How to travel Europe CHEAP in 2023 (Learn from my mistakes)

there's no denying it Europe is one of the most expensive continents to travel around especially with the recent rise in prices but luckily I am just back from a four month backpacking trip across Europe and I thought I'd let you in on some of my secrets on how to travel Europe cheap starting with a basic but necessary tip and that is to bring a reusable water bottle with you so many major European cities have free water fans and scattered around the place which means you'll be saving yourself three to four Euro every few hours when you need to stay hydrated ATM machines that are in all the major European cities and they quite literally flash at you to try to get you over but usually it costs four to five euro to take cash out from them instead I recommend finding a bank seeing if there's an ATM attached to it and they usually have much cheaper with trophies next on the list is accommodation so I recommend staying in either hostels or airbnbs depending on your travel style if you're Solo Traveler then hostels are the best way to meet friends and travel Europe affordably you can't stay in dormitories but you can also stay in a private room it's going to be a little bit more expensive but a lot more affordable than hotels anyone who does want to stay in hostels I do have a blog post in the description down below featuring all the hostels that I stayed in my trip some of them I absolutely loved and some of them not so much so if you're looking for advice that's definitely a good blog post to check out if you're traveling in a group of friends then airbnbs are a great option because you can split the cost of the Airbnb by the amount of people that you have in your group and that brings us on to our next tip which is try to cook some of your own food I found this handy dandy lunchbox on Amazon brought it before my trip I had three of them in total and it literally folds down to this size and then you can open it up pop it out put your food in it and store it in the fridge if you are going to be eating item restaurants obviously going to be a lot more expensive I do recommend checking out some street food vendors because a lot more affordable food and sometimes equally as delicious okay tip number five is choose your mode of Transport before going on your trip so there are so many different ways to get around Europe and some of it is quite affordable you have train travel bus travel budget Airlines blah blah cars Ubers the list is endless but obviously they all add up eventually personally I used inch Rail and then flixbooks to get around and a lot of people argue that a rail pass that you pre-buy is more expensive than buying individual trains and yes I will agree to an extent if you pre-plan your trip months in advance however interrail gives you the flexibility to kind of travel around freely and also not spend a huge amount of money I personally got a continuous pass I used it to get from A to B and also for day trips and a cost on average six euro per day so honestly very budget friendly and a nice fun beautiful way to get around Europe flixbus is also a great way to get around if you're looking for something even more budget friendly because some bosses can be equivalent of like six Euro but just know it takes a lot longer to get places and it's just not as comfortable personally I prefer Comfort over you know saving a Euro or two and that brings us on to tip number six if you do decide to travel by train there are two different types of trains you can get high-speed trains and Regional trains high-speed trains are far more expensive because you always have to book a seat reservation where Regional trains they're a lot cheaper to get around it does take you longer to get to the destination we have beautiful views on the way and they're usually included in a rail pass system like interrail where you don't have to book a seat reservation so that's definitely one to go for if you're trying to save some money while traveling around Europe okay and finally if you are again going to be using trains to get around night trains are a nice affordable way to do that because basically you're paying for your train ticket and also your bed for the night in in one go so it's a nice affordable way not to have to pay for accommodation that night and wake up in a brand new country or a brand new city again quite cheap if you're using the intrail pass and if you are curious about how nitrine's work I do have a video on my night train experience so that's a good one to check out tip number eight is walk as much as possible as most European cities are quite walkable and you know it saves you so much money you could end up spending 10 to 15 Euro a day just getting around in public transport so try walk if you can it's the most affordable way to get around the city and you never know what you might still move on okay tip number nine and this might be one that you're like how's this save me money but parking light saves so much money I promise first off if you're going to be getting budget Airlines bringing a 10 kg carry-on bag is a lot more affordable than bringing the 20 kg under the hold bag and then another thing you might not think about is getting from A to B with your luggage so if you bring a light backpack it means you can walk from your accommodation from the train station or the bus station you know you usually last about 30 to 40 minutes with a backpack on if it's light however if you have a heavier backpack you're going to be opting in to get an Ubers and public transport which of course bunks up the cost of traveling around Europe okay tip number 10 be mindful of your budget before you go so this might seem like a simple one but before you set off on your trip to Europe make sure you have a budget in mind maybe a lower tier and a top tier and hopefully you'll spend in the middle it just means that you know you have an idea on how much you want to spend a day and it just means you won't go over budget and it's going to be a lot more affordable charge that way if you're curious on how much it costs to travel around Europe I do have a video on how much I spent on my four in one trip so be sure to check that one out if you are looking to stay on top of your budget but not be too anal by keeping a spreadsheet or something having a good bank card system is a great way to start I recommend revolud it keeps track of all your spending every day and tallies it up and tells you how much you spent it also has a budget tracker in there you can tell it I want to spend 2 000 Euro a month and when you're getting close to spending over that or getting close to that range it will notify you and it also has great exchange rates for currencies they currently have a promotion on as well if you order a card you get it for free and cashback of 10 euros so Link in the description to that deal okay so tip number 13 and that is SIM card so how to get your phone to work while in Europe luckily for me I'm Irish and my phone just works as normal anywhere in the EU but unfortunately for international Travelers that is not the case and I met so many friends while they were traveling where they purchased their SIM card in the airport or train stations don't do that it costs so much more money you're better off waiting until you get into the City and finding a local Vodafone store or other phone network that that country offers and buying your sim from them if that country is in the EU in Terry that SIM card should work all over Europe as long as you're in an EU country so good thing is just wait till you get to the city it's a lot more affordable okay tip number 14 is one that I'm kind of sad to give you but if you are traveling in peak season I recommend pre-booking your accommodation I found out the hard way that it is not possible to be easy breezy and flexible that's how I like to travel but unfortunately the hostels were just getting more and more expensive the closer I got to the date and about a month then I panicked and pre-booked everywhere most hostels of your book into hostile world or brookings.com or Airbnb be your hotels they have free cancellation up to 48 Hours beforehand so you can still be a little bit flexible but not fully flexible but it is a lot more affordable to pre-book your accommodation if you're traveling on the peak months which brings us to our next tip if you do want to have an affordable holiday and you don't want to pre-book all your accommodation and you want to have complete flexibility travel in the off season it's a lot more affordable once you're not there in Peak summer you're going to be able to be a little bit more flexible with your time and a little bit more flexible with your money so off season travel is honestly such a fun way to go I was in Croatia in May and everything was a fraction of the price that it is in summer which is amazing before we dive into the next tip I just want to say thank you so much for watching and I would really appreciate a big thumbs up like or a comment or even a cheeky subscribe it really helps my channel to grow tip number 16 is Eastern Europe versus Western Europe obviously it is considered terribly cheaper to go to Eastern European countries that's what I decided to do I tried to stay out of the West as much as possible because it is far more expensive Eastern Europe is such a beautiful place to explore along with Central Europe southern Europe but once you get to the west and the Nordic countries far more expensive and you know you're going to have to increase your budget which brings us on to the next tip be mindful and be aware of the costs of each country that you want to visit so if you want to keep your trip nice and cheap don't go to places like Amsterdam and expect to spend you know 20 Euro a day it's not going to be possible so you just have to be mindful and be flexible you can still visit Amsterdam but just know there's going to be considerably more expensive than visiting the likes of Krakoff in Poland and that brings us on to tip 18. so be mindful of your route before you go I'm not saying you have to completely plan it especially you're in the off season and you don't have to pre-book accommodation with there's no point deciding to do Italy and then go up to Poland and then decide I'm going to go to Switzerland and then be like oh wait I want to go to Croatia because they're jotted all over the continent and it just it's going to be a lot more expensive getting trains from all different places instead of doing a nice planned out route and you know it's a lot more affordable if you're traveling a shorter distance okay next is don't just visit cities so yes Europe is famous for its amazing beautiful cities but there's also some incredible Landscapes right on the doorsteps of some cities too that you can go visit and accommodation in those places are a fraction of the price for example I visited sakapane annasie in France you know I went to cliffy's National Park in Croatia and all these beautiful locations the hostels were basically half price compared to the cities so that's a good way to save money and also get out of the cities and have a little bit of a nature break okay next is be familiar with some discounts that you might be able to get so student rates under 25 rates in Europe often there's loads of discounts for that if you have an intra pass there's usually tons of discounts you can get with interrail one of my favorite was the 10 discount that you get would get your guide which means that you can book loads of Tours with 10 to schedule which obviously saves you loads of money tip number 21 and that is free walking tours do not underestimate them they are packed with knowledge so much fun you might make a new friend while you're doing them and they're free so perfect way to save some money while you're in Europe but just don't forget to tip the college because you know they deserve a little bit of a thank you but obviously it is much more cheaper just give them a five or ten Euro tip and then pay for a 40 Euro tour tip number 22 this is mostly for those solo Travelers watching but try to make some friends when you make a group of friends in a hostel and you're going out in cities together or on the coast it's a lot more affordable to split the cost of things for example in havar we spend 17 Euro each on a boat for the entire day between five people in the Czech Republic I met people at my hostel we decided to rent a car together and go to a national park there's so many different ways that you can divide and split that cost between friends in Lake bled I made friends and we ended up cooking dinner together every single night so our dinner was costing like one Euro each a day so a lot more affordable to make friends and split the cost that way and tip number 23 is to do with alcohol I do understand when you're traveling you're going to want to go out and party and meet people but just be considerate on how much money you're spending on alcohol because it really does add up personally I'm not a huge drinker so I didn't spend a huge amount on that but I did meet people while traveling that were spending 10 to 20 Euro a day on alcohol because they liked the party every night now I'm not saying party every night is not something you can do but there is also affordable ways to do it don't go to the nightclubs don't go to the bars buy a few drinks in the supermarket have the drinks in the hostel and then maybe you can go to a bar and Nightclub afterwards and buy one drink but you know you're doing it in an affordable way and last but not least the final tip prioritize what you want to do it's all well and good to say I'm going to go to Europe and I'm going to travel so cheap and I'm going to spend 40 Euro a day and that's it I'm going to be so strict to myself but the reality is you're in Europe it's a once in a lifetime opportunity to be traveling around so don't stomp on experiences that you really want to have go kayaking if you want to do that day tour that you really wanted to do don't be so strict on your budget that you're going to regret missing out on opportunities that are fun and exciting because as I said it's once in a lifetime and yeah have the best time that you can this brings us to the end of the video I hope you enjoyed and if you did you might like my how much I spent on my Europe trip video next as always thank you so much for watching and don't forget to like comment and subscribe see you in the next one bye

Channel: Laura Grace - Live Adventure Travel

Views: 207,588

Keywords: how to travel europe cheap, how to travel europe on a budget, europe travel tips, backpacking europe, how to travel europe, how to travel around europe cheap, Travel Europe Cheap in 2023

Id: EKvhL-8kWF4

Length: 14min 8sec (848 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 24 2022