The Case For Eating A Bigger Lunch Than Dinner While On Vacation

If you're trying to avoid overspending on food while vacationing, focusing on making lunch your largest meal of they day is a great way to still have the experience of dining out abroad while likely paying a bit less than you would for a similar dinner. Lunchtime is also a lovely way to experience a bit of foreign culture. That's especially true in Europe, where lunch is usually more lengthy and people tend to linger longer, socializing over a glass of wine as opposed to eating a sad lunch at their desks. 

By having a big lunch in Italy, for example, you can save money by making an "apericena" your final meal of the evening, as you likely won't be hungry enough for a full-blown meal. It's essentially the Italian equivalent to happy hour, made up of aperitivos and small plates — and it's how Rick Steve's scored free snacks during his travels. Similarly, if you're traveling in Spain, have a large, leisurely lunch in the late afternoon and enjoy your company, some wine, and the atmosphere. Later, you can later follow this with traditional tapas for dinner.

Sometimes, tapas are actually free with your drinks or at least offered at reasonable prices, and you can snack on them until you're satisfied. Instead of a sit down dinner, you could also try a few things at various street food vendors or food hall vendors as your dinner. Rick Steves swears by the $5 kebabs found from European street carts, and the servings are usually large enough to share between two people. The world is really your oyster when you travel, especially if you don't need to adhere to a strict schedule, and a light dinner opens your evenings abroad to other experiences. 

There are a multitude of ways to save money while dining abroad. In fact, Rick Steves shared 13 of the smartest ones – including loading up on lunch deals over expensive dinners. For those who enjoy fine dining but may not have room for a 10-course tasting menu — never mind the budget for one — upscale restaurants usually offer a tasting menu with fewer courses, or a prix-fixe menu for lunch, at lower prices than the dinner offerings. Septime and Frenchie in Paris, France, for example, both offer a tasting menu lunch for a fraction of what you'd pay for dinner, or you can enjoy a prix fixe lunch at Bistrot Paul Bert in the Marais. Luxurious lunches like these are a great way to experience Michelin starred restaurants that might otherwise be out of your budget — and those are just a few examples.

In addition to the financial benefits of opting for a big lunch over a big dinner, making lunch the largest meal of your day also gives you the rest of the afternoon and early evening to walk around and digest your meal. Finish your lunch with an espresso — or an amaro or digestif if you're feeling frisky — and then take at least an hour or so to stroll around and explore. You could plan to visit a museum — a perfect place to wander aimlessly for an hour or two — or even do a self-guided walking tour. Or you could take the romantic route and just get lost walking around wherever you please, as you never know what you might find along the way. Just be sure to save a little bit of room for an afternoon treat, depending on the city you're in, like a gelato in Italy or a pastry in France.