Vegan Travel Tips

Travelling as a vegan can seem daunting, especially if it’s your first time visiting new countries and cultures. Even with the huge growth in veganism over the past years there are still many challenges when faced with different cuisines, languages and cultures. 

Each time I visit Europe (my favourite place to travel to) my favourite thing is to discover and try many different foods and this doesn’t have to stop or happen less just because you are vegan! Here are my top tips to make travelling as a vegan positively easy. 

1. Download the Happy Cow and Google Translate apps. 

A lot of vegans may already know of Happy Cow, but if you haven’t travelled before maybe you haven’t come across it. If there’s one tip you should try and remember above all others it is that. Happy Cow is hands down the best vegan travel aid. With the Happy Cow app you can find vegan or vegan friendly restaurants within a certain area. You can either search a place in advance or search for restaurants nearby your location. Each listing has reviews, photos and the distance it is from you. I have found so many amazing restaurants, cafes and vegan friendly stores using this app and I highly recommend it.

Google translate is incredibly handy for when you’re in a foreign supermarket and need to find vegan friendly products. Learn and memorise the words for “milk”, “cheese” and “eggs” in the local language so you can keep an eye out for them in the ingredients. Or, I recommend using the Google Translate camera feature to take a photo of the ingredients on different products to check whether they are vegan or not. The camera feature is also useful if a restaurant menu is not in English. Although most places will have an English version, if you are out of the big cities it is less likely. 

Best Happy Cow find was Land & Monkey’s vegan bakery in Paris!

2. Do your research on the local cuisines. 

Be sure to look into the authentic dishes of each country you visit because you will find there are a few that are either accidentally vegan or can easily be veganised. This is a great way to still get a taste of the local cuisines while also sticking to your diet! 

In Italy, for example, there is almost always a simple tomato pasta or gnocchi on the menu that will be vegan, just ask for it without cheese. Be sure to order dry pasta not fresh as fresh pasta typically contains eggs. Or you can order a vegetarian pizza without the cheese. 

In Greece, there are many foods that are always vegan like vine leaves, olives, hummus, gigantes (giant beans cooked in mediterranean sauce) and fava and many that can be made vegan like gyros, greek bean soup, souvlaki and most salads.

I like to do a mix of finding fully vegan/vegetarian restaurants (if possible) and finding foods I can eat at the authentic restaurants to get a good experience of both. 

3. Spend some time in the local supermarket. 

One of my favourite things to do in a new country is check out the supermarket and see what their vegan products are like. In countries like Germany, the UK, the Netherlands and Sweden, there are SO MANY vegan products that are worth checking out. They are cheaper than you would find in NZ and Australia and the range is much larger with many brands we don’t have. 

Spending some time in the supermarket will help you find some great snacks to keep you going throughout the day or some ingredients if you are planning on using your accommodation kitchen to cook. Outside the big cities most supermarkets are pretty good at stocking at least a few vegan products. I even found vegan cheese in some small towns in France (a most unlikely place for vegans!). It is good to take your time as well because you may find something that is vegan by accident, like muesli bars, cookies, crisps and more. 

A plant-based supermarket shop in Naxos, Greece!

4. Carry vegan cooking essentials with you.

One of the cheapest and best ways of ensuring a good vegan meal whilst travelling is to cook for yourself, especially if you are not in the most vegan friendly countries. If you are staying in hostels or Airbnbs you will have a kitchen at your disposal and it is a great idea to use it for at least a few meals.

When travelling Europe, I like to carry some cooking essentials so that cooking meals can still be delicious. Some of my favourite essentials are spices (cumin, paprika, curry powder, garlic powder, etc), soy sauce, nutritional yeast (if you can find it in a supermarket), stock powder and even a bottle of salad dressing. Most hostels and Airbnb’s etc will have olive oil, salt & pepper, but you can’t rely on them having much else. 

Cooking meals yourself is a great way to save money and ensure you eat well if you can’t find anything else. Some of my favourite meals to cook are stir-fries, curries and pastas.

Favourite vegan product we found in Europe was VioLife Feta!

5. Consider a picnic.

Vegan picnics and cooking meals yourself are great alternatives to restaurants when you want to save money or can’t find anywhere suitable to eat. 

A picnic is one of my favourite things to do. Find a beautiful garden or a spot along a river to admire the view and eat your food. Stop by the supermarket on your way and find some delicious snacks or sandwich fillings like hummus, avocado, tomato, or if you’re lucky vegan meat slices and vegan cheese. You could also take leftovers in a BYO container from a meal you cooked the night before. 

Some more useful tips

• Take your own milk to cafes because they may not serve plant milks. This was especially useful in France (except Paris) as most cafes just serve cow’s milk.

• Buy your fruit and vegetables from local markets. This will give you the local experience plus it’s usually cheaper than the supermarket. Just try and ignore the massive stalls with raw fish, meat and cheese!

• Stay eco-friendly while travelling and bring reusables. Your own containers are especially handy when you want to pack a lunch or make/order too much food and want to save it for later. Your own cup is handy for drinks at picnics or takeaway coffees and other drinks (I used mine for Spritzes in Italy!) Cutlery is great for eating your food on the go or making a sandwich at a picnic.

• Check out accommodation breakfast BEFORE paying. Sometimes your hotel or hostel will have a breakfast you can pay for which can be very useful. However, make sure you check out the selection before paying. Sometimes there is a great selection for vegans like toast, fruit, salads, etc but sometimes the vegan options are so poor that it’s not worth the money. We had one hostel where the breakfast was the equivalent of $20 NZD and the only vegan option was toast, jam and black coffee.

• Lebanese restaurants are the best bet for vegan food if you can’t find anything local. You can guarantee that they will have plenty of options or be able to make most of their menu items vegan.