Eastern europe

I would check out Lonely Planet's Money & Costs for each country. They give you rough estimates for budget, mid-range, and top end travel for each country. You can find this information on Lonely Planet's website.

Check out Namadic Matt's travel site - he's close to that age and been to all of those locations

I got the lonely planet europe on a shoestring and no they do not put an average budget... in fact in their budget they show a price for budget HOTEL... it does not sound too budget to me... :( I also already check nomadic matt's site... The only place he went is bulgaria and romania... So not much luck there neither!

With this post I wanted some insight from people who have done the trip.

Lonely Planet DOES provide a budget estimate. As I said before, you can find it on their web site. For example, here's what they say about Russia: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/russia/money-costs

BUDGET (up to) R1500

• Dorm bed: R700–R800
• Cafe or street-stall meal: R200–R500
• Travel on buses and metro: R30

MIDRANGE R1500–R4000

• Double room in a midrange hotel: R2000–R3000
• Two-course meal: R500–R1000
• Museum entry fee: R100–R300
• City-centre taxi ride: R200–R300

R1500 is about $28 right now. R4000 is about $75.

Your costs are going to vary country to country. Lonely Planet has the estimates you want, but you will need to look up each country and then start seeing how it all fits together. I recommended the Lonely Planet website because you'll be hard-pressed to find someone who has been to all of the countries you've named, and who has traveled on your budget as well. On these boards, there are a lot of country-specific experts who can help you with questions about individual countries, but there aren't too many who've covered Russia, Turkey, the Baltics, the Balkans and everything in between.

You will be traveling through the heart of the tourist season and the warmest time of the year. Hungary, most of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey will be hot. I've been to most of the southern countries you mention in Central Europe and if your standards are low enough you should have enough money. On your budget and with your length of stay I guess I would do a lot of short train rides when ever possible. There aren't a lot of great flights in the region but check the smaller flag carriers like Air Serbia and see what they have. Many of the airlines don't show up on the search engines so you have to do some research. Be careful of the Schengen limitations.

Mike W. for your information I've checked lonelyplanet and if you check most of the other countries those informations are not there... I do understand why you suggested me to check lonelyplanet but I wouldnt have asked without checking before.

James E. thank you very much. I didnt thought to check for the weather... we've been in turkey before during summer and it's true that it get toasty!!

Josie, if you use Mike W's link and then just replace Russia in the web address with whatever country you want it looks like they're all there except for Bosnia and Herzegovina. Just not easy to find from the website homepage.

I double-checked LP, and they have daily budget information for Russia, Poland, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria, and Turkey. LP doesn't have that information for the Baltic sisters or Bosnia.

You asked before if priceoftravel.com was reliable for budgeting a trip, and I don't know -- I've never used it myself. However, I have used LP's estimates in the past when trying to determine price ranges. If the numbers from LP roughly match those from priceoftravel.com, you can be fairly confident in the estimate. If the numbers are different, you'll have to do some more digging to find another source to compare against. I don't know if there is a single authoritative source of budget information -- your best bet is to compare multiple sources. Sure, LP doesn't cover every country you named, but it can help you verify the estimates of 8 of your countries.

P.S. I was in Bosnia just over a month ago, and Mostar was extremely hot even then. I couldn't imagine what it would feel like in summer.

If it were just covering room and board, budget/hostel travelers could live on that budget even in Western Europe; not including many sightseeing costs. Your dollar should go further in your destinations, but you'll still be watching the budget all the way and will sometimes need to shop around. Some areas have a specific policy of charging more for visitors than for residents of that country.

Actually, you should be able to find a clean place to sleep for under $50 consistently in Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania, Bulgaria. That leave you with at least $90 for food between the two of you. With a little care that's another $60 a day. So you have maybe $30 for what ever. You could go cheaper I am certain but these numbers I bet would allow for something better than the worst of everything. You don't say where you are from so it make it a little harder to make comparisons. But I depending on if you are from Texas or New York, the food in the countries I listed (if you stay away from American Hamburger chains) should be 5% to 15% less than comparable in the US.

We are from montreal canada! We don't intend on eating american food while in europe!

Does your budget per day includes accommodation? Since you are flying in June, it is peak period of travel, you might want to book in advance because nearing the date, the prices are only going to go up and you can't possibly go from door to door to compare prices like you can on the internet. You can save on food by preparing your own meals. I think the bulk of your budget will go to transportation.

Hi,

Good, I would and do stay away from American food in Europe. You have plenty of other options...Chinese, Turkish, Italian, Greek, native cuisine in Poland and Budapest is great, as well as in Slovenia and Croatia. Make sure you have the time constraints imposed by Schengen in your favor, and the visa issue pertaining to Russia. Apart from that, the itinerary looks great, stay in hostels and Pensionen, lots of privat, independent hostels in Poland, Budapest...way cheaper there than in western Europe and with more amenities.

Don't exclude the use of buses, even as a day trip from a city/town to a much small town, or night trains, which still operate in east central Europe. Which specific place in Lithuania is on the "to see" list? Klaipeda (Memel)? Air Baltic, Wizzair might be helpful in your plans.