How to travel to Columbus OH for cheap

There are many reasons to travel, such as visiting friends and family, but our favorite one is just booking a flight where there is a cheap airfare deal and researching where to go after. Columbus is one of those trips. Here is how to travel to Columbus OH for cheap. Spoiler alert: we spent a total of $750 on a 4 day budget trip to Columbus OH for three people (two adults and a child). 

This post is a part of our Columbus, OH series. Read our related articles below: 

• 3 days (72 Hours) in Columbus OH
• How to Travel to Columbus OH for cheap  
• Breeze Airways Review (from a previous trip) 
• Traveling with a baby 

$120 Round Trip Cheap Flights to Columbus Ohio

We paid cash for our flights from Jacksonville, FL to Columbus, Ohio. We flew Breeze Airways, which is a new airline from the same person that founded JetBlue. From our previous trip flying with Breeze to Huntsville, we were impressed with the airline and is now our default budget airline to fly! 

Read more about our Breeze Airline review here. 

For our flights for two adults and one toddler with one checked suitcase, we paid a total of $360, an average of $120 per person. If we were not traveling with our toddler, we would have probably just flown with a personal item each, but traveling with children means bringing a lot more stuff than what you would have originally planned for. 

Total cost for flights: $360, paid in cash. 

Read more about our long weekend posts here: 

• Weekend in Gainesville Florida with a toddler
• Daytona Beach Weekend Getaway (with a toddler)
• Treat Your Weekend as a Vacation
• How to Travel Every Weekend
• How to Spend Three Days In Tulsa OK (Itinerary)
• Tulsa Day Trip to Bartlesville OK (For Free or Cheap)

Almost Free Accommodations at Towneplace Suites – Columbus Gahanna

Travel hacking has definitely changed our life. With points and miles, we have traveled to more places than we have ever since we don’t have to pay for certain things with cash. For our three night accommodation at the Towneplace Suites – Columbus Gahanna, we ended up doing the following: 

• Redeemed 14,000 Marriott Bonvoy points on our first night (I value this around $100, for a $150 per night hotel when paid in cash)
• Paid $303 for the next 2 nights. We used our AMEX Bonvoy Brilliant $300 Marriott credit to offset the cash payment. This card has a whopping $450 annual fee, $300 of that can be used to offset your stay, incidentals, or the like at any Marriott hotel. 

Total cost for 3 nights of Columbus Hotel Stays: $3 in cash and 14,000 Bonvoy points 

How to save on food expenses when traveling

We give a few pointers on how to save money on your food expenses below. These are just based on our personal experience, and I understand that many people travel in order to try different cuisines. While we do go out and eat, we try not to do it on a daily basis and try to self cater every now and again. 

Book a hotel with a kitchenette to self cater

Pro tip: When traveling with a toddler with picky food inclinations, try to find a hotel with a small kitchenette. Not only will it help cater for your kid’s needs, but you can buy something from a grocery store and cook. 

If you don’t want to cook, many grocery stores have pre-made meals as well. We bought a box of chicken to share between me and my husband and that was dinner for two nights. Our child enjoyed Panera Bread’s Mac and Cheese that we just heated up in the microwave. 

Find cheap, local food chains (travel to Columbus for cheap)

Food doesn’t have to be expensive. Whenever we travel around the US, we try and set one day up for a Chipotle or Cracker Barrel visit to save some money. For some people, this may be their go to food option on a daily basis. However, if you tend to cook at home 99% of the time, going out to eat at local food chains can be a treat. 

There are also plenty of local food chains that may be available in your destination. This could be something like Hattie B’s chicken in Nashville, Metro Diner in Florida, the Kookaburra cafe in St Augustine, and the like. 

Eating out does not have to be expensive. You can also check Google to see how many dollar signs the restaurant would cost before you go. Usually $ is the cheapest! 

Utilize free hotel breakfasts and club lounges 

If you have status with a hotel, you may opt to book a club room (if available) to get free snacks throughout the day. Some hotels are better than others in terms of their offerings so their “snacks” may count as lunch or dinner for some. 

Club rooms are a bit more expensive than standard rooms but you can make up for the cost by saving on food expenses in the long run.

Free breakfast is available at mid range hotels and can range from continental (no hot food) to a full breakfast buffet selection. Sometimes in order for us to save, we go to breakfast twice: once in the morning and another time for brunch. This helps save us money by not paying for lunch outside. 

When you get hungry in the afternoon, you can eat snacks you picked up from a grocery store or find a local cafe that has pastries or bread to fill you up before dinner. 

Where to Eat in Columbus OH

Aside from self-catering, we snuck out and ate out at the following restaurants. All the prices are for two adults and a toddler who shared meals with us. We do not regularly buy kids meals except for Chipotle – our toddler just loves this restaurant so much so he gets his own kid meal.  

• Chipotle – Mexican food staple ($21) 
• Schmidt’s Sausage House – Authentic German restaurant ($45) 
• Shawerma Bite – Middle Eastern shawarma delights ($19) 

If you have the budget, I would definitely recommend eating at Schmidt’s. It is a great authentic German restaurant but is extremely busy and wait times could be long. Make reservations in advance or show up at odd times (i.e. not 12-130pm for the lunch rush). We got lucky and managed to grab a seat as soon as we entered, but we walked in almost as soon as they opened – 11AM! 

There is very little parking in front of Schmidt’s but street parking is readily available, and it’s free! Walking to the restaurant may take an extra 5 to 10 minutes, depending on where you managed to find parking. 

Overall food cost for 4 Days in Columbus – $135

We spent roughly $50 on self-catering food for 2 adults and a picky eater toddler for our 4 day and 3 night visit to Columbus, which includes all breakfasts, and a few dinners, drinks, and some snacks. We then splurged and spent a grand total of $85 eating out. 

Free (or Cheap) Things to do in Columbus OH

Traveling does not mean you have to constantly pay entrance fees to different experiences. Here are some free things (or cheap things) we did in Columbus 

Columbus Museum of Art – Free on Sundays 

No need to secure tickets in advance if you want to get there early. However, you can get tickets for free in advance by going on their website and showing it to the attendant at check in. You can park for free at the overflow parking spots so you won’t need to pay the $5 lot parking fee. 

Downtown Columbus has paid street parking, and the only free ones we encountered were close to the German Village (roughly a mile or two walk from downtown). If going on a really rainy day with a toddler, cough up the cash and just pay for parking. You’ll thank us for it. 

German Village – lovely historic area with great bookstore (Book Loft)

The German Village in Columbus has its roots from the first immigrants that moved to the city, the Germans! The houses are historic looking and are free to see from the outside. Our favorite spot at the German Village is The Book Loft. It is a bookstore that sells discounted new books and has room upon room of genres you can discover. 

The bookstore was an old house that they converted, and we loved walking around and looking for stuff we could bring home. The best bargains are in front of the bookstore, called the bargain nook. We ended up buying a tote bag as a souvenir and 2 activity books for our son to enjoy on the airplane. Our son didn’t really get to use the books on the plane since he mostly slept through the flight but he definitely found use for them once we got home! 

Saint Mary’s Cathoilc Church near the front of the bookstore hosts a small farmer’s market that sells local goods every Saturday. The church was not open when we visited, but still free to look at from the outside. 

Schmidt’s Sausage House is also located in the German Village area of Columbus. You are also free to drive around the brick laden streets, but a lot of them are one way traffic. 

Free Museums on the Ohio State University Campus

If you like museums and need something to do indoors, there are a few free museums located on the Ohio State University Campus. Parking is not free. In fact, it is quite expensive, where we paid $12 for 3 hours! You can also walk around the campus for free and see “the Horseshoe” from the outside.

Orton Geological Museum at the Ohio State University

Like bones of extinct creatures? Head on over to this small museum. They only have two big skeleton casts in the museum, and a few other fossils on display. There’s a small shop (it was closed when we visited), but other than the big bones of the animals, our toddler didn’t really last that long. Expect to spend a maximum of 30 minutes seeing everything. 

Other free museums in the campus that we did not visit include: 

• Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum 
• Wexner Center for the Arts

Those 2 museums are not open on Mondays, which was our last day of exploring before our flight back home. It still is a good stop if you are in the area and they’re open for visitors. 

Inniswood Metro Gardens 

Located northeast of Columbus, close to the new mall called Easton Town Center is the Inniswood Metro Gardens. The gardens are free to visit, which makes for a great hike through some landscaped areas. It’s the perfect place to bring a young toddler to run around and enjoy nature. We also went when the flowers were blooming, so it made for nice aesthetics. 

Blendon Woods Metro Park 

Within an 11 minute drive from Inniswood Metro Gardens is Blendon Woods Metro Park. There is a small nature center (free of charge) to set your GPS in to know exactly where to go. The park is huge – with a playground for children and multiple hiking trails and other event spaces. 

The highlight of Blendon Woods Metro Park for us is the Walden Waterfowl Refuge. The trail is directly off the nature center, and there are two viewing areas where you can see wildlife along the water. When we hiked, a bunch of wild turkeys ran through the path in front of us. I was thrilled but my toddler and husband were a bit freaked out. 

Turkeys do chase people around so exercise a bit of caution when you see them, and there’s a ton of them running wild in this park!

Ohio State Capitol 

Another free thing to do is visiting the Ohio State Capitol. There are free guided tours by docents on certain hours. Knowing our toddler though, he would just get bored quickly and would want to do his own thing so we opted for a self-guided tour. Tours (both guided and self-guided) are free of charge, but parking in the garage is not free. 

When we visited, there was an event going on in the theater across the street, so parking was not based per hour, but had a flat rate of $5. It was also a rainy day so while we could circle and look for free street parking, it was not worth our time getting the entire family wet. 

The architecture itself is the main draw to the capitol, but if learning is more your thing, there is an area with interactive screens and exhibits for your family to enjoy. 

Ohio Railway Museum 

Because my husband is an avid fan of railways and we wanted our son to experience riding a train, we saw that Columbus has an Ohio Railway Museum. The museum offers 20 minute train rides included with the cost of the admission fee of $9 per adult. Children under the age of 4 are free with a paying adult, so for a grand total of $18, all 3 of us enjoyed our train ride on a historic carriage and saw other historic trains while we were at it. 

4 Days of Columbus Sightseeing for $230 

Because we focused on a lot of free sights, our total cost for sightseeing including parking, car rental and gas is $230. This averages around $58 a day for three people, and is a frugal option when it comes to seeing a new city. Here is a breakdown of what we spent on sightseeing: 

• $18 for Ohio Railway Museum
• $5 for parking at the Ohio Capitol parking garage
• $12 for the Ohio State Parking Garage 
• $25 for gas throughout the trip 
• $170 for car rental

Traveling to Columbus OH for cheap

Traveling for a long weekend does not have to be expensive. Mixing low cost airlines with travel hacking techniques can lower your cash prices down big time. For a family of 3, our 4 day weekend in Columbus only cost $750 and gave us memories that we will cherish for a lifetime. 

Every city has plenty of spots that you can see and do for free, and while those places may not be included in the bucket list items you have to tick off, you can just add it for the next time you visit. 

Happy long (cheap) weekend trips everyone!