The email arrived with twelve attachments. A woman named Hannah was planning a six‑city European trip for her and her husband. They had three weeks. They wanted to see London, Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague, and Vienna. She’d already booked flights into London and out of Vienna. The middle part – the train tickets, the hotels, the daily spending – was a black hole. She had no idea if her £5,000 budget was enough.
I opened the first attachment. It was a screenshot of a website that showed train prices. The second was a screenshot of a hotel booking site. The third was a list of attractions she’d saved from Instagram. None of them added up to a coherent budget.
The Multi-City Trip Cost Calculator is exactly for this situation.
I asked Hannah to start with the biggest variable: transport between cities. European trains are wonderful, but the prices vary wildly. A high‑speed train from London to Paris booked three months in advance costs £40. Booked two weeks before, it’s £120. Booked the day before, it’s £200. She hadn’t booked any of her trains yet. Her trip was in eight weeks.
We plugged her route into the calculator: London→Paris (Eurostar), Paris→Amsterdam (Thalys), Amsterdam→Berlin (ICE), Berlin→Prague (EuroCity), Prague→Vienna (Railjet). The tool estimated £320 per person for all five train segments if booked now. If she waited two more weeks, it would be £480. If she waited until the week before, £700.
She booked the trains that afternoon. Saved £160.
The Travel Budget Calculator is for single‑city trips. The multi‑city tool handles the connections.
Next, accommodation. Hannah wanted private rooms in central locations. The calculator suggested a range: €80-150 per night in Paris and Amsterdam, €60-100 in Berlin and Prague, €70-120 in Vienna and London. She picked the lower end for Berlin and Prague (€70), mid‑range for Vienna (€90), higher for Paris and Amsterdam (€130). London was somewhere in the middle (€110). She multiplied each by the number of nights: 3 nights in London (£330), 3 in Paris (£390), 2 in Amsterdam (£260), 3 in Berlin (£210), 2 in Prague (£140), 3 in Vienna (£270). Total accommodation: £1,600.
She had originally guessed £1,200. The calculator showed her the real cost. She didn’t cut back – she increased her budget instead.
The Trip Cost Estimator helped her set daily spending limits for each city.
She allocated £60 per day in Prague, £70 in Berlin and Vienna, £80 in London, and £90 in Paris and Amsterdam. That’s £1,190 for food, local transport, and attractions over 16 full days. She added a £300 buffer for unexpected expenses (city taxes, ATM fees, tips). Total so far: trains (£640 for two) + accommodation (£1,600) + daily spending (£1,190) + buffer (£300) = £3,730. Plus flights (£400) = £4,130. She had £870 left for tours and souvenirs.
She was thrilled. “I thought I’d be over budget,” she said. “I didn’t realise the daily spending number could be that low if we eat street food and skip expensive tours.”
I asked her about her must‑do attractions. She listed: Eiffel Tower summit, Louvre, Anne Frank House, Berlin Wall memorial, Prague Castle, Schönbrunn Palace. I told her to book the Anne Frank House tickets immediately – they sell out months in advance. She did. That cost €16 each. Everything else could be booked on arrival.
Her husband wanted to add a day trip to Bruges from Brussels. Brussels wasn’t in their itinerary. Adding it would mean an extra train ticket (£40 each) and an extra night of accommodation (£110). The multi‑city calculator showed that adding Bruges would add £300 to their budget. They decided to skip it.
One mistake Hannah almost made: forgetting about city taxes. Many European cities charge a tourist tax per person per night, payable at the hotel. Paris charges €5-8, Amsterdam €3-4, Vienna €3. Over 16 nights, that’s another £100. She hadn’t budgeted for it. The buffer covered it.
Another mistake: assuming the same daily spend works for every city. Paris is expensive. A croissant and coffee is €8. A museum ticket is €15-20. The Trip Cost Estimator lets you set different daily limits for each city. Hannah set £90 for Paris, which felt tight until she realised she could have a picnic from a boulangerie for €10 instead of a €40 restaurant lunch. She did that three times and saved enough for a Seine river cruise.
The Currency Budget Converter also helped her.
Hannah’s budget was in pounds, but she’d be spending euros, koruna, and forints. The converter showed her that the euro was strong against the pound, meaning each day in Paris would cost more in pounds than she’d mentally estimated. She adjusted her daily limit up by £5 per day and moved £100 from her buffer to cover it.
Six months after her trip, Hannah sent me a summary. Her actual spending was £4,350 – £220 over her £4,130 budget. The overage came from a few unplanned activities: a concert in Vienna (£45 each), a boat tour on the Spree in Berlin (£20), and more wine than she’d budgeted for. She said “I don’t regret a single penny. The concert was the highlight of the trip.”
She also shared her city‑by‑city breakdown:
London (3 days): £580 including a West End show. Stayed in a budget hotel near King’s Cross. Ate mostly from markets and pubs.
Paris (3 days): £710 including Eiffel Tower and Louvre. Stayed in a small hotel in the Latin Quarter. Picnicked for lunch. One nice dinner.
Amsterdam (2 days): £420 including Anne Frank House and canal cruise. Stayed in a hostel with a private room (cheaper than a hotel).
Berlin (3 days): £540 including museum pass and a day trip to Potsdam. Stayed in an apartment rental.
Prague (2 days): £310 including Prague Castle and beer tour. Stayed in a cheap hotel. Food was incredibly cheap.
Vienna (3 days): £650 including Schönbrunn and the concert. Stayed in a mid‑range hotel. This was the splurge city.
Total: £3,210 for two people, not including flights or trains. Plus trains £640, flights £400, buffer/spending money £100 = £4,350.
Hannah’s advice to other multi‑city planners: “Book trains early, book Anne Frank House early, and accept that you’ll overspend in Vienna. It’s worth it.”
The Multi‑City Trip Cost Calculator is free. Use it before you book anything. Hannah did. She had a stress‑free trip and came back with a spreadsheet she still looks at fondly.
