How much you spend vastly depends on how long your trip is and where you’re traveling. For context our trip was 19 days long and we stayed in Western Europe. If you have a lot more or a lot less time, this would impact your budget. If you plan on spending time in Eastern Europe, this would also impact your budget as those countries are generally cheaper in accommodation and food costs.
Below is a breakdown of the budget for our trip. All totals are approximate (we should’ve kept better track). Also keep in mind we traveled in 2018, so pricing is subject to change.
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Transportation
Definitely our biggest budget category, and also the one that you can adjust the least unless you completely change your itinerary. I would recommend figuring out how much all of your transportation is going to cost first and if that already puts you almost over budget, you know you’ll have to adjust your itinerary.
Note on the Eurail Pass – We got the Global Pass that’s good for 7 days of travel within 1 month. Not all trains are included in the pass, so we did have to pay for a couple tickets outside of the purchase of the pass. We did a cost analysis to see if getting the pass would be cheaper than buying individual tickets and it was in our case! Just do your research – check out the Eurail website for more info.
One-way flight from Chicago-Paris – $250
Eurail Global Pass – $483.50
Train from Paris-Colmar – $30.47
Night train from Salzburg-Verona – $39.18
One-way flight from Verona-London – $70
One-way flight from London-Chicago – $250
Total Transportation per person: $1,123.15
Read more about how to plan a European backpacking trip here!
Accommodation
We mostly stayed in shared rooms in hostels. This was the best way to cut down the cost of accommodation and we really enjoyed all of our hostel stays! We did appreciate the 2 places where we splurged on a private hotel room and Airbnb, so if you can make that work in your budget I would suggest it. It was nice to be alone, have more space, and feel like we were more able to refresh and reset.
Hostel in Paris (1 night stay) – $80.93
Hotel in Colmar (1 night stay) – $138.03
Hostel in Interlaken (3 night stay) – $213.93
Hostel in Fussen (1 night stay) – $53.28
Hostel in Munich (2 night stay) – $140.98
Hostel in Salzburg (2 night stay) – $209.55
Airbnb in Verona (2 night stay) – $184.87
Hostel in London (5 night stay) – $321.03
Total accommodation: $1,342.60
Per person: $671.30
Read more about our 19 day European backpacking itinerary here!
Excursions
This is an area where you could really spend a lot and maybe experience more things. We mostly opted to find the free things we could do everywhere, but we had a few things we knew we absolutely had to do. I would say everything we spent extra money on below was definitely worth it – you just have to figure out what your must-haves are.
River boat tour in Colmar – $7.62
Ferry to Hallstatt – $19.17
Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau Castles – $34.85
Munich Residence museum – $10
Sound of Music tour – $55
Verona Arena – $14.43
Tower of London – $32.56
Harry Potter Studio tour – $54.46
Total Excursions: $228.19
Food
We didn’t keep an exact account of how much we spent on food, but it came to be around $40/day. We did grocery shop and cook our own food a handful of times (especially when that was an option at the place we were staying), but we did mostly eat out. If you were looking to cut costs, this would be one area you could be more strict on. But, don’t forget to get at least one authentic eating experience in each place you go. A lot of culture is in food, so eating local cuisine is a big part of the travel experience.
Souvenirs
I spent between $150-200 on souvenirs. This is an area that you could completely cut out if you wanted. I just collect mugs, magnets, and local pieces of art from everywhere I go, and since we went so many places in such a short time this added up pretty quick! I love looking at my magnets on my fridge and all the artwork hung on my walls makes me think back on everything I’ve done and I love the constant reminders. We also almost ran out of space to bring all this extra stuff back home, so keep that in mind when you’re shopping! Stick to small things and plan for extra space on the return trip.
Total Budget
We spent about $3,000 each for 19 days of backpacking in Western Europe. All in all, not too bad and I think we had a good mix of saving and splurging to make our trip really enjoyable.
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