Baring My Budget: Hamburg
12 December 2007 by poetloverrebelspy
I took a three-day weekend trip to Hamburg and didn’t even hit 65 euros. I’ll show you how after the jump.
Transportation Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
+ Ride-share, Berlin-Hamburg: 13 euros
+ local transport — 1 single ticket @ 2.60 euros and 3 day tickets @ 5.10 euros: 17.90 euros
+ Ride-share, Hamburg-Berlin: 10 euros
Subtotal: 40.90 euros
Food and Drink Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
+ Groceries (for me): 2.61 euros
+ Lunch at the Mensa (university cafeteria): 2 euros
+ Groceries (for Thanksgiving entree): 12.36 euros
Subtotal: 16.97 euros
Other Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
+ Gifts for my hosts: 5.88 euros
Subtotal: 5.88 euros
TOTAL: 63.75 euros
Freebies included:
+ three nights accommodation (with Hospitality Club and overnight at a friend’s place when I got stuck without a train “home” for the night)
+ though I bought and brought food, my HC hosts provided me with additional breakfast basics, dinner two nights (one night where I contributed an entree), hot tea and cake
+ huge Thanksgiving potluck dinner at my friend’s place
+ walking around the major sites of the city, all the Christmas markets and the Hamburger Dom Fair
+ ferry ride around the harbor on the local transport ferries
Like London, this trip followed my typical no-budget rules: free accommodation, ride public transport (5.10 euros/day), eat only groceries (5 euros/day), BYOB (1 euro/day), do lots of cheap or free activities. This equals a daily budget of around 11 euros.
Germany tip: the Mensa aren’t a society of brainiacs but rather university cafeterias, subsidized by tax money. Eats are cheap and filling and selection is generally pretty decent. At this page, you will find a map of German cities with universities; if you click on your city of choice, it will show you a link to the local Studentenwerk, where you can navigate to information about the cafeterias in that city. If you look young enough to be a student (30 or under), you’ll probably be charged student prices; too old or having the bad luck to be asked for ID and you’ll pay 20-30% more per dish. Still a steal compared to restaurant or even street food prices!
[...] Baring My Budget: Hamburg @ Less Than A Shoestring: Want to visit Hamburg on a shoestring? Here’s how poetloverrebelspy spent three days on a trip which cost less than 65 euros. [...]
How exiting! I would imagine keeping to the budget was a large part of the fun!
Best Wishes,
D4L