Hello All,

There have been lots of threads over the last few years about the cost of travelling. I am planning to cross from the UK to Europe next year for about 3 weeks. Ferry costs to Europe do not need to be included as I work for the local ferry company and get 'some' perks!! Ideally I would like to camp most of the time with the idea of staying in hotels and b&b's every third or fourth night. I will be taking a BMW 1200GSA and would like to get across to italy, bosnia, serbia then back through europe to UK. I was thinking about giving myself about £2000 for everything but would like to draw on the experience of everyone on here and get some opinions as to up to date costs.

Kind Regards,

Rich

Plenty. If hotels budget on £100 a day inc fuel. Depends on how you plan to eat / how many miles you'll burn.

Camping will bring it down. If you did it for £1200 I reckon you'd have done well.

Obviously you could do it much, much cheaper if you really had to but its a holiday. Need some money for evening s.

GBP 100/day should be plenty. I probably spend about € 75/day on average. I went from Germany to Bari/Italy and across to Albania, and back through former Yugoslawia. Stayed in Hotels all 3 weeks. I figure I needed € 100 in the 6 days in Italy, and about € 60 on the Balkans. Hotels in Italy (single room, always looked for a cheap one) between €35 to 50, on the Balkans € 15 to €25. Gas is € 1/litre on the balkans, so I think I needed about € 20/day. Rest is food (lunch at a supermarket, dinner at a restaurant) and entrance fees like Museums in Florence and .
Check out my photos

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“It’s just a walk in the park!”
“You mean people are going to mug us and steal all our money and kick us viciously in the ribs?” Terry Prachett

I travelled to and around Austria last year and was paying approx €10 per night for camping and €60-70 per night in a B&B which included an evening meal. Petrol wasn't much cheaper than the UK as I hoped it would be & in Italy, it was more!
I had planned on a lot more camping but the weather cold and wet (mid-Sept) so if I went again, I would plan to stay in hostels to cut down on cost and luggage.
enjoy your trip!

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Elaine

Striving to live the ordinary life in a non ordinary way

I usually budget £50 a day as I usually camp with some hostels but with Italy/France I would up that to £70 to be on safe side, the more easterly you get the cheaper it tends to be.
Your £2000 budget would be plenty.
If you do head through Slovenia head up into the Julian Alps, one of my favourite places & Slovenia has some of the best campsites in Europe in my opinion, Lake Bled is a bit touristy but thats because its stunning.
Have a great trip,
Andy

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Andy L

From the midnight sun to the silk & rhubarb roads, 2014
I am not an adventure rider, just a biker that has adventures.

and we spent five months in europe with only fourteen nights in any sort of paid accommodation, including campgrounds. heaps of fun! and cheap as.

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www.outforaspin.blogspot.com

Hi Rich:

I spend about 30 to 45 days touring Europe each summer, and I always stay in hotels, guest houses, or pensions (anywhere from 2 to 4 stars, averaging about 3 stars). 100 Euro a day is more than sufficient for me to stay in decent lodging, eat well, and look after all incidental costs that I encounter. This does not include fuel and road tolls.

The amount you spend on fuel can be pretty easily calculated based on your own knowledge of your bike and the number of miles you want to cover. Although I ride a ST1100, I very rarely spend money on road tolls simply because the roads that charge tolls are boring and uninteresting... I ride on the secondary and tertiary roads instead.

As for your route - personally, I think that far Northern Italy (Dolomites), Slovenia, and Croatia would be more interesting than the route you propose. The parts of Italy that are directly underneath Switzerland and Austria are very civilized, and the twisty roads there are to die for. Slovenia and Croatia are also very delightful countries.

You might want to consider going across the northern part of France, into Switzerland at Geneva, out of Switzerland into Italy at the very far south-east corner of Switzerland (at the end of the Engadine valley), and then south from there to Slovenia and Croatia. Once you get into the flat-lands of the Po valley of Italy (south of the Dolomites), the riding is pretty boring. But, if you kind of travel east through the Dolomites and then drop straight down towards Trieste, you avoid most of the flatlands.

While in Switzerland, you can stay in hostels - they are cheap, spotlessly clean, have hot showers, provide breakfast 'on the house', and cater to all ages. Gas is cheap in Switzerland, and no worries about security of the moto there. Plus everyone speaks English.

Michael

As Michal says above.

I can't fault him. the only this I can't say any thing about is Switzerland. As I've been told it is expensive. So I say clear of the place. It's a small country so easy to ride round. Apart from that nail head hit.
John933

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To buy petrol in Europe. Pull up at station. Wait. Get out a 20 Euro note, then ask someone to fill up the bike. Give person money. Ride away. Simple.

Some expenses can be higher in Switzerland than in other countries, but two notable exceptions are fuel (the lowest fuel costs in Europe, I believe) and hostels. I think those two categories make up the majority of daily expenses for someone on a motorcycle tour.

I base out of Switzerland, and my experience has been that there is not a significant difference between total daily expenses in CH versus the surrounding countries (F, D, A). Food (purchased in a grocery store) is notably more expensive in CH. Hotel costs in big cities are also very high. But, the hostels are probably the nicest hostels in Europe, and staying in a Swiss hostel is far less expensive than staying in a 2 star hotel in any surrounding country.

Be aware that there is an annual CHF 40 'vignette' (sticker) fee charged to use the motorways. CHF 40 is about €30, and this can be annoying if you only plan to transit the country. But - the sticker is only needed on the controlled access motorways, not on normal roadways, and the country can easily be transited without the sticker.

Michael

I haven't used couchsurfing on a bike trip yet but i've been half way round the world and surfed with quite a few people. We actually met a great couple here in Korea who stayed with us during their 10 day bike trip and have remained great friends ever since.

If you really want to cut your costs down and meet some amazing people get signed up and you won't regret it.

CouchSurfing - Participate in Creating a Better World, One Couch At A Time

...before you ask, i don't work for them! i just think it's a great opportunity to meet local people and have a homecooked dinner, isn't that what we want from bike trips??

Regards,

Nick

And of course don't forget to contact the HU Communities! With over 650 of them around the world, there's one wherever you're heading. And they're not just when you're in trouble, they're also very much for meeting local people, and sharing travel stories and knowledge.

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Grant Johnson
Seek, and ye shall find.
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Inspiring, Informing and Connecting travellers since 1997!
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

Hi Rich.
What can I say that hasn't already been said.
Me an six friend did 14 countries in 4 weeks,
did touristy bits, did about 3,750 miles.
Averege costs around £1,400.
I spent a little more due to Triumph's not goin to well on diesel.
Most European countries call it derv or diesel, in France they call it gas oil
be warned. my mates still remind me now an again.
Aviod big cities. Enjoy an ride safe.chug

Mate just did the Balkans going from London to Albania and all the way through...stayed in hostels all the way (an ideal way to meet people etc and also very safe in all countries) except in Monte Negro where I had a seaside room for 10 euros...
All up including petrol etc was £1600, I ate and drunk plenty (but limited my restaurants to a couple per week, rest was local food in cafes, bars etc)....went out a few times for a few (or more) pints etc and included a new tyre as my one finished its life towards the end...
Western Europe is obviously more expensive than the Balkans (except Croatia which was similar pricing and we did not particularly like due to the amount of tourists etc and only stayed 2 days one nite), the Balkans is cheaper but make sure you negotiate everywhere on sleep costs, its a way of life and very acceptable (not on food though) and you will have a total blast...oh and i was buying the more expensive (98 ron) petrol most of the time (where available)...also did just under 5000miles all up

If you've never been to Switzerland then how do you know.

My advice to Richard86 from someone the has traveled extensively as a student (no salary) as a tourist and now living as an employed professional is don't listen to people that say Switzeralnd is expensive. Because you can always find cheap alternatives. Hell if you can't afford a campsite at 25CHF (when in neighbouring Austria they are around 33Euros) then I have a sofa you can crash on. And I've always got chilled !!

If you don't ride Autoroutes then you don't need the 40CHF vignette. The smaller country roads are more sceanic anyway. Petrol is cheaper than most neighbouring countries. Food in supermarkets is not much more expensive just don't eat out and you'll save money but this goes for anywhere.

Tourism can be pricy but certainly no more than France. Take for example a cable car to the top of Europe Jungfraujoch - it's like 70CHF, in Chamonix France if you go to l'aiguille du midi (3984m I think) then it's 50Euros, about the same give or take.

Go to Switzerland and make up your mind for yourself.

Oh and for two people (Riding2up) we budget between 100-150CHF or 80-120Euros per day all inclusive. But we camp 4 out of 7 days usually.

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TurboCharger + Francois (our BMW R1200gs) '07
www.riding2up.net, blog.riding2up.net