Ben and Claire have been tracking their daily spending, country by country, since leaving the UK. This page pulls those figures into one place, updated as they go, so other families can see real numbers rather than guesswork.
One of the questions we get asked most is simple: what does this actually cost? Not the headline “how much did it cost to leave” number, but the day-to-day reality of feeding, entertaining and moving a family of four around Europe.
So here it is, country by country, tracked as we went rather than estimated afterwards, and converted throughout to British pounds so it’s easy to compare at a glance. A few notes before the numbers: these figures exclude accommodation throughout, since that varies so wildly by booking choice that mixing it in would make the comparison meaningless. Where we had a kitchen, we’ve noted it, since cooking even some meals makes a real difference. And the region within a country matters as much as the country itself, Spain’s Costa del Sol area cost us more day to day than plenty of “expensive” countries further along the route.
The numbers
| Country | Average daily spend (excl. accommodation) | Kitchen access | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spain | ~£126/day | Yes | A full month spent here, in a pricier region day to day |
| Albania | ~£87/day | No | All meals out; beach costs (sunbeds/umbrellas) add up |
| Montenegro | ~£87/day | No | Cheap eating out, a couple of paid activities |
| Croatia | ~£126/day | No | Skewed by a week with grandparents covering some meals |
| Bosnia | Our cheapest country by far | No | Budget-friendly across the board |
| Serbia | ~£85/day | No | Only 2 nights, used mainly as a bridge stop |
| Hungary (Budapest) | ~£93/day | No | Big touristy city, one pricier themed restaurant |
| Slovakia | ~£70/day | No | Resort-based, breakfast included |
| Poland | ~£135/day | No | Two very different stops, Krakow’s activities pushed this up |
| Austria | ~£80/day | Yes | Kitchen access made a real difference here |
| Italy | ~£115/day | No | Based on our Rome stretch; Florence and motorway tolls pushed costs up further |
| France (Riviera) | ~£95/day | No | Coastal, timed around a family celebration |
What actually drives the number up or down
A kitchen helps, but it’s not the whole story. Bosnia had no kitchen and was still our cheapest country, because eating out itself was simply inexpensive there. Poland had no kitchen and was one of our pricier stretches, because we deliberately packed in paid activities for the kids in Krakow. Austria, by contrast, had a kitchen and came in as one of our cheapest stretches, cooking most meals ourselves made a real, direct difference there.
The single biggest lever we’ve found is deciding, consciously, how many paid activities to build into a stop. Cities with older, more historic centres (Krakow’s Old Town, Dubrovnik, Florence, Rome) also tend to charge noticeably more right in the centre than a short walk out. Italy added an extra layer too, motorway tolls, which aren’t always front of mind when budgeting a driving trip but add up fast over a longer stretch.
What we’d tell another family budgeting for this
Track daily, not weekly or monthly. It’s the only way to actually see which decisions (a themed restaurant, a paid attraction, an extra activity) moved the number, rather than being left guessing after the fact.
What else is possible when you can see exactly where your money goes, day by day, rather than guessing at the end of the month?
FAQ
Which country has been the cheapest for a family of four? Bosnia, by a clear margin, everything from food to activities was noticeably lower cost than everywhere else on our route so far.
Does having a kitchen always save money? It helps, but the region and how many paid activities you build in matter just as much, sometimes more, Austria and Poland are a good example of that in opposite directions.
Is this page kept up to date as you travel further? Yes, we’ll keep adding countries to this table as we go.
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