Budget for 10 weeks in Europe

Old Apr 18th, 2015, 08:06 AM
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Budget for 10 weeks in Europe

Hi everyone,
My girlfriend and I are planning a trip to Strasbourg France for summer of 2016. We plan on renting an apartment for 10 weeks and then taking about five mini trips during that time. We plan to go to Amsterdam, Italy, Germany, and two other cities in France. My question is how much should we expect to spend in that time? We have a kitchen in our apartment so we plan to cook for ourselves when we can. Assuming we want to eat out 4-5 times per week and also do touristy things, how much should we expect to spend per person or week? Is $5000 doable (not including the Strasbourg apartment or airfare).
Also, neither of us has ever been out of the country. Do you think this type of self planned trip would just be too much for young first-time travelers? Thanks so much for all of your thoughts!
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Old Apr 18th, 2015, 08:18 AM
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olivia, I think that this is a great idea and you should be able to se a lot in the time you've got.

I suspect that after a while you probably won't eat out as much as you think, but you might go away more, so it will probably even itself out.

Assuming you don't want to eat in Michelin starred restaurants every night, €20-€25 each should cover it. if you ate out 4x a night, that would work out at €200. To your food costs for the rest of the week you should probably budget another €100, so that's €300/week or €3000 for the trip.

Then you have travel costs; you can work these out in advance by looking at the french railway website at

http://uk.voyages-sncf.com/en/?redirect=yes

you also have to budget for entrance fees etc. which you should be able to get within your limit.

however what I don't see mentioned is accommodation costs while you are away from your base you might like to think about air.bnb for this as I suspect that it is going to be one of your biggest costs.
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Old Apr 18th, 2015, 08:27 AM
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Since you have ample time for planning, here's what I'd do:
Research the cities in each country you plan on visiting. Look at the museums, sights, that interest you, check out their admissions, free museum days, travel costs to those places, etc. Make a list. It is not too much for first time travelers, if you prepare ahead. Go to your local library, and get some guiebooks for help. You can also watch Utube videos of the places you're interested in. Check out forums online, i.e. this one, Independent Traveller, slowtrav.com, ricksteves, they have lots of updated info.

And, you didn't ask, but....don't forget to make a copy of your passport, and keep it in a separate place, make a list of any meds you take, jot down your cc information in case of loss or theft. And always be aware of your surroundings, just like you'd do at home. (That's the mother in me talking, now)

For dining, you can spend very little with planning, i.e. a light breakfast, buy some fruit locally for snacks, have a sandwich for lunch, and a modest dinner, if that suits you. Some cities (Florence) used to offer student mensa meals at the local university, but I don't know if they still offer that.....again, do some research.

You will have a wonderful time.
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Old Apr 18th, 2015, 09:25 AM
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I think that you haven;t really allowed for the cost of training from Strasbourg to these other countries, as well as lodging in each place, local transit costs and the fact that you may well be eating more meals out there (will you always be staying in an apt with a full kitchen rather than a pension, B&B or hostel?)

I would start building a budget from the ground up so you kow going in how you will need to live to stay within budget.
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Old Apr 18th, 2015, 12:48 PM
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With 10 weeks, I would get 2 apartments for a month each and then 2 weeks on the go. I would locate in Strasbourg for that region and in Bologna or Lucca Italy for a different geographic perspective. One location will limit your options.
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Old Apr 18th, 2015, 03:36 PM
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Thank you all for the advice! I definitely have a lot more to think about. I think for our mini trips we'll use hostels to cut costs. I definitely will have to look closer into transportation within Europe, that is a huge expense I havnt really been taking into account, so thank you for that input, I appreciate it!
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