How these figures are produced
Which datasets the planners read, what is sourced, what is our own estimate, and what this site will not tell you.
The short version
Two datasets do nearly all the work. Whether a passport needs a visa is read from the EU regulation that lists it. What a country costs is read from Eurostat's price levels. Every page that uses either one shows the version it read and the date it was read, and the sources page lists all of them with what changed and when.
Whether a passport needs a visa
The visa check reads the consolidated text of Regulation (EU) 2018/1806, which carries two annexes: the nationalities that need a short stay visa and the nationalities that do not. Nationals of the EU, the EEA and Switzerland appear in neither, because their position comes from free movement rules instead. Where an exemption has a condition attached, the condition is quoted from the regulation's own footnotes rather than summarised.
The tool reports whether a rule applies. It does not tell anybody how to apply, it lists no documents, and it says nothing about how an application might go.
What a country costs
Country comparisons use Eurostat's price level indices, where the EU average is 100. A country at 120 is about 20 percent dearer than the EU average for that basket, and one at 80 about 20 percent cheaper. The free comparison uses one category, restaurants and hotels. The paid report reads seven categories, so eating in shops, moving around and the rest are each priced on their own index rather than on one average.
What is sourced, and what is ours
The indices are Eurostat's. The daily figures they scale are ours: an editorial estimate for a Western European trip, in three bands (budget at 70 to 130 a day, mid-range at 140 to 240 a day, comfortable at 260 to 380 and up a day), the same bands the budget calculator uses. There is no survey behind them. Any page that shows a figure built on them says so in the same sentence.
Currencies
The figures are built in euros. When you pick another currency, they are converted at the European Central Bank's reference rate, and the page shows the date of the rate it used. Nothing is ever relabelled without being converted. The ECB does not publish the Nigerian naira or the UAE dirham, so those two come from the Central Bank of Nigeria's central rates: the naira directly against the euro, and the dirham through the bank's euro and dirham rates for the same day. A currency neither bank publishes is not offered.
What the price levels cannot tell you
- They are national averages. Capital cities and tourist districts run above them, sometimes well above.
- High season and low season can differ by more than two countries do.
- Flights are not included anywhere on this site. We have no fare data, so we never estimate one, and for a trip from outside Europe the fare often decides the total.
What this site does not do
Durian Travel publishes guides and planning tools, and one paid report. It does not book travel, submit visa applications, review anybody's documents or run calls. It publishes no approval rates, no readiness scores and no prediction about any application, because the decision belongs to consular officers and nobody outside the consulate influences it.
When something is wrong
Border rules move, and Eurostat republishes. If a figure here disagrees with the official source, the official source is right and we want to know: write to us and it gets fixed and dated.
Every source, with dates
- Regulation (EU) 2018/1806, the EU visa list Whether a passport needs a Schengen short stay visa.
- Eurostat, dataset prc_ppp_ind What a day costs in each country, and every figure in the paid report.
- European Central Bank, Euro foreign exchange reference rates Converting the euro figures in the planners into the other currencies they offer.
- Central Bank of Nigeria, Exchange rates, central rate The Nigerian naira and the UAE dirham, which the ECB does not publish.
- Regulation (EC) No 810/2009, the Visa Code Visa fees, insurance cover, which consulate to apply to, refusal grounds and appeals.
- European Commission, Applying for a Schengen visa The fee, the application window, processing times and what a refusal letter tells you.
- European Commission, Schengen area Which countries are in the Schengen area, and the position of Cyprus and Ireland.
- European Commission, Entry/Exit System When EES started, who it registers, and that it has replaced passport stamps.
- The official ETIAS website What ETIAS will be, what it will cost, and that it is not running yet.
Educational information only. Not legal advice. Always check the official embassy or consulate source.