I would love to be someone that goes on holiday with an unlimited amount of money, not having to count every cent I spent while I’m away. Unfortunately that is never going to be me and even when I’m only on a week’s holiday I still have to budget how much I have to spend each and every day. On my latest trip to Greece I kept track of every penny I spent because I wanted to see just how much travel in Europe from the UK really costs. Here are my results:
The Costs
Flights: Glasgow to Kos return with 20kg baggage via Easyjet
Cost: £136/€164 per a person
Food on the plane
Cost: £13/€16
Accommodation: Air bnb Property based on two people sharing a double room, located a few km from Kos Town
Cost: £121/€146 per a person
I loved sitting in Kos Town, drinking beer and eating ice cream
Food
Dinner: 7 nights – 6 x restaurant meal 1 x self-catering meal – each includes a beer and 10% tip (based on two people sharing dinner i.e. buying a few cheaper dishes to share)
Cost £74/€89 per a person
Lunch: 7 x restaurant meal – each includes a 5-10% tip and drink (also based on two people sharing as above)
Cost: £52/€63 per a person
Breakfast: 7 x self-catering – bought from the local supermarket
Cost: £8/€10 per a person
Drinks: Extra beer, soft drink and water
Cost: £11/€13 per a person
Total Cost: £145/€175
Transport
Taxi: Kos Town to Airport and Glasgow Airport to our flat – price based on two people splitting the fare
Cost:£23/€28 per a person
Car Rental: We rented a car for one day – insurance included, based on two people sharing and petrol costs
Cost: £21/€25 per a person
Attractions
Entrance to two ancient sites
Cost: £6/€7
Return boat trip to Turkey – including tax
Cost: £20/€24
This was the stall where I purchased a painting
Souvenirs
Painting, shot glasses, fridge magnet, postcards, stamps, clothes in Bodrum
Cost:£30/€36
The TOTAL: £515/€621 – which breaks down to £64.37/€77.63 per a day including flights, accommodation and day to day spending and based on two people sharing.
If you take away flights and accommodation the total is £258/€311 for the week which breaks down to £32.25/€38.88 for day to day spending.
The beautiful sea in Kos
The Verdict
A little over £500 for a week in Europe including flights and accommodation sounds like a pretty good deal to me! I was able to spread out the flight and accommodation costs in the months before I went and then only needed the spending money when it came to holiday time. Being able to spread the costs out makes a holiday much more affordable for most people.
We could have saved more money by:
- Taking our own food on the plane – they really do let food through security so you could even bring home made sandwiches.
- Not buying so many souvenirs – did we really need to send postcards?!
- Cooking more self-catering meals or searching for cheaper restaurants – unfortunately visiting in shoulder season meant not everywhere was open neither did we find any street food/markets
- Possibly staying in a hostel dorm room – however I have not researched this so cannot confirm a hostel would have been cheaper
***Please bear in mind I visited during shoulder season (however this did still fall in the first week on the kids Easter school holiday) when prices are cheaper, for a visit during high season I would expect to spend more!
