Travel to Europe is not cheap. Everything from accommodation to transportation to food is expensive in Europe. People save money for years to go on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Europe.
But travel to Europe does not have to be that expensive. If planned and researched beforehand and willing to sacrifice a little bit of comfort, a trip to Europe can be done on a budget. It won’t get cheap like in South Asian countries but it won’t be so expensive either that you have to think twice about another visit to Europe.
We did it on budget. We spent ~INR 3,25,000 on our 15 days trip to Austria and Prague (Czech Republic). This amount includes all expenses – airfares, visa, hotel accommodation, activities, internal travel, food, and shopping.
Also Read: “Top money-saving tips on Europe travel”
Table of Contents
Our 15 Days Austria And Prague Itinerary
- Day 1: Flight to Vienna, Austria
- Day 2: Day trip to Bratislava (UFO observation deck, old town)
- Day 3: Vienna sightseeing (Natural History Museum, admiring historical buildings from outside – Hofburg Palace, Opera House, and Parliament building, St. Stephen’s Cathedral, St. Peters Church, St. Charles Church)
- Day 4: Vienna sightseeing (Schonbrunn Palace and Gardens, Time Travel Vienna, Prater Amusement Park)
- Day 5: Vienna sightseeing (Schonbrunn Zoo); Evening train to Salzburg, Austria
- Day 6: Salzburg sightseeing (Untersberg Mountain, Hellbrunn Palace and Trick Fountain, Hohensalzburg Fortress)
- Day 7: Early morning train to Hallstatt, Austria; Hallstatt sightseeing (Salt Mine Tour, Skywalk)
- Day 8: Hallstatt sightseeing (Dachstein Ice Cave Tour); Train to Innsbruck, Austria
- Day 9: Innsbruck sightseeing (Nordkette, Audiversum, Swarovski Crystal World)
- Day 10: Day trip to Zugspitze (German side)
- Day 11: Early morning train to Munich, Germany; Day trip to Neuschwanstein Castle
- Day 12: Train to Prague, Czech Republic
- Day 13: Prague sightseeing (Old Town, Charles Bridge, Petrin Tower, Prague Castle)
- Day 14: Prague sightseeing (Prague Zoo, Thrill Park)
- Day 15: Train to Vienna; Flight to Delhi.
Also Read: Austria Travel Guide
Where We Saved The Money
Airfare
The actual roundtrip Delhi-Vienna-Delhi flight cost was ~ INR 1,33,000 for two persons but we only paid ~INR 40,000. I used credit card points accumulated on my HDFC Infinia credit card for flight booking which allows up to 70% of the cost redeemable by points. We saved a whopping INR 90,000 in just airfare and the trip hadn’t even started.
Accommodation
Accommodation is expensive in Europe. A 3-star hotel room starts from INR 10,000 in most cities. We chose to stay in Airbnbs that were not only cheaper than hotels but also well-maintained with clean rooms and bathrooms. We had booked Airbnb for all our nights except for one night in Hallstatt where we had to book a hotel room due to lack of Airbnb options.
All our accomodations were booked 3-4 months in advance to get the best price. We paid INR 88,500 for 14 nights which is ~INR 6,300 per night.
Intercity Travel
We booked trains for the intercity travel except for day trips to Bratislava and Zugspitze for which we booked buses. Trains and buses follow a dynamic pricing model. That means the earliest you buy a ticket the cheapest it will be.
We booked train tickets around 1.5 months in advance for the lowest price. The tickets were non-refundable but that didn’t bother us as we had planned the itinerary well in advance. Had we booked the train on the same day of travel, we would have paid at least 2X amount of money for the same train ticket.
Additionally, we didn’t reserve any seats on trains except when we travelled on weekends. That means we were not assigned any seats and we could sit on any unreserved seats we liked. A seat reservation generally costs about EUR 2 (~INR 180) and is a waste of money as trains are not full most of the time. Weekends or holidays are the only time when trains may get full and reservation is recommended then.
I research a lot when I plan an itinerary like how I can save money on transportation and that helped a long way when I booked train tickets. Like, I used the Czech Railways website to book tickets for Munich-Prague and Prague-Vienna routes instead of other booking platforms which saved us about EUR 100 (~INR 9,000). Similarly, we got to know about the Bayern ticket that can be used for unlimited train, bus, and S-bahn travel in the Bavaria state of Germany for a day that saved us another EUR 120 (~INR 10,800) on a day trip to Neuschwanstein Castle.
Intracity Travel
We bought travel passes in Vienna and Prague that offer unlimited use of public transport for the given period. For our 4-day stay in Vienna, we bought a weekly pass for EUR 17.1 (~INR 1,540) whereas a single ticket costs EUR 2.4 (~ INR 215). That means we had to use public transport only 8 times during our stay to recover the pass cost. I think we may have travelled that much in a day itself. You can see how city travel passes helped in huge cost savings.
Also Read: Prague Travel Guide
City Cards
Not all city cards are worth buying but Salzburg and Innsbruck city cards are must-buy. These cards do not only include free one-time entry to famous attractions but also include unlimited use of public transport.
Salzburg Card
We bought a 24-hour Salzburg Card for EUR 24 (~INR 2,160) per person. The actual cost is EUR 30 (~INR 2,770) but we got a 20% discount through booking on Pelago.
These are the places we visited in Salzburg in one day:-
- Untersberg Mountain – EUR 28 or ~ INR 2,520 (Roundtrip cable car)
- Hellbrunn Palace and Trick Fountains: EUR 15 or ~INR 1,350 (Entry ticket)
- Hohensalzburg Fortress: EUR 14 or ~INR 1,260 (Roundtrip furnicular ticket)
You see 90% of the card cost was recovered in Untersberg Mountain itself. We saved EUR 35 (~INR 3,150) per person on attraction costs alone. The actual cost savings were much more if we consider public transport costs as well.
Innsbruck Card
We bought a 24-hour Innsbruck Card for EUR 53 (~INR 4,770) per person. EUR 29 (~INR 2,600) per person was saved in attraction costs. These are the places we visited in Innsbruck in one day:-
- Nordkette Mountain – EUR 47 or ~INR 4,230 (roundtrip cable car ticket)
- Audioversum Museum – EUR 12 or ~INR 1,080 (Entry ticket)
- Swarovski Crystal World – EUR 23 or ~INR 2,070 (Entry ticket), EUR 11 or ~INR 990 (roundtrip shuttle ticket)
Food
We had brought Haldiram and Yu ready-to-eat products as we were unsure of the availability of Vegetarian options. That helped us save a few bucks on food costs. But we won’t be bringing lots of these on future Europe trips as there was no such problem in finding vegetarian options.
Soft drinks were expensive in restaurants (EUR 3-4 or ~INR 270 – 360 for a small glass). Ketchup was also not served complimentary with burgers and instead cost around 50 cents (~INR 45) for a small quantity. We purchased a ketchup bottle, soft drinks and other things at very cheap prices from Supermarket chains like Billa or Lidl. We once bought a 450 gm ketchup bottle and 1 litre Pepsi bottle for just EUR 2 (~INR 180) from Billa.
Expense Breakdown
| Expense | Cost (INR) |
|---|---|
| Delhi – Vienna – Delhi Air India flight x2 | ~40,200 |
| 4-night stay at Airbnb in Vienna | ~19,800 |
| 2-night stay at Pension Elisabeth Rooms and Apartments in Salzburg | ~13,600 |
| 1-night stay at Hotel Weisses Lamm in Hallstatt | ~11,900 |
| 3-night stay at Airbnb in Innsbruck | ~24,000 |
| 1-night stay at Airbnb in Munich | ~5,500 |
| 3-night stay at Airbnb in Prague | ~13,000 |
| 6 train tickets x2 (Vienna – Salzburg, Salzburg – Hallstatt, Hallstatt – Innsbruck, Innsbruck – Munich, Munich – Prague, Prague – Vienna) | ~22,000 |
| Vienna – Bratislava – Vienna bus x2 | ~1,800 |
| Flix bus Innsbruck – Garmisch Partenkirchen (Zugspitze) – Innsbruck x2 | ~3,200 |
| Vienna weekly transportation card x2 | ~3,000 |
| Activity in Bratislava, Slovakia x2 (UFO observation deck) | ~2,100 |
| Activities in Vienna x2 (Natural History Museum, Time Travel Vienna, Schonnbrunn Zoo, Ferris Wheel and Horror Psycho ride at Prater Amusement Park) | ~14,000 |
| Salzburg Card x2 | ~4,400 |
| Activities in Hallstatt x2 (Salt Mine Tour, Dachstein Ice Cave Tour) | ~15,000 |
| Innsbruck Card x2 | ~9,300 |
| Zugspitze ticket x2 | ~12,000 |
| Prague 72-hours transportation ticket x2 | ~2,300 |
| Activities in Prague (Thrill Park, Petrin Tower, Prague Zoo) x2 | ~9,600 |
| Misc. | ~6,000 |
| Food | ~48,400 |
| Visa x2 | ~20,000 |
| Travel Insurance | ~2,300 |
| Local Sim Card | ~1,400 |
| Gifts and Souvenir | ~13,700 |
| Total | ~3,25,000 |
How much did you spend on your Europe trip? Feel free to share in the comments below.
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