I have just finished the first leg of my first Kirsty B Adventures journey… I am now in Delhi waiting on some veg chow mein!

The first leg was London – Ljubljana (Slovenia) – Rijeka (Croatia) – Budapest (Hungary) by bus. The trip was 14 days in total and all in all, cost me a total of £480. This is how I did it!

Ljubljana, Slovenia (Euro)

Transport: Being time-rich, I got a bus from London to Ljubljana with FlixBus. It took 30 hours and cost £55! I paid £5 for a front, top right seat reservation which in hindsight wasn’t good for sleeping because of all the car headlights (top tip!).

Accommodation: I stayed in a perfectly reasonable hostel for 4 nights. Breakfast (cereal/toast) was included which was a bonus and probably saved me £4/£5 a day on eating out or a couple of quid from the grocery store. The hostel was £15/night = £60.

Food: I only went out for food a couple of times and bought a few teas/coffees, which came to £25 total. In comparison, buying lunch, dinner and snacks from the grocery store practically every day for the 4 days also cost me £25. It is much cheaper to cook for yourself!

Tourism: I took a public bus to Lake Bled and a bus from there to Bohinj (which was incredible). I also hired a mountain bike for the day which cost me £15 and meant I could bike to the Ljubljana Marshes and Lake Podpeč. In total these things cost £35. I went on a free walking tour (tip based) on my last day and had to leave to get my bus, so I didn’t actually leave him a tip… There are other “paid for” things to do such as museums, other day trips, and obviously souvenir purchasing, but I was mindful I was on a budget and nothing else was desperately on my to-do list.

Ljubljana Summary: All in, I spent £205/240€. I think that’s pretty good to be honest! About £50 a day. Everyone who has been to Ljubljana loves it, it seems. It was my least favourite place of the three cities I went to. It seemed quite impersonal and I found it difficult to get a “feel” of the place – perhaps because I didn’t understand the history until the last day (walking tour).

Rijeka, Croatia (Kuna)

Transport: I loved Croatia as soon as I saw it through the bus window. FlixBus from Ljub to here cost me only £5.

Accommodation: I stayed in a seafront hostel, 5 bed dorm for 3 nights and it only cost me £35! Breakfast was not included and it was about 15 mins walk from the city centre, 30 to the bus stop. But the view was incredible and the staff were very kindhearted. My favourite hostel so far.

Food: I ate out a lot more here. Partly because food was so cheap and partly because I couldn’t be bothered to cook! At one place I had an amazing tagliatelle, a 500ml bottle of ale and brownies with ice cream and the whole thing cost me £13! I must have gone out for food or just drinks about 5 or 6 times and in total I spent £45. Groceries were pretty cheap here – breakfast, snacks and lunches cost me £20 for the three days.

Tourism: The best thing I have done on my trip so far was go SCUBA DIVING! I obtained my Open Water Qualification before I left home so paid only £40 for a 50 minute dive in the crystal clear Adriatic Sea with a guide. Incredible. A whole new world. 🧜‍♀️ I also took a bus to Fuzine and Cave Vrelo. I got a return bus ticket but the bus was full on the way back so had to get the train – another £10 in total. The cave was about £3.50.

Rijeka Summary: Three nights in Rijeka cost me £165 (including £40 diving!) and I would do it all again 😍 I had to get cash out as soon as I arrived at the bus stop – unfortunately the ATM knows this and it cost me £9 to withdraw my own money! Rijeka is a beautiful place and perfect for a budget and I would love to go back and do some more (free) trekking out of the city.

Budapest, Hungary (Forint)

Transport: An overnight 9 hour FlixBus to Budapest cost me £22. Top tip – sleeping on buses may not be for everyone but it saves you a night’s accommodation! I then got a Metro to the hostel which was only £1.

Accommodation: So, I stayed at a “Party Hostel”. No, not really my scene, but at £6 a night I decided I could cope with it! 4 nights here cost me only £25. They provided free bread and eggs for breakfast but I opted to buy my own. To be honest, the hostel was fine – everyone went out partying at about 8.30pm so it was pretty quiet!

Food: Again, I didn’t really feel like cooking (I cooked one night) but eating out and going to cafes only cost me £35 – you could get a decent meal for £4 – £7. I also went to a ruin bar and spent Two THOUSAND Forint… But that’s only £5.20. Groceries/snacks were reasonable and totalled £16.

Tourism: I don’t know what it was but on my spreadsheet, I also spent £14 on “other”. I didn’t get entrance tickets for anything, I didn’t buy souvenirs… 🤔 Hmm…. Anyway, you could spend a LOT more in Budapest. You can have a tour of Parliament, you can go in the thermal spa baths (~£15), you can get a cruise on the River Danube (~£10), you could get on board a PARTY BOAT (~£25) etc. etc. Again, I didn’t feel like spending money on things that weren’t “exceptional”. But I would definitely like to go back for a “holiday” and splash out some more 😊

Budapest Summary: A surprise to me, 4 nights in Budapest only cost me £110! I was being frugal. I could have done extra things and spent more but if you’re on a budget, you can stay in Budapest for about £25 a day – a bargain compared to Ljubljana but that did have higher transport costs.

Eastern Europe budget 2019

I spent £480 in total in Eastern Europe. This doesn’t include a return/onward trip cost but you get the gist of how cheaply you can travel if you want to. I used FlixBus for all cross-border trips and booked hostels through the HostelWorld app. I use a Revolt card and a Starling Bank card to withdraw and pay in local currency. I have 12 months worth of travel insurance (World Nomads) and could use my UK SIM card and data for free within the EU.

I hope this inspires you to travel Eastern Europe – I am so pleased I went and would love to go back and explore more! Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania, etc. are all supposed to be their own kind of wonderful.

Happy Adventuring! 🤩