The real cost of a semester abroad
Nobody tells you the real number.
You get the tuition figure, maybe a line about accommodation, and then a vague sense that it’ll work out. Then you land, and week one costs more than the whole of the previous month at home, because you’re buying a duvet and a SIM card and a bike lock and paying a deposit nobody told you about.
So here’s the honest version. Not a budget, not advice, just what a semester abroad actually costs across Europe’s top 9 cities for exchange students.
Start with the gap
The Erasmus+ grant for 2026/27 runs anywhere from €330 to €600 a month, depending on your home country.
Now put that against a month in Amsterdam, which realistically costs €1,300 to €1,600 all in.
That’s the whole problem in one line. The grant is a contribution, not a salary, and in the more expensive cities it covers roughly a third of what you may need.
Top 9 European Cities for Exchange Students
What a month actually costs, by city.
Amsterdam
The most expensive on this list. A room in a shared flat runs €650 to €1,200, university residences €700 to €800 if you can get one, and demand massively outstrips supply so you need to be looking months ahead. Eating out gets expensive so cooking most nights is less a lifestyle choice than a survival strategy. Public transport is good but costly as well which is precisely why almost nobody who lives here uses it daily. More on that later. All in, budget €1,300 to €1,600.
Berlin
Rooms around €550, with a monthly transport pass at €63 that’s noticeably steeper than the Spanish cities. Beer around €4. Realistically €1,300 to €1,500 a month, so it sits alongside Milan and Vienna budget wise.
Barcelona
A room is around €550, with a realistic all-in figure of €1,100 to €1,500 depending on how central you are and how much you go out. Transport is a bargain: the T-jove quarterly pass for under-30s costs €45.50 for three months, which works out around €15 a month. You’ll need to be registered in one of the municipalities in the Barcelona area to get one. Coffee around €2, beer around €3.
Regional trains are the wildcard, in a good way. Over the last few years travel on the Rodalies network has variously been free, heavily discounted, or covered by a national pass, and the rules have changed more than once a year. Genuinely don’t hold us to any of this. Check the current situation when you arrive.
Madrid
Very similar money to Barcelona, room around €500 to €550, coffee €2, beer €3, and over 300,000 students in the city. The same €30 national pass applies, but note it doesn’t cover the metro, trams or urban and metropolitan buses, so it’s not a city transport pass. If you want the Spanish cost base with a bigger city and no beach, this is the trade.
Milan
Italy’s priciest student city, and the one with the best infrastructure to compensate. A shared room is €500 to €800 in average areas, dropping to €450 to €650 out in Bovisa or Bicocca, climbing past €700 in Porta Romana or Navigli. Add €80 to €150 for utilities if they aren’t included, and €200 to €300 for groceries. The ATM transport pass is approximately €22 a month for under-27s, or €200 for the year, which pays for itself in about seven months. All in, most students land between €900 and €1,400. University canteens with income-based pricing are the single biggest saver available.
Lisbon
The best value in Western Europe hands down. Rooms go for €400 to €600, the Navegante metro-area pass is €40, and if you’re 23 or under it’s completely free, student or not. Coffee is about €1, and a realistic all-in month is €900 to €1,300. Pastel de nata por favor!
Budapest
Around 300,000 forint a month all in, roughly €760, with a room at about 130,000 forint and beer around 1,100 forint. The discounted transport pass is roughly €10 a month, which is one of the best deals on the continent and about a sixth of what you’d pay in Berlin. One catch: since June 2026, students with a foreign student ID also need a registered Hungarian address to qualify, so sort out your address card early.
Kraków
A room is around 1,500 złoty, roughly €355, beer around 10-20 złoty, about €3-5, and a full month lands near 3,000 złoty, or about €700. That puts it within touching distance of Bucharest for the cheapest semester on this list, and it’s the one to pick if you want a Western-feeling city on Central European money.
Bucharest
The cheapest of the lot. Rooms are €200 to €400, university accommodation cheaper still if you get a place, and the whole month comes in comfortably under €1,000. Romania also gives students big train discounts: 50% off second-class tickets if you’re enrolled at a university abroad, and 90% if you’re enrolled at a Romanian university, though for 2026/27 the 90% only applies between your home town and your university. Combined with the room prices, it’s the cheapest semester here by about €50.
The costs nobody warns you about
The monthly figure is the part people plan for but it’s the one-off costs that can wreck a semester abroad.
Rental deposits
In Milan, budget €1,500 to €2,500 up front for a two to three month deposit, the first month in advance, and any agency fees. It comes back eventually (that is, if you don’t break or ruin anything) but it’s a big hit right at the beginning.
Setting up a life
Bedding, kitchen basics, an eSIM phone plan, a bike (and helmet!) if you’re in the Netherlands, an adaptor you’ll probably lose by week three. Budget for €150 to €300. Ikea run anyone?
Health insurance
EU students, get your EHIC before you fly. It’s free, but it won’t cover private care, repatriation or planned dental — emergency dental only, so brush and floss. Keep €300 to €500 reachable just in case. Non-EU students will need private cover for the whole stay. Check the Erasmus+ insurance rules before you go.
The first six weeks
This is the one people are embarrassed to talk about, so we’ll say it plainly. The first month and a half of a semester abroad is the most expensive stretch of the whole thing, because everything is new and everybody is saying yes to everything. Make sure you set aside an entertainment fund from the get go so you don’t have to live off instant noodles for a month.
Travel
Students consistently say the reason they go on exchange is personal growth and independence, with cultural immersion close behind. Travel is how both of those actually happen, which is why it’s the category most consistently underestimated. Most exchange students take somewhere between four and eight trips over a semester. If getting out of your comfort zone is why you’re going, put a real number against it and make a plan so you don’t miss out on that weekend trip to Prague.
Where the money quietly leaks
Two places. Both boring, which is exactly why nobody talks about them.
The first is currency conversion. If your account is held in one currency and you’re living in another, every single purchase and rent transfer involves a conversion and the rate applied isn’t always the rate you assumed. Across a semester and several hundred small transactions later, that becomes a real number that appears on no budget spreadsheet, because it never announces itself. It’s just quietly baked into each tap.
The second is cash withdrawals abroad. Individually small enough to shrug at. Collectively, over five months, noticeable.
Plug the leaks so there’s more left for that weekend in Prague. Verify your uni email unlock free Revolut Student Benefits, from boosted savings to free ChatGPT and Canva. Get started in Spain, Portugal, Italy, the Netherlands or Romania.
Of course, if you’re still choosing where to travel to during your semester abroad, we can help with that too. Check out our student friendly adventures here.
Figures are 2026 planning estimates from published student cost-of-living data and will vary by neighbourhood, university and lifestyle. Always check current rates directly.
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