New flagship smartphones are pretty good indeed. But price wise sometimes it is smarter to get one generation older, that is usually well discounted compared to the latest one, while specs are usually very similar.

Likewise, if you want to be more into photography, some compact older cameras with good fixed lens can be fun for travel as well, like Fuji X100 series - I have older X100T and it is still fun. Or for example Canon M100/200 with 22mm F2 prime can be quite cheap on second hand market, should be less than 400$. Or Ricoh GR III is very compact and can be great for street photography as well.