Three weeks. Six countries. Total spending: just under €630, flights not included. People always assume that traveling Europe on a tight budget means sleeping in train stations and eating bread for dinner. It does not — but it does mean you have to plan a few things smarter than the average tourist. Here is exactly how I did it.
Sleep cheap, but never sketchy
Hostel dorms ran me between €12 and €22 a night. The trick is filtering by review score, not price. A €15 dorm with a 9.0 rating beats a €10 one with a 7.4 every time — you sleep better, your stuff stays safe, and the kitchen actually works. Always check the cancellation policy before booking; flexible plans saved me twice when train strikes hit.
Eat like a local, not a tourist
Restaurants in tourist squares are a tax on people who did not look at a map. I averaged €8 to €12 a day on food by buying breakfast at supermarkets, eating my main meal at lunch (where set menus are 30 to 40 percent cheaper than dinner), and grabbing a kebab or street snack later. Markets are gold — fresh bread, cheese, fruit, done.
Get around for less
Night trains turned out to be my secret weapon. A €29 ticket from Vienna to Rome covered both transport and a place to sleep, killing two costs at once. For shorter hops, FlixBus and regional rail passes worked well. Inside cities, I walked everywhere — you also see twice as much that way.
The best things really are free
Free walking tours (just tip what you can), public museums on first Sundays, sunset at any river, park or rooftop. Some of my favourite memories cost nothing: feeding the cats in Athens, getting lost in Lisbon's tiled alleys, swimming in Lake Bled before breakfast.
Budget travel is not about doing less — it is about choosing where the money actually matters.
Would I do it again exactly the same way? Yes — and probably even cheaper. Once you stop chasing the "perfect" route and start saying yes to the unexpected, Europe becomes a much friendlier (and cheaper) continent than you'd think.