Travel Budget Calculator
What a trip will cost in total, per person, per day and per person per day, with a margin for what always comes up.
Results
What this tool does
Most holiday overspending is not extravagance; it is arithmetic done in the wrong order. The flights get compared carefully and then seven nights of dinners quietly cost more than the flights did. This page lays the whole thing out at once: lodging by the night, food and activities by the person by the day, getting there by the person, local transport as a lump, and a margin on top. The per-person-per-day figure at the bottom is the one worth remembering while you are away.
Formula
total = (nights + food + activities + local transport + trip) × (1 + margin)
Variables
| Symbol | Meaning | Unit |
|---|---|---|
d | Days away | d |
p | People travelling | — |
ac | A night's lodging, for everyone | — |
fd | Food per person per day | — |
tr | Getting there and back, per person | — |
ay | Activities per person per day | — |
lt | Local transport, the whole trip | — |
bf | Margin for the unexpected | % |
T | The whole trip | — |
PP | Per person | — |
PD | Per day | — |
PPD | Per person per day | — |
BA | The margin, in money | — |
BL | Largest single line | — |
Worked example
- Days away7 d
- People travelling2
- A night's lodging, for everyone90
- Food per person per day35
- Getting there and back, per person220
- Activities per person per day20
- Local transport, the whole trip120
- Margin for the unexpected12 %
- The whole trip2195.20
- Per person1097.60
- Per day313.60
- Per person per day156.80
- The margin, in money235.20
- Largest single line630.00
Limitations
- The result is an estimate based only on the values you type. Real situations often include factors this calculator does not know about.
- The tool works with whatever currency you use for the inputs; it does not convert between currencies.
Frequently asked questions
Why have a margin for the unexpected at all?
Because the things nobody budgets for are the same things every time: the taxi you take because it is raining, the bag that costs extra at the gate, the meal out that was not in the plan, the entry fee that turned out not to include the exhibition. None of them is large and together they are reliably ten to twenty per cent. Putting a number on that in advance is the difference between a budget and a wish.