Introduction
I’ve been asked what does it cost to live a lifestyle of travelling full-time through Europe in a Motorhome. So, what better way to answer this than to show you all our costs.
It’s often not as expensive as people expect and you will see by our figures that the further we travel the cheaper it has become.
There are two reasons for this.
1. During the last six months, we spent nine weeks in Morocco where the cost of living was low.
2. Everything we need to set up our motorhome has now been purchased.
We have travelled 39,226 km to and around 41 countries, 26 of them unique, in two years.
All Our Costs Revealed
All figures are in Euros
Here is what the weekly average costs across 24 months looks like in a chart format. Starting from the largest expense being groceries (in blue), follow the graph clockwise, ie diesel is next in red, eating out next in green, etc.
The following costs are excluded from the above figures:
* Insurances (for our Motorhome, Healthcare, Travel and Personal Insurances, eg Life, Trauma, etc)
* Setting up costs, eg cups, plates, linen, blankets, etc basically everything that we needed to live in a motorhome.
* Extra-ordinary Maintenance on the motorhome. Our first and second year habitation inspection costs are included.
We haven’t incurred MOT expenses as yet as we purchased Betsy new and only need a MOT after she turns four in 2021, and then only need a MOT every second year (she is French registered).
Betsy Juice (Diesel for our motorhome)
Our running costs continue to be fairly consistent with our fuel economy based on the odometer, and actual diesel purchased, working out at around 10.45 l/100km or 27 mpg. The Renault on-board computer reported us running around 9.6 l/100km (close to 30 mpg) so I don’t know which one to believe. The low diesel costs in Morocco helped to keep our fuel bill down to a respectable level although travelling through Portugal, France and Italy bumped it up again.
| Total Cost for Diesel | € 5,096 |
| Average Cost per Litre | €1.24 |
| Average cost per km | € 0.1265 |
| Average Miles Per Gallon | 27.01 |
| Total Kilometres traveled | 39,226 |
| Average Litres/100kms | 10.45 |
| Total Litres consumed | 4,101 |
If you happen to notice the difference in diesel costs recorded here against our cost above, then well done. The difference relates to driving two different vehicles, ie while in Tuscany when we had a second motorhome. Therefore we didn’t include these costs for Betsy, but they must be recorded as an expense.
Accommodation
Below is a look at the split in accommodation costs. In 24 months (730 nights away) we have stayed in 369 different places. That’s like saying we had 369 homes during this time!
Of these 74% were wild camping (free of cost), 12% were spent in camping grounds, 11% in camper parking and 3% in AirBnB accommodation.
The nine weeks of staying in Morocco has pushed up the camping ground usage (and reduced our wild camping figures). Thankfully the cost of staying in camping grounds in Morocco is very reasonable.
Moroccan Goats Interested In Betsy
Well done you two, Made a trip from Puivert France up to Sweeden and Norway in 2017 when I was 77 had a great time, looking for Turkey or Greece this year, Morroco we also liked went with a group, waste of good money had wished we had done it on our own, One learns the hard way. Stay safe and enjoy the rest of your time travelling
B&D
Hi B&D. It sounds like you have many happy years of wandering left in you. Turkey and Greece both left us with very favourable memories and a strong desire to return. Alas, so many countries to visit and you can only be in one at a time. Morocco would just pip Norway as the favourite country so far, and so cheap to stay in! Enjoy wherever you are.
Brilliant information. I’m hoping for us to retire in 3 years and buy a decent motorhome to do this…. Thank you
You are most welcome Susan.
Very interesting reading, thank you for sharing. We have just spent 5 months travelling around France and Spain and loved it. We arrived home and both said we wanted to do it all again. After reading this we have decided yes we can do it, so have started planning to go for an indefinite period.
Can I ask why you stayed in Airb&b?
Good luck with your travels.
Oh Beverly, that’s exciting that you can travel full time. Welcome to our world, you won’t look back.
We stayed in AirBnB’s while Betsy was having some repairs undertaken in Tuscany.
Good luck too for your future travels and if you have any questions please feel free to ask.
Great insight to living on the go ,When i retire maybe a bit early i intend to live the dream with my wife for the winter months .Happy safe travels ,and plan plan plan i agree if you have a passion its achieaveable.One should live their dreams .keep safe Sean Dineen Ireland.
Thanks Sean for stopping by and good luck with your retirement dreams. We hope to see you on the road one day.
But, please, tell us how many people are included for that total cost of living in a motorhome!!
Hi Carlos, that’s a great question. There were two of us. Thanks for asking.
I saw myself sort of “insane” (so did many others) for thinking positively about doing that, living and traveling in a van, in my 20’s. Now in my 50’s ready to do it and please my entire soul, I’m sure I’m very extremely sober.
Hi Carlos, you were obviously well ahead of your time. Well done on traveling while in your 20’s.
Hi Ruth
Thanks for a super read. I am working towards this for retirement.
Could I ask as a UK citizen: now we are out of the EU, is there a way to get a full year’s travelling without having to conform to the 90 days only every 180 days. I believe its either one month in, one month out all year or 3 months every 6?
Thank you kindly for an interesting article. Best regards. Miles
Hi Miles, the easiest way would be to find a nice European girl and marry her. Then as a spouse of an EU citizen you also enjoy freedom of movement. Sadly it seems as if there are no avenues other than this for you to be able to roam freely around Europe long term. The best one, that doesn’t require formalities such as visas, is to plan your travel so you have no more than 90 days in Schengen, then 90 days in a non Schengen country (Bulgaria, Romania, Albania, Morocco, Turkey etc), then back into a Schengen country. Some of those countries are fantastic. Obviously have to coordinate that with returning to the UK for MOT etc so will require extra planning and driving. There are on-line calculators to help you to plan this accurately as you don’t want to get it wrong and overstay your limits. There are some longer term visas that may be available but it seems that these are country specific i.e. not valid for all of Schengen, not easy to get and cost money. There are Facebook Groups for motorhoming in the EU Post Brexit that discusses these but the comments usually get nasty and divisive, and info conflicting and confusing. So…I dunno. I’m sad for you and others in the same position that you have lost that freedom that you once had. But that’s democracy for you eh. Good luck.
Enjoyed reading, especially loved the spreadsheets and graphs! Really happy to hear how you enjoyed countries like Morocco, Greece, Turkey, etc. Being Americans, your tips on managing the visa situation in Schengen countries was also very helpful. Now, my wife and I have never really traveled or lived in a motor home, but I am very keen to try. I love the idea of making a commitment and either buy or do a long term rental for a year or two to travel Europe like you have done, but my wife is a little apprehensive. She wants us to do a “trial” first. What be your advice? If you agree with the trial idea, how long should it be? Any other tips for us? We are planning on starting mid 2022, assuming that the pandemic will become a “nondemic” by then!
I think your plans sound wonderful. A trial for three months around America would give you an indication as to whether or not the lifestyle is for you. Start in summer and try this at home first. Good luck.
Forgot to mention that we are in our early retirement phase, in which our goal is to travel, explore and experience life in different parts of the world.