Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t so good during my stay in Lyon, but it was nice to get a little look around the city; May or June would probably be a much better time of year to visit.

This was a 4-night stay…

• Accommodation –  $273.15* (additional information below)
• Getting around locally – $0  (just a lot of walking… as usual)
• Living expenses – $97.40 (groceries and eating out)
• Activities – $0
• Mobile phone/data  – $9.95 (I use Google Fi which provides service in most countries. If you’re interested and based in the U.S., you can use this paid link to sign up, which will give me a referral fee at no extra cost to you.)
• Medical insurance – $9.21 (I’m using SafetyWing; rates are determined by age, and mine is slightly above the base. If you’re interested there is a paid link/banner on the right side of the page)

Total $389.71 / 4-nights = $97.43 per

*Hotel info

• I booked Citadines Part-Dieu Lyon (Apart Hotel Lyon) through Booking.com. Being such a well-known destination it’s a bit more expensive, but this place had the basics I look for and I felt was in a decent location. The staff was nice and my stay was good overall.

Transportation to and from varies a lot, so I left it out of the above breakdown along with most incidental/one-time personal costs. But for those interested, in this particular case, I took two trains. The first was booked with Thalys from Amsterdam Centraal to Bruxelles-Midi/Brussel-Zuid and the second was booked with SNCF continuing on to Lyon Part Dieu. My seats were in 2nd class and the cost was 32€ ($35.45) for the first leg and 121€ ($134.04); quite expensive in my opinion. All other standard day to day expenses are included to give an idea of how much basic living costs in the area are. Groceries will sometimes include personal care items (i.e., toothpaste, deodorant, etc.).

** I try to use Rakuten whenever it’s an option; why not take the money. It works with a browser add-on, and there is also a mobile app. Note from the Ratuken site, “Stores pay us a commission for sending our members to their websites, and we share it with you. It’s that simple!” If you haven’t signed up yet, and are interested, please consider using this referral link to help support me, and get a signup bonus. I use it regularly and recommend it, but take a look for yourself to decide if it’s right for you. When you sign up using the link, use it spending $, we each get $! The $ varies, I’ve recently seen at $40 and $30. They state “Offer may be modified or canceled anytime.” Payments are made by PayPal, or you can have a check sent to you.

*** Of course, the currency exchange varied during the stay, so for simplicity, I used a rate of 1 USD = 0,91€ for cash transactions. The accommodations and some daily purchases made on cards were entered at the converted cost charged.

**** Since this is my living situation, I don’t go to top-rated restaurants or paid entry to tourist attractions too much. I do eat out a lot, but nothing too special; to some extent, it’s somewhat more cost-effective this way… at least that’s what I’m telling myself. I try to be cost-conscious, eating as a local would… maybe you could say like a broke college guy that is LOL! I try to note any differences to this above.

I’m striving to provide useful information for people planning trips or a nomadic lifestyle, so if you have any ideas to make these posts more helpful, please let me know. You can comment/DM on social media, in the comments below, or email at (MeanderingMax@gmail.com). I appreciate your support!