Have you ever wondered if it’s possible to travel Europe for 4-5 months, without spending the whole time in hostels, without sending yourself bankrupt? A couple of savvy globetrotters have shared on Reddit how they did it for $5,400 (AUD $7,825).
A couple of savvy travellers have shared how they travelled around Europe for 5 odd months, while spending less than 6 grand. They posted the feat to Reddit, where it sparked a fair bit of debate.
“My girlfriend and I are from the USA and have been travelling for the past 148 days,” Reddit user
u/HaleyandZach wrote. “Both of us have kept track of every $ spent! My hope in sharing this info is to show that you can travel to some amazing places on a tight budget! We each have a daily budget of $37.50 or $75 combined. This is just one person’s spend and we split basically everything.”
They couple explained that their accommodation was a mix of Airbnb and Booking.com, while staying in hostels “~30% of the time.” This cost them $2,104.
As for activities, they visited museums, did walking tours, saw castles, did bobsled runs, and enjoyed seeing a few National Parks. This cost them $355.
In terms of coffee, they said they spent $51.41 drinking it from cafes, and the rest of the time would just “drink horrible instant coffee at the accommodation.” Eating in restaurants cost them $979.
Food and water bought from supermarkets and convenience stores (“basically any food that wasn’t ordered from a restaurant/bakery”) cost them $642.
They also budgeted a health category, which comprised travel health insurance, toothpaste, mouthwash, soap and shampoo. They spent $289 on this category.
On top of that were more categories like misc (“this includes paying for bathrooms”), mobile phone, souvenir (“I try to buy a magnet in each country”), transportation (“Taxis/Uber/Local Bus/Trams/Marshrutkas”) and (non-local) travel (e.g. “Bus from Slovakia to Croatia, Train from Mostar to Sarajevo in Bosnia & Herzegovina”).
According to the pair’s budget, the miscellaneous category cost them $25, mobile phone charges cost them $24, souvenirs cost them $19, local transportation cost them $273, and non-local transportation cost them $504.
They also included a list of the countries they visited (which you can see below), which gives you a bit of an idea of another reason the trip turned out so cheap.
Countries Visited:
- Estonia
- Latvia
- Lithuania
- Poland
- Czech Republic
- Slovakia
- Croatia
- Bosnia & Herzegovina
- Serbia
- Romania
- Moldova
- Transnistria (Unrecognized Breakaway State within Moldova)
- Bulgaria
- North Macedonia
In the comments, other travel fans expressed their thanks for providing such a detailed budget, which could now inform their upcoming trips. Others questioned how little they spent on alcohol (to which the pair replied: “Yeah, people seem to be shocked by that but I just don’t drink a lot. In Bosnia for example, a 2-litre bottle of beer was something like $1.50….”).
Yet others asked how they were received by the locals, to which the couple replied: “The locals have been absolutely amazing,” adding: “Bosnia & Herzegovina, Serbia, Romania, and Moldova stand out as having the warmest and most welcoming people.”
“I’d say the vast majority are happy you are visiting their country and want to help or show you around and make sure you have a great experience.”
u/HaleyandZach
There you have it. Your travel inspiration for the week. Time to get adding to that bucket list.
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