Budget way more than you think for Contiki European Trail if you're coming from Australia
Just being really honest here because I wish someone had told me this before I booked.
I did the European Trail in 2024 and I'm Australian so the currency conversion alone was brutal. The trip itself is paid for obviously but the add-ons and day-to-day spending adds up fast.
What I actually spent (AUD):
Add-ons were just under $2,000. That's all the optional activities they offer along the way. You don't have to do every single one but realistically you're there and everyone else is doing it so you end up saying yes to most of them.
Food and drink varies heaps depending on which countries you're in. Eastern Europe is cheap. Switzerland will destroy your budget in about two days. I can't give you an exact number because I wasn't tracking every coffee but it was significant.
I took $11k total for the whole trip and came home with about $2k left over. That includes other things I did outside the tour but still.
My honest recommendation: Budget $2,500 to $3,500 AUD minimum just for the Contiki portion. That's on top of flights and the tour cost itself.
Better to have money left over than run out halfway through and have to skip things everyone else is doing.
Comment by iceland_falafel
This is really helpful even though I'm looking at Intrepid not Contiki. The currency conversion thing from Australia is real. Did you find it hard to budget day-to-day or did you just sort of accept you'd spend whatever you'd spend?
Comment by prague_vegemite
Honestly I stopped tracking after the first week because it was stressing me out. I knew I'd brought enough so I just let myself spend and enjoyed it. If you're tight on budget though you definitely need to be more disciplined than I was.