10 Tips for Travelling Europe on a Budget

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Let’s be real, Europe is NOT a cheap place to travel through. Even if you’re backpacking, the price of hostels, food and transport is significantly more expensive than alternative destinations, like Asia. We spent 3.5 months budget travelling through Europe and learnt A LOT. Here are our 10 best tips for saving money while travelling Europe on a budget!

Europe Travel Resources

Flights: Search for the best flight deals

Accommodation: Find your perfect European stay

Transport: Book your buses and trains to get you around on your European adventure

Activities: Find things to do in Europe

Car Hire: Planning to incorporate a road trip into your time in Europe? Search for the best deals!

Our YouTube Videos: Check out our full Europe playlist on YouTube for travel inspiration!

1) TRAVEL CARRY-ON ONLY

This might be an obvious one to start with, but travelling carry-on only can save you significant money while travelling through Europe. Now, Europe does have a fantastic train system, and countless buses, however, the reality is that if you’re looking to travel through different regions of Europe all in the one trip, chances are you will have to fly at least once.

While there are several budget airlines offering cheap flights (we use Skyscanner to search for the best deals), the best way to take advantage of the cheap prices is to avoid paying for add-ons. In most cases, this includes baggage. If you’re able to avoid baggage charges, you’ll save a significant amount of money during your travels.

—> Check out our full video on how we travelled through Europe carry-on only!

While this used to be a little easier, airlines are now even more strict with carry-on only policies. During our time in Europe, we found that most budget airlines charged for anything above a personal item. Meaning if your bag doesn’t fit under your seat, you’ll have to pay. Therefore, to take advantage of the cost savings, you’ll have to even skip the carry-on suitcase and opt for a backpack. Make sure you religiously check the baggage policies of all airlines you may travel with during your time in Europe to ensure your chosen backpack fits within all requirements and you aren’t caught out at the last minute.

2) TRAVELLING WITH 2 OR MORE PEOPLE? SKIP HOSTELS AND CHECK OUT AIRBNB

When you think of cheap accommodation, the first thing that comes to mind is definitely staying in a hostel. If you’re travelling solo, you may well be right. However, travelling as a couple, we found hostels to not be the most affordable option for a few reasons. While hostel dorms offer a cheap option, if you’re travelling as a couple or a group, you have to pay for multiple beds. In our experience, the cost of paying for two beds in a dorm was usually the same, or more, than booking a private room, or better yet, an AirBnb.

Stace and Rosh running hand in hand in the Burren in Ireland — *The Burren, Ireland*

—> The perfect 3-day IRELAND road-trip!

AirBnb is a great way to save money on accommodation if you’re travelling as a couple or group, not only because it offers great prices, but because it also provides additional benefits like a kitchen (see below).

The downside of an AirBnb is that you may have to sacrifice location to save a bit of money, however, pretty much everywhere you’ll visit in Europe will have an amazing public transport system that will allow you to get anywhere you need, and most of the time, it is super cheap!

3) SPEAKING OF AIRBNB, STAY SOMEWHERE WITH A KITCHEN

We started our Europe travels staying in hostel private rooms, but found the amount of money we were spending on food was astronomical. We weren’t even eating out at restaurants, but without basics like a fridge or microwave, it meant that every food item we purchased had to be eaten in one go, and the costs added up.

Having a kitchen will allow you to cook some of your meals, and while it’s not everyones desire to cook on their holiday, this will save you A LOT of money. Some of our go-to meals were pasta or fried rice. A big batch of each of these would cover us for at least two meals each, and we could usually buy ingredients for one of these for under $10 AUD.

Having a fridge also means you can eat most of your breakfasts in, being able to store milk, yoghurt or whatever your heart desires in the fridge so you can use these across multiple days.

4) LOOK INTO PET OR HOUSE SITTING OPPORTUNITIES

This isn’t something we took advantage of in Europe, but we did when travelling through the USA, and it was amazing. If you’re willing to look after someone’s house and/or pets, you’ll not only get yourself some free accommodation, but you’ll also get to make some new furry friends!

There are many websites that you can go through, however, we recommend Trusted Housesitters. We used them twice in the USA and had great experiences both times.

The downside of using a program like this is that you have to pay a subscription fee, so if you don’t plan to use it a significant amount, it may not be your best option, but if you’re planning on maximising your time in Europe, it can be a great option to save some money. You’ll want to start looking quite far in advance as it can be competitive, but if you’re flexible with your plans you’re sure to find something great.

5) DON’T BUY CITY CARDS

This is probably a controversial one… most people will tell you to buy a city card as it will save you some money. In our experience, if you are truly travelling on a budget, this may not be the most cost-effective solution.

Now, what is a City Card? A lot of cities in Europe will have “city cards” that you can buy. While the inclusions will vary, generally these will include entry to some key sights for during your stay, and in some instances, may also include public transport as well. The obvious one that comes to mind is the Amsterdam City Card. This has a myriad of inclusions, including a lot of museums, all public transport and even a cruise down the canals.

—> 10 MUST-DO activities in Amsterdam!

Don’t get us wrong, if you’re not travelling on a budget, this is really great and convenient option. It is also great value if you plan to visit all the museums and utilise the public transport system. However, if you’re on a budget, chances are you probably wouldn’t have visited most of these museums anyways, meaning, you’re paying extra to do activities that weren’t top of your priority list.

—> Check out our full playlist from our time in Amsterdam!

The other thing to watch out for is that while these may include a lot of entrance tickets and activities, generally some of the bigger ticket items will not be included. In our Amsterdam example, The Van Gogh Museum and the Anne Frank Museum aren’t included, and these are the two most popular museums in the city. Plus, we didn’t step foot on a single form of public transport during our time in Amsterdam - yay for walking and bikes!

6) VISIT SIGHTS YOU WANT TO VISIT, NOT WHAT OTHER PEOPLE TELL YOU TO VISIT

This was one of our BIGGEST learnings during our time in Europe. We spent a lot of time looking up the top attractions in each city and mindlessly following these recommendations. What we came to realise was that we were spending a lot of money on activities and sights we weren’t particularly interested in, just because someone suggested it was a must-visit.

There are many churches, viewpoints and museums throughout Europe, all of which will be “must-visit” attractions, but if these aren’t your thing, do a little research and be selective in which ones you opt to visit, and save yourself some money to put towards activities that you really want to do.

—> Check out our article on what we consider to be 5 must-do experiences in Europe! This will give you a few ideas to get the ball rolling!

Looking for things to do in Europe? Search GetYourGuide to find activities and tours for every city! If you’re wanting some ideas to get the ball rolling, these were some of our favourite things we did in Europe:

—> Milos Full Day Boat Tour

—> Visiting the Cliffs of Moher

—> Visiting the Summit of the Eiffel Tower

—> Amsterdam Canal Tour

7) WE ALL LOVE THE INTERNET, BUT SKIP THE SIM CARD

Another controversial one… but we promise, you don’t need it (at least not for your whole time in Europe)! While SIM cards aren’t that expensive, all costs add up and once you’ve got one, you won’t go back, meaning you’ll end up spending a lot of money topping it up during your travels.

We went our whole first month in Europe without a SIM card, and had no issues. It’s 2024, there is WiFi EVERYWHERE! There are McDonalds and Starbucks at almost every corner, and both offer up free WiFi. If you lurk close enough, you can take advantage of it to look up anything you need.

If you’re worried about directions and public transport, just take screenshots of your route before you leave your hotel and you should be fine. Plus, Google Maps will still show you your location without internet, so if you have a screenshot of the route, you should still be able to work out your directions by comparing the two. Plus, if you get lost, hellooooo cheeky white chocolate mocha from Starbucks!

The reason we ended up using an e-Sim was when we hired a car in Milos, and didn’t feel comfortable driving around a foreign island without access to a map!

8) SAVE MONEY AND TAKE THE LONGER JOURNEY

Europe has to be one of the easiest continents to travel through, with so many different transport options. Between most cities you’ll have the option of train, bus or plane, however, the most affordable option will vary depending on the journey.

—> Looking to book your Europe trains and buses? Check out Omio! We booked majority of our European transport through Omio and found it very easy and convenient to use!

Flights are generally the most expensive, so leave these for when absolutely necessary, but what is more affordable between trains and buses will vary depending on the journey. In some instances, the travel time will be almost identical, while in others, there will be a difference of hours. Trains are arguably the more comfortable of the two, but if an extra hour or two is going to save you some money, it’s definitely worth it. Reality is, most travel days are write-offs anyways, so save yourself some money and take the longer journey.

9) RESEARCH TRANSPORT OPTIONS BEFORE LOCKING IN YOUR ACCOMMODATION

While your instinct is to lock in a roof over your head and worry about how you’ll get there later, we found it was best to check the transport options before booking accommodation. Prices of transport options can vary significantly from day to day, particularly if you’re looking at flights, so if you can be flexible in your plans, you might want to organise your itinerary around when you can get the cheapest flight.

In addition to this, if you haven’t looked up how to get between A and B, you might be in for a bit of a shock. Europe is easy to get around, but if you’re travelling across to the other side of the continent, you may be left with no choice but to fly, something which might be outside of your budget. We unfortunately got ahead of ourselves booking accommodation in some instances and were left with no choice but to pay A LOT of money for flights. Had we known this ahead of time, we may have changed around our plans a little bit to avoid the additional cost.

10) USE PUBLIC TRANSPORT

This might go without saying, but avoid using Taxis and Uber. Most European cities have excellent public transport systems, even to and from most airports and stations, so you really shouldn’t have a need to use either service. The only time we used Uber during our Europe travels was if we arrived super late at night and public transport wasn’t available (or wasn’t recommended at that time of night for safety reasons).

A lot of European cities can be fairly walkable (e.g. Amsterdam), but if not, most have trains and/or buses that you’ll be able to utilise. Ensure you check how the ticketing systems work ahead of time, particularly for buses, to make sure you aren’t stuck once you’re already on the bus. While some cities will allow you tap your credit card onboard, others require cash to purchase a ticket, or pre-purchased tickets online, so make sure you’re prepared.

We hope that you’ll find these tips helpful in saving a bit of cash on your European travels! We learnt so much during our 3.5 months travelling through Europe, and we think by the end we had cut back on a lot of significant costs, so we hope this will help you too. If you haven’t already, you can check us out on YouTube! We have full videos from every European city we visited and these may come in handy for planning your next trip!

You can also check out all our other articles on Europe HERE!