---
title: 'What does it ACTUALLY Cost? (Backpacking Europe on a Budget)'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=LOzRJGNgfuE'
video_id: 'LOzRJGNgfuE'
date: 2026-06-28
duration_sec: 641
---

# What does it ACTUALLY Cost? (Backpacking Europe on a Budget)

> Source: [What does it ACTUALLY Cost? (Backpacking Europe on a Budget)](https://youtube.com/watch?v=LOzRJGNgfuE)

## Summary

The video breaks down the exact costs of a 70-day European backpacking trip, covering flights, trains, accommodation, food, and other expenses. The creator shares specific dollar amounts and provides budgeting tips for saving money while traveling.

### Key Points

- **Trip and Categories** [0:00] — Returned from a 70-day European backpacking trip, breaking down expenses into five categories: travel, food, accommodation, experiences, and other.
- **Flight Costs** [0:17] — Spent $600 total on six flights. Major flights (Chicago-Lisbon, Lisbon-Rome, Paris-Chicago) cost $468 by booking 9 months in advance during shoulder season.
- **Eurail Pass and Train Costs** [1:07] — Paid $369 for a 10-day in 2-month Eurail Pass, plus $43 in reservations, totaling $411. Recommended comparing individual fares before committing.
- **Accommodation Strategy** [1:45] — Spent $1,700 total ($24.45/night). Stayed 80% in hostel dorms, 20% in Airbnbs (only when splitting cost cheaper than hostel). Booked in advance for limited options.
- **Food Expenses** [2:35] — Total food cost $2,440 ($35/day). Spent $670 on groceries and $1,700 on eating out. Cooked about 25% of dinners, emphasizing local cuisine as part of experience.
- **Insurance and Phone Plan** [6:43] — Travel insurance cost $262 from World Nomads. Switched to T-Mobile international plan ($50 per 30 days, 15GB data). Total phone cost $162 for 70 days.
- **Alcohol and Laundry** [8:08] — Spent $167 on alcohol (not heavy drinker) and $44 on laundry (done 9 times, 4 free at Airbnbs).
- **Total and Tips** [9:17] — Total spent $6,741 ($96.30/day). Saved funds by working since age 15, originally budgeted $15,000. Remaining money will fund a Costa Rica trip.

### Conclusion

A 70-day backpacking trip across Europe is possible for under $7,000 if planned wisely, with savings on flights and accommodation offsetting food and experiences.

## Transcript

I just returned from my European
backpacking trip and in this video I'm
going to break down exactly how much
money I spent I'll also provide
budgeting tips on how you can save money
on your trip I broke my expenses up into
five categories being travel food
accommodation experiences and other it's
no secret that travel is going to be one
of your largest expenses among these
flights will likely be your biggest cost
I went on six flights and spent $600 or
560
I purchased my three major flights all
together and flew TAP Air Portugal
getting me from Chicago to Lisbon Lisbon
to Rome and Paris back to Chicago in
total this cost me
$468 this airfare was so cheap because a
I booked these flights 9 months in
advance and B I went on the shoulder
season I flew into Lisbon in late
February and I flew out of Paris in
early may I also spent $87 for a
roundtrip flight from Rome to Athens and
$50 for a flight from Bari Italy to
Dubrovnik Croatia my next major travel
expense was the EUR Rail Pass I paid
$369 for the 10day in 2-month pass which
gave me 10 travel days on any train I
also paid an additional
$43 on train reservations for my pass
altogether this cost me
$411 189 I'd recommend checking the
indiv individual train fairs for each of
your desired destinations before
committing to a pass personally opting
for this pass saved me a couple hundred
bucks plus it's incredibly convenient
and it offers you a lot of flexibility
you can cancel a travel day with ease
right up until midnight I also spent 350
bucks on other major travel this
included some train rides that I booked
separately for my pass day trip travel
and fairies from Athens to the Greek
Islands finally I spent $240 on public
Transit meaning Subways buses and trams
I tried to do as much walking as
possible but sometimes I just had to use
the public transit you're not going to
walk an hour with a 25lb bag on your
back altogether travel cost me $1,600 or
$1,490 which divided over the course of
my 70-day trip cost me $23 a day or €1
and 26 if you're willing to spend a
significant amount of time strategizing
your travel you can travel a affordably
and explore numerous destinations the
next expense category is food first I
spent
$670 on groceries this included food
that I would prepare for dinner and food
for lunches a lot of the times I would
go into supermarkets and grab some meat
and cheese for lunch I cooked about 25%
of my dinners for me it just wasn't
sustainable to cook every single night
there were many days where I came back
to the hospital exhausted from a day of
sightseeing so I would just eat out but
eating out is considerably more
expensive in total I spent
$1,700 on eating out which includes
sitdown restaurants fast casual
restaurants and street food I believe
that part of the travel experience is
eating the Local Foods and that you
should try the cuisine in each new place
that you visit in total food cost me
$2,440 or
$2,260 which breaks down into $35 or €32
a day so yeah I spent a lot of money on
food but I also eat a lot more food than
the average Backpacker I'm 6ot and I
weigh 185 lbs and I worked out almost
every day and I averaged about 20,000
steps per day there are many days where
I burned 4,000 plus calories so yeah I
think you could get away with spending a
bit less on food but honestly a lot of
the time street food costs about the
same as cooking your own food usually
about €10 a meal I don't think it's
sustainable to cook more than 25% of
your meals if you're doing as much
walking or sightseeing as I did but
obviously if you cook more of your own
meals or eat a bit more street food you
could save a bit of money in this
category the next category is
accommodation about 80% of the time I
stayed in hostile dorm rooms and the
other 20% of the time was airbnbs
staying in hostile dorm rooms will
definitely be an adjustment at first but
you'll get used to it pretty fast I also
only stayed in airbnbs when I had
someone else to split the cost with and
when that split cost was cheaper than
staying in a hostel overall I spent
$1,700 on accommodation which comes out
to
$24.45 or €
2264 a night I also broke down the
average cost of accommodation by country
you should note though that for Slovenia
Hungary Austria and C
I only stayed in one city so the prices
may not be a great representation of how
much that country costs so yeah
accommodation in Europe is not crazy
expensive by any means especially if you
can go in the offseason or the shoulder
season like I did my recommendation
would be to book out hosts in advance
for cities that have limited options you
may also want to book hostiles in
advance for busy cities in Peak tourist
times but for busy cities with more
options you could wait until just a few
days prior also if you book through
hostile world you could pay a bit extra
for free cancellation which will allow
you to cancel your room 3 days prior if
you find something cheaper or if the
price drops elsewhere I also think that
staying in hostiles while solo traveling
is imperative because a you can't split
the cost of an Airbnb with someone else
and B you'll meet so many cool
like-minded people my next cost category
is experiences I spent $300 on
excursions and activities for instance
the entry fee for going into a castle or
a church I did a wine tour at the
beginning of my trip when I was in
Portugal but outside of that didn't do
any tours I'm just not a really big tour
guy so that was an easy thing not to
spend money on I also spent $46 on
souvenirs like bracelets and rings and
shirts which puts us at
$345 or
€320 which breaks down into
$493 or €
4457 per day for experiences finally we
have the other category the first thing
I put in this category was my travel
insurance I got my travel insurance
through World Nomads and it covered me
for health insurance trip cancellation
and lost luggage or damaged items it
cost me
$262 for my 70 days and 11 countries
fortunately I didn't need to use my
insurance but I do think it's crucial to
have because if you were to get
seriously injured that would leave you
in a really tough spot in a foreign
country my next expense was my phone
bill I switched over to T-Mobile for
this trip because I couldn't find any
American Carrier plan that was nearly as
cheap for my 70-day trip a lot of the
carriers charge $10 per day extra which
would have ran my pockets T-Mobile's
international plan costs just 50 bucks
per 30 days so I just went with three of
those I was allotted 15 gigs of
high-speed data per 30 days and I
typically use between 6 and 7 gigs I
don't really use social media on my
phone that much so that was really just
for maps and to Google stuff I opted not
to get local SIM cards because you need
to get a new SIM card in each country
that you visit and I was legit in
Slovakia for just a day trip so it would
have just been a nuisance in total the
foam Plan cost me
$162 with tax the next other category
was alcohol in total I spent
$167 on drinking I'm not a huge drinker
but there are certain places where
clubbing is almost part of the
experience such as Budapest or Berlin in
general for me I was just too tired to
drink at the end of the night after a
long day of sightseeing but I met plenty
of people that went out or went clubbing
literally every single day so you're
probably going to fall somewhere on that
spectrum of not drinking at all to
drinking a lot but just note it will get
expensive if you're drinking and going
out every night finally I spent $44 on
laundry I did my laundry n times over
the course of my 10we trip four times at
airbnbs which was free and and five
times at laundromats so on average it
cost me about 8 to do my laundry
altogether the other category added
another
$637 or
$590 all right now for the moment that
you've all been waiting for in total I
spent drum roll
please $
6,741 or €
6,244 which comes out to
$96.3 or
8920 per day if you eat as much as I do
or want to see as much as I saw I think
this is as cheap as you can do it but
obviously if you cook your own food more
or cut other costs like alcohol or
excursions you could save a bit more
lastly I wanted to talk about how I
managed to save up the necessary funds
for this adventure when I got my first
job at 15 I started setting aside money
specifically for this trip and over the
years I worked every summer I worked ta
jobs and other jobs while I was at
school and last summer I landed a solid
corporate internship although I
initially budgeted 15,000 for my entire
trip I soon realized that I could spend
much less with some Thrifty choices so
with that extra money I'm planning on
going to Costa Rica at the end of June
for a month and I'm going to make a
bunch of Vlogs from that and I've been
doing vlogs vogs of my entire trip thus
far so subscribe to my channel for that
[Music]