I tracked my spending for the entire 35 days I spent backpacking in Europe from December 6, 2024 to January 9, 2025.
I categorized (almost) every transaction, allowing me to make a nice visualization of how much I spent across categories for the entire trip and the average per day.
Overview
Total spending: $3,888 | $111 / day
- Transportation: $1,035
- Accommodation: $1,048
- Food & Drinks: $1,291
- Activities: $373
- Other: $140
Trip logistics
For this trip, I slept in 11 different beds (and one train) in the following cities:
- Paris: 4 nights
- Amsterdam: 2 nights
- Sleeper train: 1 night
- Prague: 3 nights
- Vienna: 3 nights
- Budapest: 3 nights
- Ljubljana: 4 nights
- Venice: 2 nights
- Bologna: 2 nights
- Florence: 3 nights
- Rome: 5 nights
- Frankfurt: 1 night
Total time traveling: 33 nights + 2 travel days on the plane (SFO -> CDG, FRA -> SFO)
Transportation
Transportation total: $1,035 | $30 / day
I knew transportation would be a big chunk of my spending because of my flight from SFO to Europe and back. I actually paid for this flight entirely using credit card points, but I don’t consider it “free,” since I see credit card points as the equivalent of cash.
Trains in Europe are pretty affordable, and buses are even more affordable. Trains were faster and more comfortable than buses, but buses weren’t too bad either.
Breakdown
- Flights: $776
- Public transportation (Train, Bus): $201
- Private transportation (Bike rentals, scooter rentals): $58
Accommodation
Accommodation total: $1,048 | $30 / day
I stayed in hostels for my entire trip to save on accommodation and to meet new people while traveling solo. As expected, staying in Western European countries was generally more expensive compared to the Central European countries.
Bologna and Florence were among the most expensive places I stayed, most likely because I was there in the lead-up to New Year’s day, when many other people were on holiday and traveling.
Breakdown
| Hostel location | Total cost | Cost per night |
| Paris | $166 | $42 / night |
| Amsterdam | $89 | $44 / night |
| Prague | $64 | $21 / night |
| Vienna | $103 | $34 / night |
| Budapest | $58 | $19 / night |
| Ljubljana | $89 | $22 / night |
| Venice | $47 | $24 / night |
| Bologna | $87 | $44 / night |
| Florence | $145 | $48 / night |
| Rome | $174 | $35 / night |
| Frankfurt | $26 | $26 / night |
Food & Drinks
Food & Drinks total: $1,291 | $37 / day
I was fairly free-handed with my spending on food. One of my favorite parts of traveling is trying the local cuisines so I can get inspiration for my cooking at home. I ate out for the vast majority of my meals, but I did try to stick to mid-range restaurants. I bought some fruit, bread, snacks, and water from grocery stores on occasion, which sometimes replaced breakfast and added much-needed fiber to my diet.
Breakdown
- Eating out: $1,223
- Groceries: $68
Activities
Activities total: $373 | $11 / day
Most of my activities costs were tickets to get in to museums, castles, churches, or parks. I gave a tip to my tour guide on one free walking tour and went on a river cruise, but for the most part I walked around and toured cities at my own pace for free. I took one pasta cooking class in Italy, which I enjoyed a lot, and it inspired me to mix in more hands-on activities into my trips in the future.
Breakdown
- Entrance fees: $231
- Tours and experiences: $142
Other
Other total: $140 | $4 / day
This category includes small, one-off expenses such as shampoo, locker rentals, and an overpriced pair of flip flops. I also had a handful of transactions that were cash-only that totaled around $100, which I didn’t bother manually adding into my spend tracking app.
- Laundry: $28
- Misc: $113
Would I change anything next time?
Overall, I would say my trip was fairly affordable for the amount of time I spent traveling.
I could’ve spent less by eating out less often, but then I would’ve missed out on a large part of why I travel. If I were staying in one place for a longer period of time and had sufficiently sampled the local cuisine, then I might consider cooking more to save on costs.
I could’ve spent more on activities that are hands-on and engaging. After a certain point, I was getting tired of just looking at museums, cathedrals, and castles.
Since this was my first Europe trip, I have no regrets about spending a significant portion of time in France, Netherlands, and Italy, where prices are generally more expensive. However, in the future, I would consider visiting more Eastern European countries where the cost of living is lower.
If you made it this far, thanks for reading! Let me know if you have any questions or found this helpful for planning your own Europe trip.