• Although flights have become more expensive, there are ways to vacation within a reasonable budget. 
• With careful planning, $500 can cover the cost of accommodation, dinners, and memorable experiences.
• These are Insider's tips for maximizing your budget and experience in 10 vacation hot spots.

As travel demand continues to grow, plane ticket and hotel prices show no signs of dropping, according to NerdWallet's 2023 Travel Price Index.

Excluding transportation costs, travelers spend the most on accommodation, followed by dining and entertainment, according to Bankrate.

But even if airfare is unavoidable, a smaller budget for hotels, food, and activities can still go far on your vacation — if you're smart about how you spend it.

Whether you're looking for nature hikes in Mexico or a spa town in Japan, here are Insider's tips for how to make the most of a trip in various hot-spot destinations for under $500.

Editor's note: This budget accounts for one or two people, and doesn't include airfare. Any costs referenced in this article are accurate as of May 2023. Readers are encouraged to check these prices as they may have changed since.

In Valladolid, Mexico, $500 could cover the cost of a hotel stay, an authentic dinner, and a guided tour of a must-visit cenote.

Located in Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula, Valladolid has Mayan ruins, delicious food, and cenotes, which are natural spring swimming holes. 

For around $300 as of May 2023, you can book three nights at Hotel Mesón del Marqués, with breakfast included, according to Booking.com, and access to the pool, jacuzzi, and sunbathing terrace. The hotel is in the heart of the city, within walking distance of sites like Convent de San Bernardino de Siena, a Franciscan colonial building, and Xkopek Parque Apicola, a beekeeping farm and park with daily tours.

Dining doesn't have to be expensive either. Valladolid has many restaurants where meals cost as little as $10 per person, like Ahal, which serves Mexican food in a cozy space with a courtyard. For a splurge, Ixcatic serves authentic farm-to-table dinners based on Mayan cuisine. Expect to spend about $80 for two diners for dishes like sopa de lima, a lime and chicken soup, and cochinita píibil, pork seasoned with achiote, wrapped in a banana leaf, and smoked.

Among the many cenotes in Valladolid, a must-visit is Cenote Zazil Tunich, a stunning underwater sinkhole with crystal-clear water formed centuries ago, which you can swim in and tour for 350 Mexican pesos, or about $20.

After that, spend a full-day tour with a local guide that includes visiting Chichén Itzá, an archaeological site that was once a Mayan city, swimming in Cenote Chichikan, and a tequila tasting. The tour is about $48 per person, and entry to Chichén Itzá costs another $34.

Visit ancient pagodas, stroll by the canals, and take a food tour for less than $500 in Suzhou, China.

Suzhou has been called the Venice of China for its many ancient waterways, bridges, and canals, and the city's classical gardens are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

For around $150 total, you can stay three nights at Tongli 1917 Best South Inn, a traditional guesthouse that also serves a $4 breakfast, according to Booking.com. 

Keep costs down with a free stroll along the waterway beside Pingjiang Road, a historic road dating back to the 12th century with traditional architecture, quaint shops, and tea houses. A few minutes' walk away, the Suzhou Museum has free entry to view Chinese paintings, calligraphy, and ancient artifacts.

As for dining, you can sample Suzhou's food scene on an alleyway food tour with a local guide. The three-and-a-half-hour experience costs $55 per person, and participants try dishes like Suzhou noodles in broth, wontons, and fried sesame balls.

If there's still room in your budget, for $200, take a private tour of Suzhou's most significant sites, which includes the Humble Administrator's Garden, a lush property with pavilions and lotus ponds. The tour also goes to Panmen Gate, a famous ancient landmark, as well as Tiger Hill, a large park that's home to the Yunyan Pagoda, a temple that is said to have first been built in 959 AD and has been repaired and reconstructed many times since.

The beaches are free in Sitges, Spain, so your budget can be spent on a resort-style hotel, kayaking, and seafood.

This coastal city in Spain is known for its fresh seafood, queer-friendly beaches, and art history. It's smaller than Barcelona, which is approximately a 40-minute drive away, so it might make for a more relaxed trip than if you visited a big city.

For about $369, according to Booking.com, you can get two nights at Meliá Sitges, a boutique, resort-style hotel with an outdoor pool and complimentary breakfast buffet. The property is within walking distance of Port de Sitges Aiguadolç, the city's waterfront restaurant and bar area.

The hotel is about a 10-minute walk from several of the city's 17 beaches, which are all free to access, and include a handful of nude beaches, and a number of LGBTQ-friendly beaches, like Platja de la Rodona. Before sunbathing, kayak with a rental for about $20 per hour or paddleboard for around $28.

A must-visit for art fans is the Museus de Sitges, a group of five art and sculpture museums in connected buildings by the beach. For about $18, you can gain entry to all. After, walk to nearby restaurant Pic Nic for the seafood fideuà, a local specialty similar to paella that is made with pasta instead of rice.

With a $500 budget, you can eat cheese, visit a prosciutto factory, tour an opera house, and more, in Parma, Italy.

Named a Creative City of Gastronomy by UNESCO, Parma is a haven for foodies. It's in northern Italy in the Emilia-Romagna region, the country's food valley, and the home of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, prosciutto, and balsamic vinegar. 

You can stay at Hotel Torino, a cozy boutique property with less than 50 rooms, for about $110 per night, according to Booking.com. The hotel is centrally located in Parma's historic center.

Don't skip a visit to Teatro Regio di Parma, an opera house built in the 1820s, to catch an opera, ballet, or music performance. There's also a bookshop, and for about $7 you can take a guided tour of the theater.

If you want to sample Parma's famous exports, sign up for a food tour with ParmaLook. The full-day tour costs about $150 and includes a local guide and van transportation. On the tour, attendees visit several towns within about an hour's drive of Parma. Stops include a dairy farm to see how Parmigiano Reggiano is made, a Parma ham factory in nearby Langhirano to sample aged prosciutto, and a balsamic vinegar factory in the town of Modena.

Unwind in hot springs and stay at a traditional ryokan for less than $500 in Kinosaki Onsen, Japan.

If you want to relax, visit Kinosaki, also known as Kinosaki Onsen, a small town in western Japan that is popular for its hot springs, or onsens. The quaint town is about a two-and-a-half-hour train ride from Kyoto.

The town has seven onsens, which are all located along the same road within walking distance of each other. Each onsen is unique in its design, but they all have either outdoor or indoor baths, or both, and some have saunas and garden areas.

Kono-yu is the oldest onsen in town and has an outdoor bath in a peaceful garden setting. Satono-yu is a more modern onsen that has both Japanese- and Turkish-style baths, including a bath on a third-floor observation deck with views of the town. You can purchase individual day passes to the onsens for about $5 to $6 each.

Pair a dip in an onsen with a visit to Onsenji Temple, an ancient Buddhist temple on a mountainside in the nearby city of Toyooka, about a 20-minute walk from Kinosaki. Onsenji is considered the guardian temple of the onsens, and visiting was a traditional way to prepare to enter the hot springs and ask for a blessing to receive the water's purported healing properties, according to Visit Kinosaki.

You can hike up a forested path to get to the temple, or take a round-trip ride on the Kinosaki Onsen Ropeway, a tram that goes to the temple, for about $6 per person.

In terms of where to stay, you can spend a night at Kinosaki Yamamotoya, a more than 350-year-old ryokan. The cost of a stay at the traditional Japanese inn comes with a one-day pass to all the local hot springs, where you'll probably spend most of your time.

At around $180 per night, according to Booking.com, there's an included breakfast and kaiseki dinner, a multi-course meal with intricate small dishes that is a specialty of many traditional ryokans. The dinner also includes the famous Wagyu beef of the region, Tajima, a sought-after kind of the meat that's specific to the Hyōgo Prefecture. 

And if you're visiting between November and March, find a restaurant serving Matsuba-gani, or snow crab, a regional delicacy. 

In Chiang Mai, Thailand, $500 could pay for a sustainable hotel, tie-dye workshop, and a visit to an elephant sanctuary.

With some planning, you can stretch your budget far in Chiang Mai, nothern Thailand's mountainous city with lush greenery and ancient temples. 

For about $200, you can spend two nights at the Veranda Resort, a boutique hotel near local villages and scenic rice terraces.

The hotel follows sustainable practices like using energy-efficient lighting and water-saving appliances, according to Booking.com, and has a rooftop infinity pool with scenic views.

For a Thai full-body massage or a facial, head to Lila Thai Massage. According to its website, the business employs former inmates to give them a new start, and treatments range from about $10 to $40, depending on the length and type of massage.

And if you want to have an elephant encounter in Thailand, it's important to do so responsibly and ethically. Tourism-driven practices like riding the animals is considered a form of animal cruelty that can lead to physical disfigurement, according to CNN. Bathing the elephants is also unethical, according to the Phuket Nature Elephant Reserve, as the close interaction can cause the animals stress, and it's also unnecessary, since elephants naturally bathe themselves.

Avoid businesses that offer riding or bathing elephants, and instead visit an elephant rescue sanctuary like Kindred Spirit Elephant Sanctuary, which is a few hours' drive from the city of Chiang Mai. As of May 2023, the property is home to six elephants, and the animals are free to roam 4,000 acres of community land, according to the sanctuary.

For about $300, you can book a two-day, one-night stay at the sanctuary, which includes accommodations, food, and transportation to and from Chiang Mai. During the visit, you'll take guided hikes through the forest to find and observe the elephants in their natural habitat.

Stay in a tiny-home cottage, take a glacier boat tour, and see a black-sand beach for less than $500 in Höfn, Iceland.

Iceland can be an expensive destination to visit, across all of its regions. It can be cheaper if you avoid visiting during the summer, which is the most popular season for tourists and when prices for hotels and activities can spike.

As a small fishing town of about 1,800 people, Höfn is an outdoorsy option for visiting Iceland on a $500 budget. It's located on the southeastern coast, and has beaches and nature trails to explore.

In terms of where to stay, you can get a rugged Icelandic experience by staying at Höfn Cottages, a group of tiny-home cottages. A two-night stay costs about $200, according to Booking.com. Guests share communal bathrooms, and the cottages are within walking distance of a heated public pool.

And if there's room in your schedule, and budget, rent a car to explore the outskirts of Höfn. Drive about one hour to the Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon for a boat tour, which costs around $47 per ticket. The 35-minute tour includes boating between massive glaciers and the chance to see seals. There's also free parking and entry at nearby Diamond Beach, which is worth a stop to see its unique black sand dotted with chunks of ice in person.

As for dining in Höfn, you can fill up at Pakkhús Restaurant on comforting Icelandic specialties like smoked arctic char, lamb, and lobster. A meal for one can range from about $16 to $41, according to Tripadvisor.

See a natural rock formation, take a river cruise, and tour a gold mint while staying within budget in Perth, Australia.

Flanked by the Australian Outback and Indian Ocean, the cosmopolitan city of Perth has plenty to offer.

You can stay at the East Perth Suites Hotel for about $130 a night, according to Booking.com. The hotel is located in the eastern part of Perth along the Swan River, which runs through the city and into the Indian Ocean. Rooms have kitchenettes with a mini fridge, and guests can use the property's heated outdoor pool and gym.

For about $40 a person, you can take a scenic cruise around the Swan River. The ride includes a guide who shares information on landmarks you'll see along the route like Kings Park, which is home to the massive Western Australian Botanic Garden, and The Bell Tower, a tower containing bells that date back to the 14th century, according to the landmark's website. The bells are rung manually, twice a week. 

To explore Perth without feeling rushed, you can book a hop-on, hop-off sightseeing bus tour for about $30. The bus visits 12 sightseeing spots, including the Western Australian Cricket Association Stadium and Crown Perth, a resort and casino. The ticket gives you access to the bus for 48 hours, so you can visit the attractions at your own pace.

You can also take a guided tour of the Perth Mint, a manufacturer of precious metals and coins that's been operating since 1899. The 60-minute tour costs about $15, and you'll see displays of the mint's large coin and natural nugget collections, and watch demonstrations of how molten gold is made into gold bars.

For a day trip outside of the city, you can book a guided tour for about $150 to see Wave Rock, an impressive natural granite formation in the town of Hyden. It's a full-day excursion, and the cost includes transportation to and from Perth.

Use your $500 budget in Bodrum, Turkey, to tour an ancient tomb and castle and try a traditional cooking class.

Located on the Turkish Riviera, Bodrum has white-sand beaches and a Mediterranean flair. Weather is mostly mild year-round, with spring being the most temperate.

For about $49 a night, according to Booking.com, you can stay at the Bodrum Oscar Hotel, which includes breakfast and free parking. The property has a pool and is a short walk from Torba Beach.

In terms of Bodrum's must-sees, you can visit the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, an ancient tomb and archaeological site, which costs less than a dollar for entry, according to Frommer's. There's also Bodrum Castle, a 15th-century fortress with a museum of ancient artifacts recovered from ocean excavations. Tickets cost about $15 to visit the castle and museum.

As for a nature excursion, there's a guided full-day tour you can take to Pamukkale, a natural wonder and site of mineral springs that over centuries have built up eye-catching white travertines. The tour costs about $45 per person and includes hotel transfers and a buffet lunch. The tour also includes the ruins of the ancient city of Hierapolis, located in the same area.

And if you want to try your hand at Aegean Turkish cuisine, you can take a cooking class for about $120 a person, which includes a trip to the local farmers' market to pick up your supplies. The meal, which you'll help cook, includes traditional dishes of four cold starters, an entrée, main course, and dessert.

For $500 in Nairobi, Kenya, you can go on a safari to see Africa's big five animals, meet giraffes at a wildlife center, and book a hotel.

As Kenya's capital that borders a national park, Nairobi is where many go to see Africa's big five animals: the African savanna elephant and buffalo, leopard, lion, and rhinoceros.

Safaris can be an expensive excursion, with luxury options that can cost thousands of dollars per night, but with careful planning, there are ways to do it on a budget.

You can stay at Boma Inn Nairobi, a modest but comfortable 58-room property, for around $75 per night, or $100 to include continental breakfast, according to Booking.com. As a guest, you can access amenities like a pool, spa, and gym at the hotel's larger sister property, The Boma Nairobi, which has 148 rooms with rates starting at around $140 a night.

And you can visit Giraffe Manor's Giraffe Center for up-close encounters with the animals. For about $11, you can feed rescued giraffes and learn about local conservation efforts.

There's also a public visiting hour at the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, a wildlife conservation with elephants, rhinoceroses, and giraffes. With a minimum donation of $15 for entry, visitors can access the Nairobi Nursery, where you can see orphaned baby elephants. 

If there's room in your budget to spend about $195 per person, you can go on a half-day safari with a local tour in Nairobi National Park. The five-hour experience is spent riding with a tour guide in search of lions, leopards, endangered black rhinos, elephants, African buffalo, and various bird species.

End the trip with a traditional Kenyan cooking demonstration. For about $80, you can get a private class with a local chef, and learn how to make dishes like mukimo, made of mashed potato and greens; ugali, a corn flour-based side dish; and pilau, a fragrant spiced rice.

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