If you know me, you would know that I spend really little when I travel. When travelling, I care much more about the experience, meeting new people and getting a taste of the culture than living luxuriously. Some may disapprove of such a lifestyle of mine, but I like doing what I am doing. In addition, I don’t have to save a lot of money in order to travel.
When I tell friends that I spend less than 700SGD, around 450EUR in Europe for 2 months, most of them were pretty shocked. I know it’s really easy to spend a lot of money on holidays in Europe, but guess what? It’s totally possible to live on a backpacker’s budget in Europe! Aside from the trains that you will probably spend a bomb on, here are some ways to make your best of out the minimum budget.
I am using South Italy, Budapest and Romania as my examples as I was there on my most recent trip. In my opinion, the 3 essential things are food, accommodation and how to get around.
Food
When travelling, I usually go for street food. That’s where you can find the most local and authentic kind of food!
Speaking from my experience during the previous trip, street food in Europe can be as affordable as the ones in Asia. For instance, in Budapest, Langos (fried dough with sour cream and lots of cheese) is only 300 HUF/1 EUR and usually it is so filling and half of it will make you full enough, at least for the next hour. There is also Palacsinta, which is like a rolled up crepe with your choice of filling and costs around 1 EUR too. It’s called Palacsinta but it tastes like love. HAHAHAHA, that’s what my friend said.
In Romania, street food is pretty cheap too. A Covrigi (something similar to pretzels) only cost around 1 RON /0.22 EUR and a placinta (a flat cake usually filled with cheese) costs around 3 R0N/0.66 EUR. If you want something more savoury, Turkish food such as Kebas and Shaorma cost around 4 EUR.
In South Italy, a Margherita pizza costs around 3 euros but the more expensive ones like Quattro Stagioni can cost up to 7 EUR. Other street food like cuoppo (fried seafood), is around 3 to 5 EUR. Cuoppo is a definite must try if you are in Naples and you LOVE seafood!
If you think that street food might be too unhealthy for you, go ahead, get your groceries from a supermarket. Some of the supermarkets also have a cooked food section and the food there are usually the same, if not, cheaper than street food. Of course if you have the luxury of a stove, buying groceries and cooking in Europe can save you a hell lot of money!
Accommodation: Couchsurfing
As you all know, I have been using Couchsurfing since the day I started travelling.
Couchsurfing is a community where you can stay with locals in the country you visit. All you have to do is post an open request to look for a couch or send requests to the local hosts for a place to stay. Cs is completely free and it works like a culture exchange platform.
I know there are many people who are still quite skeptical about CS, especially in Europe. And yes, I have heard really bad stories about CS in Europe but that doesn’t mean that the whole community is like that. No doubt, there are some people on CS that treat it like a dating site, but trust me, that’s only the minority. 99% of the people I met or surfed the couch of were really great. One thing to always make sure of is to check their references. I never request the couch of anyone who has almost nothing written on their profiles and with no references at all. Or you can always ask your friends to recommend some Couchsurfers whom they know and that always works out great.
I absolutely love Cs because almost everyone on that platform has a similar mindset towards life and it is so easy to click with people who float on the same frequency as you. I have met so many amazing people from all walks of life on Cs and I wouldn’t change it for the world.
Accommodation: Hostelworld
Well, I did not stay in any hostels in Europe because it was way too expensive. I did stay in hostels on my Asia trips but not for Europe. If you budget allows, I suggest using hostelworld to book your hostels.
Public transport
In some European countries, you can use Blablacar to get around the different cities. Blablacar is basically a carpooling/ridesharing service for long distances. It saves you alot of money if time is not of a concern for you. To get from country to country, I used Wizzair and Ryanair. My flight ticket from Rome, Italy to Bucharest, Romania was only 20 EUR/30 SGD. Trains are another way to get around, but they are also pretty costly in my opinion. Pretty sure I spent most of my money on trains around Italy hahahaha. Train tickets can always be bought at the train stations or you could book it online just to be safe. I heard from people that buying the Eurail can help you save alot. However, there is a limited time to use the pass and I am not a fan of rushing through the places I visit.
Additional info
Booze and cigarettes are pretty cheap too. Beers are between 0.8 to 5 Euro for a pint and for a full pack of cigarettes, it ranges from 3 Euro to 6 Euro depending on the brand and where you get them from. Roll your ciggs, it saves you a lot more.
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Of course, This post is all based on my own personal experience during my 2 months in Europe. The content here is definitely not exhaustive and I am pretty sure I am gonna discover even more ways to travel on a budget if I backpack to Europe again.
But that’s all folks! For now.
xx
Solo Expeditions 