The Great Hunt: Ryanair tips and tricks

I use the cheap flight finder tool on the website or Skyscanner to find cheap flights. Sometimes Ryanair have a sale and I make sure to check the website early while the prices are low. I don't pay lots of money to travel on Ryanair. You can fly to places for hardly anything if you're flexible and happy to seize a good deal.Once my cheap flight's sorted I use the Skyscanner hotels tool to find somewhere inexpensive to stay. I'm happy with a private room in a nice hostel, an ibis/campanile as long as it's fairly central and clean.
A major point to consider for a successful Ryanair break is to follow their rules. If they say 10kg and a certain size of bag then do what they say or you may get charged. Likewise print off your boarding pass.
Ryanair airports are sometimes a little creative with their destination name and it's proximity to the actual city. Never mind, there are cheap shuttle buses to get you there and they're always pretty reasonable, especially as you haven't paid much for the flight.
I bring a rucksack in the regulation size now when I travel as it's light and I can get more stuff for my baggage allowance. You really don't need checked in hold baggage for a short break. I spent a week in Turkey with 5 kg! Wear your heaviest gear and decant some shampoo, shower fell etc into travel sized bottles.

Google maps is your friend to find out great unadvertised places near the Ryanair airport.

Parma is good for La Spezia, Hahn is good for Trier, Bergamo is good for Iseo, Weeze is good for Nijmegen. Get off the beaten track and save money.

They also now have much more flights on their non-UK based aircraft in the evening, great for weekends, you can go straight after work and save by not spending holiday entitlement.

You can take an empty water bottle through security, so avoid the heavy in-flight cafe charges by bringing your own picnic and an empty water bottle which you can fill up from the free water fountains or taps in the waiting area, or at least buy a drink from the more reasonably priced shops in the departure lounge.

@Margaret, do you have a smartphone or a tablet? if so, the Ryanair app is a boon and you can check in using wifi and your booking code wherever you are and you won't need to print off a boarding pass - although I have to say, I often find a printed off boarding pass less fiddly and nerve wracking than using a gadget. Ditto Easyjet. If not, then I'm sure someone else on this forum will have ideas and a way round your dilemma.

One thing I have found if you are going with kids is that they get half price hold bags if an adult books a full price one. This applies even if they are different weights i.e. I paid for a 15kg bag at full price and my daughter got a 20kg one at half price