Is Beautiful, Gritty Budapest Still a Low-Cost Destination in 2023?
Plus charmed by picture-perfect Brasov, Romania
We’re coming to you today from what has to be the most scenic stop in our journey through Europe. We’re in the city of Brasov, Romania and what makes it so picturesque is its lovely old town surrounded by lush green hills.
We’re enjoying it all the more because our Airbnb is located way up on one of those hills, giving us a spectacular view of the city below.
Of course, that also means that anytime we need anything at all — lunch, groceries, a wander through town — we need to make the big trip downhill and then all the way back up again. Effectively it’s an Airbnb with a built-in exercise plan.
Nomad meetups
It seems that we weren’t the only ones drawn to Brasov this summer. We’ve had a record number of meet ups since we’ve arrived. Although we’re in touch with many other travel enthusiasts virtually, it’s always a treat when we happen to be in the same place at the same time.
It reminded us of the importance of building community among fellow nomads, a topic that we’ve covered in a past video and blog post.
While it’s exciting to be off exploring the world, it can be somewhat isolating to constantly be in new destinations surrounded by strangers. This is the reason that we recommend being proactive about connecting with other travellers online — you may eventually meet up in person in, say, a lovely little city in the heart of Transylvania.
No longer a budget destination
When we initially had the idea of spending a month in Budapest, we saw it as a low-cost option. It would help us balance out our budget after a particularly spendy time in Prague and Vienna.
Well, that might have been true five or ten years ago but it’s certainly not the case today. Based on the price of our Airbnb, Budapest can hold its own with many other expensive European destinations.
In fact, our latest video touched off quite a debate about Airbnb inflation. If you’re ready for all the highlights from our time in Budapest plus the somewhat shocking price tag, you can catch up here…
Or, if you prefer a good read over watching a video, you can check out our Budapest blog post.
What’s next
It feels like we only just arrived in Europe but our summer adventure is quickly coming to an end. We’re saying goodbye to Brasov next week and then winding our way through the Romanian countryside with a final stop in Bucharest.
Bucharest is famous for one thing in August: its unrelenting heat. We’re looking forward to touring the city in the early morning hours — I’m thinking 7am, if that’s what it takes to beat the heat — and then enjoying lazy afternoons with a cold drink.
By the way, if you’ve been to Bucharest, please send your recommendations our way.
See you on the road!
Stephanie & Gillian
9 Comments
RUBEN DIAZ
I hope you are enjoying Brasov! My wife and I spent a month there and we did enjoy our hiking adventures in the hills around the beautiful town!
Our Freedom Years
We’re just loving it here! It’s like living inside a beautiful park. There’s nothing better than starting the day with a big walk around Mt Tampa.
RUBEN DIAZ
Wonderful! Be aware of bears!
Jessica C.
So fun seeing how your time in Budapest went! Definitely surprised to hear it costs almost the same as other parts of Europe, since we had imagined it’d cost less than southern Spain or less touristy parts of Portugal/France/Italy. Have you been able to keep costs a bit more balanced by doing a month in Brasov and Bratislava? We had been budgeting about $3,500/m for our future world travels for two people and our small dog (plus another $10k annually for taxes and flights to/from home), hopefully it’s still feasible overall and inflation hasn’t made that hard! I’m wanting to be frugal but also not make it so we can’t enjoy our travels.
Our Freedom Years
Certainly our time in Bratislava and especially in Brasov is helping balance out the rest of the summer. I think your budget is quite reasonable, especially if you save the very popular destinations for shoulder season. Inflation really has taken a toll but there are still very good deals to be found, particularly if you plan ahead and feel comfortable negotiating.
Jessica C.
Thanks for your insights on my budget! Curious, as you’ve been country hopping, have you been able to use the EU Dog Passports to get Jasper and Huxley in and out or have you been needing to follow individual country requirements like seeing vets, showing vaccine info, etc?
Our Freedom Years
We’ve successfully used their EU pet passport to get in and out of EU countries and they can also be used in some other countries as well, such as Canada, without needing additional documentation. That said, it’s always important to look at the country-specific requirements as even some EU countries might have additional needs. Also, for South America, each country has its own unique requirements and an EU pet passport on its own is not sufficient. Hope that helps!
Jessica C.
Very helpful, thank you both! Do you feel like overall its been feasible to deal with moving Huxley and Jasper between countries? Just because needing to see vets every few months – especially in foreign countries where they might not speak English – seems a bit daunting.
Our Freedom Years
Traveling with dogs adds a lot of complexity and extra work but we’re really happy that we’ve done it for the past four years. Having an EU pet passport is extremely helpful because it makes getting in and out of EU countries very easy. That said, it’s a bit of work to get the passport and it needs to be maintained with annual rabies shots. We’ve also found that traveling slowly and reducing the overall number of border crossings is helpful. Generally Europe is an amazing and worthwhile place to travel with a dog while South America can be quite challenging to enter and exit (although very dog friendly once you’re in country).