The Average Cost of Backpacking Europe: An Indepth Look At My 2 Month Trip

Backpacking Europe - Tom

Yes, I need a haircut.

I’ve written this article to be a comprehensive and complete look at mine and my girlfriend’s expenses and how much backpacking Europe cost us. Hopefully it will help other backpackers or those about to prepare a trip of their own figure out how much they need to save to visit the cultural continent of Europe.

It’s a question I get a lot from friends and family, “So how much does it cost to actually backpack through Europe?” – the answer is obviously as subjective as you want it to be. Everyone travels differently, and people like to do various things – with some of those things being more expensive then others. This should give you a pretty good idea though.

The final figure will be an absolute complete sum, that means it includes the flights over from Australia to London, and every single expense incurred on the trip – from chewing gum to train tickets and hostel beds. I’ve combed over my credit card statements and our cash passport card accounts to ensure I haven’t missed anything.

If you would rather not read all my enlightening points below, then feel free to go straight to the action using these handy internal page links:

How We Backpacked Europe & Trip Statistics
Cost of Flights – Australia to London
Country Expenses Breakdown
Cost of Flights Within Europe
The Totals Table

Map Art from the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid.

A Quick Look At How We Backpacked Europe

Now, the first thing to point out is that there were two of us (duh), so whatever the final figure comes to – remember that’s for two people. Dividing by 2 will still give you an accurate solo traveller figure.

We spent most of our acommodation in hostel beds (so we still had to book two seperate beds) and there were no other couple benefits that came to mind in terms of budget savings. We still had to buy two train tickets, two museum/art gallery tickets etc. Hostel cooking is a slight advantage with two, but if you use your brain and just rally up some fellow backpackers then split the grocery bill and make a big pot of food – it’s exactly the same if not better (in fact we did that even as a couple anyway).

Book available on Amazon

We enjoyed eating out, but definitely did not do it for every meal. There was lots of supermarket food and cooking at hostels. We only stayed in a hotel once on the whole trip, and that was in Paris for 5 nights. I’ll give some more significant points for each place in the cost tables below – so you understand what we were doing in each place so you can see how the final cost figure came about.

Both of us feel that we got to do lots of things that we wanted to do – by no means was this ‘an epic budget backpacking adventure’ – we didn’t camp or sleep on the streets, we ate out a bit, we went to cafes/pubs, we went to museums and art galleries and we had lots of fun!

Let’s get on with it, shall we?

A Parisian Cafe we enjoyed near Georges Pompidou.

Trip Statistics:

Total Trip Length: 73 days which = 2 Months and 12 days.
Countries Visited: England, The Netherlands, Germany, Slovenia, Croatia, France, Spain.

Cost of Flights from Australia to London (with AirAsia)

Flights – Gold Coast to London $AUD
Gold Coast to Kuala Lumpur $454.00
Hotel for Stopover in KL $41.60
Expenses in KL $68.94
Kuala Lumpur to London $607.67
Total Cost $1,172.21

That’s right, those prices above are for TWO people. Those flights were crazy cheap, so we got a pretty great deal there. Unfortunately, Air Asia have now stopped their Europe routes, meaning you can no longer fly from Kuala Lumpur to London or Paris. This is a real blow for budget backpackers and travellers, as their flights were by far the cheapest option available (as you can see by how much it cost us to get to London!).

Enjoying a beer in Nuremberg, Germany.

How Much Does It Cost To Backpack Europe:
Country Expenses Breakdown

This table will take you through each country and list the amount of days spent, the total cost and the average cost per day. I’ll list a few important points relevant to the costs below the table. Remember, these costs were for two people travelling as a couple.

City/Country Days In Cost $AUD Avg. Cost P/Day Couple Avg. Cost P/Person P/Day
London, England 9 $1,023.45 $113.72 $56.86
The Netherlands 8 $388.72 $48.59 $24.30
Germany 12 $2,258.50 $188.21 $94.11
Llubjlana, Slovenia 2 $417.67 $208.84 $104.42
Croatia 13 $2,374.70 $182.67 $91.34
Paris, France 5 $1,438.33 $287.67 $143.84
Spain 21 $3,102.10 $147.72 $73.86

Total Trip Expenses As Couple: $11,003.47
Total Trip Expenses Per Person: $5,501.735

Mean Average Per Day As Couple: $168.20
Mean Average Per Day Per Person: $84.10

London and The Netherlands had relatively low costs, due to the fact that we were staying with my family in both places. Free accommodation and some free food definitely helps the budget.

Germany is a good indicator of prices when hostel backpacking with lots of drinking, eating and exploring.

Llubjlana costs were quite high as we stopped through and had to organise our travel tickets and trip down to Croatia.

Croatia is also relatively high as we purchased a Busabout Croatian Islands trip – which was a boat trip through the Dalmatian Islands for 7 days. There was also quite a bit of drinking of the local brew and eating out at restaurants.

Paris is already quite expensive, but we decided to stay in a cheap hotel instead of a hostel for a change, and this was in conjunction with a few nights eating out and Trudy did a bit of shopping. So you can see the per day price inflate there.

Paris isn’t that cheap when it comes to accommodation, especially for backpackers (although it is well worth the cost). Hostel beds will easily cost €25 (often more like €30). One good budget tip is to camp at the campground that is quite close to the city via metro (I’ve done it in the past and it was fine) – but that does mean having your own tent and so on. If you’re travelling with that special someone you would probably prefer a hotel (like we did on this trip), but it’s important to get the best price so make sure you compare Paris hotel prices and reviews online so you have a clear idea of what’s available and ensure you save as much as possible.

Spain has got to be the best example of average costs when staying in hostels, doing lots of stuff, eating out a bit and having lots of fun. There was also lots of cooking in the hostels whilst in Spain which always helps the budget.

Trudy even did some shopping at Chanel in Paris (only lipstick though)!

Cost of Flights Within Europe

Carrier Flights From Flights To Cost $AUD
EasyJet London Amsterdam $140.00
EasyJet Zagreb Paris $243.51
RyanAir Porto Eindhoven $135.30
RyanAir Madrid Eindhoven $207.06

European Flights Total: $725.87

The flight prices in the table above are for two tickets, and it’s the final prices (meaning it includes baggage & taxes etc). We didn’t actually end up taking the flight from Porto to Eindhoven as we were having too much fun in San Sebastian, so that flight money was completely wasted. Ah well, that’s travelling sometimes – you need to weigh up the pros and cons of booking in advance and how much it will actually cost you ultimately to get to that destination. We found based on where we were at that point in our trip, it was more beneficial to fly from Madrid instead of Porto in Portugal.

About to dig into a hearty Bavarian meal of meat/potatoes & beer. Yummmm.

Average Backpacking Europe Cost:
The Totals Table in Australian Dollars

Total Expenses Total Flights TOTAL
$11,003.47 $1,172.21 + $725.87 $12,901.55

This means that our costs of backpacking through Europe can be broken down in the following ways:

At the current exchange rate, our trip cost 10,575.59 EUR and $13,870.15 USD.

Per person, our trip including all the expenses and flights cost $6,450.76 AUD each. This equates to 5,286.19 EUR.

This is an average of $176.73 AUD per day as a couple and $88.37 per day per person.

If you are saving for a backpacking trip, whether you’re from the US or Australia, I would recommend aiming to save for about $80 – $100 per day of your trip.

Of course you can do it much cheaper than this, on my first trip through Europe and Asia with my best friend when I was 18, we did it extremely cheap – and I think I spent about $6,000 – $8,000 for about 10 months on the road. We did a lot of camping, WWOOF’ing and hitch hiking. This trip was quite different to that, still quite low budget but with more trains and hostels and eating out at local restaurants.

Trudy and some Snails. Pretty tasty actually!

Hopefully this article gives you more of an idea of how much it costs to go backpacking in Europe so you can start saving for that next big adventure! Whatever you do, don’t put it off 😉 Travelling and backpacking is always worth both the time and the money.

188 Responses to “The Average Cost of Backpacking Europe: An Indepth Look At My 2 Month Trip”

  1. Yash says:

    Awesome blog Tommy! Very useful! We have budgeted around that, so its good to know we are on the right track!

    Although am pretty sad that air asia doesnt fly there anymore.. ! So we will probably head through dubai!

    • Tom says:

      Thanks Yash! 😀 Yeah Air Asia cutting those flights is so annoying, I was relying on them for cheap trips to Asia!

      It’s awesome you guys are coming over soon! Exciting!! 🙂

  2. Rich says:

    Great read, I’d love to go backpacking!!!

    Time to start saving!

  3. johnny says:

    wow! $90 per day :S more than $30,000 per year! need to save some more 😛

    • Tom says:

      Hah, yeah 😀 You can do it heaps cheaper then this though, we had been working full time prior to this trip so we had some funds saved up, and every now and then we would splurge a little on eating out and drinks and the like.

      The real killers of a budget I think are drinking and eating. If you can manage to only eat supermarket and local market food and only drink at the hostel for the whole trip – you’ll save bucket loads! But that’s not as fun either!

  4. Kirsten says:

    This is soo helpful. I have been trying to work out a budget and plans to spend 2+ months in Europe this summer. Thank you for sharing this.

    • Tom says:

      Hi Kirsten! I’m really glad this was helpful 🙂 Europe is a lot of fun to backpack, especially if you’re staying in hostels and camping in the summer!

  5. Ashleigh says:

    Another great article Tom! I have always set $100 per day as a guide for my budgeting when I was travelling and found that to be fairly accurate. Particularly being a girl, we tend to do a bit more shopping! Obviously you can have cheap days and if you can keep these days down to a minimum spend then you have a little give with your money over the whole trip. 🙂

    • Tom says:

      Hi Ash! $100 is definitely more then enough to get by whilst backpacking (some would argue that it’s way to much!). But realistically if you want to eat out and drink and do a bit of shopping here and there it’s a fair figure 😀

  6. Nick says:

    Great read!

    Working out the average cost is so difficult for inexperienced backpackers, so this information is very useful!

  7. Ken says:

    Thanks Tom.
    Two of us from Canada are planning on backpacking through Spain,France and Italy this summer for a month long adventure. This is a good start

  8. Hi. Great blog. We are a couple currently trying to travel forever off our rent. We are making a profit every week in Asia but obviously we will lose money in Europe when we go there in June. Jon and Jenny Stark

    • Tom says:

      Hi Jon and Jenny, sounds like a pretty exciting trip you’ve got going on there 🙂 I love both Europe and Asia – but they are so completely different!

  9. Emma says:

    This is by far the most useful budget blog I’ve read! Thank you! I’m leaving for Europe in 2 weeks by myself for my first overseas trip and have been stressing about money…now I know I’ve got more than enough!

    How did you find the Croatia Island hop with Busabout? I’ve booked it but have no idea what it is going to be like?

    • Tom says:

      Hi Emma,

      Eurotrip – woot woot! Exciting times ahead 😀

      The Busabout Croatia trip can be a mixed bag. We had a great experience with it, but it really does come down to the group of people on your boat.

      We only booked it in the first place because we got half price tickets as it was the end of the season and we thought it would be a nice way to get up from Dubrovnik to Split again to carry on our trip. Basically, if you have lots of great people on the boat that you get along with, then it’s awesome.

      Other boats we saw had groups of friends that were going absolutely mental on the drinks (like starting at 10 in the morning then going until about 6 the following morning) which is fine except there were some pretty gross stories coming from their boats haha.

      The actual trip itself irrelevant of the people or your “guide” is amazing, as you travel through the Dalmatian Islands and see lots of sunsets and do lots of swimming. The staff on our boat were nice (they have nothing to do with Busabout but are Croatian people who normally own and manage the boats themselves).

      The official Busabout girl on our boat was also a bit off and on as well. She was nice but basically bolted at the end of the trip when a friend of ours had broken her wrist and we told her what had happened. She was like “Oh my god…really?” and then we turned around to begin organising a taxi to the hospital for our friend and when we next looked for her to get her advice (ie – what is the closest hospital, where should we go etc etc) she was gone. So whatever else she did great that was the last impression she left on us, and it wasn’t a good one.

      Don’t worry though, just show up, meet the people, make some new friends and have fun 🙂 You’ll probably have some great stories at the end of it and some great photos too!

  10. Marvin says:

    Hey I’m a highschooler from the US and I want to backpack travel Europe any advice you can give me to do it right out of highschool, and how much do you think it will run me?

    • Tom says:

      Hi Marvin, thanks for stopping by.

      It’s great you want to go backpacking to Europe straight out of highschool – I did that and it was an awesome experience. It really does depend on how budget conscious you plan on being, if you really have no idea at all then I would aim to budget for around $80 – $100 a day (this includes transport costs). If you’re not factoring flights and other transport costs into the day-to-day budget and want to backpack Europe whilst still having a reasonable amount of fun (eating and drinking out every now and then) then I would aim for around $60 – $80 a day.

      You can do it as cheap as you want to, like if you do a lot of camping and eating food from supermarkets you can keep your budget incredibly low. The average price per person listed in this post above is a good average for staying in a hostel/eating out occasionally/still doing lots of stuff. Hope this helps! Let me know if you have any more questions 🙂

  11. Vicky says:

    I love posts like this because it’s so helpful to get a feel for what people are spending in various countries. We are getting ready for our backpacking trip through Asia and Europe and leave this fall, so we’ve been working on our budget!

  12. Paul says:

    Nice one mate, finally got the nads to attempt this now i know more specificly what im looking at…quality blog =)

  13. Travis says:

    Awesome blog! Nice hearing from a perspective that isn’t exactly on an unlimited budget. Where was the best place for you to research your destinations?

    • Tom says:

      Hiya Travis,

      In terms of research (well it can be a fickle thing), but I would say “The Internet” but that’s not going to help very much 😀

      All jokes aside, travel blogs are EXCELLENT for research if you can find someone who has been somewhere that you want to go already.

      Otherwise lonely planet/rough guides books, tripadvisor/lonely planet forums and the list goes on!

      The best tips & gems will normally come from other travellers on the road. So if someone in a hostel has just come from where you are going – ask them if where they stayed was good (legitimate hostel review right there), if they discovered any good drinking/eating holes and what activities were the most fun etc.

      You really learn the most from other like minded backpackers.

  14. Bec says:

    Hi Tom,
    This is an awesome help for budgeting I am spending 8 months next year in Europe and the USA. I am just wondering, you mentioned that you used trains as well as flying from place to place. Is the cost of the trains you used included in your country expenses list?

    Bec 🙂

    • Tom says:

      Hi Bec, thanks for your comment 🙂

      They sure are, that budget included EVERYTHING! Hope that helps, and best of luck with the upcoming trip!

  15. Cath W says:

    This is just brilliant as a realistic price guide. My partner and I are headed to Europe in 2012, and plan to do it at the level of comfort/fun/cheap ratio that’s detailed in your blog.

    I do wish I could find flights as cheap as yours!!!

  16. Kevin says:

    I’m looking into getting over there in about a year or so. I have some ideas on where I’d like to go but nothing is definite. How much would a realistic 2-3 week trip cost? I feel like between a flight from and to Chicago plus 2-3 weeks in Europe, I could get away with spending 5-6 grand in US dollars. Am I a fool?

    • Tom says:

      Are you a fool? Absolutely NOT, 2-3 weeks on 5-6 grand is more than enough. That’s like $250 a day (21 days x $250 = $5,250) + a flight, which if you plan on staying in hostels would make you richer for that 2-3 weeks than the majority of backpackers you will meet 😉

      Easily do-able, book it, go go go!

  17. Vane says:

    Hi.
    I´m from Mexico. I´m planning a trip to Europe, but I´m a bit confused on where to start.. I was actually planning going as an Au Pair to FRance, (Is really cheap and fun) I´m in the paperwork thing, since 2 weeks ago, but since I´m 31, they say I don´t have anything for sure yet. That is why it came to me the idea of looking other ways to go and live there, or travel from one country to another, I also considered taking an italian course in Florence, then realized that i could use that money to get to know more countries once I´m there. I´m planning leaving in about two weeks, and I read your tips on the WWOOFing and I also read about Couchsurfing, tripping and things like that, which I´m considering… I also checked the website skyscanner, wich is truly incredible! It really has cheap prices!!! I have to say, my budget is minimum… about 4,000 USD… would that be even do-able? hanks a lot for your comments

    • Tom says:

      Hiya Vane, you’ve provided a budget of $4,000 – I always promote the fact that it IS possible to travel Europe on a budget. Things like WWOOF’ing and CouchSurfing really can knuckle down on those pesky accommodation costs. The thing is, how long are you planning on going for? You haven’t really given a timeframe in your comment above, it’s absolutely do-able to see some of Europe with $4,000 – but it depends how long you plan on going for. If you do a lot of WWOOF’ing for example, you could feasibly be in Europe for 6 months plus. If you stay in hostels but really budget food (make your own meals), do a bit of CouchSurfing you’re looking at more like a 2-3 month trip with that amount.

      • Vane says:

        Wow Tom! You really have answers for everything and everybodys questions!! You are great! :))) Thank you so much for taking your time to answer. Actually my idea was staying there for a month or two, but knowing that i can extend it to 6 by WWOOF´ing wow! That is good news! I also received news from a familly that requires an Au Pair in Cannes, taking that into account… I think, now i can go for 3 months to France, then go ahead and WOOF´ing in Italy, then go straight forward to Denmark and Sweden.. Would that be good idea? The budget I have has to pay for the airplanes too hehe.

        • Tom says:

          Hello again Vane 🙂 Thanks for dropping back in to read the comments!

          Cost is always so subjective because everyone likes to travel differently, but it really is possible to spend literally NOTHING WWOOF’ing for weeks at a time (that is the whole idea after all). In exchange for 4-5 hours work a day you get free accommodation & food, and if they’re good hosts they might even show you the area a little bit (and at the least you can explore it yourself in your own free time).

          Denmark and Sweden aren’t cheap (I actually haven’t been but have spoken with other backpackers – Scandinavia is expensive!), but if you use hostels & cook your own food it should be possible.

          If you’re Au Pairing in France and WWOOF’ing in Italy you can definitely make that budget stretch!

          • Vane says:

            Hello Tom!! I very much appreciate the time you took to answer with all your advices. You know what I was thinking? there should be a Mini Tom that all travelers could carry in our bags hehe, or at least an app called: “Tom is your guide” or something like that hehe. You are very good at this. Thanks! Cheers!

          • Tom says:

            Aww, thanks so much Vane – I appreciate that 🙂 Making an app would be fun, maybe someday haha! If you have any more questions feel free to keep leaving comments or shoot me a mail – tom [AT] activebackpacker.com. Good luck with the upcoming trip!

          • Lila says:

            Hi Tom! Great advice for all of us first travelers :)In the near future I want to travel around Europe with my kids. Would it be possible to do the WWOOFing with my 2 kids? They would be around the ages of 14 and 11. I would love for them to see the world with me and we are the adventurous type who can travel on a very low budget. I would love to make it a 1 year or 2 year traveling project. Any advice on that or know any other blog with info about families traveling around the world? Thanks sooooooo much!

    • Lila says:

      Vane hola! Hi, I´m from Mexico too. I read Tom´s amazing article here and saw your comments. I also want to travel like you did, so I was wondering how can I get in touch with you to ask you how it went and any tips you can give me. I am soon going to make my first trip to Europe as a solo traveler, but next time I want to bring my kids if that´s possible. Let me know how can I reach you. Thanks!

  18. really very awesome information. thanks for sharing that cost is not too much if we see the total days of your trip. Bravo . Appreciated.

  19. Daniel says:

    This is so reassuring! My girlfriend and I are looking to go overseas for about 6 months next year and we were budgeting about $150 each per day. A lot of that was with family too so after seeing this I know think we can either do things a little more classy in some places or save quite a bit. Cheers

    • Tom says:

      Hey Daniel – that will be easy peasy, especially if you’re hitting up the the familials 🙂 Good luck with the trip…waiting to just hurry up and get going is always the worst bit haha.

  20. Sean says:

    Perfectly done!

    Thanks for all the advice, this is exactly what we are looking for!

  21. Tyler Z. says:

    I’m thinking about backpacking across some west european countries in this winter break, which is about 3 weeks. but I have never done this before, and so far i can’t find anyone to go with….

    my concerns are mostly about safety, the cost, and the time i will need for each country.

    also, should i get that euro rail pass(select)? student id? and insurance?

    • Tom says:

      Getting a Euro Rail pass will make organising travel easier for you! If you have a student ID I would also recommend bringing that along, as you are eligible for loads of student discounts at various things like museums, cinemas etc. Travel insurance to cover your health is a must, in my opinion.

      Western Europe is extremely safe, so no worries there. The cost all comes down to how you plan on travelling of course. 3 weeks is not a whole lot, but will certainly give you a taste of Europe and the travel bug. It is winter though! Are you thinking of doing more snow type activities or just checking out the cities?

  22. Theresa says:

    Hi Tom, I just wanted to say that this is the most useful blog that I have come across for backpacking in Europe.

  23. Krista says:

    Tom,
    I have found your information to be so helpful! I have recently returned from my study abroad in Florence Italy, and naturally i miss the traveling lifestyle. I have already started saving money, but i would like to know more about the mindmyhouse site…? Is it possible i could also work while house sitting?
    I am happily in a relationship and would love to take my boyfriend abroad with me, it would be his first time.
    However having a business degree, and fine art degree comes with a big financial cost.. and im just not sure i could take that much time off work..
    Any thoughts or advice?
    – Krista

    • Tom says:

      Hi Krista, my girlfriend and I have not yet done any house sitting (it’s on the list of things to try), so can’t give you any personal experience or tips.

      However managing large financial costs and travelling at the same time is always a juggle and I know a bit about that. Trudy and I own a house back in Australia so we always need to ensure we have money available for that – this means we need to balance travel/life/work a little more than I would like sometimes, but it’s definitely do-able.

      If you manage to get a house sitting gig for 3 or 6 months then of course you could work at the same time (depending on what your work is?). If you have a job that is relatively location independent or by work you mean more study, that could be a great way to balance the travel/work situation.

      Just make budgeting for travel a priority, so less eating out at restaurants and buying drinks out, start making your own lunch for work instead of buying lunch – that sort of thing. Then you and your boyfriend could aim for a 4 week long trip if you feel you can’t take anymore time off work. I wish there was a magic pill for this sort of thing, but in reality it just means smart saving, setting an achievable goal and prioritising what it is you want in order of importance! Hope this helps 🙂

  24. Emily says:

    My partner and I have been looking into doing the same sort of trip as you guys so this blog helped me so much! Thank you!

  25. Great post, Tom. I’ve been looking for something like this, something to tick off the old Bucket List. We’ll be staying mostly with friends and relatives.

    Now that you’ve put it on the table, the Netherlands seem like great value for money. Bookmarking this for future reference. 🙂

    • Tom says:

      That’s great Roni 🙂 A European backpacking trip should be, without a doubt, on everyone’s Bucket List! Netherlands can be reasonable, eating out at restaurant’s is quite expensive but food at the supermarkets/local food markets is very reasonable (especially dairy products). Let me know if you have any specific questions about your upcoming trip and I can help out!

  26. Quintin says:

    Amazing post/blog. Greatly appreciated. Me my sis my bestfriend and another good friend are going backpacking through ireland for 10 days then heading over to europe for a while. Whole trip may be about a month. What’s your advice on transportation which is the only problem i believe we will have. Better to use trains/buses/taxis/walking? Should we buy tickets in advance or no and just go as we go. 80-100 a day sounds reasonable. I’m pretty athletic so i could go for less. But i am very excited. I was in france for two months earlier this year and was amazing.

    • Tom says:

      Thanks Quintin! I did a lot of hitch hiking when I was in Ireland, but since there is 3 of you this might not be ideal. I would just go for the usual trains/buses of which there are both in Ireland 🙂 No need to buy tickets in advance!

      • Quintin says:

        alright! Sounds like a plan. One of the buddys will only be doing for 2 weeks so we will be heading off for rest of europe without him. Got loads of information from your site and i definetely shared your website to my friends already. 5 months away but im already ready to go! So you wouldnt recommend getting the euro pass?

        • Tom says:

          Hey Quintin!

          Euro passes can be great, but it does depend on what you’re planning to do and how long you will be in Europe. Since you are there for a month, a combo of set day select travel pass and buses-as-you-go can work well together, otherwise just fork out for a global pass and zip around as much as you like!

          Yep, it’s hard when you’re so excited to go and the trip is still months away! I know the feeling 😀

  27. Pradnya says:

    Brilliant blog Tom. Really very useful. I am planning to do back packing across EU in April 2013. Saving for that from now. While u did 2.13 months, I was hoping to stay there for atleast 4 months. Lots to see there actually 🙂 Once again, thank you for giving me an idea on how much I need to save!!! One more question, we can also work there right (I mean, some odd jobs just to earn some money to live!!) 🙂

    • Tom says:

      Heya Pradnya, no worries I hope it helps out with your trip. Work is possible in the EU but you will need an appropriate passport or working visa. Cash in hand jobs are possible but I wouldn’t say they are overly common. You could look into seasonal work like a month fruit picking or if you really need to save check out WWOOF’ing and HelpX.net which allow you to work in exchange for food & board.

  28. Mihir says:

    This is exactly what I have been looking for..Already started saving $300 a day for the big trip..m planning to go there for 2 months in may next year..what would be the best way to travel there to make most of the visit..i plan to cover as many countries as possible..is there a particular visa for the same??..is MAY aproper time to go there

  29. mihir says:

    Your help was indeed valuable TOM.However,this is one question that i forgot to mention yesterday..that is, if you apply for the schengen visa for backpacking, then do they grant you the visa easily, or is there any thing else that I should be prepared with..I mean, what are the general questions that they would ask me during the visa interview..how sure I can be of getting the visa??..

  30. Darren says:

    Great article Tom, very useful information! Me and my girlfriend are from Canada and backpacking Western Europe for the first time, landing in Scotland May 2nd, flying out of Spain June 9th. We were thinking of doing the same thing and splurging a bit in Paris and getting a cheap hotel for the five or so days we plan on being there. Have any recommendations on good cheaper hotels to look at? Also location wise, which would be best in this amazing city?

    • Tom says:

      Hey Darren, thanks mate! I appreciate the kind words, and it’s fantastic to hear you’re heading off on a trip soon!! Landing in Scotland of all places, which is somewhere I still haven’t been (grr, really want to get there). We’re considering moving to Edinburgh though in a year or two, so that should make up for it – you will have to let me know how you like it! 😀

      SO, Paris. We loved visiting Paris from our home base in Rotterdam so I’ve done quite a few posts on it. For accommodation I would recommend checking out Airbnb & Wimdu (that Airbnb link is my affiliate link by the way – but I use them myself so have no issue recommending them to others). You can read about our experience using Airbnb in Paris for more of an idea about it – we got our own apartment in Montmartre for 60 Euros a night!

      In this post I discuss staying in a hotel as that’s what we did on our very first trip to Paris together. We stayed in a hotel called ETAP Paris Porte de Montmartre which was ACTUALLY in Porte de St Ouen – the area was extremely average but the hotel was just under 60 Euros a night (and when a dorm bed costs 30 Euros a night EACH you can see the benefit), it was also right by the famous flea markets Les Puces. To get a hotel room right by a nice or funky area you’re looking at a bit more.

      Neighbourhoods around Paris I like:
      Montmartre is a great area. I did a post on it here.
      – A great spot neighbourhood outside of the city centre a bit is called Belleville. I describe it here.
      – I also love The Marais, The Latin Quarter and St. Germain-des-Pres which are all worth exploring or staying in!

      Your trip sounds awesome, Darren! I hope this helps you out a bit, feel free to comment with more questions or shoot me an e-mail. Cheers!

  31. Honeycactus says:

    Awesome ! I’ve planned to do the same but fly to Amsterdam and use the interracial to Brussels , up to Frankfurt then stop at Prague and go to Vienna – Munich – Zurich and stop at Geneva ( my brother house). Then I wanna go to Torino & Milan & back to Geneva and go to Paris and fly back to KL. Hopefully you can guide me along in Europe side in order for me to know my cost .
    Many thanks

  32. Ryan says:

    great info! my flight is already booked for europe! i leave may 14 and come back august 14th! i cant wait to get started. but from now until then, its all about the planning. you have given some helpful tips.. i am nervous that i wont have enough money though.. i should have about $8000-$9000 canadian when i go, which turns into about 6500-7500 euros. do you think this is enough for 3 months? also.. i would LOVE to go camping in europe. especially in Switzerland around all the mountains and beautiful trails. how would i go about that? or camping anywhere in europe for that matter? can i just pitch a tent anywhere? haha

    lookin forward to hearing from ya!

    • Tom says:

      Heya Ryan!

      Yeah, that’s enough for 3 months if you’re being budget conscious 🙂

      Camping in Europe is absolutely possible, you’re not really supposed to pitch your tent wherever you like though (doesn’t mean you CAN’T but it’s often against the law), you might want to check out a camp site directory like EuroCampings. Also take a look at Camp In My Garden for some more cool camping ideas 🙂

      I got your e-mail but thought I would answer it all here, Plitvice Lakes are quite protected so they won’t appreciate if you throw up your tent anywhere, however there are some official camp grounds within the lake area that you could check out. Have a look on the official website.

      Hope this helps out with the planning!

  33. Mariana says:

    Hey Tom, thank you for this article! It’s very helpful, I’m actually trying to plan a trip to backpack during the summer but didn’t know how to get started and this answered most of my questions! However I have a question in regards to the plane/train tickets, did you buy these ahead of time or did you buy them as you moved along through Europe?

    • Tom says:

      Hi Mariana 🙂 Great to hear my little guide was helpful! Plane tickets I tend to do both, sometimes I buy ahead of time because you can get insanely cheap flights with EasyJet or RyanAir if they have a special going on and you book ahead. If really needed I will buy as I go. Depends on specials and the season (high or low) etc. I do like to give myself room to breathe and not lock everything in solid.

      As for trains, unless using a Europe railpass I normally buy them as I go (this isn’t always the best way as it can be cheaper to buy them ahead of time), but I often use buses too as they are nice and cheap and the fares are normally quite static in price 🙂

  34. Kayla says:

    Hi Tom, This article was simply amazing, I have been doing research about my first backpacking trip (going with one friend) and this was by far the most helpful. We already bought our to Europe (from the US) flights so we know the trip will be 22 days IN Europe. Unfortunately, due to school (we are both graduating from university in MAY) we have to travel during the summer. Should we expect everything to be super crowded, I think from your blog and others I’ve read that we will want to pretty much have hostels (and flights) booked ahead of time, is that the best idea? (we are both poor university students so the budget is VERY important and I’ve gathered that planning ahead, while stifling our spontaneity will save a good amount of money).

    Additionally, I’m concerned that we are going to try to squeeze too much into this trip, our list of places right now is; Paris, Amsterdam, Croatia (specifically Plitvice and Dubrovnik), England (we are spending the largest chunk of time here about 5 days, it was our #1 destination), Ireland (Dublin is where we are flying in and out of and tentatively 4 days spent there), Scotland (specifically Edinburgh),Greece (Santorini mostly, we decided to skip out on Athens, preferring the islands, is this a huge mistake? haha), Italy (only meeting up with a friend in venice, 1 night but free lodging!), Poland (Krakow, we would like to visit Auschwitz while here).

    Wow, writing it out makes it seem like even more! With your experience, please do not be concerned about offending our planning, do you think this is too many destinations for 22 days? We’ve reasoned out the timing, including main travel times and the attractions-this has some room for changes- we plan on seeing (flights and trains between countries, and a couple of buses for attractions that are farther away from our planned lodging are taken into account). This would be our ideal backpacking trip to Europe so ideally we would like to fit everything in, but I also want to be realistic so the trip doesn’t turn into a complete mess.

    I’d be incredibly grateful for any insight you could give me!
    Thank you so much!

    • Tom says:

      Hey Kayla!

      Firstly, looking at your itinerary and the time of year you are going it would probably be best to book ahead as you will be in summer and have limited time – you’re right, it does cut the spontaneity a bit but with 22 days it’s the wise thing to do. Just don’t pre-book anything else except for hostel nights and flights 🙂

      If you really want a taste of everything, this route is definitely feasible – but bear in mind it’s a lot of travel time you’ve got there and you might find that you’ll often be leaving cities you love before really getting the feeling that you know it/have experienced it properly. Going to Italy for just one night to stay in Venice? I would probably cut this out, unless this is a really good friend! Italy is amazing but one afternoon/night in Venice is definitely not long enough.

      Croatia is very cool, but bear in mind they use buses there and the trip from Plitvice to Dubrovnik is a solid 9 hours by DIRECT bus, probably end up being longer. It looks small on a map but takes longer when you’re there 😛 Maybe consider checking out Split (which is closer) instead? We liked Split more than Dubrovnik (which was great to see but very touristy and expensive) – Split has a lot to offer for a short visit as well so think about it.

      Auschwitz is a worthy (and harrowing) experience, but getting up to Poland just for Krakow is a decent distance – however if Auschwitz is high on the list for personal reasons then it should definitely be included!

      What I would suggest is cutting out two countries, maybe sit down with your friend and write down in what order of importance you want to visit each country. I personally would cut Italy & Poland and save them for another trip (but don’t know what the personal situation is with the friend and visiting Auschwitz).

      Ultimately, PLEASE take this advice with a grain of salt. I’m sitting here on the Internet and this is YOUR trip, seriously do what you want. If you’re up to doing this trip and the travel time involved then GO FOR IT and crash after the 22 days once the trip is over. Trudy and I think there’s a little bit too much travel time here for you to really enjoy yourself – food for thought!

      Would love to hear from you after the trip and see how you went with it all, feel free to ask more questions too, we’re happy to help!

      • Kayla says:

        Thanks for the advice. We will definitely be booking ahead, is there a certain time when things are cheapest or just as soon as possible?
        And yes we realized it is a lot of travel time but for the longer distances we are planning on flying and have a couple of overnight trains worked in, which should cut down on day-time travel (wasted time). I guess I just had a bit of an anxiety attack about travel.

        As for Croatia, I made a mistake in the comment, we looked into Dubrovnik and, like you said, decided it was too far away from Plitvice. And maybe our friend can meet us somewhere instead of making the trip to Venice.

        Oh, do you have any tips for flying the budget airlines while in europe (I’ve heard some baggage horror stories about RyanAir)? and how far ahead of the departure time do you recommend getting there?

        Thanks for all of your advice! We will hopefully be making some sort of travel blog ourselves so I will definitely share it with you when we get back!
        -Kayla

        • Trudy says:

          Hi Kayla!

          We have found it’s just good to book as far ahead as you can, also flying mid week and at awkward times will be cheaper if you can try to work around that.

          Overnight trains are a good idea and save on accomodation too!

          Yeh we don’t enjoy RyanAir really, Easyjet is good then each country generally has their own airlines, we have found Alithalia in Italy good and Transavia based out of Holland is cheap and great service!

          We would love to see the blog! Have fun!

  35. Bec says:

    Hi Tom,

    This has been so unbelievably helpful! I am setting off on my first backpacking trip in April this year. I am spending 5 months in the UK and Europe and then 3 months in America and then back home to OZ.

    I am doing this Solo so am starting to get a little bit nervous but am very very excited. I have been trawling the internet to try and get adivse about where to go, how to travel, how to stay safe and what not. This has definately been one of the most useful sites I have come across. Do you have any tips for solo female travellers or have you done most of your travelling as a couple?

    For part of my time in Europe I plan to sail in Croatia from Split to Dubrovnik and after that I wanted to head over to Athens and out to the Greek Islands from there. My question is, do you know the best way to get from Dubrovnik to Athens? Everything is either very expensive or very time consuming. Just wondering if you happened to know some inexpensive way of getting there, I am probably more worries about price than time as I have 5 months so a wasted day ro 2 of travel probably isnt going to set me back too much. Any Ideas?

    That’s probably what has stumped me the most.

    Thanks
    Bec Blennerhassett 🙂

    • Tom says:

      Hiya Bec!

      Don’t be worried about solo travel, it can be a little daunting at first but you’ll quickly come to realise there are many fellow travellers and backpackers in hostels where you will form great friendships and will rarely feel “alone”. I’ve done solo backpacking, and it was great! I ended up making loads of friends, some of whom I’m still in sporadic touch with. In terms of tips for solo female travellers specifically, just use common sense. Don’t walk around at 3am-4am by yourself in a city you don’t know, just the basic stuff like that!

      Hmmm – Dubrovnik to Athens is a tough one. There is a direct flight on Croatia Airlines, but it cost like $350! There isn’t a direct ferry at all, as far as I’m aware. You would have to use a combination of ferries/buses and it wouldn’t be an overly quick journey.

      I had a quick look online, it looks like someone did exactly what you’re after: “Ferry from Dubrovnik down to Bari (about 6 hours), then an overnight ferry on to Patras (about 15 hours). From here we got a bus to Athens (3 hours).” Maybe look into that?

      Have an awesome trip, Bec! Let me know if you have anymore questions.

  36. Andy says:

    Really good stuff.
    I’m trying to save to travel, and just leave it all behind for a couple of years.

    Have you any other infor on websites similar to HelpX.net/WWOOFing/couchsurfing and the like?

    I want to work my way around the world for as long as possible. I have no ties and i fancy the vagrants lifestyle for a while.

    Thanks for the great blog, been a really useful tool.

    • Tom says:

      Heya Andy!

      Sounds like a fun plan! HelpX and WWOOF’ing are definitely the two biggest, I would honestly just stick with those. There’s also CouchSurfing which you should 100% get into if you’re planning a vagrant lifestyle for a bit. Try hosting some people to build up a reputation whilst you still have a place as well.

  37. Lauryn says:

    Hi Tom!

    Very helpful for budgeting. Did you and Trudy only fly from country to country? Or did you take the train too? Do you have any helpful advice for taking the train and the euro pass by any chance? Thanks!

    • Tom says:

      Hey Lauryn! Nope we only flew 2x, the rest of the time was via bus or train. Each country is a bit different with train prices and the like, generally – buses are cheaper than trains. Two things can work well, a specific rail pass for countries like Italy/Germany/France where rail is very prevalent and then buses the rest of the way can work. Or just fork out for a global pass and just go for it – global passes are expensive but if you are planning on moving around a LOT they can be worth the price.

  38. Emma says:

    Thanks for the tips and figures, Tom. This is really great. I’m a college student backpacking through Europe this summer from June 15 – July 19 or 20 (roughly 34 days). I’ve really lucked out because I’m going to the Piedmont Alps in Italy with my school, so they’re covering my flight from the USA and back.

    I’m wondering what I should factor into this equation as far as hostels go. I’ve definitely got places to stay in France, Germany and the UK that I can stay, and then am planning on couchsurfing/sleeping on trains when I need do. So, essentially I’m asking how much money for hostels you think I can factor out of the $60 – $100 a day if I’m only spending money on travel within Europe and food (which I’m planning to buy as cheaply as possible.)

    Thank you!

  39. Ragini says:

    Hi:) a friend and I are planning a trip for next summer actually for around three weeks. Which were your favorite destinations in europe? And what is it like staying in dorms with many people I’m a bit nervous haha 🙂

  40. Yosef says:

    Hi, Im planning a trip for this summer (August/Sep) any one is keen or traveling same time ?

    and btw awesome blog Tom.

  41. Maggie says:

    Thanks for the trip down memory lane! I did my first backpacking trip in 1971 for 3 months in the summer between sophomore and junior years and again in 1974 for 8 months. Now I’m retired and looking forward to travelling again. This time a little differently!!

    Maggie

    • Tom says:

      Haha, no problem Maggie! Backpacking in the 70’s must have been a blast!! Good to hear this helped with memory lane 😉 And now travelling again, woo woo!

  42. Kristen says:

    This is fantastic information! I’m doing Europe for about 3 months starting in april and my budget is $5000 and I was beginning to wonder if this was a crazy expectation. But now I believe it is doable!!!

    • Tom says:

      Hihi Kristen, yep it’s definitely do-able! Good luck with the trip, you’re going to have such a great time!

    • WorriedMom says:

      Hi Kristen – My daughter (22 years old) is planning to tour Europe by herself for 2-3 months this summer. Her plans are not locked in yet but she would like to leave in May and return late July, early August. I would really like her to travel with someone. Are you traveling alone or with a group? Would you be interested in coordinating part of your trip with my daughter? – Worried sick mother!

      • Tom says:

        Hey WorriedMum, I cannot speak for Kristen of course but at 22 years old I think a bit of “solo travel” will be wonderful for her, as long she she (as with all places) exercises a bit of common sense. As she travels and stays in hostels etc, she will constantly be meeting other backpackers (and likely teaming up for some parts of the trip). Going with a friend is also awesome, but a bit of solo travel should not be cause for you to be worried sick! Any parent would be nervous, I know mine were, but travel is one of the best things a young person can do!

  43. Hudson says:

    Hi Tom, great blog post! Really informative :). I’m planning on a trip to Europe from Australia, departing in August and staying for as long as possible (3 months-ish most likely). By the time i leave i should have anywhere from 7500-8500 $AUD depending on how budget conscious i am over the next few months. So far me and the person I’m going with have agreed on Germany and the Czech Republic so far, as we have friends in both places, and I’m just wondering how long you would estimate i could get away with staying for on that budget (that money needs to cover flights as well). It seems as though flights are very expensive in August as it is just inside peak season. Over the next few months we’ll decided on the rest of the countries we’d like to visit, it’s getting exciting!

    Thanks for your time,
    Hudson

    • Tom says:

      Heya Hudson. Budgets are always tough because it simply comes down to how much you plan on spending. Extreme budgeters could make that stretch for 6 months or more! 3 months is definitely do-able with that budget, and gives you a bit of money to do things.

      Try and secure yourself a cheap flight to/from Australia, AirAsia to Kuala Lumpur and then a cheap flight from KL –> Europe is one cheap option to look at. Try SkyScanner/Kayak and even visit a travel agent and ask what their best deal is – compare, research & save!

      Things that rack up costs and blow budgets:
      – Drinking a lot and buying drinks out at bars/clubs
      – Eating out frequently
      – Going on package tours instead of walking around and doing stuff on your own

      Save money by cooking at the hostel and pre-drinking at the hostel. Eat fruit from the local market and limit your restaurant visits to special-treats only.

      Travelling without a lot of money in itself can be fun, always searching for the best deal, eating spaghetti a lot and supermarket food – don’t worry, you’ll meet plenty of other people doing just the same thing as you! Hope this helps! And yep, the next few months will only get more exciting!!!

  44. kessy525 says:

    love your blog! I am in my 50’s and will be budget travelling with my 21 yr old neice who had never backpacked before. We are planning on London, Paris, and Edinborough, for starters. We hope to be gone 1 month. I backpacked in Europe when I was 18…before the age of computers LOL! Alot has changed…it looks like I need to book accomodation here (Canada) before I go – Hostels. Which brings me to the next point…do hostels in Europe accept such divergent ages? Is 2 months in advance enough time to book? Any suggestions for cheap accom in either London and Paris? It is overwhelming as back when I did it, we booked hostels a week in advance (sometimes within the country) or just showed up. Is it cheaper/neccesary to book tours in town or from your homecountry? Thank you and any info would be much obliged

    • Tom says:

      Hey Kessy! Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment, I bet things have changed a lot in Europe since you last went backpacking there (wish I got to travel that long ago, would have been a great and different experience!). It’s not mandatory to book hostels in advance, you can still just show up – the only issue arises when you’re landing in a popular city during peak season and many places are full. This means lots of walking around and checking different hostels which can be a pain. Amsterdam/Barcelona on a Saturday during European summer holidays springs to mind here.

      MANY hostels definitely accept divergent ages, some have an age limit policy (these are generally the “party” hostels, mostly designed to stop older people coming in to hit on the 18-20 year old girls) but there are a ton of friendly/relaxed hostels where age is not an issue.

      2 months is more than enough time to book, I often book just a week in advance or sometimes less for hostels. Don’t feel you have to book the entire trip before you leave! Booking tours and that sort of thing can be done from the town/city you’re in – sometimes not even needed, just do a bit of research and get yourself a map and do your own tour!

      Along with hostels another thing you could look into is using Airbnb (that’s my affiliate link by the way), we used them in Paris to great success. We got a little apartment for 60 Euros a night that had views of the Eiffel Tower and the Sacre Coeur – and when hostel beds are like 30 Euros or more in Paris and hotels are expensive this can be a great way to do it. You can check out the room in this post for an idea of it.

      Hope this helps, just shoot if you have anymore questions!

  45. Stacey says:

    Fantastic post! I went backpacking in 07 and thought I was doing it on the cheap until I saw your total numbers… looking forward to 4 months next year in China, India, Eastern Europe and Japan on a much smaller budget which will hopefully be just as much fun as what you look like you had!

    • Tom says:

      Thanks Stacey! Wow, 4 months through a lot of Asia and Eastern/Europe & Japan is awesome. Japan is so high on my to-do list it’s not even funny! Really want to get there. India too, in fact 😉 Have a great trip!!

  46. Heidi says:

    Hi Tom,
    I’m planning on going backpacking through Europe with 3 friends. I’m planning on having $6000 for the whole trip including hostels, flights, food, entertainment and travel within Europe. With the economy today do you believe that will be sufficient???

    Thanks

    • Tom says:

      Hey Heidi! My figures above are still accurate as of today and will be throughout 2013. $6,000 will be enough if you’re travelling budget-style and your trip is around 2 months or less. Without knowing your trip length, it’s hard to say! It also depends on how you like spending money 😀 Best bet is to compare the stats in this post and have a look at how we travelled and what we spent money on to come up with those figures.

  47. Jacob says:

    Great read! I’ll be turning 21 at the end of July and plan on spending the entire month of August backpacking through Europe. As you could imagine I’m very excited but at the Same time very nervous about embarking on such a trip alone.. haha I’m flying from Seattle, USA to London then making my way to Paris, Stuttgart, Munich, Rome then ending my trip in Budapest. I have friends in Paris, Stuttgart & Budapest which will cut down on some of the cost but as a first time backpacker, I’ve set a budget of about 5,000 USD (give or take a couple thousand) do you have any tips or advice for me? Anything will help. Thank you 🙂

  48. Tom says:

    Heya Jacob!

    Sweet trip you have coming up there, mate! $5,000 is a nice amount for this trip, especially if staying with friends. Should be able to do a bit of everything (sight seeing, partying, eating out [and don’t forget your cooking at hostels/pre-drinking there too to keep the budget down] ;)) Just keep an eye on how much you’re spending each day for the first few weeks and you’ll be fine!

    Tips, hey. Well, let me link out to a few posts here that might help and then I’ll see what else I can come up with:

    Big List of Awesome (backpacking tips).

    What To Do In Rome.

    My Top 10 Things To Do In Paris.

    Okay, so gratuitous internal site linking complete 😉 Now Munich, that’s a favourite of mine. Make sure you find yourself an Augustiner (one of the best beers in the world) beer hall AWAY from Marienplatz (it’s fun to walk down but there are Augustiner beer halls everywhere in Munich and the one on Marienplatz is for tourists).

    Order up yourself a litre of the good stuff and go nuts with the hearty Bavarian fare. Scrumptious cuts of pork with potatoe dumplings and gravy, or a macaroni and cheese style (but better) dish with cuts of bacon. Mmm hmm! Making my mouthwater just thinking about it.

    Hope this helps out, let me know if you have any specific questions I can answer for ya!

    Cheers,
    Tom

  49. Marlena says:

    Thanks so much! This was really helpful! I’m planning a Europe trip this summer and I’ve been getting a lot of good info from your site!

  50. Robin says:

    Thank you very much! I really need to read all your posts thoroughly. I am thinking about traveling across Australia or Europe, but haven’t decided yet. I guess your writings can help a lot!

    • Tom says:

      Hey Robin! Backpacking Europe is a great experience, and one I think everyone should do! Australia is my home country, and I’ll be the first to admit that I should do more travel there (still need to get to Western Australia). Either or, you’re in for an awesome ride. If you have any Europe questions just shoot, I’m here to help.

  51. Madison says:

    Hey Tom,
    Thank you so much for this info. I’ve been fretting and looking all over the internet for some genuine backpacker budgeting advice. Haha.
    I”m a 20-year-old-first-time-backpacker going to Europe in July for three months (Germany, Italy, France, Spain) and have allocated about $6, 500 – $7000 AUD for the trip which I’ve roughly worked out to be around $540 per week or $70 per day. (in Euros = €430 per week or €55 per day)
    Although I’m planning on doing a lot of camping and supermarket shopping/cooking, I’m really getting concerned about whether this will be enough, because this also includes any train tickets or flights between countries (don’t want to book ahead so that there’s room for spontaneity)
    Plus I don’t want to spend the whole trip worrying about my monetary situation. haha. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

    • Tom says:

      Hiya Maisy!

      Cool to hear about your upcoming trip, three months in Europe will be awesome!

      In terms of your money, I think that’s absolutely enough seeing as how you’ve told me how you plan on travelling, that’s roughly $72 per day, and if you have friends over in Europe AND plan on CouchSurfing etc, that will be fine.

      Using buses instead of trains can help keep costs down (try MegaBus, EuroLines).

      With CouchSurfing, take the time to fill out your profile and put up a few photos of yourself, this will help when looking for hosting opportunities.

      Pre-drinking in hostels is the way to go for any social drinking nights, as buying drinks out can easily jab a sharp blow to any budget.

      You’ll be fine, you sound like you are budget conscious so $72 a day is plenty!

      Have a blast and let me know if you have anymore questions 🙂

      Cheers! (I responded to your e-mail as well).
      Tom

  52. Stephanie says:

    Hi Tom

    Just wanted to say thanks for this post! (Checking out the rest of your site now). I’m leaving in 6 weeks and just had a momentary “WHAT IF I RUN OUT OF MONEY” moment – and your blog has definitely helped put me at ease! 🙂

  53. Karl says:

    Hi Tom, that was a good article to read for me as I am planning a two week (or so) backpacking trip to Europe for september… my first trip outside the country for me (Canada). The great part of backpacking it seems is that you get that sense of adventure plus the freedom to really pick and choose what you want to see and tailor the trip to your liking. I am considering getting a Europass and doing all my major traveling by train. Have you had any experiences sleeping on the night-trains? The website says it’s great, but I’ve heard stories. I would like to sleep on the trains as much as possible to get sort of a two for one thing (sleep while travelling to my next location). I would like to land in Paris and see a few of the main sites for about a day (Eiffel Tour, the Louvre) head over to Switzerland and go up to the highest point of Europe, then the most of my trip would be in Italy (Venice, Rome etc, so a few days there and finish in Spain where I have a friend who lives there I can crash on her couch) and spend a few days there. Do you think that’s feasible or would I be rushing too much?

    • Tom says:

      Hiya Karl, it’s a whirl-wind trip for only 2 weeks. It IS feasible but it will be intense. Eiffel Tower and Louvre in one day? It’s possible, but if you also need to get to the train station that night it will feel rushed. I’m not dissuading you from your trip in the slightest, I’m just warning you it will be both awesome and tiring 😉 Go for it though!!! You can tell everyone back home the epic trip you fit into 2 weeks in Europe.

      Sleeping on trains in Europe is fine. I’ve done it a number of times and had no issues. You can get a “sleeper” on many trains, but this is normally more expensive. Just sleep on the second class seats and have a money belt on with cash/card/passport. Doing a 2-for-1 thing with sleeping is a great way to extend that 2 weeks, but you won’t sleep as well on a train seat as you would in a bed.

      It’s going to be an awesome trip Karl, if you start to feel rushed as you go don’t feel bad about slowing down for a few days and getting your bearings. Travel however you want to travel, whether that’s super speed or turtle slow 😀 All the best mate!

  54. Brian says:

    Hey Tom,
    Great read here, I’ve actually just began to research backpacking, some friends of mine are going in August but I’m planning on working the rest of this year and starting towards the end or at the beginning. I’m totally open for any ideas, advice. I don’t know anyone over there so I’m looking for some good sites to get ideas on how I should do it. Also I’m up for teaming up with anyone who needs/wants a partner. Like I said any helpful info would be much appreciated.
    Thanks
    Brian

  55. toby says:

    Hi Tom this is a great page with lots of helpful info, nice work mate.

    My girlfriend and I are going through the planning stages of our trip and it would be good to get feed back

    We are looking at going in august and only for 5-6 weeks, flying in and out of Paris.
    At this stage we only have 3 dates locked in, these are the 28th august for the La Tomatina festival near Valencia, 8th September in venice for 7 day Mediterranean cruise and the 21st Sep for the start of Oktobfest.

    Other places we plan to see include
    London
    San Sebastian and Barcelona Spain
    Swiss Alps
    Florence, Milan
    After the cruise we have a week to get from Venice to Munich and we were thinking a camper van with stops in Budapest, Vienna and Prague

    our mail concern will be transport from one place to another as we want to do it as cheap as possible but without wasting to much time, combination of budget airlines and trains most likely

    Thanks in advance for any advice

    • Tom says:

      Hi Toby! Thanks for the kind words about the page, appreciate it.

      Sounds like you already have a loose itinerary sorted with a bit of room for spontaneity (just the way I like it!) – good itinerary. If you just want to train it everywhere and do away with the camper van go for a global pass (1 month tho) and afterwards just use cheap buses. Alternatively you can grab a select pass with “travel days” and use that in conjunction with buses, or even just use EuroLine buses (that would be the cheapest).

      If you have a set date for leaving, book your flight from Prague –> Paris now to get it cheaper. If you have a real focus on not wasting time then I would go for trains in this trip. Hope this helps mate!

  56. Maddy says:

    HI Tom,
    Im planning a 5 month back packing trip around Europe in July- I’m projecting to have around 9,500 AUD saved,that turns out to be around 55 EURO (or 7737 euro in total) a day…. That’s not enough is it?

    That includes my accomodation costs, not my transportation though..

    • Tom says:

      Heyhey Maddy – good stuff on packing off for a 5 month trip – bloody awesome 😀

      You’ll be fine with that. If you’re really going to be traveling budget it’s enough – especially if your transport is already paid for (I read that right, didn’t I?). If your transport is paid for already then you’re golden. Consider doing some WWOOF’ing and definitely some CouchSurfing to help keep accommodation costs down. Obviously hostels all the way. Ensure you pre-drink at the hostel and cook your own food / eat salads from the supermarket. Keep a little notebook with how much you’re spending for a few weeks just to give you an idea if you’re staying on budget for the full 5 month trip. Don’t save more – just do it and GO 🙂 Have a FANTASTIC time, and let me know if you have anymore questions!

  57. Scott says:

    Me and my roommate are thinking about spending 2-3 week in Europe. Does traveling on the euro-rail save you any money or are we still looking at spending 80-100 a day?

    • Tom says:

      Hey Scott, if you’re only going for 2-3 weeks you would be looking at a “select pass”. Really, the CHEAPEST option irrelevant of travel time/comfort is via bus such as MegaBus or EuroLines. If you’re going by bus/staying at cheap hostels (or a bit of CouchSurfing) and not planning to eat out at restaurants etc – you can easily get by on $50 a day. Does that help? 🙂 Let me know if you have more questions!

  58. Sarah says:

    Thanks this was really helpful!

  59. Josh says:

    Hey Tom/Trudy

    My girlfriend and I are leaving the states this summer for a 3 week backpacking trip from Paris, all over Italy and finishing in Greece. We have budgeted about 6000-7000 US dollars for the trip. Was wondering if this should be plenty of money for the both of us. Also was wondering about the rails and if a rail pass would be worth the money. Thanks guys and look forward to hearing from you!

    Josh

    • Tom says:

      Heya Josh! 6000-7000 USD is definitely enough for a 3 week backpacking trip, no worries there. The best thing to do is track your budget and spending for the first 3 days and adjust it appropriately if you’re spending too much. It’s easy to travel cheap but still have a great time!

      Rail pass is tough as the minimum for a “global” pass is 1 month. You could look into a select pass that gives you set 24 hour “travel days” like 5 days and use that in conjunction with buses. The cheapest way to go would just to use the bus system like EuroLines and MegaBus and then fly with EasyJet/RyanAir for any longer sections.

      A select rail pass and buses would work well though.

  60. Beau says:

    Tom, let me thank you for all the advice this website and your guidebook has given me. You’ve put together the most helpful and cohesive guidebook i have found on the internet and at no cost. You are truly a remarkable person for doing this and continually helping people with their similar dreams and ambitions to travel. You have inspired me to go through with this trip (hopefully this year or the next).

    I want to go to London, Ireland, Amsterdam, Paris, Madrid/Rome(if it’s feasible), and end in Munich(for Oktoberfest this year) all withing a 2-3 month backpacking trip. I’m coming out of California,USA and currently have only 3,100 US. I wanted to go this year, but i don’t think it would be manageable especially because of Airfare being so expensive during June/July and the time frame i would like to travel while maintaining a 50-100 dollar a day budget.

    If you have any additional advice or tips that would help cut down costs or make the trip easier, it would be much appreciated. Thanks again for the guide book and all the additional advice. You are an inspiration. Have a great day.

    • Tom says:

      Hey Beau, sounds like an awesome trip mate you’ve got planned there. Thanks so much for the kind words about the blog as well!

      You may need a bit more than $3,100 USD for a 2-3 month trip, to be honest. Unless you plan on travelling CRAZY budget – which is possible but it’s difficult when you are surrounded by amazing food/drinks/museums etc all the time. I would aim to get up to around $5,000 before heading off so you can do the full 2 months plus. Budgets are always difficult because everyone travels and spends differently, if you think you’re up for the super-cheap challenge then I say go for it!

  61. T.K. says:

    Hey Tom, first I gotta say that finding your guide has been an invaluable discovery for me. I am planning on doing a 2 month backpacking trip to Europe next summer. I will be 18 and my budget is tight. I live in Georgia, USA, and would really appreciate any advice you could give me on planning flights so that I won’t break myself before I even get where I’m going hah.

    • Tom says:

      Hey T.K! Ahh, such a good trip coming up! Yep, try Kayak and Skyscanner for your flight options, and compare, compare, compare. Don’t rush booking the flights, do some research and get a real feel for the cheapest possible amount you’ll have to pay and what budget routes are available to you from Georgia. Try flying into London/Paris/Amsterdam, they are big hub points in Europe! Good luck!

  62. Eza Am says:

    Hye.thanks for sharing.i’m from kl malaysia planning to go to germany next year.your info really help me budgeting the cost.:)any idea where’s the best place to visit in germany and slovakia?

    • Tom says:

      Hi Eza! Haven’t been to Slovakia (only Slovenia), but Germany is a favourite of mine. I love Munich, but that’s just me – some people are obsessed with Berlin! I like my Bavarian food & beer though! Yum!

  63. David says:

    Hey Tom, Awesome Information. I am planning a Backpacking trip though Europe. My budget it 15,000 and my plan is to make it last 6 months so I plan on doing a ton of campsites. You said in your first trip you did a lot of that. I am not sure where to start though. flying from Seattle and want to visit as many countries as possible. Any tips on where to start and how to lay out my travel? Please send me and email. I would love to get more info! Thank you

    • Tom says:

      Heya David! Hope the planning is going well 🙂 $15,000 is do-able for 6 months with camping etc. Also check out WWOOF’ing & CouchSurfing. Choose a hub to fly into such as London, Paris or Amsterdam and work your way to neighbouring countries from there. Lots of camp sites around, although best to do it when the weather is better, good areas for camping can be found through France/Spain. Pretty much all of Europe is good for camping for different reasons though. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail with any specific questions you might have!

  64. Tom says:

    This is a great article, thank you! I’m backpacking Europe in a couple of weeks (from Boston MA) and I’ve been scouring the internet for the past few weeks/months to get a better idea of a budget. So many articles or forums that I’ve encountered were full of rude or patronizing responses, this gives a pretty in depth quick break-down of what to expect, and I didn’t feel like I was being talked down to! HA thanks again, hoping I can keep my budget right around $80 a night to make this trip last! Aiming for 2 months…

    • Tom says:

      Hey Tom! (Awesome name btw ;)) – that’s SO great to hear, the last thing I would want to do is talk down to anyone about this stuff. I remember before I left on my first trip not having any idea what to expect and having loads of questions! $80 a day for 2 months is definitely do-able, challenge yourself to do it as cheap as possible and see how long you can go for 😀 Anymore questions, just ask!

  65. tegan Humphris says:

    Hi Tom,

    Thank you soo much for this blog, before i read it i have been freaking out about not having enough money

    I am backpacking europe with 2 of my girl friends in July for 2 months..

    we have already paid for flights to and from europe, insurance, 3 of the 6 flights between countries and our eurail pass.

    do you think if we allowed $100AUD a day (hostel accommodation, food, leisure), would be a sufficient amount? we have free accommodation in 2 of the 8 countries we are visiting.

    thank you

    tegan

    • Tom says:

      Hey Tegan! Yep, absolutely (I assume that’s $100 AUD each, right?). That’s more then enough! Especially since you’ve already paid for the return flight AND some of the flights in Europe as well as the EUrail pass. You’ll be totally fine!!

      Have an awesome trip Tegan, you girls will have a blast!

  66. Courtney says:

    Hi Tom,
    Like everyone has said THANK YOU for your amazing advice!

    My partner and I plan to leave Auckland, NZ in mis September for a month long ‘once in a lifetime trip’
    We are planning to visit London, Nottingham (family 5 night free stay) Paris, Italy, Munich (oktoberfest) Switzerland and perhaps Amsterdam.
    We have budgeted/saved NZD 20,000 after return flights, most of it we want to do on a budget and still stay in some nice hotels and eat out at some special places. (and a bit of shopping! :P)
    Would you recommend pre booking all of our accommodation?
    Is train the best sort of transport around Europe for this sort of thing?
    What would you average spending on accommodation per night?
    Any extra cool/weird places you can tell us to visit? (we like weird and wonderful not so much the major tourist stuff)

    Thanks so much! This has been my dream for almost 8 years so I want to do this right as I can only do it once 🙂 Courtney.

    • Tom says:

      Hi Courtney (I did e-mail you, but wanted to share the response here as well to help other readers :)),

      Thank you so much for commenting, I’m sorry it has taken us awhile to respond. We have had some personal things going on but we are always more than happy to help so I hope we can!

      Your trip sounds amazing and the only thing I want to say is that I hope you get the chance to do it more than once because you will fall in love with travelling!

      With your budget for a month I think you will have an amazing time. Europe really isn’t that expensive and if you are careful with your money you will definitely be able to splurge on some amazing meals and a bit of shopping.

      I would recommend booking perhaps your accommodation for Paris and Amsterdam – have a look at Airbnb or Roomarama/Wimdu or the major hostel sites. These cities do book up over summer but by September you should be fine. You definitely don’t need to book ahead for the other cities and as you go you may hear some wonderful accommodation recommendations however if you don’t want to be spending time searching for internet cafes while you are on the road then go ahead and book your accommodation, it’s not going to hurt!

      I love travelling by train, its my favourite way to get around Europe. There is also no buses through Germany so that makes your choice easier! Travelling by train is eco friendly and so much fun to just sit back and watch the countries wizz by. You also don’t have to deal with pesky airport security as there is no border control between countries once you are in Europe.

      For average spends for accommodation we spent about $25 a night, sometimes more, sometimes less. This was staying in hostel dorms and occasionally in hotels or Airbnb apartments (we wanted some privacy in romantic cities such as Paris!) Have a read of this post for some more idea of average costs.

      Unusual places to visit – we loved Ghent in Belgium, an absolutely amazing city!

      Delft is a beautiful city in Holland that is quintessentially Dutch!

      And Cinque Terre in Italy is just unbelievably amazing, I can’t recommend it enough!

      Please let me know if you have any more questions and let us know how your trip goes!

      All the best,
      Trudy & Tom

  67. Rachel says:

    Like everyone else, Thanks for the advice! I’m moving to Rome for college next year and am already thinking about how to spend my breaks while over seas while on a college budget! Great Blog 🙂

  68. Maddie says:

    Dude, my 2 friends and i saved just $13k AUD for a 6 month trip through Asia, Europe and South America (WITH HOSTELS) and it was fine….i cant imagine spending what you did in just two months :O anyways nice website!

    • Tom says:

      Hi Maddie 🙂 Thanks for your comment. This isn’t a post on epic budget travel, but more like a realistic average cost of backpacking for those that are doing a more normal trip and not living on dried supermarket noodles. I’ve done a 10 month trip through Europe & Asia when I was 18 for about $7k, and it was awesome.. but all styles of travel have their merits – cool to hear about your trip! I’m sure you and your friends had an epic time.

  69. mohan says:

    Hey,

    Awesome trip…..I am planning to visit europe could you recommend any site where we could find fellow travellers.

    Thank you
    Mohan

    • Tom says:

      Hi Mohan, definitely stay in hostels for the social element if travelling by yourself – you may well meet other travellers to team up with there! Not sure about a site specific to teaming up for a Europe trip though sorry. It takes a bit of courage at first, but don’t be afraid to give solo travel a try.

  70. Natalia says:

    Hey! I was planning on staying one night in Munich and the second night we wanted to go out, and then take a train right after to Switzerland but didnt want to pay for another night in a hotel since well be spending the day exploring.. Is there places where you can leave our stuff while we are out partying and just pick it up after?
    Like a hostel for my backpack haha

    • Tom says:

      Hi! Some train stations have bag lockers that you could utilise. Another option is just to talk to the hostel you’re staying at and see if they can help you out. Most of them have a baggage area for people to put their stuff in, you could leave it there overnight and grab it the next day – depends if the hostel is being nice or not 😀

  71. Lisa says:

    Hi!
    My daughter is wanting to backpack through Europe alone next Jan-Apr. is it safe for young single women to travel alone? She’s 22 yrs old.
    So im gathering $100/day is a resonably comfortable cost to expect? And thats PLUS airfare getting there?

    • Tom says:

      Hiya Lisa! Europe as a continent is as safe as any other western country (such as USA, New Zealand, Australia etc) when it comes to women travelling alone. Common sense must still be followed of course! $100 a day is definitely reasonably comfortable 🙂 That does include airfare there if she goes with a budget airline too. It can be done much cheaper then this, but people always want a reasonable figure, so I say $80 – $100 a day is a good place to start (factoring in EVERYTHING, inter-European transport, food, accommodation, entertainment etc).

    • Sarah says:

      Hi Lisa,

      Just thought I’d add my 2c. I backpacked around Europe when I was 21, including a month in Turkey, then ended up in South-East Asia…all on my own. I never once felt unsafe, you just have to keep your wits about you and remember you’re in a foreign country, so you shouldn’t necessarily do the same things you might do back home (eg. walk home from a bar late at night on your own – although I guess you shouldn’t really do this anywhere!). Anyway I had no problems, but I can understand your concern. My mum still worries about me even though she knows I’m a seasoned traveller.

  72. michael says:

    Hello Tom,
    Congratulation for been very consistent in supporting us with our endless questions. I have a bit of complicated scenario maybe you can guide me with this. Am a Tanzanian(Africa), expecting to travel to Europe with my girlfriend for about 3weeks to a month next year. I was aiming for Berlin(3), London(3days), Paris(3days), Rome or nice(3days), Dubrovnik(3days), Copenhagen(3days), Amsterdam(2days), Zurich(2days) and Oslo(2days).
    Q1. Do i need to apply for travel visa to any of these place?
    Q2. Where to start and end my trip to make it cheaper in terms of transport expense.
    Q3. I would prefer a cheap hotel over hostels so that i can share a bed with my better half….so can you hint how much will it cost?
    Q4. Which are the cheaper transport means when traveling across these countries?
    Q5. How much is the overall cost for those days and places i have hint?

    Thanks for the wonderful job you are doing, cheers!

  73. Sarah says:

    Hey Tom, just wanted to say great post – particularly for people who haven’t travelled before. Something like this would have been so helpful before my first trip o/s.

    For those people commenting/asking questions about the cost of travel if you can factor out hostels (ie those planning on Couch Surfing/staying with friends/WWOOFING), I’m about one month in to a 4-5 month stint in Europe (which will be followed by another 5 or so in South and SE Asia), mostly staying with friends with about a month of paid accommodation, and have a budget of around $6000. That includes internal flights/trains etc but not my flights from Aus.

    In contrast, I spent about $3000 in my first 7 weeks back in 2008 (mind you the dollar was low), so that just gives an indication of how variable it can be – it all depends on where you go and how you do it 🙂 I’d say $80/day total, inc. accom., is a good estimate for much of Europe, but the further east you go (or even places like Spain) the cheaper it gets.

    Anyway again, great post!

    • Sarah says:

      And that $3000 was meant to say $5000…typo/late night comment fail.

      A good website I’ve used is http://www.budgetyourtrip.com. You can search any country and it gives you budget/mid/high range budgets per day, broken down. All based on actual budgets/spending people have uploaded, they are pretty spot on for the majority of them I’ve found 🙂

    • Tom says:

      Hey Sarah! Thanks for your awesome comment and for adding some serious value to this post by shedding some light on your own budget and expenses. Much appreciated!

  74. Leisa says:

    Great article, thank you! I’ve previously only travelled in Asia and looking forward to my first European trip in 2 weeks. Mind you, previously I was also living in Australia – so my benefits of travelling included a great Australian dollar conversion rate, and a great paying job. I have been living the last year in Istanbul as a teacher, where I earn much less money and the conversion rate against the Euro is… well, you can imagine. So this is my first trip where I really need to BUDGET and I’m worried! I’m doing a trip with Intrepid, so all my accommodation and travel expenses are paid for. But I’m worried about having enough spending money. I’m not a huge shopper [anymore], but I don’t want to miss out on any sightseeing and I love to taste local food. I am planning around 120TL/day (around $70AUD) – do you think this will be enough for me to enjoy Europe? I will be travelling Germany, Italy, Czech Republic, Austria, Poland, Slovenia… Or should I make sure my credit card is fully functioning? 😉 Thank you for any advice from anyone!!

    • Tom says:

      Hey Leisa! Thanks for stopping in (and sorry for my late reply to this one).

      If accommodation AND travel expenses are paid for, $70 AUD is definitely enough to sample the local foods and do a bit of shopping (as long as you’re not constantly eating out at expensive restaurants). You may need to choose one meal a day where you splurge a little more at a casual cafe/restaurant, and eat lots of fruit/nuts & cheap sandwhiches etc for lunch. Shouldn’t have an issue with $70 AUD a day I reckon. One good way to do it is just keep an idea of what you’re spending for the first 5 days and adjust accordingly from there.

  75. Sarah says:

    Hi Tom and Trudy!

    Thanks for this blog, so helpful! I am planning on taking a month long trip to Europe with my best friend after we graduate college next May. Our parents are getting us a hotel wherever we want for one week of the trip but we can’t decide where the best place to take advantage of that is. Before or after our week we are planning on backpacking and staying in hostiles but we don’t have a large budget. The places we want to go are Rome, Florence, Venice, Milan, Pisa, Verona, Paris, Barcelona, Berlin, and London. Any suggestions on where would be the best place to use our hotel week to minimize costs later on? Thank you 🙂

    OHH I forgot… We were thinking of flying NYC to Rome then London to NYC

    • Tom says:

      Hey Sarah!

      Got a lovely little trip planned there 🙂

      Hmm, where to use your hotel for a week? I would go with Paris or London as they are the most expensive. Actually, probably Paris! Breaks the trip up nicely with a hotel, and Paris is a good spot to get one if the parents are paying 😀

  76. Kori says:

    Wow thank you for the wonderful information! I can never come up with a price as to how much it would cost to backpack Europe when someone asks me.

  77. Alex says:

    Great blog, this helps orient me a ton. I’m spending my junior year of college (from the U.S.) studying in Oxford, and we have two separate 5 week long breaks which I intend to use to the fullest travelling Europe and the Mediterranean. Considering I don’t have to worry about airfare to and from Europe (already taken care of with study abroad accommodations), that saves me about a thousand dollars, and I intend to travel through England and Scotland while studying. For the breaks, I’m thinking about making my first trip France (Paris, maybe Marseilles), Spain (Basque country, Madrid, Barcelona, Sevilla), Italy (Florence, maybe Rome), and then Vienna, possibly (hopefully) Germany, and the Netherlands. So excluding airfare to the continent (but including intercontinental flight/rail costs), would you say about 50 Euro per day is fair? Ideally my budget is about 1500 USD for each trip. I don’t intend to do a whole lot of eating out at nicer/casual restaurants, but I do want to go to a lot of museums and galleries.

    I’m thinking about making my second trip in East Europe/eastern Mediterranean. I want to do Greece, Istanbul, and hopefully Jordan and/or Israel and Lebanon. Anywhere else in that area (especially near Greece) that you recommend? I’d never considered Croatia before…

    Also do you know how much/if seasons affect costs if you’re backpacking? My first trip will be mostly in December and my second will be mostly March.

    I also see you’ve been responding for commenters for a year and a half now — awesome job, thanks!! Helps a ton!!

    Alex

    • Tom says:

      Hey Alex.

      Very cool to hear you’re off on a study abroad program to Europe! 50 EUR a day is fair if you keep eating out/drinking out to the bare minimum. Museums can cost a bit sometimes (but definitely keep an eye open on the “museum free” days that are often on once a month), but you can get a decent day out of one if they’re something that you enjoy. Another note on museums: BRING A STUDENT ID, can lend itself to free/discounts at loads of places. Apply for an ISIC card or get one from where you’ll be studying at in Oxford if possible.

      Croatia is nice but has a well worn tourist trail normally involving boating from Split –> Dubrovnik or vice versa. Lot of fun though.

      Seasons definitely affect costs. Hostels become much cheaper outside of the peak seasons of June/July/August. There tends to be low-mid-high season prices for accommodation. December and march would be considered in the low seasons – so hostel prices should be very reasonable 🙂

      Hope you have a rocking time!

  78. Amanda says:

    I’m planning a backpacking trip to Europe in the spring. I’m planning to go for about two months. I’ve been doing my studies on it, but one answer I cannot seem to find is so simple… When you first fly into Europe, where do you go first? How do you get to the hostels from airports/bus stations/train stations? I know you can take cabs, but I’d like to leave this out for the most part. Another question, in a two month period, should I limit the countries I go to down to a certain number, or can it be just as beneficial to go to many different countries, and just spend a shorter amount of time there.

    Thank you!

  79. VISHAL says:

    Tom,
    I am from India and I am planning a trip across europe. On honeymoon. What do you suggest we must go with a travel and tour package or we just back pack and start exploring Europe by our self? Budget is euro 3000 for 15 to 20 days excluding Air fare.

  80. Zoe says:

    Hi Tom,

    Awesome read! So glad i stumbled across this!

    My partner and I are looking to head over at the start of April ’14, at that point we will have around 12,000 saved and are looking to stay as long as possible. Ideally I want to at least see Ireland, UK, France, Spain, Italy, Austria, Germany, Netherlands and Belgium. Do you think this is a stretch on that budget? I am rather naive on the travel front so any feedback would be really appreciated 🙂

    Thanks in advance!

  81. Quinn says:

    This is very helpful. I have been trying to work out a budget and plans to spend 3 months in Europe in March.

  82. Crystal says:

    Very helpful! Thanks loads! planning mine at the moment and along with my studies it’s a bit stressful. I think people forget all the work that goes Into planning long trips so all this info is very helpful:). … *(side note: how weird is it that I’ve seen that exact photo of her in front of Chanel on Instagram??)) how random! Anyway like I said thanks!!!

  83. Mariana says:

    Hi Tom! first of all WOW great tips, this helped A LOT in planning my trip so thanks for that. my only thing is I’m going alone. and it seems you have travelled a lot even if not always alone, i was just wondering any tips or concerns i should be aware of?

  84. Nic says:

    Hey Tom, great information mate, really helpful. You’ve confirmed to me that I can afford to do my trip!
    One question for you, im planning a 6 week trip starting in Rome > Naples/Amalfi Coast > Venice >(maybe Budapest) > Prague > Berlin > Amsterdam > Paris > London. Do you think a Eurorail Pass would be worthwhile? I suppose I’ll have to go and crunch some numbers to compare the options. Thanks Tom!

  85. Rohit Tharwani says:

    Extremely helpful and inspiring! Have started saving up already. Looking forward to it 😀

  86. Ben says:

    Hey Tom, a friend and i are both just out of high school and are planning on travelling to Europe from september 20th – october 25th. (london, amsterdam, berlin, munich and paris)
    return flights from Adelaide – londond are about $1600AU
    We want a eurail pass which is about 500 and we are hoping to budget about 85 per day.

    is there anything else im missing mate?

  87. Piyuesh modi says:

    Hi Tom

    A great read..thanks for all the efforts. Will coming on schengen visa from 15 August to 15 Sept. I am sure your article will be of great help in micro planning stuffs.

    You told about cooking in hostels..thinking of packing loads of MAGGI noodles 😛 haha

    Thanks nyways,
    Piyuesh
    India

  88. Piyuesh modi says:

    Hi Tom

    A great read..thanks for all the efforts. Will coming on schengen visa from 15 August to 15 Sept. I am sure your article will be of great help in micro planning stuffs.

    You told about cooking in hostels..thinking of packing loads of MAGGI noodles 😛 haha

    Thanks nyways,

  89. Jackie says:

    I have always dreamed of travelling to Europe. Who doesn’t anyway? But seeing these figures, I still have a long way to go before I could save that much even though I know this is a backpack trip which is actually easier on the pocket. See you Europe in 5 years! Great blog Tom!

  90. Shawna says:

    Hey,Tom.

    I’m looking to backpack through Norway next summer after high school. I don’t have concrete plans yet; however, I do want to stay in Oslo and Senja quite a bit, as well as travel to some other places like Narvik. I plan on camping in a tent for most of the time, but may also stay in a hostel when I need to. I’m trying to save up for the trip now, but am having a hard time budgeting things. Any advice you could give on budgeting the trip/how much it would cost would be beyond helpful.

    • Neil says:

      Ive met my fair share of norwegians and all of them have advised me to stay out of oslo. Parts are sketchy with heroine addicts. Overall its not a special city at all. Its expensive. Theyve all told me to stay in the country side. Its a bit cheaper. More beautiful and loads of scenery. You can fly into a few airports in norway once youre in europe.

      Figured id pass on the information from locals for you. Enjoy.

  91. Izzy says:

    I’m so glad I found this website! I’m planning a backpacking trip across Europe with my roommate for summer of 2017, and this is helping us so much! The breakdown definitely gave me hope for backpacking on a broke college student budget.

  92. Neil says:

    $100 a day is quite a lot per person. Im no expert but i travelled europe for three mo ths with one backpack. Budgeted $50 per day and by the end of the trip i was $7.07 under budget.

    That being said i drank and partied hard in a few countries. I also bought a train pass for $850cad youth price(1300cad regular) i got caught afew times paying for an expensive ferry sweden to finland. Paid an expensive flight finland to poland. Some round trips in croatia which i couldve saved on if i just did one way trips.

    Also once i got to uk. End trip i spent a lot in three weeks because i knew i was going home.

    Total cost was $4200cad flights $1100cad didnt buy a roundtrip flight. This includes accommodation, transportstion, loads of alcohol, splurging on good food from time to time, also gifts for family. I also did 6 day tours. I had to buy a new shaver and phone while in europe as well. I spend 84days in europe. 23countries in total. Could have saved at least $800-1000.

    Ive planned my next trip and im budgeting $4000cad for 120 days in europe. Taking overnight buses and slow ferries. Using airbnb over hostels this time since its cheaper. Also some free hammock camping on the islands to save costs. So i may even come in under budget this time as well but we will see. 19 countries this time. Biggest expense is moving a round frequently.

    It can be done a lot cheaper! Travelling with 1 backpack only is also very helpful.

    Good article and i enjoy your blogs. Keep up the good work.

  93. charlie says:

    Hey Tom, really great stuff, glad you had a great trip! I’m an 18 year old from Canada and me and my buddies plan to backpack Europe next May, we have already started saving. What would you suggest we visit in terms of landmarks and countries, and what would you leave out?

  94. Will says:

    Great article Tom! I am planning on backpacking for six months starting this coming June, would $25,000 AUD be enough? I have already purchased flight, insurance and some depostis and small travel tickets.

  95. Witahana church says:

    Awesome read 🙂 me and my partner are planning a 3-4 mo th trip end of next year.this is such a great read to get our had around how much everything will cost!! Thanks heaps 🙂

  96. Stefan says:

    This is suuuuper helpful. I’m going to Europe from May 1st to July 3rd 2017. Am I silly to think that $7000 CAD would be enough? (not including my flight from Vancouver in may and then flight home form Madrid in July)

  97. Hey Tom!

    Great expenses breakdown! I just published a post about Itinerary, Budget, and Expenses for 2.5 Months Backpacking Trip in Europe, if you would like to read as well:

    https://mishajohanna.com/2017/02/13/backpacking-europe-in-2-5-months-itinerary-budget-and-expenses-solo-female-traveller-from-indonesia/

    I spent 4500 Euros in 77 days (including return flight tickets).

    Cheers,
    Misha

  98. Christopher says:

    Hello Hope you are great
    Im planning to travel Europe from Trinidad and Tobago. Im 30 years old, doing this trip alone. Im getting from Trinidad to England so that cost is covered. From England ill like to visit Amsterdam, Finland (to see northern lights), Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy and perhaps Greece. Im looking at 21 days and I have a budget of 3000 us$ for hostels, food, and either plane or euro rail (not sure witch one is better to use right now). As I said ticket from Trini to England is covered. You think is enough money to my backpacking trip and what do you suggest, Internal flights or euro rail??

    Thanks much for your response. Hope to hear from you soon.

  99. Ashley says:

    How does an 18 year old have $6,000-$8,000 to spend on traveling?

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