1. Understand the local public transport concessions
Every city usually has its own tourist transit prices. For example, there are package deals for subway fare in Paris, such as daily price or bulk purchase discounts. In Berlin, there is even free-for-your-peer promotion during holidays. Although transit costs only very few euro per ticket, if you are traveling a lot and making use of the promotions, you can actually save up a lot of money! You can do some homework before starting your backpacking across Europe, or ask station personnel or locals when you are there and either way, you will be able to save a lot on transit!
It is many people's dream to go backpacking across Europe, but often time they stopped thinking about it when it comes to budget planning. Last summer I went backpacking in Europe with a friend for two months, all the way from Paris to Frankfurt. We prefer taking our time and travel slowly and eventually we covered six countries and 11 major cities. We also managed to complete this backpacking trip with NT$ 100,000, which is about SGD 4,500. It was easier than we have imagined, and we enjoyed ourselves a lot! Therefore here are three good money saving tips that I would like to share on backpacking across Europe, and I believe that you can soon go on your own Europe trip too!
2. An expensive flight ticket should be bought half a year before the flight!
It is many people's dream to go backpacking across Europe, but often time they stopped thinking about it when it comes to budget planning. Last summer I went backpacking in Europe with a friend for two months, all the way from Paris to Frankfurt. We prefer taking our time and travel slowly and eventually we covered six countries and 11 major cities. We also managed to complete this backpacking trip with NT$ 100,000, which is about SGD 4,500. It was easier than we have imagined, and we enjoyed ourselves a lot! Therefore here are three good money saving tips that I would like to share on backpacking across Europe, and I believe that you can soon go on your own Europe trip too!
2. An expensive flight ticket should be bought half a year before the flight!
In fact, buying round-trip tickets to Europe in advance will be much cheaper than usual. If you have decided on your schedule, quickly take advantage of the period when fare is low. Right after you have decided to backpack across Europe, seek advice from travel agents to help you find the cheapest and most suitable flight solution. The ticket that I bought, which first arrived at Paris and then departed from Frankfurt, costs only about NT$ 20,000. I have also encountered even cheaper tickets, but the schedule could not fit in. If it is the peak season of tourism, flight ticket prices will increase very fast when it gets closer to the departure date itself.
3. Try a different type of accommodation
We were having the mentality to save money and to try out different things, therefore we decided to try out CouchSurfing while backpacking across Europe. We were lucky to have met great hosts along the way. If you are brave enough, CouchSurfing is definitely the cheapest and most interesting experience, but of course you should take care of your own safety all the time. In cities in Western Europe, the cheapest accommodation costs at least 20 euros. Going CouchSurfing saved us a lot of money and therefore we could spend much more on food and entertainment. Other options such as Airbnb and Youth Hostel are great choices too. Airbnb could be cheaper than Youth Hostel if you are traveling in big group. Besides, there might be more promotions when you book in advance. Use Hostelworld wisely to compare all the hostel prices at one glance, you can always save more when you do multiple comparison.
