Last summer, I went on a big trip to the Caucasus region, visiting Georgia and Armenia, as well as having a last few days in Istanbul on the way back. I wanted to do a full budget breakdown post of my 2.5 week trip, to share what my actual costs weere and to help other travelers budget their trip!

On nearly all of my trips now, I keep track of all my expenses. I write down every beer, every bus, everything that I spend money on. I want to be able to give a realistic idea of what kinds of costs the destination will be!

The Caucasus and Istanbul: Budget Breakdown

I flew from the UK into Kutaisi in Georgia, had a full day there, and then went to Tbilisi for a week. From there, I took the night train to Yerevan, Armenia, where I spent 5 days. I also really wanted to visit Istanbul on this trip. As flights to/from the Caucasus and the UK tended to fly via Istanbul anyway, I decided to have a couple days in Istanbul at the end of the trip since it would be roughly the same price to get back to the UK.

Unfortunately, we didn’t have quite enough time to make it to Azerbaijan, and round off all three of the main Caucasus countries. We really wanted to focus the trip on Georgia, with time to see quite a bit of Armenia as well. This just didn’t leave enough time to justify going to Azerbaijan—I didn’t want to go for only a few days!! I think I would have felt way too rushed, or had to have picked just one place to see (ie. only Baku). So we went to Istanbul instead.

For this post, all expenses are divided into 5 separate categories: accommodation, food/drink, miscellaneous, sightseeing, and transport. Most of my food/accommodation costs (and other miscellaneous costs, like souvenirs) were shared between Adam and myself, which cut costs considerably. Those expenses are split in half, because they were shared with another person.

For days where I visited two cities in one day, that day counts as whichever city I spent the most amount of time in—generally, where I spent the night on that specific day. I have listed how much money I spent in each city (which includes accommodation), my average daily cost in each city (which does not include accommodation), the most expensive and the cheapest day in that city, and a breakdown of costs in each category for that city. Costs are given in pounds (GBP), dollars (USD), and sometimes the local currency.

So with that all out of the way, here you go: how much it cost me to travel the Caucasus and Istanbul for 2.5 weeks!

Kutaisi (Georgia)

Currency: Georgian Lari (GEL)

Total Spent in Kutaisi (over 2 days): £36.85 // $46.85 (including accommodation)

Average daily cost in Kutaisi: £10.85 // $13.75 (excluding accommodation)

Most Expensive Day: 22 July, which was my travel day to Georgia, where I spent £12.65 // $16.05

Cheapest Day: 23 July, my full day in Kutaisi, where I spent £9.05 // $11.50

Random Daily Budget Breakdown: 23 July

Food at Baqara: 14.6 GEL // £4.20 // $5.35

Drinks: 1.5 GEL // £0.45 // $0.55

Cable Car: 2 GEL // £0.60 // $0.75

Drinks: 2.6 GEL // £0.75 // $0.95

Food and beers: 10.65 GEL // £3.05 // $3.90

Total Costs: 31.35 GEL // £9.05 // $11.50

 

Read More: 9 Things To Do On A Trip To Kutaisi

Tbilisi (Georgia)

Currency: Georgian Lari (GEL)

Total Spent in Tbilisi (over 7 days): £269.35 // $343 (including accommodation)

Average daily cost in Tbilisi: £22.30 // $35.30 (excluding accommodation)

Most Expensive Day: 25 July, where I spent £52.25 // $66.60

Cheapest Day: 29 July, where I spent £17.40 // $22.05

Random Daily Budget Breakdown: 26 July

Kazbegi Tour: 70 GEL // £20.15 // $25.65

Water/snacks from Spar: 3.75 GEL // £1.10 // $1.35

Photo: 2 GEL // £0.60 // $0.75

4WD to Gergeti: 15 GEL // £4.30 // $5.50

Lunch (khinkali) pp: 8.80 GEL // £2.55 // $3.20

Water: 2.15 GEL // £0.60 // $0.80

Dinner Fabrika: 14.15 GEL // £4.05 // $5.20

Total Costs: 115.85 GEL // £33.35 // $42.45

 

Read More: 20 Photos To Convince You To Visit Georgia

The Best Bars In Tbilisi, Georgia

A Daytrip To Kazbegi And The Russian Military Highway In Georgia

Hostel Review: Fabrika Hostel, Tbilisi

A Daytrip To Gori From Tbilisi: Stalin And Caves

44 Awesome Things You Must Do In Tbilisi: A Complete Guide To The Georgian Capital

The Best Viewpoints In Tbilisi, Georgia

Yerevan (Armenia)

Currency: Armenian Dram (AMD)

Total Spent in Yerevan (over 5 days): £120.60 // $153.55 (including accommodation)

Average daily cost in Yerevan: £15.95 // $20.30 (excluding accommodation)

Most Expensive Day: 2 August, where I spent £25.75 // $32.80

Cheapest Day: 1 August, where I spent £6.10 // $7.75

Random Daily Budget Breakdown: 2 August

Daytrip Garni/Geghard: 9000 AMD // £14.75 // $18.75

Ice cream: 250 AMD // £0.40 // $0.50

Drinks: 280 AMD // £0.45 // $0.60

Beer: 1200 AMD // £1.95 // $2.50

Food (Burgers and tip): 5010 AMD // £8.20 // $10.45

Total Costs: 15740 AMD // £25.75 // $32.80

 

Read More: 16 Things You MUST See In Yerevan, Armenia

A Daytrip To Khor Virap, Areni, And Noravank In Armenia

Hostel Review: Feel Inn Hostel, Yerevan

Istanbul (Turkey)

Currency: Turkish Lira (TRY)

Total Spent in Istanbul (over 3 days): £90.75 // $115.90 (including accommodation)

Average daily cost in Istanbul: £19.35 // $24.75 (excluding accommodation)

Most Expensive Day: 6 August, where I spent £23.10 // $29.50

Cheapest Day: 5 August, where I spent £15.55 // $19.95

Random Daily Budget Breakdown: 6 August

Water: 2 TRY // £0.30 // $0.40

Corn: 3 TRY // £0.45 // $0.60

Hagia Sophia: 40 TRY // £5.40 // $6.85

Bananas and soft drinks: 11 TRY // £1.50 // $1.90

Food (kebab): 55 TRY // £7.40 // $9.45

Airport transfer: 60 TRY // £8.05 // $10.30

Total: 171 TRY // £23.10 // $29.50

 

Read More: How To Spend 48 Hours In Istanbul

Interesting Facts From My Trip

Most Expensive Day: I spent £52.25 // $66.60 on 25 July. This is a bit of an outlier since I did buy my train tickets for the night train this day. Most days I spent between £15-25 per day (excluding accommodation).

Cheapest Day: My cheapest day was 1 August, where I spent £6.10 // $7.75!

Average Daily Cost (18 days) including flights and accommodation: £56.35 // $72.55 per day

Average Daily Cost (18 days) excluding flights and accommodation: £23.20 // $30.15 per day

Cheapest Metro: The Metro in Yerevan, which cost 100 AMD (£0.15 // $0.20) per ride

Most Expensive Accommodation: Fabrika Hostel in Tbilisi, £12.65 ($16.45) per person per night (6-bed dorm room)

Cheapest Accommodation: Temi Hostel in Kutaisi, £7.05 ($9.65) per person per night (private double room)

Cheapest Sightseeing: Uplitsikhe (student) 1 GEL // £0.30 // $0.35

Wondering how much my costs were for each category?! Here is each category’s specific cost:

 

Accommodation: £164 // $208.85

Food/Drink: £179.85 // $229.45

Miscellaneous: £37 // $47.30

Sightseeing: £88.50 // $112.55

Transportation: £544.70 // $708.10

The Takeaway

I think my costs show that traveling only costs as much as you want it to. You don’t need thousands upon thousands to go on a trip. A huge part of this is the destinations I visited on this trip. The Caucasus region is incredibly affordable for those of us lucky enough to have dollars, pounds, or euros! While flights were fairly expensive getting there and back to the UK, I spent very little on accommodation for 2.5 weeks. Not only that, but we stayed in a mixture of both dorms and private rooms—had we have stayed just in dorms, it would have been even cheaper! Of course, it always helps traveling with someone to be able to split the cost of private rooms. Our Airbnb in Tbilisi was really phenomenal, and extremely affordable for two people sharing.

On this trip, we also ate out. A LOT. I went to Georgia for the food, and man oh man did I eat a lot. We ate out at least once per day—sometimes twice! I’m surprised they even had any khachapuri or khinkali left in the country by the time I left. Eating out was seriously affordable and drinks weren’t expensive either. I hit up a lot of bars in Tbilisi too. Generally, we bought food to eat breakfast in the morning (cereal), unless we had breakfast included at our accommodation, like we did in Yerevan and Istanbul. For lunch and dinner, we would either grab something snack-y and quick on the go, or have a sit down meal for one or both meals. Had we have cooked our own food even every other night for dinner, we probably would have saved a lot of money.

But when khachapuri looks this good, how can you resist?!

My costs for sightseeing are really interesting—mainly because outside of the tours I did for daytrips, sightseeing costs were very low! It cost just 1 lari (£0.30 // $0.40) for the entrance to Uplitsikhe as a student. To visit the National History Museum in Yerevan only cost 500 dram (£0.80 // $1.05). My big splurges were my three tours I did: Kazbegi in Georgia, Garni and Geghard in Armenia, and Khor Virap, Areni, and Noravank also in Armenia. The rest of my sightseeing costs were pretty minimal.

I actually did the math (I mean, obviously) and compared this trip to my big 6 week trip around Eastern Europe in summer 2017. My weekly cost on this trip to the Caucasus was £405.60 // $522.50 (including all flights and accommodation). While my weekly cost for my trip around Eastern Europe in 2017 was £358.85 // $464.10 (including all flights and accommodation).

I honestly think it’s easier to travel on a budget and be more mindful about traveling cheaply when you’re on a longer trip. For just 2.5 weeks, you don’t have the same mindset as “I’m gone for a few months, I need to be careful I don’t run out of money.” The main difference is that we cooked most of our meals on the big trip in 2017—whereas on our trip to the Caucasus, we ate out all the time.

So how much was my 2.5 week trip to the Caucasus? How much did I actually spend?

 

GRAND TOTAL: £1014.05 // $1306.25

A huge part of my spending costs is the fact that I am a dedicated budget traveler. I have been traveling like this for years, and I consider myself an expert. I know how to cut costs, I know how to pinch pennies, I know how to budget. If I hadn’t have known the basics of budget travel, I’d have spent a whole lot more.

I save a lot of money by searching for the best deals online. I use Skyscanner to search for flights, and I use Trainline to book trains in Europe (on this trip, I only used it for my train tickets to/from London airports to York). For accommodation, I search for hostels through Hostelworld, and use Booking.com to search hotels.

Unfortunately, things can and do go wrong when you travel. World Nomads offers coverage for more than 150 activities as well as emergency medical, lost luggage, trip cancellation and more. On this trip, I got sick in Istanbul and lost a day having to lay in bed being unable to walk due to stomach cramps. If It had been any worse and I had needed to see a doctor, I’d have been glad to have travel insurance.

The Caucasus is an incredible and very affordable region. It will only grow in popularity in the next few years, so go now—before everyone else does! I hope this helps in accurately planning and budgeting a trip to Georgia, Armenia, Istanbul, and just budgeting for the Caucasus region in general!

Have you visited any of these destinations? What was your budget like?! How did you find costs and expenses? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

You might also like my other budgeting posts:

How Much Does It Cost To Travel Eastern Europe For 6 Weeks?

How Much Does It Cost To Travel The Baltics For 5 Days?

How Much Does It Cost To Travel Iceland For 3 Days?

How Much Does It Cost To Travel Poland For 5 Days?

The Budget Travel Bible: 101 Tips For Cheap Travel

How I’ve Saved Thousands Of Dollars To Travel The World

All Georgia posts, all Armenia posts, and all Turkey posts!

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