So you’ve booked your flights to that far-flung, sun-drenched continent you’ve always wanted to visit; the next thing to do is work out how and where you’ll be staying. Generally speaking, the destination will partially determine how you’ll live while you’re there: obviously, a trekking holiday in the Himalayas will probably require you to pack a tent. However, unless you really are travelling to the middle of nowhere, the options are often surprisingly large, and have expanded enormously over the last decade or so.

Cities clearly offer the broadest range of possible accommodation; nevertheless, finding the most affordable option can be a galling process. If you’re determined to stay in relative comfort, a hotel is the obvious choice, and hotels.co.uk offers a dizzying array of hotels all around the world, and in a price bracket to suit your budget. However, hotels are merely one possibility among many, many others. Recently, there has been a return to an independent model of travel, and self-catering options no-longer languish in the small ads at the back of newspapers. Cottages4you.co.uk provides for the homelier end of the market, with cottages, villas and apartments in generally rural areas of Europe, Scandinavia and the USA. Holiday-rentals.co.uk also covers a staggering amount of the western world, and includes more metropolitan offerings alongside the rural. Self-catering in a city can be a great way of overcoming the outsider feeling of being a tourist, and it positively encourages a more immersive experience within the day-to-day culture of the locals.

A possibly less committal means of exploring the city is the previously rather sneered-upon world of hostelry. HostelBookers.com provides a comprehensive database of the world’s hostels through which you can book your stay for free. Although they will never offer the luxury possible in certain hotels, you can get an awful lot for your money – often a lot more than their price equivalent hotel. Local lodgings and guesthouses are another possibility, offering a happy middle ground between self-catering and hostelry, local experience and pampering. These are however, harder to find, and require a little more rummaging than the alternatives. Usually the preserve of the returning visitor, lodgings are nonetheless a great way of feeling welcome in a foreign land.

Of course, if none of this sounds alluring to you, you’ll probably be carrying your home on your back, seeking out your own company, and foraging for your own food. Or perhaps one of the hundreds of campsites across Europe will provide a cosier great outdoors. If so, keycamp.co.uk is a great port of call. Finally, take a look at AA Travel for your travel insurance.