How Much We Spent Traveling in Finland and Estonia

Finland and Estonia are not cheap countries. Especially Finland! But Andy and I knew that going into it, so it wasn’t a big surprise. You can do travel cheaper than we did if you’re a budget traveler but if you’re more mid-range like we are, this is a good look at what it costs to travel to Finland and Estonia for two people.

Total Finland and Estonia costs

Amounts are listed in euros and US dollars. Both countries use the euro.

1,631.30€ / $1,859.68 – accommodation
201.80€ / $230.05 – transportation
519.35€ / $592.06 – food and alcohol
6€ / $6.84 – activities
2,358.45€ / $2,688.63 – total

This does not include our train tickets from St Petersburg, Russia to Helsinki (77.98€) or our flight from Tallinn to Berlin (257.98€).

Hotel costs in Finland and Estonia – $1,859.68

Andy and I spent one night in Turku, Finland, 4 nights in Helsinki, Finland, and 4 nights in Tallinn, Estonia. At 206€ ($234.84) per night, the hotel in Helsinki was definitely the most expensive of the trip, but it was also the best hotel of the trip. We normally wouldn’t spend that much, but hotels in Helsinki were rather pricey, and it was hard to find something that looked decent for much less than this.

I’d recommend any of the hotels we stayed at for this trip:

• Turku: Centro Hotel Turku
• Helsinki: Radisson Blu Plaza Hotel
• Tallinn: Radisson Blu Sky Hotel

For nine nights total, we averaged $206.63 per night, or about $103.32 per person per night in Finland and Estonia.

Transportation costs in Finland and Estonia – $230.05

Our train tickets to Turku were about $59.05 round trip, and we walked once we were in the city. Helsinki was a very walkable city, and we only bought a day pass for the public transportation one day, which was $20.52 for the two of us. We also bought two round trip ferry tickets to visit the island fortress in Helsinki, which cost $11.40. Tram tickets to the Tallinn airport cost $4.56 for the two of us.

The biggest part of our transportation budget was our Helsinki to Tallinn Ferry tickets. We spent $134.52 for the two of us in the comfort lounge.

Cost of food and alcohol in Finland and Estonia – $592.06

Luckily food prices were fairly reasonable. We ate out for most meals, but there were a few times when we bought groceries and picnicked in our room. A few times, we ate meals at a market or a cafeteria, which was cheaper than a restaurant. Breakfast was included at all of our hotels.

We also had a few alcoholic drinks most days. I was so excited about the wide variety of ciders on offer in both countries, I had to try a bunch of them.

Both countries had lots of notations on the menus about food allergens, which I thought was great. We enjoyed lots of great meals in Helsinki, though we were a little burnt out after that and didn’t do such a great job looking for good places to eat in Tallinn.

For nine days, we averaged $65.78 per day, or about $32.89 per person per day on food and alcohol in Finland and Estonia.

Cost of activities in Finland and Estonia – $6.84

Most of what we did in Finland and Estonia was free. This small cost is for the town hall tower we climbed in Tallinn. The castle we wanted to see in Turku turned out to be almost impossible to visit the day we were there due to a marathon that shut down the bus route we needed. The island fortress in Helsinki was free to visit, though we had to pay for the ferry. And beyond that, we did a lot of walking in each city to explore. If you’re more of a museum person, add some extra money to this section of your travel budget.

I’m a little appalled at how much we spent on hotels on this trip, but it was hard to find something cheaper that we were willing to book. Certainly you can find hostels or budget hotels if you’re on a stricter budget. I think we did pretty good on the rest of our travel spending though. I was especially happy with the food quality and choices in Helsinki. Overall, for nine days traveling in Finland and Estonia, we averaged $298.74 per day, or $149.37 per person per day.

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