What 3 Months Traveling in Europe Cost Me

Before I started on my journey around the world, I was doing tons of research about how much money I would need. This was the main way for me to tell how long I could last on the road. I finally figured it out and attempted to break it out strictly by region.

Then I quickly realized this was too hard and that sticking to a rough budget per day was going to be the best option. So, I scrapped the original plan and just decided to hope for the best knowing how much money I had to spend for the entire year. If you want to read about how much I saved, I have a post here.

What 3 Months Traveling in Europe Cost Me

I started my trip in Iceland and then ended my Euro trip in Istanbul. Since then I roughly kept track of my costs. So, I wanted to share with you what I’ve spent in hopes this can help you plan a trip in the future! I’m not the type of person who documents every little thing she spends. I’m actually really bad at that. But I know what I started with and what I had when I left Europe. Below, I talk about what I ended up spending money on and I’m pretty proud of myself!

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Here’s what 3 Months of Traveling in Europe Cost Me: 

$5,500!! Yep, that’s right, and you can do this too!

READ MORE: HOW I SAVED $35,000 TO TRAVEL THE WORLD

Some people I’ve talked to have said, WOAH, that’s a lot of money for 3 months, while others say dang, that’s nothing for 3 months! It all depends on your different travel styles, what season you plan on traveling, and how much you plan on splurging vs. sticking to a budget.

I’m SUPER proud of myself mainly because my Europe travel costs were $61 a day. This is much less than I thought I’d spend traveling through the European countries and below I’ll talk about how exactly I did it!

Where I Went On My 3-Month Europe Trip

• Iceland
• Germany 2x
• Austria
• Slovakia 2x
• Slovenia
• Budapest, Hungary
• Prague, Czech Republic
• Zagreb, Croatia
• London, England
• Dublin, Ireland
• Greece
• Istanbul, Turkey

Iceland, Germany, Austria, London, and Dublin were by far the most expensive places I went.

The hardest part for me was switching to a frugal mindset. In San Francisco, I was saving for my trip, but I also had an income. So, spending was pretty easy, and I felt I could justify things more. Plus, things in San Francisco were really expensive, and it was hard to compare. Everything just seemed so cheap while traveling!

For example, in San Francisco, you can’t find a single thing to eat for $3, whereas in Europe, you can! That was an interesting switch, but after 3 months of traveling in Europe, I had a better grasp on what is ‘cheap’ and what is ‘expensive’ for a long-term traveler.

When I went on my 3-month Europe trip

I need to say one thing: Europe in the summer is EXPENSIVE! And I don’t think I would have been able to stick to this budget had I gone to Europe in peak months. Especially now that COVID is over and people are revenge traveling, it would cost a lot more. 

That said, if you can do your European trip in the off-season like I did, things will be way cheaper. I ended up leaving in mid-September and traveled to Europe through December! Hello, fall in Europe and Christmas markets in the winter. It was amazing. You do have to sacrifice some things, like the weather and the time it gets dark, but I still think traveling in the season is the way to go if you want to travel to Europe for 3 months and want to save money. 

How I stuck to the budget

1. Staying in hostels – usually, I book using Hostelworld, and found it to be amazing for finding cheap places to stay

2. Eating street food and cooking for myself and shopping at local grocery stores for food – most hostels or Airbnbs I stayed in had kitchens.

3. Not going inside every single museum and castle, only the ones that I’m excited about.

4. Taking public transportation (I had the time, after all) – this greatly lowered my transportation costs

5. Not buying souvenirs (I didn’t have room anyway)

I go into more detail below…

What’s included in the $5,500 cost?

All Transportation

• Ubers and cabs in all cities  – I didn’t take a lot of cabs or Ubers while traveling and tried to get everywhere by public transportation which helped me save a lot on my Europe trip costs.
• Trains, buses, ferries –  It was important for me to learn the public trans systems when I got to new cities because usually it’s a great way to get around. Except for Greece…that was hard. 🙂
• Flights to and from each country – When I could, I would take buses, trains, or ferries. However, sometimes I did need to take a flight to and from different countries, so when I did, I tried my best to follow my rules for finding cheap flights.Most were bought from Skyscanner or Google Flights so I could compare airline prices and see where the cheapest place to travel was. I also flew RyanAir and EasyJet—two budget European airlines—a bunch. My flights ranged anywhere from ($11 to $200). Here are the different flights I’ve taken (all costs included in the $5500).
  • SFO>Reykjavik
  • Reykjavik>Frankfurt
  • Prague>London
  • London>Dublin
  • Dublin>Berlin
  • Berlin>Greece
    

All Meals

• Breakfast at the hostel or Airbnb  – A lot of hostels have breakfast included, which always helps even though they typically aren’t that great. Some days I would just get a croissant, a yogurt, or make myself eggs/bacon if I had a kitchen.
• Stick to cheap options – Many times for lunch, I’d opt for a cheap kebab (~$3), sandwich, or traditional local food. Street food, food trucks, or little hole-in-the-wall grab-and-go joints were my go-to and usually pretty cheap! It’s not always the healthiest, but it does the job.
• Where to get greens – While I was traveling, I  craved greens quite a bit, and there weren’t that many healthy options around. So, I realized I could always go to an Italian restaurant because they always have a salad option.
• Don’t forget to treat yourself and enjoy – I treated myself as often as I felt like I could! For example, I met up with a friend in London and had a 40 euro drink and app at the top of the Shard in London, and the drinks in Iceland were $ 18-$20, so I basically just tried to balance it out with cheaper meals later!

All Accommodations

• Hostels – I mainly stayed in hostels on my Euro trip, which cost me anywhere from ($7-$25 per night). Check them out on Hostelworld here. I actually have grown to love staying in hostels because the staff is so helpful, they always have fun stuff organized, and I’ve met so many cool people that I wouldn’t have met staying by myself at a Hotel/Airbnb.
• Stay with people you know – I got SUPER lucky to stay with people for free along the trip, too. Shoutout to Hailey & Jannik, Babsi, Diana, and Dan, Shay and Kurt, and Michelle for all letting me stay for free with you!! 
• Airbnbs – I’ve also stayed in a few Airbnbs when I need to chill out. I did one in Budapest and one in Prague. Airbnb’s are great when you’re in the mood to splurge a bit, explore a particular neighborhood,  have a kitchen, and spend some time alone! 
• This blog – I’ve gotten a few free stays in exchange for blog posts. Example here.
• Couchsurfing – This is a great way to stay for free with a host!

All Drinks

• Pub crawls and parties – This includes all pub crawls and parties. I don’t go out as much as I probably would have if I were right out of college, and I hate clubs, so that saved me a bit of money. When drinking, I’d typically buy it from the store before going out, but honestly, alcohol in Eastern Europe is super cheap anyway. There are certain countries and cities where I spent a lot on alcohol and others where it’s way less. I think this has evened out over time.
• Coffee, Tea, Soda – This also includes all coffee, teas, and sodas, but I’m also not a huge coffee/soda drinker. So, I typically didn’t need it in the morning, which I know saved me a lot of money. Most hostels have it for free anyway.
• Water – I drank water from the tap in all of the European countries I traveled to. I typically use my reusable water bottle and try to finish a few of them per day.

All Touristy Activities

• Hostel Activities – Staying in hostels helped so much with activity/attraction costs because they know that backpackers are on a budget and always offer the cheapest option for activities in the city.
• Free Walking Tours – Usually, I try and find a free walking tour in every city I go to. They are tip-based and usually are a really great way to get the lay of the land of a city. Most of them give good food and bar recs, too, which is always nice to hear from a local. They are also a great source of exercise and last anywhere from 2-3 hours. One of my favorite tour companies for free walking tours in Europe is Sandemans.
• City Cards – Here and there, I’ve bought city cards that let you into most sites. See Ljubljana card example. If it’s only a few euros, sometimes I’ll pay and go to the top of certain sites for the view.
• Churches and Museums – I typically don’t pay to go into churches since there are so many you can go into for free in Europe. I like free museums and typically won’t pay unless it’s included in my pass or is something I really want to see like the German History Museum in Berlin (I paid 8 euros) or the Acropolis ($10).

The Cheapest & Biggest Expenses

The biggest expenses on my European trip were:

• Iceland, where I rented a camper van with my friend for 10 days
• Oktoberfest because it’s Oktoberfest and drinking is expensive
• London and Dublin because I went out and ate out a lot in both places

The cheapest places were:

• Istanbul
• Turkey
• Greece
• Budapest

Do I Need Travel Insurance?

Another thing I did feel was worth spending on was travel insurance! I used World Nomads and found it great peace of mind. While I never had to use it, and I’m so grateful, it was so nice to know I had it!

Since I spent 3 months in Europe but traveled the world for over a year, I bought the World Nomads insurance for 6 months at a time and felt like that was a good way to go since I didn’t know how long I’d be traveling. World Nomads is great because you can type in what type of trip you’ll be going on and get a quote!

I hope this info helps! I’m not the kind of penny-pinching traveler, so if you are then you can probably do 3 months in Europe for much cheaper than I did! I ended

up splurging a few times, and there are so many ways to save money that you’ll learn after being on the road for a short time.

Also, time is on your side when traveling on a budget. You can usually take the cheaper flight times and go places in off/cheaper times because every day is a Saturday for you! 🙂

Heading to Europe anytime soon? Check out my favorite packing gear I used for the last year of travel!