Strategies for taking cheaper weekend trips while abroad are right on the money

On a train to Amsterdam early Saturday morning, my friend managed to encapsulate the difference between Europeans and Americans in 16 words.

“For Americans, 100 years is a long time. For Europeans, 100 miles is a long distance.”

It’s an oversimplification, of course, but her statement does capture what makes traveling in Europe such a singular experience.

Indeed, most students study abroad as much for the weekend excursions as for the weeks they spend in their host countries. Because five countries border France, the possibilities for weekend travel are vast. Or at least they are in theory, assuming a volcano doesn’t erupt in Iceland and derail an entire continent’s travel plans.

But even with clear blue skies, the options are not quite as wide-ranging for the student on a budget. We can no longer count on favorable exchange rates, and no matter how far ahead we book our tickets, travel and lodging rarely run below 150 euros.

However, there are ways to see Europe that don’t entirely empty the wallet. My advice? Pick one aspect of your trip on which you plan to really scrimp.

On our trip to Amsterdam, my friend and I decided we didn’t plan on sticking around our hostel much, so we chose the most inexpensive place we could find and ended up spending half of what it would have cost to stay anywhere else. Although in retrospect, maybe we should have sprung for a place that we couldn’t describe with the tagline, “Similar to hell, but without proper heating.”

In Berlin, we decided to spring for a slightly nicer hostel with a full breakfast included in the rate, and then we stealthily put together sandwiches from the breakfast spread to eat later for lunch. In hindsight, this also sounds miserly and sort of gross, but it enabled us to save enough money to splurge on a real German feast—complete with sausage, sauerkraut, and a pitcher of German beer—on our last night.

For my upcoming trip to Spain, I’ve chosen to scrimp on transportation. Instead of flying or taking the train, I’ve chosen cities close enough together—Biarritz, San Sebastián, Toledo, and Madrid—to travel exclusively by bus.

There are also other, smaller ways to get some bang for your buck while traveling around Europe. Instead of choosing the most crowded bar on the street, start your evening at a quieter restaurant in a less touristy neighborhood and sit at the bar. Most bartenders—regardless of gender—are excited to talk to travelers. And not only do they know the best deals for eating and drinking in the area, but they’ll also sometimes slip you a free drink or two.

Another tip: If you’re spending the weekend in a larger European city, check out like-a-local.com. The website posts listings of local families and couples who offer full three-course meals and insider tips on the area, often for less than 25 euros. On a recent trip to Amsterdam, I had the option to eat dinner on a houseboat with a 30-something couple or in the Jewish quarter with an older couple who distill their own gin.

There’s no particularly systematic way to travel cheaply, and there are always unexpected and unforeseen costs. (Dear Rijksmuseum: Half of your galleries are closed for renovation. I want my 14 euros back.) But traveling responsibly, I’ve learned, is about saving money where you can in order to splurge on the unexpected surprises.

Julia Halperin’s biweekly series Abroad on a Budget chronicles the best ways to travel and study abroad on a student budget.