If you are wondering how much it cost to travel Europe for 90 days doing van life, then find out in this blog post where we break down our 3-month budget.
We have just come to the end of our first 90-day van life adventure in Europe, and we wanted to share with you how much this cost us, in hope that this will be helpful to anybody who is considering their own van life trip and wondering what the cost implications are.
For us, our 90 days of travel around Europe was van life travel, and this cost would be totally different for somebody who is backpacking for example, so this costing is specific to van life travel.
We have visited 6 countries within these 90 days – France, Italy, Slovenia, Austria, Germany and Switzerland, so we have travelled pretty fast, seen a lot of amazing places and made the best memories.
This budget would be different for people travelling to different countries and travelling at different speed, but hopefully this can help to give a rough idea of the cost to travel Europe for 90 days.
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What is the cost to travel Europe for 90 days?
In total, the cost to travel Europe for us for 90 days, across 6 countries, was £7402.79
We have written a previous blog post for how much we spent on 1 month of travel – How much does it cost to travel Europe for 1 month? if you would like to check this out.
We also created a YouTube video to discuss this in further detail, if you would like to also have a look at this –
Monthly Breakdown of Travel Costs
The breakdown of our second month of travel can be found below:
Month 2 Monthly Expenses | Month 2 – £ |
Phone | 59 |
Wi-Fi | 41 |
Lottie Pet Insurance | 10.41 |
Music Subscription (Spotify/Apple Music, Etc.) | 9.99 |
Van Finance | 368 |
Changing Expenses | |
Fuel | 478.43 |
Gas (LPG) | 51.43 |
Campsites | 448.98 |
Parking | 58.10 |
Groceries | 512.34 |
Eating Out | 159.41 |
Laundry | 30 |
Miscellaneous (park fees, gifts, etc) | 68.68 |
Attractions | 188.27 |
Tolls | 100.85 |
Cash | 125.35 |
Total: | 2800.18 |
The breakdown of our third month of travel can be found below:
Month 3 Monthly Expenses | Month 3 – £ |
Phone | 59 |
Wi-Fi | 41 |
Lottie Pet Insurance | 10.41 |
Music Subscription (Spotify/Apple Music, Etc.) | 9.99 |
Van Finance | 368 |
Changing Expenses | |
Fuel | 292 |
Gas (LPG) | 20 |
Campsites | 244 |
Parking | 15 |
Groceries | 471 |
Eating Out | 121.50 |
Laundry | 5 |
Miscellaneous (park fees, gifts, etc) | 107.65 |
Attractions | 78.67 |
Tolls | 13 |
Cash | 50 |
Total: | 2039.21 |
Our second months budget covered the end of our travels in Italy, Slovenia and Austria.
Our third month budget covered Germany, Switzerland and back to France.

What was our monthly budget for van life in Europe?
Our rough budget for each month was around £2500, so we are really pleased to see that we have stuck within our budget for this trip.
We have managed to do everything that we wanted, we have splashed out on some attractions and have managed to save money by not eating out too much and cooking our own meals in our van. We travelled so fast we even managed to travel a few more countries that we hadn’t even planned to do!
You will see that the budget has reduced quite a lot in the third month compared to the first, and I think this is because we learnt more as we went along about how and where we could save money, and also, we were so excited in our first month that I think we naturally spent more money anyway as we were getting used to everything.
We also slowed down our travel towards the end of the third month and were a lot more stationary than we were in the first month, so this too helped us to save money.
Everybody’s monthly budget will be different, so it’s important to work out your own finances and give yourself a monthly budget to stick to, we found this really helped us to manage our finances.
Can I travel Europe in 3 months?
Yes, you can, if you are from outside of the Schengen countries then that allows you 90 days to travel around Europe without any restrictions. If you are reasonably fit and have a good sense of adventure, then it is certainly possible to travel to Europe in 3 months. Of course, you will need to plan your trip carefully in order to make the most of your time and see all the highlights that Europe has to offer.
What is the best time of year to travel to Europe?
There is no single answer to this question as the best time of year to travel to Europe can vary depending on where you are going and what you want to see and do. However, in general, the shoulder seasons of spring and fall are typically considered to be the best times of year to visit Europe.
The weather is usually milder during these months, which makes for more pleasant travel conditions. Additionally, there are often fewer crowds during the shoulder seasons, so you may have an easier time getting around and seeing the sights.
Obviously in these seasons you aren’t guaranteed the weather, so it all depends on what you want from your travel experience.

How do I plan a trip to Europe?
When planning a trip to Europe, specifically van life travel, there are a few things you will need to take into consideration. First, you will need to decide where you want to go and what you want to see. Once you have a general idea of your itinerary, you will also need to consider your budget and make sure you have enough money saved up to cover all of your expenses.
You will need to think about whether you have everything that you need for e.g., is your vehicle road worthy, do you have all of the equipment and everything you would like to take with you in your van, have you got insurance, is your passport valid, do you know the entry requirements for the country/countries that you plan to go to etc …
If you are thinking about traveling to Europe, then these are just a few things to keep in mind. Of course, there is much more to planning a successful trip than what is discussed here, but this should give you a good starting point.
If you are planning to take your dog with you to Europe, then there are extra things you will need to plan and consider. We have written a blog post all about taking your dog to Europe to help you – Europe Travel With A Dog – What Do I Need To Know?
Summary
This 90-day trip has been the best 3 months of our lives and if you are considering your own van life trip but are worried about the costs, if you have the budget, we will say just do it!! You will not regret it, and everybody’s budget will be different, so hopefully you can look at our budget and see where you might be able to save money or what you may want to spend more on.
In our opinion, material things don’t matter, and there’s nothing we would want to spend our money on more than the amazing experiences we get and memories we make through our van life travel.
If you have any questions at all, please feel free to leave a comment on this blog post, we would be happy to help where we can!
Keep up with our full-time van life travels over on our YouTube channel! If you enjoy our videos, please give us a thumbs up and subscribe to our channel 🙂 – Three As A Bird – Vanlife Travel – YouTube
You can take a look at some of our other van life posts which include lots and lots of hints and tips on all things van life here – Van Life – Travel Information, Hints, Tips and Advice (threeasabird.com)
If you’d like to follow more of our adventures or keep up to date with our travel hints and tips, please join our Facebook group, we’d love to connect with you all! –https://www.facebook.com/groups/309295536220437
Also, if you have Pinterest, please give us a follow for your van life travel inspiration! – https://pin.it/770Cq1Q

I love everything about travel, from seeing new places, learning about new cultures and trying new foods! I believe that travel is one of the best forms of education you can get, I have learnt so much about myself and about the world from travelling all over. Travel is something I feel so passionately about, and I love the fact that we are now lucky enough to have this opportunity to do what we love as much as we can, it’s a dream come true.
Before we started travelling, I worked in local government in administration. I had been in this job for several years and had reached a complete brick wall where I was so fed up, but didn’t know what else to do. The only thing I knew that I wanted to do was to travel, and had wanted to do that for many years.
There were hundreds and hundreds of places on my wishlist that I wanted to go to, and I knew that going on a weeks holiday maybe twice a year if we were lucky wasn’t going to cut it.
After being in lockdown due to the Covid pandemic, and working from home staring at the same 4 walls every day, 2021 seemed like the perfect time for us to take the risk to finally do what we had dreamed of for so long.
It was a hard decision to completely change our lives, but so far it has been the best decision we have ever made!
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