Travel budgeting guides
Straight answers to the money questions travelers actually ask: how much to budget per day, what to do about five currencies, how to keep a group trip honest . Each one ends with exactly how to do it in Costari.
Getting started
How to track travel expenses without ruining your trip
How to track travel expenses while traveling: what to log, handling cash and cards, the five-minute evening review, and doing it in seconds on your phone.
Read the guidePlanning
How much should you budget per day for a trip?
Work out a realistic daily travel budget: subtract fixed costs, divide by days, add a buffer. Worked example plus how to track what is left today.
Read the guideSwitching
The best Trail Wallet alternative in 2026
Trail Wallet is no longer actively developed. What to look for in a replacement travel expense tracker, how the alternatives compare, and how to switch.
Read the guideComparison
Travel budget spreadsheet vs a travel expense app
How to structure a travel budget spreadsheet, where spreadsheets break down during a trip, and the hybrid approach: plan in a spreadsheet, track on your phone.
Read the guideCurrencies
How to track expenses in multiple currencies
Log expenses in local currency, keep one home currency for totals, handle ATM withdrawals and card fees, and keep a multi-country trip in one budget.
Read the guideGroup travel
How to track group trip expenses without the awkward conversation
Keep a shared trip budget everyone can see, decide who pays for what, and make the settle-up at the end take two minutes instead of two arguments.
Read the guideBackpacking
Backpacking budget tracker: making the money last
How backpacking budgets work: daily targets per country, banking cheap days against expensive ones, big-ticket items, and tracking it on your phone.
Read the guideLong-term travel
Expense tracking for digital nomads
Track cost of living city by city as a digital nomad: monthly burn versus daily budget, separating work costs, and comparing bases in one home currency.
Read the guideFamily travel
How to plan and track a family vacation budget
Build a family vacation budget: total the fixed costs, set a daily family allowance for food and activities, add a souvenir budget, and track it away.
Read the guide
Put this into practice on your next trip
Costari tracks your travel expenses in 150+ currencies and shows what you can still spend today. Free on iPhone and iPad.
Free on the App Store · iPhone & iPad · 150+ currencies