If you look around for travel deals, you may have come across packages that bundle your flight, hotel, and car for just one price, but is that a better value than booking on your own?

One benefit of package deals is convenience.

Companies like Apple Vacations or Virgin Vacations let you book everything through one vendor.

You have flexibility from which airport you fly from and which class of hotel you prefer.

The cool thing is that these companies can often score a lower price than the average company because they get bulk discounts.

However, a do-it-yourself approach can often work under certain circumstances.

Say you’re an independent traveler who prefers to stay in hostels instead of hotels or take buses instead of renting cars.

For you, a package deal won’t be worth a lot.

That also applies if you’re flexible on your dates.

And if you’re traveling during the slow weeks (just after Thanksgiving and right after New Years), when nobody else is traveling, you might just be able to put together your own package for a reasonable price.

For more great ideas, check out our Budget Travel section.

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