Austria has long been a travel destination for tourists and nature lovers for good reason. However, traveling anywhere costs money. This post will cover an average one-month budget in Austria for travelers.
This historic country is nestled in the northern alps, where the sun is always shining, and nearly everyone is outside enjoying the beauty of nature. While Austria isn’t usually considered a budget destination, it can definitely be done affordably with a little bit of planning!
We traveled for 2 months in Austria, split between Upper Austria including Salzburg, Hallstatt, and the entire Salzkammergut, as well as in the heart of the Alps, in Tirol near Innsbruck.
Check out what’s waiting for you in Austria, and what you can expect to spend on accommodation, food, transportation, excursions, and general living expenses!
Table of Contents
Accommodation Budget In Austria
Our accommodation is what determines our trips since many Airbnb hosts have a huge discount for any stay over 28 days, especially in the shoulder- and off-seasons. This is what has made living in Austria for 2 months affordable for us.
On average, our Airbnb’s cost a total of โฌ774 for one month. Since my partner and I share living expenses, we were able to split this cost, making it even cheaper. This includes Airbnb as well as the local tourist tax, which depends on the location.
During our first month, we stayed in Bad Ischl, centrally located in the Salzkammergut of Upper Austria, only 20 minutes from Hallstatt! Our Airbnb was about โฌ700 in total, with a tourist tax of โฌ3.85/night. Since I travel with my boyfriend, we were able to split the Airbnb cost, however, the cost listed is the total price.
For our second month, we stayed near Neustift in the Stubai Valley, south of Innsbruck. Our Airbnb was a total of โฌ650 before we split it. The tourist tax in this region wasย โฌ2.68/night.
Note: Regardless if you’re in a hotel, hostel, or Airbnb, many regions have a tourist tax that should be factored into your accommodation expense! It is usually due upon arrival, in cash so be prepared!
Accommodation
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Airbnb
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Tourist Tax
Food Budget In Austria
Austrian food is hearty, locally sourced, and definitely keeps you warm on those brisk winter days. Food prices were comparable to what we knew at home in the US, so budgeting was essential!
Our food expenses differed greatly between the two months. During the first month in Bad Ischl, we were constantly out and exploring, eating out, and working from cafes where we would get a few coffees and snacks.
In our second month, we were in a much smaller town, where we mostly grocery shopped and would eat out a big meal less frequently, with very few small expenses at cafes.
On average, we spentย โฌ415 on food. Most of this was on groceries, with a few small meals and coffees out! We are definitely big coffee and dessert people, so there was some room to save, but the food was too good!
Food
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Groceries
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Restaurants
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Cafes
Transportation Budget in Austria
Transportation around Austria was extremely easy and affordable for us. If you’re trying to see the whole country, you may experience it differently, but we were able to utilize FREE BUSES during both of our stays.
Austria has a well-connected public transport system including buses, trains, and ferries and we used a lot of electric scooters for short-term travel! There wasn’t a single time we needed a ride share like Uber or wished we had a rental car.
The Tourist Tax we paid at both of our month-long stays provided free transport within the region, and even transport to our destination upon arrival! We did have a few public transportation costs when we took a bus/train further than our free bus allowed, but it only totaled to aboutย โฌ65 per month.
We thought transport in Austria would be a much bigger expense, so we were stoked to save so much here. It’s easy to spend a lot more if you don’t know how you can save!ย
Note: this budget doesn’t include the transport in between our stays. In our second month, the transport was included with the tourist tax, however, this post is focused on the costs once you’re at a place, since the travel to get there depends on where you are before!
Transportation
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Public Transport
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Electric Scooters
Check out everything you need to know about Transportation in Austria!
Excursions Budget in Austria
There is so much to explore in Austria, luckily we love exploring the outdoors the most, which is accessible and mostly free! We were in Austria from mid-December to mid-February, so we focused a lot on skiing, gondola rides to mountain tops, and a bit of sightseeing when we were in cities.
Although skiing seems like an expensive sport, it is very affordable in Austria. We did travel with our own skis (which I definitely DO NOT recommend), so we avoided rental costs which are aboutย โฌ50.ย Coming from California where day-pass skiing can be 180 (or more), โฌ50 a day was so cheap!
We also loved getting up into the mountains on gondolas and funiculars to see the views. This can be about โฌ15 a ride, but we got a month pass to go up the Katrin Cable Car in Bad Ischl forย โฌ65!
We did visit Salzburg for a day, and got the 24-hour tourist pass for onlyย โฌ25! We planned a long layover between train rides to see the city sights, without going out of our way and incurring more transport costs!
While in Austria, you HAVE to check out Tobogganing. This is a fun sport in the Alps, like adult sledding. Tickets were typically โฌ20 for the toboggan rental and gondola ride, but highly recommend it as a great winter activity!
Excursions
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Skiing
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Sight-seeing
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Gondolas
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Tobogganing
This section isn’t Austria-specific, but it is important to make note of the other monthly expenses you may have that will eat a chunk of your budget. This includes Health Insurance, Renter’s Insurance, a Mobile Phone plan, and various subscriptions for music, apps, and a VPN.
The biggest expense is health insurance, which luckily I’m still on my parent’s plan (yay for being 25)! However, I took into account my boyfriend’s plan since this is an expense for most people, which is emergency medical costing around โฌ50.
We each also have renter’s insurance, which costs about โฌ14 a month and will cover up to 10,000 worth of items that get lost, damaged, or stolen while we are abroad.
For our cell phone,ย we purchased an eSIM for Austria, which is great for saving money while traveling and managing your data from your phone! We purchased 10GB of data for โฌ24 a month. Check out what we did for a Phone Plan in Austria, and get discounts!
Finally, some of the subscriptions I have total up to about โฌ24 a month, which includes my DuoLingo Super, YouTube Music, Hosting platform for this website, and most importantly a VPN. If you are traveling and have any intention of using your computer or phone for personal things, I highly suggest using a VPN to protect your online information!
Life Expenses
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Insurance
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Mobile Phone
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Subscriptions
Summary - Detailed One Month Budget in Austria
Austria is an idyllic country in the mountains, with so much history, culture, and natural beauty to explore. Although it isn’t typically on the top of the list when it comes to ‘budget destinations’, it can definitely be explored thoroughly on a budget!ย
My biggest suggestion to save while in Austria, is to stay in a long-term Airbnb (more than 28 days), use public transport as much as possible, and be aware of what free transport options you have! Also, use a local phone plan where you can top-up data as needed.
We would absolutely go back to the 2 regions we stayed in Austria. To check out the highlights of the areas, see my posts on Bad Ischl, the Salzkammergut, and the Stubai Valley! Austria is beautiful year-round, so start planning your next trip to the Alps!
What other destinations are on your bucket list? Find your Travel Inspiration here.
