MomDDTravel

No, it goes on sale Oct 1 for 80 minutes and then the travel dates are from Nov 1 - Dec. 15. I checked it out as I am traveling in Oct and like their hotels...

StCirq

There aren't separate "rooms" here, just one Europe board, but you might want to re-post asking if there's anywhere in Europe you can go for that amount of time on that budget. It sure ain't Italy, IMO!

Even if you went very low-budget you'd need about twice that amount of $$ for decent lodgings and no-frills meals. And you certainly couldn't rent an automatic car (but you don't need one, anyway); nor would I include so many places if you're really looking to relax.

Personally, I'd rent an apartment in Rome for a week and then spend a few days on the coast around Sperlonga and Gaeta.

MonaManuel

Thanks again for the input.

I still think that I don't have to double the budget just to get by. I have already found a decent looking apartment/B&B in Agerola or Furore, overlooking the water. I figure if we self-cater breakfasts and lunch, we could still eat decent dinners (no wine on account of the preggie thing) and take a few train rides (oaky, I get it - the car is out): Rome to Naples, bus to B&B and back.

But, I will investigate Spain, possibly Czech Republic, and cross my fingers and pray to the lords of travel that I can work something out for this trip!

MomDDTravel

Mona - do you have ff miles or are you purchasing the ticket?

catherinehaas

Italy is one of the most expensive places in Europe. My son and I went last September. No tour. I did all the research and planning myself. Transportation alone will be the majority of your $2000 budget if you are renting a car. Very expensive in Italy!!! We opted for train travel, stayed in less expensive hotels, ate "nice" 3 times during our 10 days, and pre-arranged things to do. The trip, not including airfare, for the 2 of us was $4500 (exchange rate of $1.35) and that was 10 days. Rome and Florence are very popular and thus expensive. Either go for shorter or increase your budget.

Good luck. Italy is a beautiful place and well worth it.

SusanP

You say in your first post that the $2,000 includes airfare. Most people seem to be answering you based on that amount excluding airfare. Where are you flying from? Presumably your flights alone are going to be over $1,000. Let's say you get lucky and find flights for $1200 ($600 each). That leaves $800, or around 550€ for everything else. Even with hostels and never eating in a restaurant, you're just not going to do be able to do 10 days at 55€ per day!

If you double your budget, leaving around $2800 after flights, even that is only 1950€, which is not a lot for hotel, meals, local transportation, plus you want a few hundred for shopping. You really need to be realistic about this.

PeaceOut

No, the OP says "excluding int'l airfare".

SusanP

Oops, sorry! Guess I read it too fast.

OK, so if you take out a few hundred for souvenirs, that gives you $1700, or around around 1200€. 120€ per day for 10 days is still not much for hotel, meals for two people, local transportation, entry fees and miscellaneous.

nytraveler

Just as a reality check, the entrance fee to the Vatican Museums is about $20 each - and $40 is almost a third of your daily budget. Entrance to Pompeii is about $15 each - or almost a quarter of your daily budget.

I just don;t see how you can do even a decent hotel, eat-in meals and local transit for your budget - never mind sights or traveling from one city to another.

And have no idea what short of hotel - or neigborhood - you would get for $70 (50 euros) a night - which is a full 50% of your budget.

MomDDTravel

nytraveler - mona thinks she can - so she can - and go over budget or whatever...kwim?

paula1470

Mona-You definitely need to up your budget. My DD just finished backpacking around Europe this summer for 5 weeks and about 2 1/2 weeks of that time was spent in Italy.

They budgeted around $100 a day per person and this was pushing it. They stayed in hostels, and only had one or two nice dinners the whole time they were traveling. They did go out in the evenings and spend some money on drinks which you wouldn't be doing. This $100 a day did not include train transportation as they had Eurrail passes. They did use some money on buses, etc. As others have mentioned, entrance fees to museums, sites, etc can be high in Italy.

Some hostels do have private rooms and in mid-Oct you'd probably have a better chance of booking one of those rooms than in the summer. You sure don't want to be staying in bunkbeds or at least I wouldn't if I was pregnant.

So going off this bare bone budget my daughter had, this is still $2800 for the two of you. I would definitely say you couldn't do it for less than $3000. They managed to stay in their budget but barely and they had the opportunity to stay with friends a few times. They also purchased almost no souvenirs.

Help this prospective helps.

paula1470

Any updates on your vacation?

suze

Here's how I do a budget:
14 days for 2 people at $2000
$2000 divided by 14 = $142usd
$142usd divided by 2 people = $71usd
$71 converted to euro = 49 euro

In my opinion 49 euro per day per person is nowhere near enough to cover 1/2 the cost of a hotel or pensione double room, your food, admission, local transportation, incidentals.

Garibaldi

I read 10 days at 2K - 200 dollars per day. Seems doable to me. Go to Rome, rent an apartment, and have fun!

suze

The OP said "10 days-2 weeks" so I took it to mean 10 days to 14 days.

suze

Even $200usd is only 139 euro...

So OK say you make the trip just 10 days not 14 days, then you have 70 euro per person per day. Perhaps doable but still tight imo.

paula1470

Suze-I agree with you. Don't know if you read my post but my DD and her friends budgeted about 100 US per day. They did it but it was barebones. They stayed in hostels, only had a couple of nice meals, stayed with friends a few nights (and the friends usually cooked dinner for them). This also didn't include their train tickets. So they made it on an average of around $100 US but really didn't include everything.

If they cut the trip down to 10 days, it might be more doable. But we haven't heard back from the OP so I am wondering if they gave up the idea of the trip.

suze

Ooops, I didn't realize a few days had gone by without hearing back from MonaManual.

I think often for budgeting people seem to think "$2000 is a lot of money" -which it is btw- but don't break it down into line items of what you'd realistically need to spend on a 10 to 14 day vacation, moving around a country.

Mimar

Catherinehaas, I don't think Italy is unusually expensive for Europe. More about average. Norway is very expensive, the UK and Switzerland are expensive. But the currency rates are all volatile now.

Just don't want the casual reader to think Italy is out of reach. But European travel is not cheap.

MomDDTravel

mirmar - I found Switzerland to be less expensive then Paris and Florence... but was not really having a tight budget at the time so perhaps I am wrong.