Travel food budget calculator 2026

At the standard tier and a cost of living similar to Poland (multiplier 1.0), a week of food for 2 people is about PLN 2,100 — PLN 150 per person per day. In cheaper countries (the Balkans, Southeast Asia) with a 0.5–0.7 multiplier the cost drops to PLN 1,000–1,500, while in expensive countries (Scandinavia, Switzerland) with a 2–2.5 multiplier it rises to PLN 4,000–5,000.

The multiplier is the ratio of the cost of living in a country to that in Poland. Poland = 1.0. Cheaper: Thailand 0.5–0.6, Vietnam 0.4–0.5, Turkey 0.6–0.8, Bulgaria 0.7. More expensive: Germany 1.3, Italy 1.4, France 1.5, UK 1.7, Norway 2.3, Switzerland 2.5. You can find these values on sites such as Numbeo (restaurant and grocery cost indices).

Budget (PLN 80/person/day in Poland) assumes grocery shopping, self-catering, street food and cheap cafeterias. Standard (PLN 150) is a mix — breakfast at your accommodation, one restaurant meal and a lunch out. Comfort (PLN 280) covers daily restaurant meals, cafes, desserts, drinks and occasional visits to better venues.

Yes, the base amounts are averaged spend on all food, including soft drinks and coffee. Alcohol is partly included in the comfort tier, but for heavy consumption (daily wine with dinner, bar drinks) add an extra PLN 30–80 per person per day, especially in countries with high alcohol taxes.

The most effective methods are: choosing accommodation with a kitchenette and self-catering breakfast, shopping in local supermarkets rather than tourist shops, eating where locals eat (away from main attractions), having lunch instead of dinner at restaurants (set menus are cheaper) and using local markets. These can cut your daily cost by 30–50%.

Usually not — children eat less, so their food cost is lower than an adult's, often by 40–60%. Many restaurants offer cheaper kids' portions, and all-inclusive hotels frequently provide free meals for the youngest. You can reflect this by entering a smaller effective number of people or lowering the multiplier proportionally.

A vacation cost calculator estimates the entire trip budget — accommodation, flights, attractions and food combined. This tool focuses solely on food, giving you finer control over that specific budget line. It is useful when your accommodation and transport are already paid for and you only need to estimate how much cash to set aside for meals.

The result is indicative and based on averaged Polish bases adjusted by a country multiplier. It works well for most popular destinations, but in countries with a wide price spread (expensive resorts versus cheap provinces in the same country) it is worth tuning the multiplier to the specific region and city you are visiting.

The calculator multiplies the base daily cost per person (budget PLN 80, standard PLN 150, comfort PLN 280) by the country multiplier to get the daily cost per person. It then multiplies by the number of people (daily group cost) and by the number of days (total cost). Formula: total cost = base × country_multiplier × number_of_people × number_of_days. The result is an estimate — actual prices depend on the country, city and travel style.