Daily Cost of a Vacation
 

Hello everyone. I hope I'm not repeating a question that's already been asked, but I've tried to read as many as I could and haven't seen it yet. In the opinion of you experienced travellers, how many American dollars per day do you think someone could travel to Europe on? <BR><BR>To clarify - I'm talking about no specific place in Europe, big cities, small towns, etc, so the amount would need to be an average. Also, I definitely would be staying in hostels and walking a lot. This doesn't have to take into account a railpass to get from country to country, just travel within a certain city. Sorry if this is too vague, but I'm basically just looking for what you think is a minimum amount of money to spend per day and still have a good time? Thank you. :)

Jen---<BR>If you really try to travel at the lowest possible cost, you can average about $50 per day, maybe a bit less, including decent food but not including your transportation. You should allow for that amount at least.

In the old days when there were "Europe on XX Dollars a Day", I used to average about double the amount in the title.<BR><BR>Staying in hostels, I would figure $15.00 for the hostel, $10-15 per day for food, at least $10.00 for admissions

jen:<BR><BR>in europe, as most places, you get what you pay for. if you stay in hostels, eat out of a bag and hitch hike, you maight be able to get by on $50 a day. i doubt it. Food is higher in europe, lodging is expensive and transportation costs are relative to the distance. my best estimate for a bare bones trip to europe would be $300.

$300 a day is BARE BONES?? You've got to be kidding???<BR>Hostelling and eating take-out and from grocery stores you could do it on $50-75 a day.<BR>

Jen, if you haven't already, you might want to post your question over on www.lonelyplanet.com (Thorn Tree is their bulletin board). I think as a group those posters have more low budget experience going the backpacker/hostel way.

my daughter spent ten days in England and Scotland with two other college aged girls. They stayed in hostels ate in a few pubs, ate some takeout and had an occasional sit down meal in an Italian restaurant. They even took a few cabs under adverse conditions.<BR>$500-600 in ten days which did not include airfare or the railpass. They did sleep on the floor of a dorm room 2 or 3 nights.<BR>Isn't is great to be young.

I am in the $50 a day ballpark mininum without long-distance transportation, also. But, I would not only take that amount of money or count on that, as I think assuming about $75 a day would be safe and a more comfortable safety cushion. Drinks can cost up to $5 in cafes in many places in Europe, and while you can scrimp if you want, I don't think it's a good trip if you never partake in sitting in cafes, having a decent meal (even a cheap decent meal) in a local restaurant, etc, don't go to museums, etc, might as well stay home. Also, the hostel may be full or too grungy to stay in, so you may need to spend on a real cheap hotel. I don't think you need $10 a day for admissions, but maybe just for miscellaneous all else. YOu want to make sure you don't run out of money, also, so I'd shoot for $75 a day. Obviously, you can do it a lot cheaper in some places like Greece or Portugal or rural areas, than in London and Switzerland and Paris. <BR><BR>I don't know about the $300, that must be for more than one day or a typo or something. I have never spent that kind of money myself, and I have a decent income and don't do much to try to scrimp at this point because I don't tend to spend a lot in general, so budgeting isn't a problem.

A friend's 20 year old daughter spent a month in Europe and took $600 with her (her airfare and railpass were bought prior to her leaving) and survived just fine - she didn't see very many big museums or ride cable cars, she stayed only in hostels or dormitories - and did sleep in a park in Pamplona, she bought her food in grocery stores or ate in school cafeterias. Would I travel like that? Nope, but it can be done.

I'd agree with some of the previous posters that $50 will be pretty bare bones, you could be pretty comfortable on $75 (I'm assuming you'll have a rail pass to cover most transportation). Be sure to go to the travel forums at www.eurotrip.com. It tends to attract a somewhat younger crowd than Fodor's. You might be a ble to get more information there.

Our total trip cost to London and Paris in January for 13 nights in country: <BR>Open Jaw Air From Chicago-London-Paris-Chicago $786.00.<BR>Eurostair: London to Paris $240.00<BR>Total for Hotels in London: Bayswater Inn 6 nights $60.00 with Breakfast $360<BR>Total for Hotels in Paris: $420.00 <BR>That's 1806.00 or about 140.00 for two person's per day. Food and shopping is up to the individuals. My wife loves shopping and proves it. Food depends. We had some very good food and some days eat sandwichs and pickup food from the deli. I would guess $150.00 per day per person not including shopping.

Our total trip cost to London and Paris in January for 13 nights in country: <BR>Open Jaw Air From Chicago-London-Paris-Chicago $786.00.<BR>Eurostair: London to Paris $240.00<BR>Total for Hotels in London: Bayswater Inn 6 nights $60.00 with Breakfast $360<BR>Total for Hotels in Paris: $420.00 <BR>That's 1806.00 or about 140.00 for two person's per day. Food and shopping is up to the individuals. My wife loves shopping and proves it. Food depends. We had some very good food and some days eat sandwichs and pickup food from the deli. I would guess $150.00 per day per person not including shopping.

In my experience it is usually 100 dollars a pay plus airfair.<BR> Janda

Go to www.eurotrip.com. This question comes up often on that message board. Its geared more to that type of travel than Fodors.<BR><BR>Have a great trip.

I just came back from a 39 days trip with my sister around England,France,The Hague(6 nights),Antwerp(5 nights),average $130 per person per day.<BR>Except air(we flew in and out of London),everything else included:apartments rental(Oxford,London,Paris),2-3 star hotels, all public transportation(points to points tickets much cheaper),good meals(including Guy Savoy and several Michelin starred restaurants),countless museums,churches and gardens.<BR>

Hi Jen -<BR><BR>Mike's numbers look good....<BR><BR>We did Atlanta-Zurich-Salzburg-Budapest-Prague-Vienna-Zurich-Atlanta in March ... 14 days... I had seen this question asked on the forum before but had never tried to really keep up till this trip, so I did "just to know" ;&gt;)<BR><BR>My wife and I did the trip for $139.78 PP per day... that included rt airfare ($309), 14 day 1st class Eurail SaverPass, 4 star hotels w/breakfast in each city, all other meals/food/drinks, admissions, public trans and city tours.... I mean literally every single dime we spent from the time we left our house till the time we got back... and we do NOT try to pinch pennies... we are just extremely flexible and travel only when we get good deals! (Every penny EXCEPT for crystal we bought in Prague... that's got nothing to do with traveling :&gt;)<BR><BR>My motto is "you can't spend the same money but once!"... so the cheaper the airfare, the more money to spend in other places... if you can get a 4 star room at half price, the nicer the meals you can have, etc., etc... Conversly (is that a word Rex?), if you have to pay $1,000 + for airfare then you have to cut things somewhere else if you are trying to keep the per day cost down.<BR><BR>Best wishes for a great trip!<BR><BR>Barry

The cheapest I've seen for first class accomodations is: NCL Star Hawaiian sailing - 7 days for $299 (double occupancy required) and airfare from Oakland to Honolulu for $199 for the same time period. That comes to $500 for 7 days or about $70/day. Hard to beat if you live in Oakland and want to cruise the Hawaiian islands!

and a cruise to hawaii has exactly what to do with a european trip?