How Much Does it Cost to Travel Poland on a Budget?
We had no idea how much it would cost to travel in Poland. We signed up for the Angloville programme on a whim, got accepted and booked some flights. We didn’t plan our travels beforehand, except for a sketchy route.
Fortunately for us, Poland turned out to be a cheaper travel destination than many other European countries. It’s worth noting that our travel budget is so incredibly low because we spent 5 days of our 20-day trip on the Angloville programme where we received free accommodation and food.
How Much Does it Cost to Travel Poland on a Budget?
Here’s a handy infographic breaking down how much it costs to travel Poland on a budget. Our travel budget is near to the rock-bottom expenditure for a night’s accommodation, 3 meals per day, local transport, and minimal costs for activities. This travel budget does not include flights.
Where we Travelled
We travelled from the UK to Poland at the end of February with Ryanair (London Stansted to Wrocław – £41.99 per person) and 20 days later flew back with Wizz Air (Gdańsk to London Luton – £32 per person). We began our travels in Wroclaw, where we attended the Angloville programme for 5 days, and backpacked to 9 different places in total. We trekked in the High Tatras near Zakopane, were underwhelmed by Krakow and found romance in Gdansk.
Me at the top of Mount Kościelec, finally!
Couchsurfing in Poland
We saved a lot of money by Couchsurfing in Poland and had some amazing hosts. In fact, out of the 20 days we travelled around Poland, we only slept in a hostel on 4 of those nights. 5 nights were spent at the Angloville programme’s hotel, and the other 11 nights we Couchsurfed. We found that there are a lot of generous people happy to host you in Poland – it’s actually the country where we’ve had the best hosts!
Most Expensive Sleep: GlobArt in Kraków
Least Expensive Sleep: Couchsurfing (no cost)
The view from our hosts’ house in Zakopane.
Eat in Milk Bars
In Poland, if you want to eat on the cheap, milk bars are the way to go. Milk bars (bar mleczny) are Polish style cafeterias that serve low-cost, whole some, traditional Polish food. Most date back to the 1950s and 60s when Poland was under Communist rule and though there aren’t as many as there used to be, they can still be found around the country and are often popular with students. We ate in quite a few milk bars to keep our costs down, as well as in vegetarian restaurants that operated in a similar way.
Cheap, nourishing good, though not always well presented.
Activities During Our Travels
We managed to do a whole variety of activities in a small budget whilst we were in Poland. Outdoor based activities include hiking in the Tatra Mountains (and taking the cable car down), walking from Gdansk to Sopot museums, and ambling around the cities. Cultural activities include visiting castles, the salt mines, Auschwitz, and Schindler’s factory.
Most Expensive Activity: Wieliczka Salt Mines (£14.88 per person)
Least Expensive Activity: Auschwitz (free entry)
Despite rumours of Poland not being the greatest travel destination, it turned out to be one of our favourite European countries! Actually, it was so good that we can’t wait to go back in a few years time, take a road-trip along the Baltic Coast and explore all the places we missed. If you haven’t been to Poland, go!
Have you ever been somewhere you hadn’t heard good things about and been pleasantly surprised by?
agnesstramp
I’m glad to see you have not spent much money when in Poland. In fact, flights are very affordable with Ryanair and food is not that expensive at all. I don’t drink alcohol so I would spend ever less than this :). Great budget planning and cost breakdown!
Charlie on Travel
Yes, with retrospect we felt that we could’ve actually travelled even cheaper! Our alcohol expenditure doesn’t represent our actual alcohol consumption – most of that money was actually us buying drinks for other people on the Angloville program, who had generously kept buying us drinks, and so we had wanted to return the favour. Thanks for the comment, Agness :)
Katie@From Shores to Skylines
Great cost breakdown! Was it cold there? The Angloville programme sounds pretty cool!
Charlie on Travel
Thanks, Katie! It was cold in the mountainous areas, like Zakopane, but most of the places we visited were warm and sunny (e.g. Wroclaw, Malbork, Gdansk). The temperature in those places was around 14’C. But in the mountains it was down to around 2’C. And Angloville was cool, would definitely recommend :)
Anastasia Sofia | Gallivant Girl
Great to hear it’s affordable… I’m heading there for the first time in a few weeks, stoked! The programme sounds interesting, not heard of it before.
Charlie on Travel
Totally gonna be reading along then! I loved it, definitely my fave place in Europe. What part you going to?
Angloville was cool, would definitely recommend.
InAFarawayLand (@MartaTravelling)
Poland is cheap to travel around but not very cheap to live in if you work there. That is one of the reasons why we have so many expacts (I am one of them). I am planning to go one day on some kind of roundtrip around Poland to see my own country. I have seen most of the major cities, but there is loads more! :)
Charlie on Travel
Yes, I’m sure the cost of living is comparable to the average wage rather than a good deal. Where are you living as an expat? I would love to go back to Poland and take a long road trip around the Baltics. =)
Me
I recommend going to Białowieża National Park or Słowiński National Park, Kraków-Częstochowa Upland, Toruń, Lublin, Poznań, Sandomierz, Kazimierz Dolny, Chełmno maybe, Świdnica, Legnica and many many more.
Charlie on Travel
That’s a lot of places! Thanks for the suggestions :)