How much does a 2 month Europe Road Trip Cost?
The total cost of a 2 month Road Trip in Europe from our experience is €5199.12 for 2 people. This road trip was done starting on the 23rd of August 2016 and lasted for 60 days. Here are some quick facts about this fantastic adventure.
Duration: 2 months
Countries visited: 11
Milage: 8186KM
Number of people: 2
Total Cost: €5199.12c
Here’s a full breakdown for all costs we incurred in these 2 months:
transportation €2,052.55
entertainment €1,059.41
accommodation €1,029.59
food €859.28
alcohol & tobacco €116.73
others €31.59
clothing & beauty €30.63
medical €19.34
Therefore, when considering the basics, Transportation, Accommodation and Food, the real cost for doing the road trip was €3941.42c.
Here is a breakdown of each category
Transportation costs for Road Trip
Transportation was the main expense during the road trip which covered 39% of the total expense, making it €2052.55c. The main idea behind the road trip was to enjoy our 2 seater convertible in long and winding roads, so therefore we didn’t rent a car. Therefore, the above cost doesn’t include the cost for car rent, we’ve used our own car, so renting a car can add up to at least €30-50 daily, depending on where you rent it from.
Below if a break down for this number.
fuel € 849
ferry € 671
insurance € 335
highway toll € 157
bus € 23
parking € 11
train € 7
Fuel expenses
The main expense was the fuel which cost €848.58c. Considering, this is not a huge expense. We covered 8186KM in a Mazda MX-5 with a 1.8Liter Petrol engine (that wasn’t being driven at modest speeds). We averaged 34.5mpg which is much higher than the average I get in my home country, 24.7mpg.
Ferry
A total of €671 was spent on ferries, including the 2 of us, and the car. We started this journey from Malta, which is an island, that has greatly increased the cost of all the trip. In fact, the most expensive being the trip from Malta to Sicily and back at €419 with Virtu Ferries. The other ferry which is mandatory if you are crossing from Sicily to Italy or vice versa is €38 each way. So if you are not Maltese and not leaving from Malta you can deduct these 2 ferries from the total basic cost, lucky you! Getting to Albania from Italy Bari was by a 10 hour night ferry which cost €172. Therefore if leaving from mainland Europe, and don’t need any ferries, your total cost for transport would be €1,382.
Insurance
The car insurance I work with in Malta is Gasan Mamo. The car is insured fully comprehensive, including the services of tow trucks if needed. I extended this insurance to cover overseas travel. The first month of travel was given for free, but to extend it for a further month I had to pay. The cost of the insurance was €335. This included the service fee for given us the Green card that included all the countries we wanted to visit. The use of a Green Card is mandatory in countries that are not within the European Union, such as Albania and Bosnia.
Highway Tolls
The total amount spent on highway tolls through the 11 countries we been to was €156.62. The most expensive highway tolls are the ones in Italy because you have to pay per highway toll. Crossing Italy from north to south can cost you as much as €80 in highway tolls. You can try to avoid highway tolls by passing from the suburbs. A highway toll from Bologna to Rome was €27 but from Rome to Naples we managed to avoid the highways. The cheapest highway toll passes were in Bosnia & Herzegovina, in which we crossed north to south in a week spending only €4.85c in tolls. Austria has a package toll system for a week for only €8.80, but passing through the highway to Italy and using certain isolated mountain roads resulted in spending another €17 in tolls. Slovakia, Slovenia and Czech Republic all had a one week or 10 day package in which you only pay €10, €15 and €12 respectively. For the uninitiated, this system is called ‘Vignette’ and it does a great job at reducing the delays when entering a highway.
Other methods of transport & parking
We have stayed outside the cities most of the time to avoid paying ridiculous amounts for parking, and having a hotel in the city centre which has free parking is much more expensive. So we have only spent a total of €21.40c in parking. Having said that, this doesn’t mean that we’ve avoided cities all together, instead we parked the car outside the city, and then went to the centre by train or buses. This cost us €30.51c.
Entertainment costs
The second highest expense during the road trip was Entertainment. These weren’t things that are relevant to the road trip as such, but activities that we did in different countries just to have fun. These expenses have added €1,059.41 to the overall cost.
Below is a full break down of these costs:
Hot air balloon € 341
We Glided over Lake Heviz in a Hot Air Balloon, Hungary, this experience was definitely one of the highlights of the whole trip.
Montenegro tour € 200
We went on 2 private tours in Montenegro. One which was the best of central Montenegro in which we spent the whole day enjoying the counties highlights and the other one which took us back in time to the old towns of Kotor and Budva.
River cruises € 144
We did a river cruise in Hungary, Budapest, as well as Czech Republic in Prague to explore the wonders of the city from another angle. In fact it was one of the top things to see and do in Budapest.
Budapest tour € 75
This was a tour to explore magnificent Budapest in 3 hours.
White Water Rafting € 70
A great experience was in Bosnia & Herzegovina where we white water rafted through the beautiful River Neretva.
Isola Garda tour € 54
Discovering the wonders of Isola del Garda | Italy was an amazing tour of a privatized villa which is rich in history.
Escape € 52
We always love to play a game of Escape, a real life game which involves team work. A game which we did in both Hungary and Czech Republic. In fact the escape was one of the top things to Czech out in Prague.
Boat tour € 40
This amazing boat tour allowed us to explore Budvas 35km Riviera by boat
Cave € 32
One of the highlights while in Slovenia, was exploring another dimension of Slovenia- the Skocjan Caves. A massive cave system in the earth with waterfalls, stalactites and stalagmites.
SPA & Massage € 29
Heviz hosts the 2nd largest thermal lake in the world, so while we were there we indulged in a relaxing day at the spa and had a massage. In fact it was one of the one of our top 5 highlights in Hungary.
Mini golf € 10
We played mini golf in the dark and it was one of the top things to Czech out in Prague.
Bunk art € 7
Bunk art was a museum that we have visited in Bosnia & Herzegovina which has helped us to understand the history and the war of the country.
Others €4
Other included exhibition tips or entrance fees.
Accommodation costs
Accommodation is another basic which adds up to 26% of the total cost. In total we spent €1019.59c in accommodation for 7 weeks. Why 7 weeks not 8? Because we had 7 nights of free accommodation, being a free night of wild camping, 2 nights crashing Luke’s parent’s hotel, and another 4 nights staying with friends. The most expensive hotel we stayed in was in Austria which was €43, on average the accommodation was €20 per night for both of us. We weren’t picky however, we did sleep 18 times out of 60 days in a dormitory which helped in keeping costs low. Having said that, we still maintain our privacy as most accommodation we selected was in a private room.
Food costs
Food took up the rest, 21% of the total expense. We spent €859.28c in total. We never dined out in high class restaurants and thanks to our friends hospitality we saved at least 4 lunches and 4 dinners. We had a little stove which helped save money since we sometimes cooked on it, we spent €257 in groceries. Eating out for both lunch and dinner cost €503.62c when dining out in restaurants or take aways. The rest were spent on coffee and refreshments, €98.67c.
This break down is for the total cost of 2 people for a 2 month road trip in Europe.
You can save more money if you:
You are more than 2 people, this will help split the transportation costs, if you are travelling in a bigger car.
If you choose to travel the eastern part of Europe. Countries in the eastern part tend to be more expensive. We had a balance between expensive countries like Austria, Italy and Germany, mid-range countries like Montenegro and Slovenia and cheap ones like Bosnia, Albania. If you go more eastern like Romania and Bulgaria, your costs can be greatly reduced.
If you camp in the wild more often because campsites can cost as much as €15 a night, or sleep at friends’ houses.
If you cook more often because dining out can be pricey.
