Montpellier was going to be a train transfer on my way to Spain, and it sounded like a good place to check out, so I decided to stay a few nights and take a look around. The city has a nice relaxed vibe and I found the Promenade du Peyrou to be a great place to go and just chill at pretty much any time of day, but particularly around sunset.

This was a 4-night stay…

• Accommodation –  $269.66* (additional information below)
• Getting around locally – $0  
• Living expenses – $106.23 (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 $395.05 / 4-nights = $98.76 per

*Hotel info

• I stayed at Studio Clémenceau proche centre ville reserved through Booking.com. Unfortunately, the place was not what I expected… it was on the ground floor and very humid. I washed a couple of lightweight/fast drying things in the sink and they took at least twice as long, as usual, to dry (over 24hrs). It was dark, the shower head was broken, I had to tie it up in order to take a normal shower, and the apartment cleaning lady had a long and loud conversation right outside the door at 6 am.

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 booked a direct train with SNCF from Lyon Part Dieu to Montpellier Saint-Roch. My seat was in 1st class and the cost was 43€ ($47.63). 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.

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