Is it actually cheap to live in Łódź, Poland?

It's time to answer the question that any Erasmus student coming here next year will ask straight away. Whether or not we want it to be, the money side of the exchange is important to a lot of us as students.

Not everyone has the same opportunity, or money, to go and live abroad and that is why the most popular places are in Europe's cheapest cities: Poland, where I am spending the year; Hungary, Lithuania and Slovakia, among others.

But is Poland cheap? What are the prices like compared to Spain?

I'm going to be answering these questions based on my personal Erasmus experience, bearing in mind I am currently living in the city of Łódź. Obviously, what I am going to say about this city you will generally be able to apply to the rest of the country, even when considering that of course cities like Krakow and Warsaw are clearly going to be slightly more expensive. So, it's important that each person does their own calculations based on the city they are going to, although as a general rule not much will change. But, without further ado, I'm now going to talk about a few different subjects so we can begin to find out whether the cost of living is different, or in fact not too dissimilar to Spain's.

Accommodation: how much does it cost to live in Poland?

Firstly, of course, we need to talk about the price of accommodation in this Eastern European country. Like I've already said in the battle of "flat vs university accommodation", the price of the two is always different, but yes, here both alternatives are cheap when comparing them to their Spanish equivalents. If the dorm I'm staying in here, a shared room with one other person, is worth 90 euros a month; a similar place in Spain would be about 250 euros a month, more than double and even almost triple the price.

On the other hand, flats are more similar in price. If here in Poland you had a decent sized flat and shared it with 2 other people, you'd pay at least 200 euros. In Spain, depending on which city you're in, you could probably find something similar for more or less the same price. In fact, in cities like Sevilla, a nice spacious flat, with bills included, would only probably cost you between 250 and 300 euros; the price here in Poland wouldn't be much different.

In terms of hotels, you'll easily find hostels for less then 10 euros a night, breakfast included. Whereas in Spain, it is much harder to find cheap places like this.

The price of food: is it expensive?

Here is where you'll perhaps find the biggest discrepancy in price. It is easy to eat cheap in Poland, for example, for 30 cents you can grab yourself a kilogram of macaroni, a staple item for all Erasmus students here. Of course though, there are also things more expensive here than in Spain. Fish, for example, is one thing given the fact that it's imported, which as well makes it noticeably less fresh and not as nice. However this is more of an exception to the general rule, and most things are cheaper or at most the same price as in Spain. A litre of milk is about 40 cents; a loaf of bread, 55 cents; 250g of York ham, slightly more than a euro; and Nutella goes for about 1. 50€. You can get 1kg of chicken for 2€, something significantly cheaper than in Spain; and other things like sausage, yogurts and sweets are noticeably cheaper here, you get a lot more for much less.

Also, in terms of food, I've got to talk about going out for something to eat. If you do decide to go out and grab some food, you'll notice an even bigger difference in price. For a good plate of food you can expect to pay around 3 euros, with enough to fill any empty stomach; and should you want the traditional two course meal with bread, dessert and a drink, you'll easily find something for 4 or 5 euros; something that in Spain has been at least 6 or 7 euros for quite a long time now, and even then is usually poor quality.

Student accommodation provides somewhere to eat and you can get a meal which includes a drink, soup, bread, veg and a 'main course' for just 2€. To get something this cheap in Spain is impossible without some sort of discount, for example at my Spanish university something similar would cost you 5. 50€, almost triple.

Going out in Poland

This is another area where you'll notice a fairly big difference in price. I have no idea what a club in Spain would be like if you only had to pay 1. 50€ for a rum and coke, I can only guess everyone would go there and it would fill up pretty quickly as no one could compete with that price. It's worth saying though that I've only found one club, one right next to the student accommodation, that is this cheap, but it's not hard to find somewhere with rum and cokes for 2. 50 or 3 euros. This is still really cheap when you compare it to the 5 euros at least you have to fork out for the same drink in Spain... as I said, big difference.

Also, you're probably used to paying eight or so euros to get in to most places in Spain. However, here in Poland, the most you'll ever have to pay is 5 euros as you can usually get in for 1. 25/2. 50€ (5/10 zlotys). The difference is almost laughable! Even funnier is the fact that being an Erasmus student, and them knowing you're likely to spend a lot inside, the bouncers will evenlet you in for free most of the time.

In terms of how much a beer will cost you, 500ml will cost about 1€ in most places, but if you buy it at a supermarket you'll get it for half that price. Again, there is another big difference in price here, in Spain beer that cheap will only be 330ml bottles and you're very unlikely to find a beer for 1€ on a night out (of course, there are always exceptions).

But, when buying spirits here in Poland there is hardly a difference with Spain, you could even say they are slightly more expensive (apart from Vokda, of course). A 700ml bottle of vodka will cost you about 20 zlotys (5€) here, something you can easily find in Spain, if perhaps sometimes more expensive. But it's a bottle of Geneva, for example, that is more expensive in Poland; costing you about 7 euros here and only about 5 in Spain. Rum is hard enough to find let alone buy, and Whiskey is much more expensive. You can buy a bottle of Jack Daniels for 17 euros in Spain, but here in Poland, the same thing will cost you at least 25€.

Technology

Gadgets and technology in general are expensive in Poland, more so than Spain and at times completely extortionate. For example, I bought a web cam here and the cheapest I could find was 15 euros, double the price of what you'll find in Spain. APlaystation 3 is about 20 euros more expensive, something which makes even less sense when you consider Poland's lower average income. Speakers are also more expensive, some decent speakers of fairly average size will cost you 30 euros, whereas the same thing in Spain goes for about 20 euros. Internet cables are double the price here and in terms of laptops, it's practically impossible to find anything under 500 euros; in Spain you can grab something of a decent standard for 400 euros.

Cars are also more expensive here, something again the seems unfair as they are usually international brands and yet still don't change the price in spite of Poland's status as an emerging country with a long way to go to equal the average income of it's neighbouring countries.

It's almost not worth talking about mobiles. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Poland are slightly behind in terms of having the latest models so any new releases you might find are ridiculously pricey. You can find the prehistoric Nokias for 1 euro on some Spanish websites... here in Poland you'll be paying at least 10 times that.

Ropa

The price difference here is similar to technology, as in I really can't comprehend why they are the same price, if not more expensive here. There are all your favourite brands and the latest lines, but the prices don't change. Inditex for example reduces the price of its big brands in Spain, yet many things here aren't reduced in the same way and therefore more expensive. Finding a pair of shoes for less than 50 euros is a challenge in itself and even if you manage to, they are likely to be very poor quality; something unheard of in Spain.

Poland however does beat Spain in terms of the price of its second hand shops. You can easily find a good coat for 10 euros in one of their shops. But, of course, we're talking about second hand clothes, which many people prefer not to buy anyway.

Transport

In this area Poland is once again the clear winner. If, for example, a train journey between two fairly close cities (around 100km) would usually cost you about 10 euros, here in Poland it's much different and paying anything more than 5 euros for a similar sort of journey is unheard of, especially because of the 50% student discount. In fact, travelling from Łódź to Warsaw, a 2 and a half hour journey (130km), will only cost you 4. 50 euros.

Taxis are also much cheaper here. The minimum fare is 1 euro and a 10 minute journey will only cost you about 5 euros rather than 10 you'd be expected to pay in Spain.

You can get a 3 month pass for both the tram and the bus for just 25 euros! Good luck finding the same in Spain, showing again how cheap Poland is compared to Spain, with regards to transport at least.

Conclusion?

Poland is cheaper than Spain, yes. However, not by much, and due to the lower average income of Poland it would still be better to live in Spain rather than a developing country like Poland.

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