Travel Budget Calculator
Price a whole trip, split it per person and get a daily spending budget.
A trip price is not the flight. Flights, beds, food and getting around add up in different currencies and at different moments, which is how holidays end up costing half as much again as planned.
Enter the numbers you know, the daily allowances you expect and a contingency, and this calculator totals the trip, splits it per person and works out what you can spend each day.
At a glance
- What you enter
- Travellers, Days, Flights per person, Accommodation per person, Daily spending per person, Local transport per person, Tours and activities per person, Other costs for the whole trip, Contingency
- What you get
- Total cost of the trip, Cost per person, Spending budget per person per day
- Formula shown
- Yes - every step, right below your results.
- Cost and privacy
- Free, no account needed, and nothing you type is stored.
See worked examples ↓ Read the FAQ ↓ Share this calculator ↓
Results are estimates for general information only - always verify with a professional or official source before acting on them.
How to use the Travel Budget Calculator
- 1 Enter Travellers (people)
- 2 Enter Days (days)
- 3 Enter Flights per person
- 4 Enter Accommodation per person - The whole stay, for one person.
- 5 Enter Daily spending per person - Food, drinks, entries and small purchases.
- 6 Enter Local transport per person
- 7 Enter Tours and activities per person
- 8 Enter Other costs for the whole trip - Visas, insurance, airport parking, pet care.
- 9 Enter Contingency
- 10 Press Calculate. You get Total cost of the trip, Cost per person, Spending budget per person per day, and every intermediate step stays visible under “How is this calculated?”
- 11 Change one number at a time to see what moves the result - that is usually the most useful thing a calculator can tell you.
Worked examples
Real numbers run through this calculator. Open any example to load it into the form above and change it.
Two weeks abroad for two travellers
A 14 day trip with mid-range flights and a shared room.
You enter
- Travellers
- 2 people
- Days
- 14 days
- Flights per person
- $400.00
- Accommodation per person
- $900.00
- Daily spending per person
- $60.00
- Local transport per person
- $80.00
- Tours and activities per person
- $150.00
- Other costs for the whole trip
- $100.00
- Contingency
- 10%
You get
- Total cost of the trip
- $5,324.00
- Cost per person
- $2,662.00
- Spending budget per person per day
- $76.43
Each traveller costs $2,370 before the shared costs. The subtotal is $4,840, the 10% contingency adds $484 and the trip totals $5,324, or $2,662 each. Once the flights and the room are paid, there is $76.43 a day left per person to spend.
A four day city break for four friends
Short flights, a shared apartment and a full programme of tours.
You enter
- Travellers
- 4 people
- Days
- 4 days
- Flights per person
- $120.00
- Accommodation per person
- $300.00
- Daily spending per person
- $90.00
- Local transport per person
- $40.00
- Tours and activities per person
- $220.00
- Other costs for the whole trip
- $60.00
- Contingency
- 15%
You get
- Total cost of the trip
- $4,853.00
- Cost per person
- $1,213.25
- Spending budget per person per day
- $155.00
The $220 of tours and the $40 transport pass lift the daily spending budget to $155, well above the $90 daily allowance. The per-person cost is $1,040, the subtotal $4,220, the 15% contingency adds $633 and the trip totals $4,853, or $1,213.25 each.
Guides that go with it
How Much Money Should You Budget Per Day While Traveling?
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Can You Afford to Live Alone? Calculate Your Monthly Budget
Living alone looks simple on paper: rent, groceries, done. Then the first electric bill shows up in January, your phone needs a new charger, and somehow there is $40 missing by the 20th. This article…
How Much Does It Cost to Move Abroad? Calculate Your Budget
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Frequently asked questions
Are flights and accommodation per person?
Flights are per person because every traveller needs a seat, so enter the price of one return ticket. Accommodation is the whole cost of the stay for one person, which for a shared room means that person's share of the room rather than the full invoice for the party.
Local transport and tours and activities are per person as well. The only field that is not is other costs for the whole trip, which covers visas, insurance, airport parking and pet care, and is charged once for everyone.
What is the contingency for, and how is it calculated?
The contingency is a percentage added to the subtotal once the per-person costs and the shared costs have been added up. At 10% on a $4,840 subtotal it adds $484 and the trip total becomes $5,324. It is not a per-person charge and it is not part of the daily spending budget.
Use it for what always turns up on a trip: a taxi when the bus stops running, a room that costs more than the price you saw, a meal that overshoots. If a surprise on holiday would push you into borrowing, keep the travel buffer and your emergency fund as two separate pots.
Why is the cost per person higher than the daily spending figure?
Cost per person is everything one traveller costs for the trip: flight, accommodation, daily spending for every day, local transport and activities. The daily spending budget leaves out the flight and the accommodation, because those are normally paid before you leave, and spreads the rest over the days.
On a 14 day trip with $840 of daily spending, $80 of local transport and $150 of activities, the daily budget is (840 + 80 + 150) / 14, which is $76.43 a day. That is the figure to compare with prices on the ground rather than the per-person total.
Does the calculator convert currencies or split shared costs?
There is no currency conversion. Enter every amount in the same currency you want the answer in, so convert the hotel price and the flight price before you start. If part of the trip is paid in another currency, convert it at a rate you consider realistic rather than one that flatters the budget.
Shared costs entered once, such as visas or parking, are added to the subtotal and then divided between the travellers in the cost per person. That is a fair way to split a car full of people, but it means the per-person figure is not the amount any one traveller actually handed over.