My Europe Trip 2026 in Points, Miles, and Dollars

I recently returned from a two-week Europe trip where my companion and I visited four cities across four countries: Copenhagen, Istanbul, Prague and Helsinki.

Europe isn’t exactly known for being cheap, particularly Scandinavian countries like Denmark and Finland. With accommodation, flights, food, transport and other expenses, I was curious to find out how much the trip actually cost and how much I managed to defray with points, miles, and other credit card benefits.

Here’s how much we spent across our 13-day journey and hopefully it is helpful for those who are drawing up a budget for their own European trip.

The 13-day Europe itinerary

Destination	Dates
🇩🇰 Copenhagen, Denmark	18th to 20th September
🇹🇷 Istanbul, Turkey	20th to 24th September
🇨🇿 Prague, Czech Republic	24th to 28th September
🇫🇮 Helsinki, Finland	28th September to 1st October

It’s not the most geographically efficient itinerary since we begin and end the trip in Nordic countries, but took detours to places like Istanbul and Prague. There’s a bit of a long story here, but the gist is that I realised after booking my flights that I’m probably not that into exploring the northern parts of Europe… and I really wanted to visit the cats of Istanbul, so we abandoned our original plans of going to places like Stockholm and Oslo.

How much did flights cost?

We travelled to Europe in business class using miles, but paid cash for our flights between the European cities.

Here’s how much our flights cost for two people:

Flight	Airline	Miles Used	Cash Paid
Singapore → Copenhagen	Singapore Airlines (Business)	160,000	S$130.40 taxes
Copenhagen → Istanbul → Prague	Turkish Airlines (Economy)	–	S$851.00
Prague → Helsinki	Finnair (Economy)	–	S$733.66
Helsinki → Singapore	Finnair (Business)	125,000	~S$416.00 taxes
Total		285,000	~S$2,131.06

For our flights from Singapore to Copenhagen, we redeemed 80,000 miles + S$65.20 per person for business class. This was on Singapore Airlines’ business class, and if you’re wondering why it’s 80,000 instead of the usual 108,500 miles, I used this method of booking my flights.

Our return flights from Helsinki to Singapore were even cheaper in terms of miles, costing 62,500 miles + approximately S$208 per person. Technically, I used even fewer miles – just 44,643 miles per person – because I transferred my miles during a transfer bonus, and I detailed how I did this in a recent video.

In total, we redeemed 285,000 miles for our round-trip business-class flights, plus approximately S$546.4 in taxes and fees. The flights within Europe were paid in cash, coming to S$1,584.66 for two people. Overall, that’s around S$2,131 in cash and 285,000 miles on all our flights.

Flights were paid for using a combination of DBS Woman’s World Mastercard and HSBC Revolution.

How much were our daily expenses?

Category	🇩🇰 Copenhagen	🇹🇷 Istanbul	🇨🇿 Prague	🇫🇮 Helsinki	Total
🏨 Accommodation	S$597.24	S$687.71	S$718.23*	S$452.76	S$2,455.95
🍽️ Food & drinks	S$173.49	S$252.30	S$247.96	S$243.53	S$917.28
🛒 Groceries	S$25.21	S$6.14	S$36.27	S$51.97	S$119.59
🍸 Bars & nightlife	S$115.90	S$203.60	S$314.07	S$138.11	S$771.67
🛍️ Shopping	S$52.61	S$21.74	S$48.40	S$468.23	S$590.98
🚇 Local transport	S$77.17	S$195.81	S$52.43	S$55.29	S$380.70
Total	S$1,041.62	S$1,367.30	$1,417.36	S$1,409.89	S$5,236.17
Days	2	4	4	3	13
Cost per day	S$520.81	S$341.83	S$354.34	S$469.96	S$402.78

Our total expenses came up to S$5,236.17 for two people, including S$646 worth of accommodation redeemed using Accor Live Limitless (ALL) membership points. I transferred quite a significant number of miles during a particularly generous promo back in March 2026 (and I also notified my Telegram subscribers about it so stay subscribed for such updates)

Excluding that redemption, our actual cash and card expenditure came to S$4,590.17.

Accommodation: S$2,480.11

Unsurprisingly, accommodation was easily our biggest expense, accounting for around a third of our total trip’s budget.

City	Total cost
🇩🇰 Copenhagen	S$597.24
🇹🇷 Istanbul	S$687.71^
🇨🇿 Prague	S$718.23*
🇫🇮 Helsinki	S$452.76
Total	S$2,455.95

Copenhagen

Accommodation in Copenhagen was really expensive and we opted for an AirBnb. Even then, it cost us S$597.24 for 2 nights in a single-bedroom apartment. I used my DBS Woman’s World Mastercard for this.

Istanbul

In Istanbul, we booked DeCamondo Galata which cost S$879.62 using my Citi Prestige card, but received a S$191.91 hotel rebate with the card’s 4th night free benefit, bringing that particular booking down to S$687.71.

This rebate helped make what would otherwise have been one of our more expensive stays considerably more affordable. I quite liked this hotel and I felt that it was quite affordable relative to the room quality.

Prague

In Prague, we redeemed an Accor hotel stay at ibis Praha Old Town with S$646 worth of membership points. Taxes and fees of S$48.10 were paid with cash.

The room was decent but tiny, though it wasn’t really a concern since we were out drinking most of the time.

Helsinki

Our Helsinki accommodation (Noli Katajanokka II) cost S$452.76 through Agoda, paid using Atome in three instalments of S$150.92. While Agoda transactions don’t work with HSBC Revolution, Atome transactions do, which is why I opted to split my payment with the service so I can use my 8 miles per dollar card.

Noli is a co-living / hotel hybrid concept which was quite pleasant despite not having daily turndown.

Total

Our total expenditure for accommodation was S$2,455.95 after my Citi Prestige rebate, or around S$189 per night. Taking out S$646 paid with points, it came down to S$1,809.95, around S$139 per night.

Not too bad, considering we visited some fairly expensive European cities.

Food and groceries: S$1,036.87

Our food expenses were surprisingly reasonable. We spent S$917.28 at restaurants, cafés and fast-food outlets, plus another S$119.59 at supermarkets and convenience stores. That works out to approximately S$39.88 per person per day.

This included everything from kebabs in Istanbul and Czech food in Prague to Copenhagen’s food markets (where we paid S$17 for a tiny sausage) and reindeer meat in Helsinki.

Some of the stuff we ate:

Food Item	City	Price
Steak	Istanbul	~S$18.42
Bunny Meat	Prague	~S$11.35
Reindeer Stew	Helsinki	~ S$29

Bars and nightlife: S$771.67

We also hit the bars rather frequently across the different cities.

City	Spend
🇨🇿 Prague	S$314.07
🇹🇷 Istanbul	S$203.60
🇫🇮 Helsinki	S$138.11
🇩🇰 Copenhagen	S$115.90
Total	S$771.67

With cocktails at around S$8 to S$10, Prague had the cheapest drinks, which also explains why we spent the most here.

Across the whole trip, this worked out to around S$29.68 per person per day. These are expenses you can avoid entirely if you are a teetotaller, but where’s the fun in that?

Local transport: S$380.70

Our local transport spending came to S$380.70 across all four cities. We mostly took public transport, including metro trains and buses, and walked upwards of 20,000 to 30,000 steps a day.

One particularly expensive transaction was an Uber ride in Istanbul costing S$134.87 because we (not me) booked the wrong type of cab which should have cost around S$40 instead.

In all, our total recorded local transport expenses worked out to S$14.64 per person per day.

Shopping: S$590.98

This is another category of expense that would be very different depending on your habits, but I’m including our expenses for completeness.

Helsinki was apparently one of the cheapest places in the world to buy L’Occitane products (after tax rebates), and that made up most of our shopping expenses.

Purchase	Cost (After Tax Refund)
L’Occitane	S$409.33
Lindt chocolates	S$58.90
Other shopping	S$231.01
Total	S$590.98

The tax rebate was approximately 13%. Our S$470.27 L’Occitane purchase came with a S$60.94 tax refund, reducing its effective cost to S$409.33.

Total damage: S$7,367.23 and 285,000 miles

In all, this trip cost S$6,721.23 cash, S$647 worth of ALL points, and 285,000 miles (249,286 if we factor in the transfer bonus). Hopefully this helps in your own budgeting!

This article is perhaps best paired with a travel vlog of the whole trip – and I did film throughout my holiday – but aiya lazy to edit. Stay subscribed if you want to be notified when I finally do get around to piecing the footage together 🙃

You can also refer to this piece I wrote for another Europe trip I did in early 2025.

Subscribe for more deals and updates!

If you’re someone who wants to earn more from credit cards, savings accounts and other financial deals, stay subscribed to the Telegram or WhatsApp so you can be notified of news and deals. Remember to unmute and turn on notifications or the updates may not reach you.

Seth Wee was a licensed financial adviser representative from 2009 to 2025, with over 16 years of experience in Singapore’s financial advisory industry.

He started Sethisfy.com in 2019 to share practical insights on credit cards, banking products, and miles strategies, helping readers identify financial products that deliver the best value. Seth has been featured in CNA, Channel 8, Today, and a host of other publications. In 2025, he was also part of a panel at CPF’s Ready For Life festival.

Subscribe to the channel for free updates!

Disclaimer: I may receive an affiliate/referral fee when you sign up for services/products on this site, and such fees keep the site running. I would only recommend services/products I would personally use or recommend to my own friends and family, but I do not provide any warranty or guarantee for the quality of these services/products. Thank you for supporting my site!

Please exercise due diligence when signing up for any service/product as I will not be liable for any personal loss, financial or otherwise. Content published here are my sole views and personal opinion, and none of the information here constitutes personal financial advice nor represents the views of my employer(s).