I agree with backofbeyond. It is a good idea to travel with a budget mindset, looking for cheap down-to-earth options, not overpaying for tourist traps and using your freedom of movement to go for unusual experiences. But setting your budget as your absolute priority will only lead you to spend your entire free time, and still quite a lot of money, on a camping trip where you see desolate forests and eat canned food from home.

There are ways to travel by bike on the cheap. Couchsurfing for example - I've stayed with CS hosts in Norway and Denmark, saving significant amounts of money. Another way is to go visit friends and stay on their couches. AirBnB and hostels are also often good options, especially if you are traveling outside of major cities and outside of peak tourist times - for example, all the accommodation in the Alps that caters to skiers in the winter will be very cheap in the summer, when you want to be there on your bike! (I paid twelve euros for a decent warm hostel bed - including free courtyard parking - at the Austria-Liechtenstein border.) And local hosts and other travelers you meet in hostel common rooms are usually the ones who give you the best experiences - because they are already in the mindset of sharing adventures.

By all means, keep your travel cheap and cheerful. But don't deny yourself the fullness of the experience just because you have a number in your head and you need to stick to it.

There you said something i hadnt thought about.
Couchsurfing.
I have been thinking about some airbnb places to stay. But i dont know. I love my tent :P

But you gave me and nice input that i will keep in mind

Most of the stuff is covered but be aware insurance costs in some of the countries you are visiting are compulsory and getting expensive. Serbia you might be covered on your Swedish insurance. Bosnia is getting expensive at 40 euros, Montenegro is still cheap at 10 euros, Macedonia although you don,t mention it is a whopping 55 euros. the southern Balkans can be expensive if you are only spending a week passing through 3 or 4 countries.

2018 is a long way off. How long are you going for. What time of the year?


I've tried doing what you have in mind. The problem comes when trying to pack all you need. Some cheap hotels are not much more than a camp site for two. So mixing hotels and camping could be worth looking at. Go south as soon as you can. Warmer weather, and the money goes a lot further.
John933

__________________
To buy petrol in Europe. Pull up at station. Wait. Get out a 20 Euro note, then ask someone to fill up the bike. Give person money. Ride away. Simple.

Couchsurfing and bush camping indeed.
Some countries/areas have dedicated wild camping spots

E.g. Bivakzone - Overzichtskaart
and https://sites.google.com/site/paalkampeerders/kaart

For camping I have two strategies:
1) camp somewhere out of sight where nobody knows you're there
2) camp with permission in a location with social control (e.g. on the village square)

Never had any problems (except from the once in while friendly forester urging us to break up camp at 6 a.m.)

Eating: I often prepare lunch in a thermos can. bring some rice (oats, patatoes, whatever...), vegies and oil to a boil, poor in the thermos, and it will cook while you're on the way. Get's you a nice hot lunch for pennies.

As said above, cooking your own food doesn't expose you to local quisine as much, but neither does McDo or many road side restaurants. I'm sort of forced because of allergies. And yes, I hate having to miss out on that.

I would concur with some others here. If you do 100% of your own cooking, you will miss out on a huge part of what makes seeing all these wonderful places unique and terrific. I'd suggest modifying the trip to include more local foods if possible. I don't know if that entails increasing the budget for food, shortening the trip to put more money towards eating at some restaurants, shops, and vendors, getting couch surfing hosts to cook for you, or what. One of my favorite parts of being other places is eating all the different foods areas specialize in.

Yeah, its long time until 2018.
The reason to plan so far ahead is to get the chance to save some days of from work.

Im planning to do this in may or june.

Since reading all comments above i have done some research for hostels and airbnb places.
Also looked up the couchsurfing site.
The CS sounds quite interesting for my idea of seeing the real europe on budget.
That kind of living gives me also the chance for meeting new people/friends on my way through europe.

Get a simple petrol stove, you'll always have fuel with you in bikes tank.