We’d been wanting to take a trip to Germany for a while and finally decided it was the right time. The big question was – when exactly should we go? As much as I wanted to go to Oktoberfest, I knew it’d be an expensive madhouse that we probably didn’t want to deal with. And along that same vein, as much as Jasper would have loved the experience we also had to avoid June or July while the country was hosting the UEFA European Championship. In the end we chose early September, which coincides with our wedding anniversary. We spent the week in three cities: Frankfurt, Stuttgart, and Munich.
We went significantly over our initial budget for this trip, thanks to upgrading our departure flight. If we hadn’t done that, we actually would’ve been about $800 under budget! Below I’ve put together a breakdown of our Germany trip budget vs. what we ultimately spent in each category.
Planning a trip yourself and interested in a more detailed rundown of everything we did in Frankfurt, Stuttgart, and Munich? Check out my Germany Travel Guide!
Original Budget: $6,450 -vs- Actual Trip Cost: $8,321
Flights
Unfortunately it pretty consistently is more expensive to fly out of our home city of Philadelphia than to take the train up to a New York City metro-based airport instead. This time around we went with Lufthansa, flying non-stop from Newark to Frankfurt on our way there and Munich to Newark on the return trip. We originally purchased Economy tickets, but after a few weeks of deliberation we decided to upgrade to Business Class for the first time for our departure flight. Our flight home was still in economy, which was a bit rough after being spoiled in Business Class. You can read a full overview of our Lufthansa Business Class flight here!
Budgeted: $2,500
Original Cost: $2,281
After Business Class Upgrade: $4,981
Train Travel
Taking Amtrak from Philly to Newark, or really anywhere in the Northeast Corridor, is super convenient and I’m so lucky we can take advantage of it for free/discounted employee rates. While in Germany, we took Deutsche Bahn InterCity Express (ICE) trains between each city. It wasn’t much more expensive to upgrade from 2nd Class to First Class (about $13/person, per trip), so we figured why not! And then whenever we weren’t walking somewhere, we took the subway instead of Uber or taxis. Check out our guide to navigating the German rail system here.
Budgeted: $300
Actual Cost: $305
Hotels
In Frankfurt and Munich we prioritized location over price, so we chose the Motel One Frankfurt-Römer and Hotel MIO by AMANO respectively. When it came to Stuttgart on the other hand, we wanted to try to offset the cost of our expensive anniversary dinner a little bit. Since we’re Hilton Honors Members, we used some points and stayed at the Hampton by Hilton Stuttgart City Centre to save some money. The hotels were located directly next to (or nearby) a train station, making it super convenient to get around each city.
Budgeted: $1,500
Actual Cost: $1,120
Sites/Attractions
We planned to see a few touristy sites in each city, but the majority of our trip was focused around food, drinks, and exploring the cities themselves. This meant the budget for this section was pretty low compared to the others. Almost 70% of what we spent here went to tickets for just three places: the Städel Museum in Frankfurt, the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart, and Nymphenburg Palace in Munich.
Budgeted: $200
Actual Cost: $160
Food & Drinks
We went to our first ever Michelin Star restaurant on this trip, and we weren’t 100% sure what to expect bill wise so the budget was a little higher than normal for this section. We definitely overestimated! Surprisingly we came in significantly under budget, likely because we ended up only really eating 2 full meals a day – breakfast and dinner. At lunch time we usually just opted for snacks and apfelwein or beer.
Budgeted: $1,500
Actual Cost: $1,100
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Miscellaneous Costs
We budgeted $500 for miscellaneous spending, which we planned to do entirely in cash. This would be things like souvenirs, meds, toiletries, and tips. We made sure to get the cash from our bank before we left to avoid any ATM fees in Germany. Thanks to the weather getting colder/rainier with each city we went to, we also ended up having to buy myself a rain jacket and Jasper a beanie which we hadn’t budgeted for.
Budgeted: $500
Actual Cost: $655
Germany Trip Budget Saving Ideas
Flights: This is the most obvious one – don’t upgrade to Business Class. This is especially important if, like me, you can’t afford to upgrade every flight going forward now that you’ve experienced how great it is. Another option would be to choose a flight with a layover, as those tend to be slightly cheaper than direct flights.
Hotels: We didn’t pick the cheapest option in each city, so there’s definitely some wiggle room there. Smaller rooms or hotels further from the city center could save a bit of money. Check out the other hotels we considered in each city: Frankfurt, Stuttgart, and Munich.
Food: If you’re not a huge foodie, this is another easy budget cut of the bunch. If nothing else just nix the Michelin Star meal, which accounted for almost half of what we spent! There are plenty of great restaurants that are super affordable in each city.
Attractions: Something we learned at the Porsche Museum specifically – if you take the train to the museum, show them your ticket/phone app and you’ll get a 50% discount on your entrance ticket! If you plan to see more sites, it may be worth it to look in to the City Cards/Passes. Each city we visited has them, and depending on which option you choose you can get discounts (or in some cases free use/entrance!) on public transportation and attractions.
Trains: Buy U-Bahn/S-Bahn multi-passes instead of individual tickets for each trip. We used day passes, but some cities like Stuttgart have 3-day passes as well. Also stick to Coach tickets instead of First Class on the intercity trains.
How much would you budget for a trip to Germany? Let me know in the comments!
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