Budget Travel: How to Travel in Europe on €40 a Day – The Ultimate Guide

Traveling Cheap Doesn't Mean Traveling Badly

Budget travel is often associated with noisy hostels, bad food, and constant sacrifices. But the reality is very different: traveling on a budget forces you to be creative, to interact with locals, to discover authentic places that tourists with unlimited budgets never find. In this guide, we show you how to really do it, with real figures and tested strategies.

The Realistic Daily Budget by City

Here is an estimate of how much it costs to live well in some European cities on a tight budget:

• Lisbon: €35-45/day (hostel: €18, lunch+dinner: €12, transport: €5)
• Budapest: €30-40/day – one of the cheapest capitals in Europe
• Prague: €35-45/day
• Krakow: €25-35/day – the cheapest destination on our list
• Berlin: €45-55/day
• Barcelona: €50-65/day (more expensive but with great free museums)
• Amsterdam: €60-75/day – hard to go below this

Accommodation: How to Find Quality Cheap Places

Hostels are not all the same. To find the best ones:

• Hostelworld and Booking.com: always compare prices on both platforms
• Look for hostels with a score above 8.5 out of 10 for the cleanliness/security ratio
• Couchsurfing: still active and free. A cultural experience as well as an economic one
• Workaway and Worldpackers: work 4-5 hours a day in exchange for room and board
• Airbnb for groups: an apartment divided among 3-4 people often costs less than a hostel

Low-Cost Flights: How to Find the Best Fares

The main trick for cheap flights is flexibility. If you can shift your dates by a few days, the savings can be 40-70%. Tools to use:

• Google Flights + explore map: great for finding cheap destinations from your city
• Skyscanner "everywhere": shows the cheapest destinations from an airport on a given date
• Ryanair, Wizz Air, easyJet: booking 6-8 weeks in advance gives the best prices
• Fare errors: follow accounts like @SecretFlying on Twitter for absurdly cheap flights

Golden rule: book the hotel/hostel with free cancellation AFTER finding the flight. Never the other way around.

Food: Eating Well While Spending Little

Food is where most travelers waste money unnecessarily. Effective strategies:

• Breakfast at the local supermarket: yogurt, fruit, and bread cost 1-2€ compared to 8-15€ at a tourist cafe
• Lunch at a restaurant, dinner from the supermarket: weekday lunches offer the best value for money
• Local food markets: La Boqueria in Barcelona, Naschmarkt in Vienna, Marché d'Aligre in Paris
• Apps like Too Good To Go: unsold food from restaurants and bakeries for 2-4€ a bag

Free Culture and Attractions

In every European city, there is an enormous wealth of culture accessible for free:

• Free walking tours: available in almost all capitals, paid with a voluntary tip
• Free museums: London (British Museum, National Gallery, V&A, Tate Modern – all free), Berlin (free museums for under 18s), Rome (first Sunday of the month)
• Outdoor UNESCO sites: most are accessible for free
• Historic public libraries: often magnificent and free, with breathtaking reading rooms

Urban Transport: Never Pay for a Taxi

• Always buy daily/weekly public transport tickets: very convenient compared to single tickets
• Blablacar for intercity travel: often cheaper than the train and faster than the bus
• Flixbus: extensive network in Europe, rock-bottom prices if booked in advance
• For flat cities: rental bicycles (Lime, Voi, city bikes) cost 1-3€ per hour