One type of post we both find very useful is budget posts. When trying to figure out how much money we need to save for a trip, it’s helpful to see how much other travellers have spent. That’s also why we keep a detailed record of our expenses – we want to know how expensive different countries are.
The same applied when we went to the Baltics. We wrote down every single cent we spent. And now we’d like to share this budget with you. Hopefully, it will help you plan your own trip.
We’ll also be sharing lots of great advice on how to save money, so you don’t have to break your bank for travelling to the Baltics.
Budget for the Baltics – Our Expenses for 19 Days of Travel
Here’s a breakdown of our expenses in the Baltics. In total, we spent 1100 € per person. Since we travelled for 19 days, that means we spent 57.89 € per person per day.
Compared to many other European countries, we found the Baltics very affordable. Food was cheap, we didn’t spend much on transport as distances were short, and we also found decent accommodation everywhere we went.
Our itinerary
We started our trip in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. After spending two days here, and also exploring the nearby castle of Trakai, we moved on to the coast. On our way, we stopped in the Hill of Crosses, a place, unlike anything we had ever seen before. We then had a few days to explore Klaipeda and the Curonian Spit.
From Lithuania, we moved north to Latvia. We based ourselves in Riga, which, with its central location, is perfect for exploring the country. After spending a few days exploring the capital, we went on day trips to see Sigulda, the Gauja National Park and the medieval town of Cesis.
Finally, it was time to travel to Estonia. We stayed here longest, starting in Tartu before moving on to Pärnu at the Baltic coast. After a short trip to Saaremaa, Estonia’s biggest island, we ended up in Tallinn. From here, we eventually took the ferry to Helsinki and travelled on to Finland, but we won’t include that part of our trip in this post.
Here, we’re only going to talk about our expenses while travelling the Baltics, so you know how much money you need for a similar trip.
Breakdown by categories
Accommodation
We spent 370 € per person on accommodation, which breaks down to 19.47 € per person per night.
During our trip, we always had our own room with a private bathroom. We used a mixture of guest houses, hotels and AirBNBs. Especially the latter was often an excellent value.
One of our primary concerns was doing laundry. In summer, it’s easy to wash clothes in the sink as they usually dry overnight. But as we were travelling in winter, this was not a great option. Therefore, we made sure to rent an apartment equipped with a washing machine from time to time. The tumble dry function was usually enough to dry the clothes to a point where they could air dry within a day or two.
Besides that, a great way of saving money is to make sure that you have a kitchen in your apartment or guesthouse. That way, you don’t need to go out for breakfast every morning and can save some money there.
Food
As already mentioned, we saved some money by having breakfast in our own apartment. Grocery shopping is usually affordable in the Baltics, no matter where you go.
For lunch and dinner, we’d usually go to a local restaurant. We never paid too much, and we wanted to sample as much local food as we could. Nineteen days sounds like a lot, but it really isn’t when you visit three countries. Therefore, we often ordered a few dishes and shared them between us.
In total, we spent 384 € per person on food, which breaks down to 20.21 € per person per day. Food is probably the category where you can save the most money if you need to. Look for accommodation with a kitchen and then buy groceries. By cooking your meals, I am sure that you could cut these expenses in half.
Transport
We found local transport in the Baltics very affordable. The countries have a lot to offer, but distances are short, so you’re not going to have to pay too much.
In Lithuania, we went by train to get from Vilnius to Klaipeda. Besides that, we mostly relied on the local buses which connect all towns and cities in the Baltics. Most of the longer-distance buses were very comfortable, with big, reclinable seats and sometimes even our own private TV screens.
Within the city, we usually walked. If that wasn’t an option, local transport was always affordable.
In total, we spent 122 € per person on local transport.
Sightseeing
Depending on where we travel, we spend a lot of money on entrance tickets and activities. I always figure that if I’ve come that far, I don’t want to miss out on the main attractions just to save a few euros.
The Baltics were surprisingly cheap. Our biggest expense was the Maritime Museum in Tallinn, for which we paid 15€ each. Besides that, we mostly spent less than 10€ and often even far less than that.
The good news is that if you’re travelling on a budget and want to save money, you will find lots of free activities. Walking through all those stunning medieval towns won’t cost you anything, for example. Or you can enjoy the coastline for free or go for a hike in one of the many national parks.
You can also save money by not joining organised tours. When we visited the Trakai island castle, for example, we skipped the tour and went by public transport, which saved us quite a bit of money.
Our total expenses for entrance tickets were 137 € per person.
Others
In this category, we sum up everything that doesn’t fall into one of the big categories above. This includes souvenirs, for example. Daniel collects keychains from all the places we visited, and I like to buy a magnet in every country I go to.
We also had to buy an umbrella in Vilnius and ended up getting woollen sweaters in Tallinn. As we were going on to Lapland afterwards, these turned out to be an excellent investment.
In total, a sum of 87€ falls into this “other” category.
By the way, we did not spend any money on parties and going out, since we were not interested in that. If you want to go to clubs and bars, you should budget extra money. If not, you should be able to get by with our travel budget above.
Oh, and remember to get travel insurance. We didn’t need to include that since we’re covered through our EU health insurance card. But if you come from outside the EU, you should take that extra expense into account.
Breakdown by country
So what if you only want to visit one or two of the Baltic states? Are the prices the same everywhere?
In general, we did not see substantial price differences between the countries. Estonia turned out to be a bit more expensive than Latvia and Lithuania. This is especially true for Tallinn, so you should budget a bit more if you only want to visit Estonia’s capital.
Lithuania
The first country we went to was Lithuania. We were here for a total of five days and spent 273 € per person. That means that we paid 54.60 € per person per day.
Lithuania was the country in which we found our cheapest accommodation. For those five nights, we only paid a total of 68 € per person. That’s just a bit more than 13 € per night. Compare that to Estonia, where we spent more than 22 € per night!
Our biggest expense in Lithuania was food, thanks to the wonderful Etno Dvaras restaurants. This chain of restaurants offers traditional Lithuanian food, and we came here regularly to try as many dishes as we could.
Sightseeing was very cheap with only 20 € spent on entrance tickets. And we paid a total of 63 € on transport, which includes renting a taxi to go to the Hill of Crosses, with the taxi driver waiting there for us until we had finished visiting the area.
Latvia
We spent as much time in Latvia as we did in Lithuania. During our five incredible days, we paid a total of 256 € per person (51.20 € per person per day), which makes it the cheapest of all three Baltic countries.
We based ourselves in Riga for those five days. This was convenient, as we did not have to pack our bags regularly and could visit the country on day trips. The big disadvantage was that hotels in Riga are not cheap. We paid a total of 98 € on accommodation, which is almost 20 € per person per day.
Food was a bit cheaper than in Lithuania, and we only paid 77 € for 5 days. We also didn’t pay much for transport and only spent 14 €.
As for sightseeing, entrance tickets were a bit more expensive than in Lithuania, but at 45 € in total for five days still affordable.
Estonia
We stayed in Estonia for nine days, which is longer than the two previous countries. Plus, Estonia turned out to be the most expensive of the Baltic states, and we paid a total of 571 €. This breaks down to 63.44 € per person per night.
As already mentioned above, Estonia was the most expensive country for accommodation. We spent a total of 204 €, which is more than 22 € per person per night. Tallinn was more costly than the rest of the country. Also, we decided to splurge on a spa hotel in Kuressaare, on Estonia’s biggest island.
We spent almost exactly as much money on Estonian food as we did on accommodation, with 205 € per person.
Transport was surprisingly cheap in Estonia, and we only spent 45 € per person. And while we paid more for sightseeing than in any other country, we only spent 72 €.
Even the woollen sweaters we bought weren’t very expensive, which is why only 45 € fall into the “other” category.
We hope that the above numbers will help you in planning your own trip. You should now have an overview of how much it costs to travel to the Baltics. Of course, everyone’s travel style is different, so depending on the things you enjoy, you might want to add or subtract a bit.
If you’re planning on travelling to the Baltics, you’ll find plenty of useful resources on this blog. Check out the following, which will be helpful for your trip:
- What to see in Tallinn – 15 amazing sights you shouldn’t miss
- How to visit the Curonian Spit – Lithuania’s unique UNESCO World Heritage Site
- The best things to do in Cesis – Latvia’s cutest medieval town
- How to spend a day in Kuressaare on Estonia’s biggest island
- Visit Klaipeda and explore Lithuania’s west coast
We have many more posts ready for you that you can all find on our destinations page. Also, if you have any questions, please leave us a comment. We’ll be happy to help you.
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