Cyber Monday Sale: Save $50 and Learn To Travel For Almost FREE

My family of 5 walked on a glacier in Patagonia for almost FREE.  Yep, we saved thousands on our vacation to Chile and Argentina by using strategy and intentionality. Now I'm sharing my secrets with you to help you travel for Almost Free too. 

By joining our AlmostFREEFamilyTravel.com Coaching Program, you'll gain access to all the insider knowledge and tools that made this success story possible. Here’s what you’ll get:

• Video Series: Learn how to maximize your travel rewards and points with easy-to-follow lessons.
• Custom Tracker: Stay organized and on top of your travel goals with our personalized tracker.
• 1:1 Consulting Session: Get expert advice tailored to your travel plans.
• Live Monthly Group Coaching: Join a community of like-minded travelers, ask questions, and get feedback in our monthly live coaching sessions.

And here’s the best part— You can join right now for just $197! That’s a one-time payment for a lifetime of travel hacks, strategies, and savings!

But wait… we’ve got something extra special for you!

Cyber Monday Special: Save $50!

Use the coupon code “CYBERSALE” at checkout to get $50 off the coaching program! This is the best deal we offer, and it expires December 3rd 11:59pm pst.

Don’t Miss Out on This Opportunity!

Don’t spend tons of money on your next vacation. Instead, let us help you travel for almost FREE forever. Join our coaching program today, and start making your travel dreams a reality—just like this success story!

We can’t wait to see you in the program and help you unlock all the amazing travel rewards waiting for you.

Woohoo! Let’s make your next trip an AlmostFREE adventure!

---

P.S. The $50 off Cyber Monday deal won’t last forever, so grab your spot now and start planning your next European getaway (or wherever your heart desires)!

Unveiling the Chase Ultimate Rewards: Why 23,363 Points in 2023 are Worth Celebrating

 

I love when I see my rewards summary in my inbox. Now you may look at this Chase Ultimate Rewards summary and say, wait, you only earned 23,363 points in 2023. But let me explain. 

This summary is for my Chase FREEDOM FLEX credit card. It's a no annual fee card with 5x points rotating bonus categories. 

What does that mean? FREE money! Woohoo! 

Unveiling the Chase Ultimate Rewards: Why 23,363 Points in 2023 are Worth Celebrating

I earned those 23,363 points on purchases that I was going to make anyway like gas, groceries, Amazon, Paypal etc. 

But I intentionally used this credit card when Chase offered 5x points on those types of purchases. 

Chase rotates the categories every quarter. This quarter the categories are groceries and gyms. You can activate the offer in your Chase.com account.

The secret here is to earn the points on the Chase FREEDOM FLEX credit card and then transfer those points to your Chase Sapphire Preferred or Reserve account to squeeze more value out of them for incredible trips like this one in Chile. 

Unveiling the Chase Ultimate Rewards: Why 23,363 Points in 2023 are Worth Celebrating

The reason is that when you spend the points from your Chase Sapphire Preferred or Reserve account, you get 1.25% or 1.5% more when you book travel through the Chase Travel Portal and you can transfer the points to a dozen different airlines and three hotel chains. You can click here to find out how we use Chase points to book insanely cheap nights at Hyatt. 

 

The Chase FREEDOM FLEX is offering a $200 or 20,000 CUR points on $500 minimum spend. This no annual fee card earns 5x points on rotating bonus categories and 5x points on gas and groceries for the first year up to $12,000. Please use my referral link if you decide to apply for this card. 

Unveiling the Chase Ultimate Rewards: Why 23,363 Points in 2023 are Worth Celebrating

If you don't have a Chase Sapphire Preferred or Sapphire Reserve credit card, you can read about these cards here. They are the key to our success, we love the flexibility of the Chase Ultimate Rewards points for almost FREE travel. 

Again, if you decide to add any of these card to your strategy, please use our referral links and if you would like support with your travel goals, join our Travel Coaching Program. 

From Vineyards to Spicy Bites: A Day Trip Guide to Valle de Guadalupe

Just two hours south of San Diego, the Valle de Guadalupe boasts beautiful views and amazing wine. Though you won't see Mexican wine in your local store, it rivals those from California, Argentina and Chile. 

In the 1990s, winemakers in the region began formally marketing the Valle de Guadalupe as a destination. This is when they banded together to organize the annual Grape Harvest Fiestas in the town of Ensenada every August.

This festive event draws wine-loving tourists who enjoy wine tastings, concerts, fireworks, celebrations of local wine culture, and more.
The region’s popularity has grown significantly since then. It’s really come into its own as a wine tourism hotspot in the last 10 years.

And now boasts more than 200 wineries! 

From San Diego, I recommend a day tour with Mario and Rene at Baja California Wine Tours.  Be sure to tell them that Stephanie from AlmostFREEfamilytravel.com sent you so you get the VIP treatment. 

Mario or Rene will meet you at the Old Town Trolley stop in a big white van. There is plenty of parking to leave your car and then within two hours, you are at the first winery enjoying a tasting of reds and whites. The wineries vary, but for our tour, our first stop was at Villa Montefiori. Mario chose this winery because it is the only one that uses Italian grapes from the owner's family vineyard in Italy. 

Second stop was the Decantos Winery, a much larger operation with an expansive outdoor seating area. We enjoyed a tasting here as well plus cheese and crackers. 

There are more than 200 wineries in the Valle so Mario and Rene visit different ones each tour. You can even make requests on private tours. 

From here, we visited Finca Altozano for lunch. Three tastings and lunch are included in the $199 per person public tour price. Alcoholic drinks and tip at lunch are NOT included. 

Lunch was a delicious sit down appetizer to dessert set menu. It was family style and started with a variety of appetizers including salad, brussel sprouts and freshly baked bread. Mario was able to accommodate various dietary concerns. 

The finca also features a farm, garden, bakery, coffee shop and several Instagram favorite sites. 

Last stop was the Hacienda Guadalupe where the owner talked about the winery's unique rose colored wine. We also watched  the sunset from the balcony. Beautiful. 

There are also plenty of hotels and homestays in Valle de Guadalupe if you want to stay overnight. You can drive across the border as well, but be prepared for a long wait on the return. If you have a Sentri pass, that can be helpful. Remember to bring your Global Entry card and your passport. 

I have just been certified as a travel advisor so if you want to book a trip to Valle de Guadalupe, talk to me and I'll help you. 

Cracking the Code to Redeem 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards Like a Pro!

 

Near Santiago, Chile

The Chase Ink Business Preferred credit card is offering a huge 100,000 Ultimate Rewards bonus right now, but the question is what can you do with all those points? What value do they hold for you and your travel goals?

Let's break down the different ways you can redeem 100,000 CUR points. 

I love CUR points because of their flexibility. You can:

• transfer them to dozens of different airline loyalty programs 
• transfer them to several hotel chains (Marriott, IHG, Hyatt) 
• use them to buy hotels, flights, activities and car rentals in the Chase Travel Portal 
• pay yourself back for groceries, gas and the annual fee
• get a statement credit 

100,000 points equals $1,000, however, if you use them in the Chase Travel Portal or to pay yourself back, you get 25% more value making them worth $1,250. And if you combine the points with your Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card, then they will be worth 50% more in the Chase Travel Portal for a whopping total of $1,500. 

Like this redemption in the Chase Travel Portal through my Chase Sapphire Reserve account, this Hilton in Moorea has rooms at $938 dollars or 62,554 CUR points. 

And if you transfer them to an airline or hotel, the points could be worth even more depending on the specific flight or the number of rewards needed per night.

Plus if you transfer points to IHG and buy three nights, you get a fourth FREE so that could be very lucrative. 

Hyatt hotels usually fall in the sweet spot of redemption value as well. 

The key is to identify your travel goals and then decide if CUR points will help you achieve it. Of course, this is also a business card so you will need at least a side hustle to qualify. You can click here to find out what types of businesses qualify. 

If they will and you can swing the hefty $8,000 minimum spend, then you will want to jump on this offer soon. We are hearing it will end September 23rd.  If this offer is for you, please consider using my referral link. 

 

The Basics: Where Do I Start If I want to Travel for FREE

 

We are jumping for joy in a field looking at the Andes Mountains in Chile because it's beautiful, we trekked to get here and our trip was almost FREE. I'm not bragging. Instead, I'm hoping to inspire you that you can travel for FREE too. 

Before I share the basics with you. I want to share some of the questions I have received recently which sparked the need for this post. 

• A friend called me last week and asked me if I could help her family of four travel to Italy this summer for FREE. The answer is no. Next summer, yes. 
• Another friend asked if she could get her hotels for FREE for an upcoming trip. Then she shared that she had opened at least 5 credit cards in the past year including a Williams Sonoma credit card. The answer is maybe. But she may have to wait another year to start and review all of her credit cards. 

So where do you start? 

You have heard the saying that you need to start at the beginning and do a review of where you are now and where you are going. 

Let's look at the steps:

1. Where do you want to go - What are your travel goals? Who will be going with you?

2. What credit cards do you have currently? I would create a spreadsheet with all the cards, the dates you opened them, the credit limit, perks, the annual fee and the card anniversary. Then review them and ask if you are getting benefit out of them. Never cancel your oldest card or cards with high credit limits. But the rest are fair game. 

3. Depending on what type of travel you want to do, domestic or international will determine which card you open first.

• If you are looking at domestic travel, I recommend the Southwest credit card and if you travel with another person, then go for the Southwest companion pass. 
• If you are looking at international travel, I recommend the Chase Sapphire Preferred or Reserve credit card or the Capital One Venture X credit card. These cards offer the most flexibility and ease of use. 

Once you are approved for your credit card, use that card for all of your daily purchases like gas and groceries. I call it leveraged spending. It's making your daily purchases work harder for you.

And if you go out for dinner with friends, pick up the check and ask them to give you cash or venmo you. 

If you have an event coming up, pay for it with that credit card. 

Home repair project, see if you can pay with a credit card. 

College tuition due, pay with the credit card, but watch out for fees. 

Insurance premium, medical bills, yep, put it all on the same credit card. 

Now you MUST pay off the credit card entirely! I put all of my credit cards on auto pay as soon as I get them. If you pay interest, then it defeats the point of the game. 

Once the bonus is triggered, you can move onto the next credit card. In the next blog post, we will talk about some more advanced methods of earning points and of course, the best part, how to spend the points. 

If you apply for any credit cards, please use the referral links in this post. You get the same deal you would anywhere else and I get a reward for referring you. 

Looking For An Affordable Family Vacation, Try Visiting Argentina

 

I just got back from two weeks travelling in Chile and Argentina and wow! So much history, culture, nature, it's overwhelming and wonderful at the same time. The highlight for our family was trekking on the Perito Moreno Glacier in Patagonia. A once in a lifetime experience like no other!

With so much to do, you might think this is an expensive vacation, but it's actually quite affordable right now for those with US dollars.  

This is a picture of the Argentine pesos I got when I exchanged $400 USD. Each of those 1,000 peso notes equals about $3 USD. 

Right now, Argentina is suffering through 96% inflation which is terrible for the residents of that country, but a huge plus for tourists if you handle your money correctly. 

Plus of course, if you follow my blog and get your flights and hotels with points and miles then wow, it's almost like a FREE vacation. 

Looking For An Affordable Family Vacation, Try Visiting Argentina

What does 96% inflation look like? It means that you can change your USD to pesos today for let's say 310 pesos per $1 and by tomorrow, the rate will be 340 pesos per $1. 

The inflation is so crazy that there are actually two exchange rates - the official rate and the blue rate. 

The official rate is about 175 pesos per $1 USD. 

The blue rate changes daily, but is running about 350 pesos per $1 USD. 

So you can see if you get the official rate, then you will probably think prices in Argentina are equal to any European country. BUT if you change money at the blue rate, you get a 50% discount. 

It's a bit hard to follow, but check this out. I visited a Starbucks in Buenos Aires. Each of my drinks were priced at about 800 pesos. The parfait was 950 pesos. 

For the three drinks and the parfait, the total was 3630 pesos. If you get the official rate 175 pesos per $1, this Starbucks run will cost you $20. Pretty typical for the US. BUT if you get the blue exchange rate 350 pesos per $1, this Starbucks run will cost you $10.50. Crazy, right?

Looking For An Affordable Family Vacation, Try Visiting Argentina

Now the question is how do you get the blue rate rather than the official rate? Usually, we recommend changing money at the ATM's, but NOT in Argentina. The ATM's will give you the official rate. There are two ways to get the blue rate that we recommend. 

1. Look for money change signs at restaurants and grocery stores - The signs will indicate if the business is changing money and at what rate. Do some research to find the best rate and then go for it. Right now, the largest currency is the 1,000 peso note which equals $3 at the blue rate. So be prepared for a lot of paper when you exchange money. 

2. Use your credit card - Argentina just passed a law requiring foreign credit cards to honor the blue rate. 

That's the email receipt from Uber, but look at the amount that actually ended up on my credit card. 

You may see some websites talk about changing money on Calle Florida in Buenos Aires. I don't recommend doing that. The cambios on this street are illegal and ripe for scams. It's much safer to change money in a restaurant or use your credit card. 

Keep in mind if you tip for a FREE tour, try tipping in USD. If you tip in pesos, you will end up giving someone a very small tip. 

And of course, always use the right credit card for your purchases and you may be able to erase the purchase altogether. 

How You Can Vacation in South America For Pennies

 

My family and I just returned from two weeks in Chile and Argentina. This was a redo trip from a vacation that was supposed to happen in March 2020. That trip was going to be almost FREE so the question was could we repeat it almost three years later and still do the trip for almost FREE. The answer is yes. 

I'm going to break it down for you so you can see how I do it and hopefully see how you could do it for your family. 

I believe everyone can play this game and travel for almost FREE. 

I start planning big trips like this one almost two years in advance. Why so early? You need time to earn the points and miles and then the airlines open flight reservations approximately 330 days in advance. Depending on when you want to travel especially if you are looking at summer or the holidays, you need to be ready with your points/miles when those reservations open. 

How You Can Vacation in South America For Pennies 

For this trip, we were planning to travel over winter break. It's high season so I needed to be ready. 

The first thing I do is figure out what airlines fly to the destination. In this case, I targeted American Airlines. Between American miles and Marriott points, I had collected enough miles to fly our family of five one way to Santiago, Chile. I looked at several dates and it looked like I could find flights for 30,000 miles one way from San Diego to Santiago, Chile. 

You can see below if you click on the calendar, you can look at the entire month and pinpoint which days offer the best value. Right now, you could fly to Santiago for just 22,000 American miles one way. 

But the return from Buenos Aires was showing 50,000 to 100,000 miles on American. The key is to be flexible with dates and cities. So I tried multiple cities and dates and nothing. 

So I started looking at other airlines. I checked Avianca, United and Delta. Delta Airlines was showing returns for 25,000 miles pretty consistently. 

I decided to target Delta Airlines and start figuring out how to collect those miles. All of us had various amounts of Delta miles already due to flights over the years, earning miles with Airbnb and other random promotions. But only a few of us had the full 25,000 miles needed. Marriott points transfer to Delta Airlines at 3:1 with a 5,000 point bonus for every 60,000 points. So I could top off with Marriott points and bam, 125,000 Delta miles gets all five of us home for FREE. 

As soon as the flights open up, I book them. Now I will book one way flights when they open and then book the return when that opens. So for two weeks, I will sit with flights to the destination and no flights home. It's a bit nerve racking, but has worked for me every time. 

Once I secure the flights, I move onto accommodations. For our family of five with teens and young adults, Airbnb seemed like the way to go. In South America, Airbnb are very affordable and with the Chase Pay Yourself Back program allowing you to erase Airbnb purchases with points, it was a no brainer. Unfortunately, you can no longer erase Airbnb purchases with Chase points. BUT you can still erase Airbnb purchases with Capital One points. 

I booked Airbnb in Santiago, Mendoza and Buenos Aires and erased all of them with Chase points. Check out how to combine your points onto your Sapphire Reserve credit card to max out the value. 

For tours like this Tango lesson in Buenos Aires, I booked through Viator, Trip Advisor and Airbnb experiences. The ones I booked through Airbnb, I went ahead and erased with Chase points. I paid for the Glacier trek with my new Southwest credit card which will help me reach the minimum spend and earn the Southwest companion pass. 

I also leveraged some points on the Capital One Venture X credit card to erase a few travel purchases. 

There were a few flights we took during the trip. I booked those through the Capital One travel portal and the Chase travel portal so I could either use points or erase them with points. 

I will continue to erase dining purchases through the Chase Pay Yourself Back program for the next 90 days. 

All in all, flights and accommodations were FREE. Some tours were FREE. Some meals and taxis will also be FREE. 

Grand total for five people for two weeks in South America comes to approximately $3,000 out of pocket and that included the expensive mini trek on the glacier. If we had paid instead of using points, this trip would easily have cost $15,000. Does it take some planning? Yes. Does it take some time? Yes. But it is worth it, I think so. 

That's how we do it at almost FREE family travel. 

How I Just Got Five FREE Flights To South America

You could say that I am so ready to travel that the next year is going to be awesome or a bit crazy. 

Days after the world started to shut down back in March 2020, my family of 5 were supposed to leave on an epic adventure to Santiago, Chile, surf near Vina Del Mar, hike the glacier in El Calafate Argentina and tango in Buenos Aires.

How I Just Got Five FREE Flights To South America

The entire 2.5 week trip was free. The flights, most of the very inexpensive airbnb’s, the car rental, even the hike on the glacier. Yep, all booked with points, miles or erased with our Capital One Venture card. 

And poof, in a matter of days, instead of us going on an epic adventure, my daughter who was studying in Chile came home and finished her semester abroad in our living room. 

How I Just Got Five FREE Flights To South America

Two years later, it’s time to resurrect the trip. So the question, things have changed, the world has changed, airline alliances have changed, so could we do it again! 
The answer is yes. And I'm going to show you how I did it. Hint, it has to do with Marriott Bonvoy points. 

One of my big secrets to flying a family of 5 is to fly when no one else wants to. Think overnight flights. Think holidays. The biggest holiday Christmas. Yep, no one wants to fly on Christmas Day except us. So the deals are there to be had. 

I was able to score 5 one way tickets with points from Los Angeles to Santiago, Chile without too much trouble. For 25,000 American Airlines points each, all of us on the same flight booked directly on the American Airlines website. Very straightforward. I had collected more than enough American miles to buy these tickets. No problem. 

You may be thinking to yourself that scoring one way tickets is silly. You may be right. I am betting on the fact that I can find a return for five people with points. 

How I Just Got Five FREE Flights To South America

Now my second tip about flying over the holidays. Even though no one wants to fly on Christmas Day, they sure want to fly over the holidays. So you need to be ready. Flights open approximately 330 days in advance. You want to be ready to book with your points in hand when that happens. You can actually watch the calendar advance day by day on the website so you will know exactly when the flights will open. 
The hardest part is to figure out exactly how many points you will need. That's why I love flexible points like Chase Ultimate Rewards just in case I need to top off a few more points. 

How I Just Got Five FREE Flights To South America

For this trip, I checked American return flights and they were outrageous, more than 90,000 miles per ticket. I started looking at other airlines and it turned out that Delta seemed to offering return trips from Buenos Aires for 25,000 miles each as consistently as the days were being released. So I decided to go for it. 

Now I didn't have very many Delta Airlines miles, but I had a lot of Marriott Bonvoy points. Marriott Bonvoy points transfer to dozens of different airlines at 3:1 and for every 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points you transfer, you get an additional 5,000 airline miles. So for every 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points, you get 25,000 airline miles. Follow me?

With the devaluation approaching this past March, I decided to cash in. For 5 return flights from Buenos Aires, I would need 300,000 Marriott Bonvoy points. Once I transferred these points to Delta Airlines, it would total 125,000 Delta miles enough for all the flights. You can check out a video that shows you exactly how to transfer the points here. I do recommend doing the transfer in 60,000 point increments and the names on both accounts need to match exactly. 

Allow up to 2 weeks for the points to transfer, but in my experience, it only takes a few days unless there is a problem. 

Once the points settle into your account and the flights open up, bam! It's that easy. 

If you do not have any Marriott Bonvoy points, there is a new 100,000 bonus offer available with the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant. It has a $5,000 minimum spend and a $450 annual fee. BUT it also has a $300 Marriott credit, $100 Global Entry/TSA Precheck credit and Priority Pass Lounge Membership. If you decide to apply for this card, please consider using my referral link. 

By the way, AlmostFREEFamilyTravel has teamed up with Families Fly FREE to bring more value to you. If you would like to check them out, click here and let Lyn know I sent you. :) I'll be sharing testimonials from some happy members and I'll let you know when I'll be offering webinars. 

Sausalito - Great Day Trip Out Of San Francisco

If you plan to be in San Francisco anytime soon, be sure to spend an afternoon in Sausalito. Sausalito is a sleepy little town that will remind you of the Mediterranean islands or a small town on Martha's Vineyard or Nantucket. It's full of ice cream shops, houseboats, and art galleries. Great for walking and biking.

You can easily get here by driving over the Golden Gate Bridge from San Franciso. If you are brave, you can even rent bicycles and ride over the bridge. There is also a ferry that connects San Francisco to Sausalito. This ferry ride is considered one of the most beautiful in the world. The Golden Gate Ferry leaves the downtown ferry building and makes the trip in just 30 minutes several times per day. Price is $25 per adult round trip and $14 per child. Children 4 and under ride FREE and there is a senior discount. 

The main street is a picturesque walk ending at the bay with a spectacular view of the Golden Gate Bridge. The other end features a park, museum, and boardwalk along the water. There are lots of restaurants, ice cream stores, touristy boutiques, and galleries. Be sure to check out the Southern Boardwalk which is famous for its appearance in the 1947 film with Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth. And be sure to walk through Vina del Mar plaza, it was named after Sausalito's sister city in Chile. You will notice a beautiful fountain and elephant statue. 

There is also a Visitors Center that provides guided tours and a giant 3-D model of the bay.  Nearby is Fort Baker and the wonderful Bay Area Discovery Museum. Great for kids under 10 years old to run around. 14 miles north of Sausalito is Muir Woods, one of the last remnants of the Redwood Forests that used to cover so much of California. There are six miles of groomed trails in Muir Woods. Shuttle buses are available from Sausalito, but you do need reservations. 

And if you can get to Sausalito over the Labor Day weekend, the city hosts one of the world's best art fairs, the Sausalito Art Festival. 

Remember to purchase ferry tickets on a credit card that gives you bonus points for travel like your Chase Sapphire Preferred card. This is one of my favorite cards because Ultimate Reward points are so flexible. And if you don't have this card yet and decide to apply, please consider using our referral link. 

Sausalito is a city in Marin County, California, across the Golden Gate Strait from San Francisco. It’s known for its Richardson Bay houseboat enclaves, built by artist squatters after WWII. 

Hurry, Delta Bonus Credit Card Offers End April 1st

I know it pains me too to look at an airplane right now. Our family should have been at a condo overlooking the beach in Chile this weekend. But, instead of being down and having a pity party, let's collect those points/miles so that when we can travel again, we are ready. 

Delta Bonus Credit Card Offers

Right now, Delta American Express is offering giant mega bonus of 60-100,000 miles for bonus offers on a variety of their cards. All the offers end on April 1st so if you are in a position to apply now is the time. We don't know what the next offer will be, but this is one of the highest offers we have seen. 

All the cards award you 60-80,000 miles when you meet the minimum spend about $2,000 to $3,000 depending on the card you choose and the rest of the miles on your first anniversary. You can only apply for these cards once per lifetime, but there are several to choose from. The annual fees range from $95-$550 and are not waived. Some include a credit on Delta, Global Entry credit, FREE lounge access, FREE checked bags, priority boarding and more. You can compare benefits here and see what works best for your travel plans. 

Why I like Delta

The great thing about Delta miles is that they never expire. Even though Delta is shrinking during the COVID-19, it tends to offer some spectacular deals on flights with award flights starting at just 10,000 miles. 

How To Visit Expensive Jackson Hole On A Budget

Our family in front of the Grand Tetons, Wyoming

         This past summer, we spent a week visiting the National Parks in Montana and Wyoming. Think Glacier National Park, Yellowstone, and the Grand Tetons. Absolutely beautiful. But wow, expensive. And Jackson Hole, Wyoming has been named the most unaffordable place to live in the entire US. 
         So what's a family of five supposed to do? I checked the chains in the area to see if we could use award points, all sold out. Argh. If you get lucky, there is a Hampton Inn and Suites, Super 8, Motel 6 and another Hilton in Jackson. The area is divided into Jackson Hole and Teton Village. The better ski area according to the locals is at Teton Village, but the town is in Jackson Hole. Teton Village feels very much like a small resort at the bottom of the ski run. 
I checked airbnb.com, but the rates were outrageous. So then I searched hostels and bam, I found The Hostel in Teton Village. 
Now, I stayed at plenty of hostels back in my 20's when I backpacked across Europe. But I never thought about staying at a hostel with my family. 
But guess what, we loved it. 

The Hostel at Teton Village, Wyoming

The Hostel is located right at the bottom of the ski run next to the Four Seasons. Yep, right next door. But we paid $130 per night for a room for five people. I am pretty sure you would not be able to stay in the closet at the Four Seasons for that price. 
The Hostel had FREE coffee, tea, and hot chocolate plus a pool table, access to a shared refrigerator, laundry facilities and a lounge. There were also barbecues available. They stated that they had kitchen facilities as well, but all we saw was a camping stove. 
The room was small, but we had a private bathroom and fresh linens. 
It felt safe. There were lots of families and kids. In the winter, they had places to store your skis, snowboards, and boots. The rooms did not have air conditioning, but do have heat. 
We picked up breakfast items, sandwich items at the Albertsons in Jackson and a pizza to go for dinner. 

Best part was seeing moose on our hike at Jenni Lake

Activities we enjoyed included river rafting with Lewis and Clark down the Snake River. We paid $450 for this tour, but erased it with our Capital One Venture card points. 

Plus we took the boat across Jenni Lake (no reservations needed, boats depart every 15 minutes) and hiked a few miles to Inspiration Point and saw moose! Definitely a highlight of the trip. 

River Rafting on the Snake River

The Virginia Diner had a great Wyoming breakfast with fresh biscuits for $10 per person. 

We liked The Hostel so much that we are going to try staying at another one in Patagonia, Chile next year. 

Stay tuned! 

****Please use the referral links included in this post and help support our blog.