jmday11076

For a family of 4. How much would you say per day,3 meals per day. We won't do anything fancy, just good food.

Thanks,
Jackie

bettyk

Most hotels include a nice breakfast of cheese, breads, fruit, etc., in the room rate, so you should only need to purchase lunch and dinner.

Most restaurants post a daily "special" at a fixed price which is usually a pretty good deal. You can get lunch for maybe 6 to 10 Euro and dinner for 8 to 12. Obviously you can save money buying things like pizza or sandwiches. We enjoyed going to the deli counter at a local Billa grocery store and ordering semmel rolls filled with ham and cheese or anything else you want. We'd buy a box of Pringles and maybe some fruit or cookies for desert and have dinner in our room after a long day of sightseeing.

I'd figure on about 20 Euro per person average plus snacks.

hsv

Depends on whether you will be touring the country side or rather the bigger cities (more expensive). It also depends on whether you are travelling in the Southern Parts of Germany or the North (more expensive, I would say). The East is still a bit cheaper, too.
That said, I would rather estimate € 30.- per person and day for breakfast, lunch and dinner combined. And this would rather be the no-frills package.

Aramis

If your accomodation serves breakfast, as most do, you should be able to get by for 50-60 Euros for dinner for 4.

We really stocked up on breakfast, bought a light lunch - fruit, bread, etc. had an early dinner and came out spending less than 80 Euros a day for 5 of us (they youngest was 9)

Dickscar

Try the kiosks or schnell imbiss' along the streets or roads. Good wurst and french fries (pommes frittes), The bakeries have great bread and rolls that can be bought by the number you want or half a loaf of bread instead of a package or a dozen. Meat can be ordered by the slice at a butcher (metzgar)and you can pick up Nutella or jam at the Edeka or any grocery store. Try the Gasthaus's for dinner instead of hotels or restaurants. They're cheaper, the food is usually excellent and you'll meet the locals

RufusTFirefly

30 euro a day is quite a lot per person unless you plan on dining in sit-down, full menu restaurants for every meal.

hsv

Rufus,

I agree completely. But it was my impression that the poster was inquiring about sit-down meals. Obviously costs can be trimmed by buying rolls from bakeries and cold cuts from the butcher's or a supermarket. Of course, those food stalls offering fried sausages would help to make things cheaper, too - but I could not imagine to dine on those fatty fast foods for more than 2 days in a row.
However, prices at restaurants have increased significantly since the introduction of the Euro and € 30.- for three sit-down meals, each with something to drink, does appear highly likely to me.

TexasAggie

On our last trip in Feb. 2005 we found the price of food in sit-down restaurants very similar to the prices of Florence, Rome, or Venice. Certainly much higher than on my last trip in 2002 and MUCH higher than previous trips before the € was introduced. That said, you can certainly browse menus and take advantage of the fixed price lunch and dinner menus as they are a very good value. Incidentally, we love the food in Germany. You will definitely enjoy your meals

RufusTFirefly

I meant to differentiate between more formal sitdown restaurants and Gasthofs and such where you also sit down but at much lower prices. I didn't mean to refer to sausage stands or grocery stores (although they are fine once in a while). You can get very nice meals that go well beyond sausages and cold cuts at a decent Gasthof or equivalent establishment at a price well below a "restaurant."

I should have included this in my prior note. Sorry for the misunderstanding. And we have been to Germany and Austria since the euro was introduced.

Globerunner09

We stay in guest houses in Germany which includes a good breakfast (similar to our lunch in the States...bread, meats, cheese, etc.). For lunch, we snack - perhaps a bratwurst or something from a bakery. Depending on the exchange rate, dinner will be your most expensive meal. The last time we went - June 2005 - we spent about $30 total for both of us for dinner alone. The snacks were less expensive - about $3-5.

hsv

I agree with Rufus completely.

The only problem can be to find a "Gasthaus" or "Gasthof". This is fairly easy in Southern Germany. Most of those serve very decent food, too, at prices that would approx. be around € 10.- for a main course.

However, in other regions of Germany (such as my neck of the woods), this may be much more difficult. If I can find a place that offers a main course at dinner at around € 13.- I consider myself lucky. There are hardly any "Gasthöfe" in Hamburg and those that might qualify do not serve that tasty fare.
E.g. I just paid an outrageous € 11.00 for a Pizza Parma at dinner! While it was good, it is not exactly a splurge dinner. Include a drink and tip and you end up paying € 15.00. And this woud already eat up the daily budget of € 30.00 that I indicated before by half.

I would rather account for some higher expenditures before the trip and feel lucky upon my return having spent less than experience this the other way round (which might be the hard way).

Ingo

Heavens! hsv, I did not know the north is more expensive than the south. By the way, in a Gasthaus here in Saxony you find decent food for less than 10 Euro.

hsv

Ingo,

trouble around here is actually that you might be able to spend the same amount as elsewhere, but the quality is not that likely to compare.

I have been travelling quite a bit between Hamburg and Berlin for the past 2 years, and I (as friends of mine do, too) find Berlin to be far less expensive food wise than Hamburg.

bettyk

As Rufus said, we found that gasthofs were usually a good source for fairly priced meals, both for lunch and dinner. Lunches were usually 7-8 Euro and dinners 8-12.

And for about 5 Euro for both of us, we could have a good meal from the deli counter at Billa which was a great way to help offset those more expensive meals that we all like to have once in awhile such as Haus Lipmann in Beilstein!

Bird

You might try a restaurant in a department store (Dinea in the Kaufhof for instance). These are good, reliable places for an inexpensive breakfast or lunch. There is generally a broad selection which works well when kids are involved. Don't expect- out-of-this-world gastronomy and you shouldn't be dissappointed.

A side note -- when I am in Munich, I try to stop by the Kaufhof near the Marienplatz for a bowl of fish soup with a glass of wine at a counter in their deli for under 10 euro. Unbeatable.

jmday11076

Thank you all so much for your input.
We will be going from Frankfurt to Prage and then on to the Heidelberg area, and then back to Frankfurt.
The good news is our kids are 8 and 1 (the 1 year old eats as much as his big brother )

Thanks again,
Jackie