bone going from one attraction to the next.
(For homeschoolers, family field trips may be the way to go. The Maryland Zoo at Baltimore offers a free self guided field trip for homeschool teachers and their students.)
Finally, I check with any schools or employers in the family. I used to get major discounts from being a college student and then a college employee. Some of my other employers have gotten nice discounts for employees, too.
How do you sightsee on a budget?
Photo by Lisa D/Stock Exchange
Check your local library! Mine has day passes that you can check out and use to get into most local museums.
Have you looked around for plant stores . nurseries ?
They are almost as good and sometimes better than botanical gardens.
How awesome! I wish mine did that.