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How much does it cost to travel Canada for one month? My spend breakdown.

Planning a trip to Canada and wondering how much it costs to go to Canada? This guide to Canada travel costs can help you plan your budget.

Things have changed quite a bit since we moved to Canada in 2017. When I had a budget of £35 a day in 2017, this is looking more like £50 a day now. This works out to around CAD$86.

Canada Travel Budget Calculator

Get an idea of how much you’ll spend on your trip to Canada with this budget calculator. Simply input everything it asks for and you’ll get the total cost of your Canada vacation.

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You’ve not got some answers to ‘How much does it cost to go to Canada?’. You can read in more detail about how we budgeted for things below.

Overview of our costs to visit Canada (2017)

Maybe it’s just because I’m super nosy but I always like to see how much people end up spending when they’re away travelling. Quite often it shows you don’t need to be a millionaire to travel and it’s a good way of getting an insight into how much a particular country costs to travel in.

I figured I might as well share how much it can cost to travel to Canada for one month.

Some of you may want to do something similar and, if nothing else, it’s interesting to me to keep an eye on what we’re spending.

So if you’re wondering “How much would a trip to Canada cost?” then check out this spend breakdown below for a rough idea.

Whilst we’re travelling I’m aiming to stick to a budget of £35 a day. This works out at C$ 56.86 per day. It doesn’t sound like much, and it’s not really. But it’s totally doable, even in Canada.

Having said that you’ll notice we don’t really drink, try not to eat out at expensive places and don’t do luxury hotels.

Is Canada Expensive to Travel to?

Is Canada expensive to visit?

In short, yes it can be. You can spend all your money in places like Whole Foods, eat at fancy restaurants, and go shopping. Or, you can choose more budget accommodation in Canada, and eat at cheaper places. It’s up to you. 

We always knew our first month in Canada would be quite expensive.

We didn’t have our van, Elvis, yet and we needed to buy warm clothing for the winter in Montreal.

On top of this, we’d be doing some travelling around. Travelling around Canada by bus is expensive!

I’ve removed the cost of my winter clothes from the below as I had a separate budget allowance for this. Without these I came in under budget for February, meaning I spent less than my £35 a day allowance.

How much did our Canada trip cost?

All the prices below are what we EACH spent including tips and taxes.

Transportation costs in Canada: C$464.10

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO TRAVEL CANADA FOR ONE MONTH?

Transport costs were our biggest costs in February which I’d kind of expected.

Public transport in and between cities

The biggest chunk of that spend went on buses, trams, and metro in the cities we visited as well as Greyhound buses from city to city (C$378.33). We also hired a car when we went to check out an RV for sale and we took an Uber once whilst we were in Montreal.

On top of this, it cost us C$90 to change our British driving license to a Canadian license.

If you planned a bit more in advance than we did you could lower these costs by booking a Megabus or Greyhound when their tickets are released.

Car sharing

Or, if you’re travelling with less baggage then check out AmigoExpress. AmigoExpress is a car-sharing scheme where you pay about $15-$20 and share a car with someone who’s going where you want to go.

As we had skis we couldn’t really use this, but if you’ve got just a suitcase or no bags at all you’ll be fine.

Canada’s low-cost airlines

If you’re planning on flying between cities in Canada then you should know about the low-cost airlines in Canada. While these are low cost for Canada, they’ll likely be much more expensive than you’re used to if you’re from Europe.

The best low-cost Canadian airlines are Flair Air and West Jet.

Food & Beverage: C$440.49

Our next biggest cost was food! To be honest I’m surprised this one wasn’t above transport. But, having said that, we do try and eat cheaply when we travel and cook a lot of food ourselves.

We spent around C$130 – 170 each on eating out at restaurants, C$60ish on trips to coffee shops for tea, hot chocolates and coffees (and the occasional snack), C$12.24 on alcohol which included some beers during Quebec City’s Igloo Fest and some craft beer for our couch surfing hosts and the rest was spent on food for meals we cooked ourselves.

Accommodation: C$360.62

Note: If you’re staying in hotels as a couple, I recommend budgeting around CAD$100-150 a night between the two of you for budget/mid-range hotels. In cities this will be more, outside of cities it may be less.

Accommodation quickly adds up if you’re not careful. We searched for different ways to stay places for free, or for not much, and I think we were pretty successful given that on average this is under C$13 a night each. And in no means were we slumming it either.

The majority of our accommodation was booked through Airbnb with the most expensive being our first week in Toronto at C$31.41 a night each.

We stayed pretty central and it’s a big city so accommodation is always going to be more expensive here. The cheapest Airbnb we stayed in was in Montreal where we pretty much had the place to ourselves and only paid C$11.01 a night. Bargain!

We also found other ways to keep costs low on accommodation including our first experiences of both Couch Surfing and House Sitting. Couch Surfing (CS) is effectively a free Airbnb and it’s not limited to just sleeping on couches/sofas either.

Our CS hosts gave us a huge bedroom and provided towels. We stayed there for three nights all for free (and bought them some beers to say thanks).

House Sitting is when you look after someone’s property (and usually their animals) while they go away on holiday. We arranged this before leaving the UK and spent the last week of February looking after Chico, a lovely black Labrador, in a lovely house pretty close to downtown Toronto.

I’d highly recommend both these accommodation options if you too are travelling on a budget.

Entertainment: C$123.49

how much does it cost to travel Canada

Our entertainment is predominantly wandering different areas of the cities we visit although we did also do some ‘touristy’ things in Toronto.

You can save yourself a lot of money by buying the CityPass for Toronto. It costs about C$76 (+tax) and gets you free admission to the CN Tower (C$35), the Aquarium (C$30), Zoo (C$38), and Casa Loma (C$24) plus a few other discounts. We were given an Attractions Passport by Toronto Tourism which pretty much covered the cost of all the sightseeing we did in Toronto.

We also spent C$7.25 on cinema tickets to see Lion in Montreal, C$23.69 on tickets to see Ottawa Senators play ice hockey and C$92.55 on skiing at Stoneham just outside Quebec City. I already have skis and boots so didn’t need to hire anything.

Other: C$55.82

Other things I spent money on were some plasters needed during the first day of our van conversion and I treated myself to a much overdue haircut which cost C$53 including a tip (I pretty much get one once a year…).

The total cost of one month in Canada: C$1,44.52 (around £879)

I hope you can see that traveling in Canada which isn’t known for being cheap, is still affordable if you’re clever with your money.

Of course, you could easily spend a lot more than this, and less too if you’re willing to stay at even cheaper places, are more organized with travel and eat cheaper than we did!

How much did you think it cost to travel to Canada for a month? Is this more or less than you thought?

Canada Travel Planning Guide

Should I buy Canada travel insurance?

100% YES! — You should have travel insurance for all your trips. Though Canada has “free” healthcare, it’s only for residents. If you’re just visiting, you’ll need travel insurance should you need medical care. It also helps you claim for delayed flights or lost/stolen baggage. We use SafetyWing for our travel insurance!

Is it safe to rent a car in Canada?

Yes — Renting a car is a good idea in most of Canada as public transit isn’t the best!

Car hire is usually quite reasonable, especially compared to some other countries and they’ll all be automatic so you shouldn’t have a problem driving it if you’re used to manual transmission.

I personally use a mix of DiscoverCars and RentalCars to find the best deal that works for me when I rent a car. I used them in Norway, Italy, and Canada when we first moved, and have never had an issue. For RV rental I recommend Outdoorsy.

What’s the best way to pay/exchange money for Canada?

Wise (formerly Transferwise!) — I use my Wise card everywhere these days. I fill it with a certain currency and then I can spend it in countries across the world, online and even for direct debits. Wise has the best currency exchange rates (and they’ll even tell you when you can get it cheaper elsewhere!). When you pay in another currency through chip and pin or tap/wireless, they’ll automatically convert it for you – it’s easy! This link gets you a fee-free transfer.

Do I need a visa for Canada?

Many countries do not need a visa to travel to Canada — However, you may need an ETA which costs $7 (you need this if you’re from the UK). You can buy them online and they usually take a few hours to come through though it can take longer. Only ever buy from this official website otherwise you’ll end up paying more money necessarily. If you want to move to Canada, check out my guide to the Working Holiday Visa which is how we first moved there! Always check the official Canadian Immigration website to see whether you need a visa to travel there.

Will my phone work in Canada?

It depends — Some American and European companies work in Canada for a certain amount of data or time but many will not work at all. Getting a Canadian SIM card will help you get around with Google Maps and stay in touch with people back home. There isn’t much free WIFI in Canada so you can’t really rely on that, especially if you’re heading outside of major cities.

Where can I book my Canada accommodation?

I always check Booking.com for hotels or Hostel World for hostels. If I’m looking for something for a bigger group of people, or a bit more unique (cosy cabins, luxury beach houses) then I use VRBO.

When we first moved to Canada we used Trusted Housesitters to get free accommodation!

What’s the best site to buy Canada flights?

I only ever use Skyscanner to find cheap flights no matter where I’m travelling!

Last Updated on August 30, 2023 by Hannah

Leave a comment

  1. This is a really useful breakdown! You seem to have found great ways to save money too, I find Greyhound to be really expensive out there so I’m not surprised transport costs were the highest.

  2. This was really interesting to read! I spent a summer in Toronto and stayed in student halls. What a fab place! There wasn’t any Air BNB back then. Happy travels šŸ™‚

  3. Jesse says:

    Hey Hannah! I’ve been catching up with all of your Canada blog posts since I found out you moved there earlier this year! I was hoping to see in your budget breakdown what was the cost of the outerwear for winter that you guys bought and if you had any brand recommendations. I have heard that it’s good to buy these outside of the winter season to make a good deal so we’ll have a look later this summer with Rob! Really enjoyed reading about your trip šŸ™‚ Jesse.

    • Hey Jesse!

      I bought myself a new coat from Atmosphere in Toronto. I bought their own brand which is called McKinley and it was 160$ (I think!) It’s super cosy :). I was just looking for down filling inside the coat but didn’t want to spend $300+ on a branded item.

      As we travelled over end of January we couldn’t make the most of out of season deals but I’m sure there will be some great ones!

      We’ve been in the US since March but have to be back in Canada next Tuesday – so excited to see what Vancouver is like and get settled! xx

  4. Jesse says:

    Sounds fantastic Hannah, your Instagram is dreamy! It’s made Rob and I want to do a trip to Oregon, it’s so beautiful. Hope you enjoy Vancouver, I’ve heard lots of good things, and thank you for the outerwear recommendations!

  5. onyegbule isaac says:

    please can I be guided on a tour tocanada? I hope to go on the tour to explore schools hoping to study in Canada. thanks and hoping for your reply and help

  6. Tsungi says:

    Hi Hannah , I will be travelling to Canada Toronto this august for 1 month and I was wondering if you could give me a ball mark of how much money in GBP to take with me. I will be staying with family, I enjoy going to museums and art galleries, Also could you direct me to sociable paces i’m likely to make new friends ? I’m staying with older relatives but i do still want to enjoy my stay x
    Thanks i advance!!

  7. […] 15, 2017 The Ultimate Road Trip Playlist by 20 Travel Bloggers Adventure March 6, 2017 How much does it cost to travel Canada for one month? My spend breakdown. Canada […]

  8. Sarie says:

    Hi Hannah, Iā€™m planning on coming to Vancouver in Feb 2018, any tips on good, cheap short-stay accommodation you can offer would be great!

    • Hey! I haven’t actually stayed in any hotels in Vancouver yet but I imagine if you look slightly out of downtown then you’d be able to find somewhere affordable – around Main street or cambie should be good and if you’re close to a sky train station then you’ll be able to get downtown super quick!

  9. I wrote a full overview for transport options to really explore Canada which gets at the comments you had above regarding greyhounds, but also expands with trains, hitchiking, buying a car, renting a car and more. I think this will help a bunch of other fellow travelers!

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