This free trip budget planner splits one budget across several countries or cities, converts each stop at live exchange rates, adds a safety buffer and tells you how much cash to carry. Set your home currency, add your stops and click Calculate. Everything runs in your browser.
Trip Budget & FX Burn-Rate Planner
Eliminate budget guesswork on multi-country trips. Enter absolute amounts for any segment, then auto-allocate the rest by trip days or equally. Live FX applies at calculation time.
What the Trip Budget Planner Does
You enter a total budget and a buffer percentage. You then add segments, which are the countries or cities on your route, with dates. The trip budget planner allocates your money across the segments, converts each into the local currency and shows daily spending in both currencies.
Settings and options:
- Home currency, total budget and buffer %: the base of the plan.
- Cash and card mix: for example 60 percent cash and 40 percent card.
- ATM rounding step: rounds the cash recommendation up to realistic withdrawal amounts.
- Auto-allocate rule: split the remaining budget by days or equally.
- Absolute amounts: lock a fixed budget for expensive stops, and let the tool allocate the rest.
- Export and share: copy a summary, export CSV, or generate a QR code and share link to reopen the same plan on another device.
How to Use the Trip Budget Planner
- Set your home currency, total budget and buffer %.
- Add segments for each country or city, with start and end dates.
- For fixed costs, switch a segment to Absolute and enter the amount in home or local currency.
- Leave the rest on Auto, then choose By days or Equal split.
- Click Calculate. Review daily burn, the trip total with buffer and the cash recommendation.
- Export or share the plan.
How the Numbers Are Calculated
- Trip length: days = end date minus start date, plus one, so both the first and last day count.
- Allocation: fixed amounts are summed first, and the remainder is split across the Auto segments by your rule.
- Buffer: applied after allocation, proportionally across all segments.
- Daily burn: the segment total divided by its days, converted to local currency at the live rate when you press Calculate.
- Cash suggestion: daily local spend times your cash percentage, times the number of days, rounded up to your ATM step.
Worked example: a 3,000 budget with a 10 percent buffer gives a planned total of 3,300. If you split it equally across 11 days, the daily spend is 300 in home currency. At a 60 percent cash mix, you would carry about 180 per day in cash, converted at the local rate.
Why FX Matters for a Trip Budget
Daily costs change the moment you cross a border. A weaker local currency stretches your budget, and a stronger one shrinks it. Using a live rate at the time you plan, and a buffer for movement, keeps the budget honest. For official reference rates, see the Bank of Canada daily exchange rates. Before you travel, also check entry requirements and safety notices on the Government of Canada travel advice pages or your own government’s equivalent.
When to Use a Trip Budget Planner
- Multi-country backpacking. Lock a higher budget for expensive cities and spread the rest by days.
- Long stays and remote work. Plan month-long stays with realistic cash withdrawals.
- Group trips. Share the QR link so everyone opens the same plan on their phone.
- Business travel. Allocate a per diem across stops and compare plan with actual spend.
- Diaspora trips home. Plan family visits and local costs across more than one country.
- Event travel. Budget for a conference or tour with several stops.
Tips for Better Travel Budgets
- Include a buffer of at least 10 percent for price changes and surprises.
- Carry some cash but rely on cards where fees are low. Check your bank’s foreign transaction fee first.
- Withdraw larger amounts less often if your bank charges a fixed ATM fee.
- Keep an emergency reserve outside the plan.
- Re-run the plan before you leave. Use the Currency Converter for quick checks and the QR Code Generator if you want a separate shareable code.
Trip Budget Planner FAQ
How do I split a travel budget across countries?
Add each country as a segment with dates. The trip budget planner allocates the budget by days or equally, and you can lock fixed amounts for any stop.
Does the planner use live exchange rates?
Yes. It fetches live rates when you press Calculate.
Is my trip data stored on a server?
No. Inputs are processed in your browser. A share link encodes the plan in the URL so you can reopen it later.
What does the buffer do?
The buffer adds a percentage on top of the total to cover price changes, fees and unplanned costs.
Related Free Tools
- Currency Converter for quick one-off conversions.
- QR Code Generator for a standalone code.
- Percentage Change Calculator to compare plan against spend.