alc1974

hi! i know this is quite a subjective question

but i hope you can help me on this

i am trying to compute if i can stick with my budget to Europe

here goes a breakdown of my expenses

For accomodations:

i am planning to stay in hostels (average one but not too shabby) or in 2 star hotels (i would pay a premium for a good location saves on energy and transpo cost)

For Food:

i dont have to eat in restos everyday, i could do with sandwiches or food bought from the grocery

would i be safe with a $130-140/a day budget?
(this includes museums,transporation,etc.)


thanks!

MacPrague

Hi, alc! You might want to post again with the city you are visiting in the subject line. You are more likely to get responses that way since different cities require different budgets.

Hope this helps.

MP

travelgirl2

Yes, prices vary a lot depending on where you are. We are currently in London, which I love, but am continually shocked by how expensive everything is here. We've just come from Santorini and Athens, where everything seemed to be much less.

bardo1

alc,

Below are the ten most expensive cities in the world (courtesy CNN).

Are London, Geneva, Copenhagen, Zurich or Oslo in your plans?

1. Moscow
2. Seoul
3. Tokyo
4. Hong Kong
5. London
6. Osaka
7. Geneva
8. Copenhagen
9. Zurich
10.Oslo

Some of the least expensive European cities include:
Leipzig, Vilnius, Bucharest, Sofia and Ljubljana.

suze

Are you traveling solo or with someone? That makes a difference for the any hotel rooms price (spliting the cost with someone or paying for a single room yourself).

Also does your transportation *between* cities (train, bus, plane) come from that daily amount? If yes, how many places are you going.

In the most general way, I'd say amount is fine for budget style travel imo, if it is only food, room, local tranportation within a city, and admissions...

murphy89

Hey alc - I just wrote this on your previous post. If you want to find your old posts you can click on your name

think you can definately survive on $140-150 American.

Because budget dictated how long I could go away for (not time constraint), I needed to know very clearly how long I could last. So I prefered a really specific budget.

To accomplish this, I downloaded a blank calender from the internet for the time I would be away and started slotting in where I was going, the cost of getting there and I listed all of the sites from that city/town and their entrance fees (straight out of my guide).

People thought I had overplanned - but it wasn't a hard and fast itinerary, it just let me know exactly what I could expect dollar wise. It was an excellent tool and I was right - I spent what I thought I would.

For example one day in my budget for France would look like this:

Hostel: 27Euros
Food: 40Euros (allowing for 2 inexpensive restaruant meals or one expensive meal plus snacks).
Transportation: metro = 1.40E x 4rides = 6Euros (rounded up)
Sites: Concergerie/St. Chappelle 12Euro combined ticket, Cluny Museum 7Euro ticket, Arch de Triumph 8Euro ticket.

Daily Total: 100Euros
Daily Total US Dollar: $121.57

In addition, I gave myself an overall shopping and miscellaneous budget which included laundry, and fun extras.
I had a 300Euro buffer for just the 3 weeks I was in France (and more for other parts of the trip).

Of course some days depending on your activities - your transportation and sites can be much higher (aka - between cities etc), which is why I found a specific budget more helpful than a round figure. It also helped me stick to my budget because I had this handy little guide to tell me when I'd gone over on a specific category for the day.

It is wise to think in Euros (Especially if you are from Canada) - even if you are American, run your budget through a currancy converter so you know really what the cost is.

That was long-winded sorry. Just an idea for figuring out and managing your budget, which becomes more imperative the longer your trip is.

Good Travels,

Murphy

Brian_in_Charlotte

Don't be scared away from 1-star hotels as star ratings in Europe are often less about quality than about ammenities. In other words, a 1-star may be just as nice as a 2-star next door, it may just be missing a lift or a bar.

In my backpacking tour 10 or so years ago, we often found cheap hotels to be more comfortable than hostels and about the same price.

MaureenB

I also noticed that if you use a hostels.com type of website, they often bring up one- and two-star hotels on their listings. I think you'll do well on your budget, as you sound very committed to watching the expenses. Try to travel during low and shoulder seasons. Do your research to find less expensive places to visit. For instance, we were told Prague would be less expensive, but didn't really find that to be true for lodging. Maybe Greece or Croatia might be less expensive. Even Paris can be very affordable. But probably not London. Have fun planning!

nytraveler

If you stay in hostels and avoid restaurants - AND BARS - and are careful you should be OK. Just be aware that if you go out for 3/4 mixed drinks you could blow the whole day's budget.

harzer

Are you travelling alone? Are you hiring a car?

My travel partner and I have been managing quite well on $US100 a day or less each for years, but we usually confine our trips to Germany with occasional forays into neighbouring countries.

We use a hire car, a Peugeot 206 which we pick up in Strasbourg and which costs some $50 a day plus fuel.

We stay exclusively in very moderately priced little B & B's which we have learnt to sniff out in each locality where we decide to spend a few days. These are never in larger municipalities but in little towns we have just chosen off the map*. Their breakfast and our picnic lunch are complemented by a substantial dinner in a one- or two-star restaurant.

We enjoy the local wines and beers by buying them in the supermarket and consuming them sitting in our hosts' garden.

Our activities are less of the cultural variety (museums and galleries and the like) and more of exploring on foot and hiking and just mixing with the locals (we speak German).

* e.g. If we want to explore say the Fussen area we will head for some godforsaken place like Rosshaupten just north of there and find our accommodation on a farming property or in the little village .... and enjoy the experience of meeting these people.

Harzer

harzer

Me again!

I apologize to all those who know and love Rosshaupten! I just googled the name and found this village has been officially categorized as the most beautiful one in its region. They have ample tourist accommodation which includes our favourite type, the Ferienwohnung (self-contained unit), and the cheaper ones in this category are to be had for 30 euros a night.

So I guess that sort of proves my point that you can easily combine economy with an enjoyable holiday, in Germany at least, by simply side-stepping the major tourist centres. But I think the same goes for all countries.

Harzer

alc1974

hi! i know this is quite a subjective question

but i hope you can help me on this

i am trying to compute if i can stick with my budget to Europe

here goes a breakdown of my expenses

For accomodations:

i am planning to stay in hostels (average one but not too shabby) or in 2 star hotels (i would pay a premium for a good location saves on energy and transpo cost)

For Food:

i dont have to eat in restos everyday, i could do with sandwiches or food bought from the grocery

would i be safe with a $130-140/a day budget?
(this includes museums,transporation,etc.)


thanks!

alc1974

ooops sorry i re-posted the wrong message this is the correct one

Thanks to everyone who replied!

anyway to give you a breakdown of our transportation costs in our budget of $130-140 it includes the ff:

budget airline from Paris to Prague (which i will book around 6 weeks ahead to get a low rate)

and then most likely point to point train tickets from

prague to vienna,vienna to venice,venice to florence,florence to rome...all in 2nd class

and the daily bus/shuttle costs

do you think the budget would be sufficient? (we can actually save in florence because i'll be staying with a friend)

i'll be travelling with a friend by the way

to everyone i will be posting this twice cost i inadvertently posted another message with the same subject..sorry

Dukey

If you haven't already, go to www.skyscanner.net and input your Paris-Prague itinerary to find out which budget airlines fly that route (you could also use www.whichbudget.com but skyscanner will give you prices upfront.

DO NOT wait until six weeks out to book a flight if you know you are DEFINITELY going and the exact dates; rather, book as far out as the airline will allow to ensure you get the cheapest rate. The closer to the date you book the higher the price will be.