The prices vary wildly in Europe. I lounged in a private hotel room in Santorini with an ocean-view outdoor patio for 25 Euros—the same amount could procure me a spot in a fan cooled, 14-bed dorm in Amsterdam. I feasted on 5 Euro kebab in Dublin and slurped a 10 Pound bowl of ramen in London’s Chinatown.
Initially, I was frustrated that my daily budget was always in a state of flux. But the costs balance out over time as you make your way through Europe. In general, the Mediterranean area will be the cheapest and the Scandinavian area the most expensive. Everything else will fall in-between. The standard rules apply: large cities are generally costlier than the towns speckling the countryside.
During my month stint in Europe I went to the Netherlands, England, Ireland, Spain, and Greece. After a month, I had gone through approximately $3000 (not including flights), which averages to about $100 a day, or 78 Euros. I splurged a little—several 40 Euro club entrance fees in Ibiza and 7 Pounds for every mixed drink while going on a pub-crawl in London. There were also incidentals such as paying 55 Euros for a bed & breakfast stay in Galway after missing my bus to the Connemara region and all the hostels being full. By the time I had reached Greece, I was spending my late nights checking compare loans with attractive rates. (Seriously. I still had seven countries in Asia to go!) To offset these costs, I spent many-a-day exploring the town on foot and chomping down on gyros.
It’s possible to do it for less, maybe even 50 Euros a day. Especially with couchsurfing or cooking meals. However, at what point does budgeting become restrictive? With too tight of a budget you may be missing the good stuff that could make your trip. I never wanted to think twice about dropping money for a worthy cause—such as spontaneous bus tour through Northern Ireland. A good compromise is between 65-70 Euros a day. With that, one can get a dorm bed, a solid lunch and dinner, see a couple of attractions, and wash a successful day down with a good pint.
