Cheap Caribbean Vacations - Tips For Saving Money On Your Caribbean Vacation

The Caribbean is a great place for anyone with a passion for sand, surf, and sun.

So many places around the world started out as great little summer vacation spots, only to eventually become nothing more than tacky tourist traps.

The Caribbean, though, still retains much of its authentic, out of the way, endless summer appeal. There are a few spots that can get a little packed with tourists in the dead of summer, but if you don't mind taking a bus a few miles north or south, you can easily find a quiet spot where you can enjoy the scenery all by your lonesome.

So that's what the appeal of the Caribbean is, but here's the puzzle: How do you spend a week in the Caribbean without having to sell your car to finance the trip?

The first major expense is going to be your airfare, of course, so that means that the first step to saving a bunch of money on your Caribbean vacation is to simply book well in advance. If you think you might want to go to the Caribbean someday, take a guess at when, in the future, you might want to go, and start looking at ticket prices for that day right now.

The trick to getting low airfare is to book in advance, to choose arrival and departure dates that aren't right smack dab in the middle of the heavy tourist seasons, and to be willing to make a few layovers on the way there. We can't give you an exact estimate of what you should expect to pay to hit the Caribbean with these tips in mind, but you might just cut your airfare in half, or even better.

The second expense is, of course, going to be booking a hotel.

As for this problem, well, see above: Book in advance! You could probably get a great package deal through a good travel agency, shaving a good chunk of money off of both your airfare and hotel costs.

In fact, while you're at it, you're probably going to need a rental car, so look for a good package deal that covers all three of these bases.

After that, you have, of course, your day-to-day expenses. You're probably not going to have a kitchen in your hotel room, so you can probably expect to do a lot of eating out. Luckily, the Caribbean isn't really the most expensive part of the world when it comes to simply getting a bite to eat. Even with the economy as it is today, you can still find some great, inexpensive restaurants and cafes in the Caribbean. Just remember - and this is true whether you're taking a trip to the Caribbean, New York City, or Nowhereseville USA - Ask the locals. The local inhabitants of any town often know better than any travel expert how to get a great meal without spending half your pay check.

Make sure you check out the travel coupons websites before you book. There are lots of great Caribbean discounts and package deals throughout the year, and several websites devote themselves, at least in part to cheap Caribbean vacations.