Just wondered what people budget for food per day in the most expensive cities? Do you plan to splurge everyday or just once or twice while you're there or not at all?

For Rome and Paris I'm wondering if $60 per day on average is about right. That would be light breakfast, picnic or cheap lunch, and a decent (bistro type) dinner. We always buy wine at shops and drink in hotel instead of at restaurants. No other alcohol.

Could you be a little more specific? Are you thinking of $60/day/per person? Do you have to pay for your breakfast or is that included in your hotel rate? $60 translates roughly into 46 € and you could have a nice dinner for two for that amount, but you'd only have enough left over for a sandwich purchased from a street vendor for lunch, and you'd have to share.

On a tight budget last year in Paris we had about $75.00 per day for food for 2 people total. This year it will be $125.00 so we can eat at nicer restaurants.

Hi wl,

Coffee and pastry standing up in a cafe - 2.5E

Sandwich or pizza slice and a beverage - 5-7 E

Dinner 15-30E pp.

wliwl, when we travel in the manner you are speaking of (no self catering and not induldging for every meal) we usually figure around $75-$100 per day (for two) for meals only.

That includes a modest dinner on most nights, with a splurge or two during the trip.

Ira, your figures are pretty reasonable, but do consider they don't sound like the healthiest diet. Add some vegetables and fruit for the first two meals, somehow - maybe from a fruit stand or get a McDonald's vegetable salad (if there's no other way) or something.

Of course you can get vegetables in a proper Italian dinner, so I wouldn't worry about that.

There are some really great places to eat for very little money in Paris if you look around. I have posted before about a Gyro shop in the 13th called Place D'Istanbul, 2 large chicken Gyros
with onions, tomatoes, 3 side sauces, fries, two cans of 1/2 litre beers each
total 12 or 13 Euro with tip. GreatFood

We usually splurge at one restaurant per major city - and sometimes also if we stay in one of those country restaurant/inns. Other than that our food budget is usually $90/$110 per person per day:

Breakfast - included in the hotel - we just do continental-ish

Lunch - usually just do someplace that looks nice wherever we are when we get hungry: $25/$30

Dinner - usually plan - but don;t splurge most nights: $60/$70

Misc: for an ice cream cone or a drink in a cafe during the day: $5/$6

And is you're someplace inexpensive - Prageu for isntance - it will probalby be $10-$20 per day less.

Hi WillTravel,
>Ira, your figures are pretty reasonable, but do consider they don't sound like the healthiest diet. <

You are correct.

Fruits and vegetables at the local markets are very cheap.

My sister got a kilo of avocados for under 3E at the one on Rue Buci. The grocer picked out a set that would ripen over the next few days so that she wouldn't have to eat overripe or underripe fruit.

That sounds good, Ira. This summer, at the metro station Montparnasse-Bienvenue, I just happened to arrive at the right time, I think as the fruit vendor was closing up, and I got a flat of raspberries for 1 Euro. They weren't all perfect, but were pretty good, and I was so pleased, given how I like raspberries.

For business travel, my company gives us EUR 50/day for food allowance. i always come out ahead and manage to eat quite well - including wine with dinner (although, i am not much for a big breakfast and usually eat at the company's subsidised cafeteria for lunch).

the company's allowance is always a good guideline to expenses as it is realistic and the expectation is that 3 meals a day are eaten at a decent restaurant.

If you don't need a big breakfast and aren't a dedicated foodie, you can eat well on $30 a day per person, booze additional. We usually spend $20-25 for dinner and $5-10 for lunch each.

We've had visitors to Baltimore comment on how expensive restaurants are here, but they ask the concierge for recommendations and the concierge generally sends them to the most expensive places; the places we only go to on birthdays and other special occasions. I think that sort of thing happens in most cities to most visitors.

Wow, great advice everybody. My original thinking was that my budget will be $60 (USD) per day per person. So it sounds reasonable. We have two teenage boys with us - one is a gourmet and the other eats nothing. So I'm hoping that they will average out!!!

wliwl, my teenage boy probably ate something like this in Paris:

4 Euros breakfast (I would run out and buy yogurt, juice, and pastry every morning.)
8 Euros in the course of the day on tartelettes, falafel
6 - 9 Euros for a pizza margherita every night (cheapest outside St. Germain)
1 Euro water (you can buy bottled water at Ed's Epicerie for a cheap price, and he drank several 0.17E bottles per day)

He's a vegetarian and has very specific food likes, and repeated the same thing every day.

Eating a kilo of avocados isn't exactly a real healthy thing to do -- they are full of fat and calories.

I think $60 a day per person is quite tight for everything all day. You can do it, of course, but you will have to eat at very cheap places. I assume that includes any snacks or drinks which can be $4-5 a piece, as noted. I would consider really really cheap to be 5 euro for breakfast, 15 for lunch and 25 for dinner and nothing else, or 45 euro per day. Right now, that is your budget, or about US$60. That means you can't stop and buy an ice cream cream, can't have a coffee in a cafe, etc. Sounds depressing to me, as well as the idea of not drinking in a nice cafe and relaxing but only drinking in your hotel room, but you can do it. I think Ira's figures are too low -- I haven't noticed cafes in central Paris where you can get coffee plus pastry for 2.5 euro. Maybe some chain takeout place.

I usually budget $10 for lunch, $20 for dinner, and $10 for snacks and drinks during the day. That adds up to $40 per person per day. Stay at a B&B and your breakfast will be included.

One handy way to save money on your food budget is to picnic for lunch. You can easily get a sandwitch or some regional specialty, some cheese, and a drink for under $10. Then take your picnic and sit in the park next to the Eifel Tower or in a glen in front of the Jungfrau. Do this for dinner every other day and you can save even more money.

In Rome, I think I averaged about 26 Euros per day on food just recently, plus a very good included breakfast at my hotel (Hotel Julia, which LarryJ mentioned).

Hi Christina

>Eating a kilo of avocados isn't exactly a real healthy thing to do -- they are full of fat and calories.<

OK, OK, I am not a nutritionist.

My mother bought some strawberries.

My wife bought a crepe beurre.

I bought a box of Pierre Herme' macarons.

Simplest solution if you have the guts to do a "tough love" thing: give the so-called "gourmet" who is probably in real life a "hollow leg" and his non-eating sibling a certain amount of money and tell them to make this a REAL adventure because THAT is what they have to eat on.

I think you may be surprised at how suddenly very inventive they'll become and probably learn more about Europe than you ever dreamed possible.

I just can't imagine that 25 euros for dinner is inexpensive. It's not outrageous by any means, but there are plenty of good restaurants in Rome and Paris that can feed you well for less than that.