The British summer seems to be behind us, and winter and the colder weather has come creeping in. It’s not all bad news however, and especially not if you’re a travel bargain hunter who’s seeking some cheap sunshine.

This is the time of year when airlines and hotels struggle to fill seats on planes, and hotel rooms, and for the savvy traveller, this means cheap deals can be found!

It’s often best to split things down into sections rather than trying to find a complete package deal, but if you do want a package deal, try signing up to a discount codes newsletter. There, you’ll find all the news on discount codes and travel deals that the major travel retailers are offering.

For flights, Twitter is a great place to be a member of. All the major airlines are members, and they’ll tweet about their latest deals and their last minute deals too which means if you sign up and follow their feed, you’ll be on top of the information as it happens. Alternatively, you can follow them on Facebook.

With hotels, aggregate websites such as Expedia, Opodo and Netflights.com are the best place to look. It’s worth hunting through all of them though rather than just your favourite as even for the same room, the prices can vary across the sites and it’s not always the same one that’s cheapest. Tripadvisor can be helpful here, you tell it what to look for, and it will search across a number of aggregate sites for you.

Some hotel brands are starting to use services like Foursquare to promote their deals and special offers. It’s mostly those who have a large number of hotels around the world who do so however, so be prepared to stay in a large chain if you go this route.
It’s also always worth searching directly for the area you want to visit (if you have one in mind). Sometimes new hotels open in places, and news reports will tell of ‘free rooms’ or special deals that they’re offering to the first x number of customers.

If you’re planning on staying somewhere for a long period, it might be worth trying social sites like couchsurfing.org. This is a site that connects people – travellers and locals – together for ‘cultural exchange, friendship and learning experiences’. It can be a great way to make new friends as well as getting local insight into an area.

When you reach your chosen destination, remember that social tools like Google maps can help you to locate ‘must see’ attractions, and also tell you how to get there using local public transport too.