Last Updated: 02/10/20 | February 10th, 2020
When most people check out Europe they have a tendency to stick to the western and central regions of the continent. England, Spain, France, Germany, and Italy all see their fair share of tourists — and then some!
Travelers with a longer trip in mind will branch out a little more, maybe visiting the Czech Republic, Austria, or the stunning coastline of Croatia for some fun in the sun.
But few tourists head to far Eastern Europe.
I’m talking about Bulgaria, Romania, and Ukraine. While Bulgaria sees a few more tourists because of its proximity to the Balkans and acts as a stop on the overland route from Turkey to Budapest, the farther north I went, the fewer travelers I saw.
In Ukraine, I only encountered us peace Corp volunteers and a handful of Europeans.
I don’t understand why — these countries are inexpensive and safe, and they lack the overwhelming crowds you find elsewhere in Europe. These countries are half the price of their Western counterparts. In fact, during my 46 days in these three countries, I spent a total of $1,876.50 USD. and that was even taking into account all the sushi I splurged on! That’s a terrific deal for 46 days in Europe.
While I would normally break down the cost of each country into a single post, I want to put these countries together, so you can see all at once how affordable this area of Europe is.
Obsah
The cost of Bulgaria
The cost of Romania
The cost of Ukraine
Final Thoughts
The cost of Bulgaria
While in Bulgaria, I spent a total of 1,405 BGL in 23 days. That worked out to be roughly $1,000 USD, or $44 USD per day at today’s exchange rate. In the 23 days I was there, I visited all the major sightseeing destinations, including the expensive and way overrated Sunny Beach.
How I spent My Money:
Food: 475.90 BGL (cheap local meals, a few restaurants, and a lot of sushi)
Accommodation: 445.70 BGL (I stayed in dorm rooms and Couchsurfed for five nights)
Alcohol: 259.40 BGL (I partied pretty heavily, especially along the Black Sea)
Buses: 100 BGL
Taxis: 19 BGL (a few intra-city and airport taxis.)
Tours/Sightseeing: 53 BGL
Movies: 42.05 BGL
Water: 8.90 BGL
Chess in the park: 1 BGL
How much Can You really Do It For?
O tom istom. Excluding my sushi splurge, my daily average would have been around $38.29 USD. I didn’t spend lavishly in Bulgaria or really do anything beyond what the normal budget traveler would do. I used local transport, ate local meals, stayed in low-cost hostels. If you aren’t a sushi fan, budgeting $35–40 USD per day in Bulgaria should be adequate.
If you’re looking for nicer accommodations and more restaurant meals, you should consider budgeting $50–55 USD per day. and while these are not the rock-bottom prices you can find in other parts of the world, when comparing them to prices in Western Europe or Scandinavia, things are considerably cheaper.
How to save money in Bulgaria
If you want to save even more money in Bulgaria, here are a few ways to cut your expenses:
1. Couchsurf – Hostels are cheap, but if you want to save even more money on accommodation, you can Couchsurf and stay with locals for free. There are a lot of available hosts in this country. use the app to meet-up with locals as well, as it’s a terrific way to get insider tips even if you don’t want to stay with someone.
2. cook – There’s a lot of low-cost Bulgarian food, especially the pizza, hot dogs, and sandwiches on the street. cooking your own food will obviously make things cheaper too, especially since the markets have a wide variety of economical fruits and vegetables. If you plan on cooking your own food, groceries will cost around 70 BGN per week for basic necessities like pasta, vegetables, chicken, and other basic foodstuffs.
3. stay at Hostel Mostel – staying at Hostel Mostel can lower your costs because not only do they offer free breakfast but they also offer free dinner (which also comes with a free beer). staying here gets you two meals a day. They have locations in Sofia, Plovdiv, and Velinko Tarnovo.
4. Take buses – The trains in Bulgaria are more expensive than buses. use Sofia as your main hub for traveling via bus and you will have a lot of terrific options, with buses leaving hourly for the major cities in Bulgaria. A bus ride from Sofia to Varna is 32 BGN, to Plovdiv is 14 BGN, and Veliko Tarnovo is 22 BGN. stick to buses if you’re on a budget!
5. avoid Sunny beach – I’ll be honest: I don’t understand the appeal of a beach that’s both expensive and crowded with tourists. There are more beach chairs here than sand and it is way overpriced. Unless you’re looking to binge drink and party, skip Sunny Beach.
6. travel in the off season – June-September is the peak summer season in Bulgaria so you’ll see a larger influx of tourists then and prices will be higher. Winters are an optimal time for Bulgarian budget travel when you can enjoy less-Darcovstvo, veľa malebných krás a dobrých príležitostí na lyžovanie v snehu (len sa vyhnite Vianociam, pretože ceny vyskočia).
7. Jedzte v pekárňach – pekárne v Bulharsku majú vynikajúcu a cenovo dostupnú škálu pečiva a potravín, ktoré vás ráno vyplnia. Dve z mojich obľúbených občerstvení boli Banica a Krenvirshka.
Náklady na Rumunsko
Rumunsko v priebehu rokov rastie v popularite, ale stále je relatívne nedotknuté. Zatiaľ čo som tu strávil 1878,30 Rona počas 16 dní. Vychádza to, že je 117,38 Ron (36 USD) za deň. To sa týkalo nákladov na cestovanie z Bukurešti cez Brasov a Transylvania do Cluj-Napoca.
Ako som utratil svoje peniaze
Jedlo: 724,4 Ron (Sushi jedlá, niekoľko pekných reštaurácií, ako aj varenie na tri dni)
Ubytovanie: 881 Ron (internáty a dve noci v súkromnej miestnosti)
Alkohol: 9 Ron
Doprava: 113,9 Ron (autobusy a letiskové taxíky)
Prehliadky/Prehliadky: 80 Ron (Bran Castle, banda múzeí a pešie zájazdy)
Cold Medicine: 57 Ron
Voda: 13 Ron
Za koľko to naozaj môžete urobiť?
Môžete urobiť Rumunsko lacnejšie ako ja. Trochu som strávil na sushi a mal som pár nocí v súkromnej miestnosti. Okrem toho som prechladol a musel som minúť nejaké peniaze na medicínu, čo tiež zvýšil môj rozpočet. 30 USD denne je primeraným rozpočtom na batohu pre Rumunsko, aj keď pravdepodobne budete minúť viac, ak budete piť. Pravdepodobne to môžete urobiť ešte lacnejšie, ak použijete niektoré z mojich tipov nižšie a skutočne cestujete po topánkach.
Ak chcete pár nocí v súkromnej miestnosti, pekné jedlá a ďalšie stránky, váš rozpočet sa pravdepodobne priblíži k 45-50 USD za deň. Ak zostanete iba v súkromných izbách, jednoducho strojnásobte množstvo peňazí, ktoré som utratil na ubytovanie, a to je to, koľko budete potrebovať na rozpočet na miesto na pobyt.
Ako ušetriť peniaze v Rumunsku
Nezistil som, že Rumunsko ponúklo úžasné spôsoby, ako ušetriť. V skutočnosti nebolo nič, čo by som našiel a bol ako: „Páni! Toto bude skvelé! Môj rozpočet je uložený! “ Mimo normálneho Couchsurf/Cook/Jesť miestne tipy, ktoré spomínam vyššie. Existuje však niekoľko vecí, ktoré môžete urobiť, aby ste ušetrili pár dolárov:
1. Používajte Ridesares – jedna cenná aplikácia, ktorú chcete skontrolovať, je Blablacar. Je to aplikácia na zdieľanie jazdy, ktorá je v Rumunsku veľmi populárna a úžasný spôsob, ako sa dostať po celej krajine. Nie je to nevyhnutne lacnejšie ako autobusy alebo vlaky, ale zvyčajne je rýchlejší. Navyše je to oveľa jedinečnejší zážitok, takže by som to odporučil vyskúšať, ak cestujete po celej krajine. Môžete ho tiež použiť na vyskúšanie susedných krajín.
2. Hitchhike – stopovanie je v Rumunsku celkom bežné (a relatívne bezpečné). Ak ste neohrozený batoh a nevadí to, určite to skúste! (Len nezabudnite používať zdravý rozum, prijať preventívne opatrenia a dôverovať svojmu čreve!)
3. Nakupujte v obchodoch s potravinami zľavy – ak sa chystáte variť (alebo len chytíte občerstvenie), môžete ušetriť peniaze nákupom v supermarketoch zľavy. Medzi ne patrí trh Profi, Lidl a Penny.
4. Zostaňte v hosteloch Balkan Backpacker – Balkánski batoh majú hostely po celom Rumunsku a na Balkáne, ktoré sú súčasťou tej istej siete hostelov. Ak si s nimi rezervujete priamo a poviete im, že viete o sieti, získate 10% zľavu na svoj pobyt.
Náklady na Ukrajinu
Moja posledná zastávka v regióne bola Ukrajina. Keď som bol na Ukrajine, strávil som celkom 2377,95 UAH (297 USD) za sedem dní, keď som navštívil krajinu. Vychádza to ako 339,70 UAH za deň (43 USD). Bol som v Kyjeve a LVIV, keď som tam bol.
Ako som utratil svoje peniaze
Ubytovanie: 740 UAH (zostal som v internátnych miestnostiach asi 100–110 UAH za noc)
Jedlo: 1122,50 UAH (väčšinou miestne ukrajinské reštaurácie a dve ozdobné sushi večere)
Alkohol: 261 UAH (dve noci v Kyjeve)
Preprava: 219.20 UAH
Zájazdy/prehliadky: 10 Uah
Voda: 15,25 UAH
Šach: 10 UAH (zaplatil som, že som prehral v šachu v parku. Bola to zábava.)
Za koľko to naozaj môžete urobiť?
Jedným z dôvodov, prečo môj rozpočet na Ukrajinu bol taký vysoký, bol to, že som šiel dvakrát na Sushi. Keď vylúčíte tieto jedlá z môjho rozpočtu, môj denný priemer klesne na 251 UAH alebo 31 USD. Nemyslím si, že si môžete vyskúšať Ukrajinu oveľa lacnejšie. Bol som tu konečným batohom a prilepil som sa na všetko lacné.
Navrhujem však, aby ste trávili viac a neboli tak skromné. Rozplavte sa na sushi alebo nápoje alebo peknú miestnosť tak často. Táto krajina je lacná (v skutočnosti najlacnejšia v Európe). live it up. enjoy it, because after more tourists start to check out here (especially after HBO’s hit show Chernobyl inspires more tourism) prices will start to creep up. The Ukraine is currently one of the best value countries in Europe. Make the most of it while you can.
How to save money in Ukraine
If you really feel the need to spend even less money in Ukraine, you can do three things:
1. Couchsurf – If 140-280 UAH per night is too much for you, then Couchsurf and save yourself money.
2. head out of Kyiv – The country is substantially cheaper outside of Kyiv, as well as the closer you get to Russia. (Note: as of now, avoid eastern Ukraine and Crimea.)
3. eat local – By only eating at local restaurants like Puzata Khata, you’ll keep your food prices down as low as you can. A typical meal here cost me about 30 UAH ($4 USD).
A final Note
Alcohol. It’s big in Eastern Europe — and it’s cheap. In all these countries, you can buy 2.5-liter bottles of beer in supermarkets and corner shops for $1–2 USD. It’s incredibly good value and is the way to party on the cheap. stick to buying your own alcohol instead of drinking at restaurants and bars. While the difference might not seem big, over the course of a few weeks that money will add up. If you’re on a budget, stick to buying your alcohol in stores instead of restaurants and bars.
***
Eastern Europe is the best bargain you’ll find on the continent. These three countries were much more affordable than I’d previously thought, and traveling here definitely helped me correct some of the overspending and higher costs of Western Europe.
But, beyond just the monetary savings, these countries are rich in history and delicious food, and they offer a challenge for travelers that you don’t find on the well-worn trail in other parts of Europe. I’m so happy to have finally made it out here.
Note: Poland, the Balkans, and the Baltic states also all offer amazing value as well. Don’t miss them if you’re exploring Eastern Europe! I didn’t check out Moldova because of time constraints, but I’ve heard its prices are on par with the rest of the area. I didn’t go to Belarus either because it costs a few hundred dollars for a visa and I didn’t feel I would spend enough time there to justify the cost. I’ll save those countries for another trip!
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Book Your trip to Europe: Logistical tips and Tricks
Book Your Flight
Use Skyscanner or Momondo to find a low-cost flight. They are my two favorite search engines because they search websites and airlines around the globe so you always know no stone is left unturned. start with Skyscanner first though because they have the biggest reach!
Book Your Accommodation
You can book your hostel with Hostelworld as they have the biggest inventory and best deals. If you want to stay somewhere other than a hostel, use Booking.com as they consistently return the cheapest rates for guesthouses and low-cost hotels. here are my favorite hostels in Europe.
Don’t forget travel Insurance
Travel insurance will protect you against illness, injury, theft, and cancellations. It’s comprehensive protection in case anything goes wrong. I never go on a trip without it as I’ve had to use it many times in the past. My favorite companies that offer the best service and value are:
Safety Wing (for everyone below 70)
Insure My trip (for those over 70)
Medjet (for additional repatriation coverage)
Looking for the best companies to save money With?
Check out my resource page for the best companies to use when you travel. I list all the ones I use to save money when I’m on the road. They will save you money when you travel too.
Looking for more information on visiting Europe?
Be sure to check out our eobust destination guide to Europe for even more planning tips!