Hello! I write a detailed budget report about my travel expenses for every city I visit and every Euro Trip I make.

I do this not only to track my own expenses, but also to show you how much it really cost to travel in Europe.

In my budget reports I always include an extremely detailed breakdown of my travel expenses and I conclude with other tips and tricks on how to make it (even) cheaper.

I do this to be transparent and to show you that traveling in Europe is not as expensive as you think. If you’re doing your first ever Euro Trip soon, please understand that it takes a lot of planning and researching to be able to fit it to your budget. But you can definitely pull off a Euro Trip for $40 per day budget or even less. It’s absolutely possible. (Use the Euro Trip budget calculator to the right to determine the cost of your own Euro Trip.)

I hope you learn something valuable from this travel budget report!

Happy travels!

A detailed breakdown of my travel budget in Amsterdam.

All the travel budget reports.

Netherlands Travel Expenses Breakdown

If you want to read about my road tripping experience across the Netherlands and an essential guide to Amsterdam on a budget click the links.

Netherlands travel budget for 5 days = €185.15

Netherlands travel budget per day = €36.83

Food Cost

The cost of food includes me eating out for lunch and dinner a few times. A typical meal cost around €10. I spent my first night in Bastion Hotel Leeuwarden which includes a buffet breakfast. Other days, I had breakfast at my friends’ place so I didn’t spend money on food in the morning. During the road trip, we had lunches in Volendam and Lelystad. In Amsterdam, we went to the supermarket once because I cooked Filipino food for my friend and he also prepared Dutch food for me. I also bought some breakfast items like fresh milk and cheese. The grocery items cost me €19.50.

Transportation Cost

My friend, Arnoud, didn’t let me share the cost of the gas in our road trip. But if you’re curious, it cost him around 90 euros. I didn’t spend a lot of money on transportation in Amsterdam because I had a bike which I borrowed from my friend, Willem. The only time I paid for transportation was went we went out at night. I totally recommend renting a bike to go around the city. It’s cheaper, environment-friendly and bike is all the craze in Netherlands so why shouldn’t you use one? 😀

Accommodation Cost

I stayed in Bastion Hotel Leeuwarden on my first night. It is a bit expensive and is a totally avoidable expense if I stayed with my friend, Arnoud. But I thought I’d rest for the night in a nice hotel so there. I didn’t pay for accommodation in Amsterdam because I was staying with my friend Willem. But I don’t have friends in Amsterdam, you say. You can try hospitality websites like Couchsurfing.

Party Cost

I didn’t really go out the first two nights and just had beer and wine with Arnoud’s friends. In Amsterdam, we went bar hopping on a Thursday night and I had a few glasses of beers and vodka shots. My friend Willem also bought me a few shots of vodka as welcome drinks. My Dutch friends are actually really nice it makes me wonder if the culture of “Dutch treat” still applies in this day and age.

Miscellaneous Cost

This includes the prepaid cost of my cellphone which I used to contact people while in Netherlands. It also includes the cost of me riding the Euromast and watching a movie in Leeuwarden which I am too jetlagged to remember.

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Pretty good budget if you ask me as Netherlands is quite expensive and even hostels are at least 20 euros a night for dorm rooms with 8 other people. You can definitely make it cheaper by not eating in tourist restaurants in the center and follow the eating out advice of Jurriaan, an Amsterdam local I interviewed. You can save money on Amsterdam transportation by buying the day pass which costs €7.50. If biking is your thing, you can also rent bikes.

The travel cost should have been lower if I didn’t stay in a hotel on my first night. Accommodation is really one of the biggest chunk of the travel budget pie when traveling in Europe. If you can eliminate this by visiting friends or using amazing hospitality sites like Couchsurfing, then you are definitely going to save money which you can use to enjoy your trip in Europe.

Taking the train from one city to another usually cost around €17. Travel tip: if you are not shy, you can approach a Dutch student and if you travel with him/her, you get 40% off your train ticket. They know this so ask nicely if you want to save.

If you’re a museum freak, get the museum pass in Amsterdam which costs €39.95 for adults and €19.95 for youngsters up to 18 years of age. It’s a valid for one year and you can go to 34 museums in Amsterdam.

For cheap drinking try Brouwerij ‘t IJ, the windmill brewery in Amsterdam. More options can be found in this Amsterdam essential guide I wrote. It’s full of information about invading ‘dam on the cheap.

It’s all happening!

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DJ Yabis is the poster boy of Dream Euro Trip and a modern day renaissance man. Originally from the Philippines, he loves throwing dinner parties and stalking rock stars in music festivals. Subscribe or follow his adventures LIVE on Facebook or Instagram. Learn how to plan your own eurotrip.

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