
I would love to be someone that goes on holiday with an unlimited amount of money, not have to count every cent I spent while I’m away. Unfortunately that is never going to be me and even when I’m only on a week’s holiday I still have to budget how much I have to spend each and every day. On my latest trip to Greece I kept track of every penny I spent because I wanted to see just how much travel in Europe from the UK really costs. Here are my results:
The Costs
Flights
Glasgow to Kos return with 20kg baggage via Easyjet
Cost: £136/€164 per a person
Food on the plane
Cost: £13/€16
Accommodation
Airbnb Property based on two people sharing a double room, located a few km from Kos Town
Cost: £121/€146 per a person
Food
Dinner: 7 nights – 6 x restaurant meal 1 x self-catering meal – each includes a beer and 10% tip (based on two people sharing dinner i.e. buying a few cheaper dishes to share)
Cost £74/€89 per a person
Lunch: 7 x restaurant meal – each includes a 5-10% tip and drink (also based on two people sharing as above)
Cost: £52/€63 per a person
Breakfast: 7 x self-catering – bought from the local supermarket
Cost: £8/€10 per a person
Drinks: Extra beer, soft drink and water
Cost: £11/€13 per a person
Total Cost: £145/€175
Transport
Taxi: Kos Town to Airport and Glasgow Airport to our flat – price based on two people splitting the fare
Cost:£23/€28 per a person
Car Rental: We rented a car for one day – insurance included, based on two people sharing and petrol costs
Cost: £21/€25 per a person
Attractions
Entrance to two ancient sites
Cost: £6/€7
Return boat trip to Turkey – including tax
Cost: £20/€24
Souvenirs
Painting, shot glasses, fridge magnet, postcards, stamps, clothes in Bodrum
Cost:£30/€36
The TOTAL: £515/€621
This breaks down to £64.37/€77.63 per a day including flights, accommodation and day to day spending and based on two people sharing.
If you take away flights and accommodation the total is £258/€311 for the week which breaks down to £32.25/€38.88 for day to day spending.
The Verdict
A little over £500 for a week in Europe including flights and accommodation sounds like a pretty good deal to me! I was able to spread out the flight and accommodation costs in the months before I went and then only needed the spending money when it came to holiday time. Being able to spread the costs out makes a holiday much more affordable for most people.
We could have saved more money by:
- Taking our own food on the plane – they really do let food through security so you could even bring home made sandwiches.
- Not buying so many souvenirs – did we really need to send postcards?!
- Cooking more self-catering meals or searching for cheaper restaurants – unfortunately visiting in shoulder season meant not everywhere was open neither did we find any street food/markets
- Possibly staying in a hostel dorm room – however I have not researched this so cannot confirm a hostel would have been cheaper
This posts really was what I had been looking for for a while – I’m planning a backpacker trip to the Greek Islands this summer and wanted to know just how big a budget I could expect 🙂 And to me it looks like you guys had a nice time in Kos..
I had a minor panic attack yesterday about how much money I’d need for my week to Puerto del Carmen. It wasn’t my choice of destination(!) so didn’t have time to plan budgets, but this has put me at ease. And looks like you had a great time!
#greece #one day i will go there…