Look What $2,500/Month Gets You in Europe

When we first started traveling Europe in 2019, we weren’t sure how far a budget of $2500 USD a month would take us. We’re slow travelers so we typically spend a month or two in each city.  We always stay in a furnished apartment so that we can settle in and make each place feel like home. 

In this post, we’re touring five popular Europe destinations to uncover exactly what $2,500 will buy. What we’ve discovered is that there are some cities where $2,500 really doesn’t go very far. And there are others where you can get a really nice lifestyle for $2,500 or even less. 

Sliema, Malta  

Malta has a lot going for it: the natural beauty, historic charm, the waterfront lifestyle. But it’s also known for being really expensive. And, as we’ve discovered, $2,500 a month doesn’t go that far. 

Of course, it all depends on what kind of apartment you get. Ultimately the cost of accommodation in any city has the biggest impact on how far your budget will go. For our month in Malta, we splurged and got a really nice apartment in a central location of the city of Sliema. The apartment was a beautiful loft space just steps to the waterfront. It was tasteful with lots of natural light and all the amenities that we look for: a well equipped kitchen, a washing machine and a really comfortable bed. 

But at $1,800 for our month long stay, this didn’t leave a lot in the budget for the fun stuff like dining out and entertainment. Once you’ve paid for groceries, there’s really not much left. For the one and only time in our entire journey so far, we ended up spending closer to $3,000. This included dining out on a weekly basis; getting a few cab rides; and renting a car to go to the island of Gozo for the day. And of course we did a lot of free or cheap stuff, like getting lost in the streets of Valletta, which is the capital of Malta. Or taking a bus to spend a day of hiking along the coast. 

If you really want to stick to that $2500 in Malta, you’ll need to stay in a less prime location or cut back on dining out and entertainment. Keep in mind, we paid tourist prices for our accommodations. If you’re staying in Malta long term, an unfurnished apartment is going to cost a lot less. 

If you’re looking to get more value for your $2,500 spend, you can consider our next destination.  

Florence, Italy   

We chose Florence for its beautiful architecture, incredible food, and great museums. Plus it’s an amazing jumping off point to discover the rest of Tuscany. Florence is generally considered to be another expensive location but it doesn’t have to be. We didn’t have any trouble  working within our $2500 budget. And here’s what we got for it…

First up, we landed a traditional apartment in a central location, right by the Arno River. This apartment had an old fashioned ambiance and great views of the neighbourhood. It was a nice apartment but not luxurious by any stretch. In fact, it lacked some amenities that we really prefer to have, like a washing machine. 

This cost us $1,300, leaving a good amount of room for the other things that you’re really going to want when you visit Florence. We were able to have a meal out once a week including the famous Florentine steak (no need to count the number of times we had fresh gelato from the family-run shop on the corner). 

We visited a couple of pricey attractions like the Uffizi Museum and Boboli Gardens. And we enjoyed a lot of free or really cheap activities as well, like free audio tours of the major sights or taking the bus to visit the little town of Fiesole. 

Athens, Greece

The third stop on our tour of Europe: Athens, Greece. Athens is often a place where tourists pass through on their way to the islands. But it’s a great destination in its own right. There are thousands of years of history everywhere in Athens with plenty of bucket list sights. And it’s a sophisticated city with great dining and shopping. 

We actually paid the same for our apartment in Athens as we did in Florence but what we got was so much more. It was a spacious, stylish penthouse apartment in the centre of the city with a wraparound terrace. It was a real tourist price at $1300; you can definitely stay cheaper if you’re there long term. 

Even paying that price for accommodations, we had plenty left over in our budget to enjoy Athens. So we splurged on dining out. We had lots of grilled meat, seafood, spanakopita, spit-roasted lamb, delicious kebabs and even a few desserts. We went to the major sights: the Acropolis; the Acropolis Museum, which is a spectacular building; and the National Archeological Museum. And we did a lot for free, like watching the sunrise over the Acropolis from a nearby park; wandering through Plaka and the ancient Agora; and touring around the local street art. 

As you can tell, a budget of $2,500 goes pretty far in Athens. But we got even more value in our next destination. 

Split, Croatia  

Split is the perfect location if you’re looking for lots of sunshine, lots of beaches and a really charming old town. This is a Mediterranean experience that is way more affordable than what you can get in Malta. 

We were able to get an apartment in a central location just minutes away from Split’s four main attractions: the beach, the old town, the Green Market and the waterfront promenade. Our apartment was modern with all the amenities: a well-equipped kitchen, dishwasher, washing machine and a really comfortable living room. For this we paid $1100, which left a lot more room for being tourists. 

We dined out a few times a week. Sometimes it was a nice lunch out with wine; sometimes just a quick cevapi sandwich on the go. Of course, we whiled away many afternoons sipping coffee on the Riva promenade. 

The area where we really splurged was entertainment. We did a paid tour of Split’s historic centre and had a visit to the Mestrovic Gallery, dedicated to Croatia’s most famous sculptor. We also rented a car a couple times to explore beyond Split. We spent a day hiking through Krka national park; we wandered through the ancient Roman ruins at Salona; and we had an amazing view of the region from Klis Fortress. All this fit very nicely into the $2,500. 

Our last destination on this tour is a city where you can live very, very well and actually come in below budget. It’s a city where accommodations can be very reasonably priced, especially if you’re staying long term. You can also eat out for basically every meal, take cabs to get around and still have more than enough left over to see all the major sights. Anyone who’s been following our blog and channel for a while can probably guess which city we’re talking about since we mention it all the time…

Istanbul, Turkey

We just love Istanbul. We’ve been there twice and keep going back for the food, people, history and culture. It’s possible to pay as little as you want for your accommodations in Istanbul. In general, Turkey is a very affordable, low cost of living country where your travel dollar can go really far. But a caveat here: since we’re staying short term, we usually get stuck with tourist prices. 

During our first visit, we stayed in a bohemian apartment with lots of windows in the Beyoglu area. This one cost $1,000. On our last visit, we splurged a little and got a very stylish studio apartment close to the main pedestrian area of Istiklal. It had a clean, modern design with a well-equipped kitchen and a great view of the neighbourhood. For this we paid almost $1,300, which is definitely on the pricey side for Istanbul. 

However, everything else in Istanbul is so inexpensive that we still had plenty of room in our budget. For starters, we could eat out as much as we wanted. We took this as an opportunity to have our fill of amazing turkish food.  We had lots of grilled kebabs with all the fixings; borek, which is a pastry filled with cheese or meat; tasty fried little fish; and desserts like kunefe, which somehow combines both cheese and syrup. And we enjoyed many leisurely Turkish breakfasts with cheeses, olives, spreads and lots of other delicious things.  

We did a walking tour of the Sultanahmet area, which is the location of so many of Istanbul’s most well known sights. We visited the Blue Mosque, the Topkapi Palace, Dolmabahce Palace and did a boat tour of the Bosphorus. With all that dining out and entertainment, we still couldn’t spend the whole $2,500. That makes Istanbul the lowest cost and best value destination on this whole list.  

If you want to know exactly how much we spent in each location, you can check out our entire cost of living series.