tyler

My wife and I are planning a 3 week trip to Europe in the summer of 2008 and have been hearing a number of horror stories about the cost of everything. We have both been several times, but neither one of us has been since 2003. I know the prices depend on the location and the season, but we are hoping to get some ball park figures for relative prices (we keep hearing about $6 bottled water...).

A little background: For now, we are planning to fly into Rome and out of Munich (airfare will be purchased via miles). We don't have our itinerary completed, but we plan to hit Rome, Florence, Venice, Cinque Terra (hopefully), Alps, Munich and maybe Salzburg. We are getting in to the planning stages, but how long we spend and where we go depends on cost. We do not plan on staying in fancy hotels, but at the same time, we have both backpacked through Europe, and thats not the plan for this trip. We won't be staying at fancy hotels, but we also will not be staying in hostels (we have both backpacked through Europe and that is not what we are going for on this trip). Again, we won't be going out to fancy meals every night, but we also don't plan to see how cheaply we can go to Europe if we eat crackers and cheese every night (this is supposed to be a vacation).

So, if you can give me a ballpark for what we should be planning on for lodging in some of those places, as well as how much to budget for food and activities, it would be greatly appreciated.

logos999

At the supermarket across the street here in Munich, a cheap bottle of water (1.5 liters) costs 19ct plus a deposit of 25ct. Hope this helps ;-) I wont buy the stuff because my tap water is just delicious!!

wally34949

Hotels in large cities with private bathrooms can be expensive in the summertime. Drink the local wine and save money. I don't find the prices bad. If you stay in smaller towns, you will be able to find affordable hotels.

Check some of these budget airlines. They can save you money over long train rides.

wally34949

Remember when you go out to eat that the tax and tip are already included in the price. This helps a lot!

jkdraper

tyler: You are going in high season since it is summer so hotels will be somewhat higher than if you were planning a trip in the off season. However, food and entertainment costs should not vary upon the season. Of the places you are going we have been to Florence, Venice Munich and Salzburg. Venice is going to be expensive as it is surrounded by water and everything just costs more to get it there. Munich and Salzburg are very reasonable so if you are trying to conserve money you may want to focus more of your trip time in those areas.

As with anywhere, you should be able to find reasonable food and accomodations if you do your research and stick with your budget. I have never payed $6 for a bottle anywhere, even in Paris and Venice. You can purchase bottled water and snacks at the grocer and save some costs that way. You can opt for pizza or a panini for lunch or simply put together bread, cheese and meats for a nice picnic in any of these places. Throw in a bottle of wine, which should be cheap, and you have a nice romantic lunch for much less than the cost of a full meal in a cafe.

If you do some research on this site you will find many recommendations for good hotels, restaurants and entertainment that are very reasonable. You will also find many money saving tips for purchasing museum passes and metro tickets with a little research.

Do not forget that the exchange rate is awful right now so you need to convert costs from $ to Euro in your head when determining what something is going to cost you.

Keep researching and you should find some great suggestions from other Fodorites on this forum. Enjoy, for most of us here the planning is a big part of the trip.

MaureenB

Just don't buy the $6 bottled water! Seriously, my rule of thumb in visiting the cities you mention is that prices there are about the same as in the States-- except you have to convert the money. In other words, you can find a dinner entree for 20EUR, which costs you $25 roughly.

Just be smart about it, and be informed. Be sure to stay away from sodas at restaurants since they cost more than the house wine at most places. Stand for your quick snack and drink, so you don't pay for table service. Order tap water instead of bottled water at dinner tables.

Use this forum to find great mid- to lower-priced little hotels, like these ones we've stayed at:
Munich, Hotel Uhland
Rome, Domus Julia
Venice, Hotel Riva
Florence, Relais Cavalcanti
near Cinque Terre, in Santa Margherita Ligure, the Hotel Nuova Riviera
Visit Salzburg as a day-trip from Munich, with very inexpensive Bayern day pass for the train (about 33EUR for up to 5 people, round trip).

You'll be fine. Just research this forum carefully. Don't ditch your plans for Europe next summer.
>-

logos999

Pepsi 79ct per 1.5 liters + deposit
Coke expensive at 89ct liter + deposit
Pepsi sometimes also sold at 58ct/1.5 liters. Those plastic bottles have a 25ct deposit.

tyler

Thanks for all of the good (quick) responses. We are planning to travel either in late May/early June, or mid September. Would one season be cheaper than another? Would one be less croded, or more enjoyable?

yk

I'd vote for May/June - I think you can still get some decent hotel prices and will be there before the crowd hits.

Just to give you some idea:

I was in Germany for 5 nights/6 days in mid-April. I traveled alone and stayed at 2-3* hotels (single room w/private bath). I ate well every day though not at fancy restaurants. The cost of my trip was €526 (excluding air fare) -

€ 282 for 5 nights hotel (will be cheaper for you per person since double room price is less than 2x single room price)
€ 50 transportation (all public transport, no taxis)
€ 54 admission fees (to museums and palaces etc)
€ 140 food (lunch and dinner for 5 days)

I consider myself a budget traveler, though I always insist on hotel rooms w/private bath; and I never skimp on attractions entrance fees.

Make sure the hotels you stay at have free breakfast - that way, you can have a big breakfast and then eat a smaller lunch which helps reducing the cost some.

ddena

I can highly recommend the hotel Berkeleys in Florence. One block from the train station on a quiet street. Run by a dear family. It is a zero or one-star hotel, and if you aren't looking for big bells an whistles, it is terrific. They have a website you can check out.

wally34949

You can pay a lot of money for bottled water at Disney World, too. You can drink the tap water in all of Western Europe.

tcreath

If you really want to save money you may want to consider staying in a vacation apartment. Many cities have them, and Italy in particular has tons of them. We stayed in a wonderful small apartment near Piazza Navona in Rome for about 90 euro. Not only was in cheaper than a hotel and in a fabulous location but one could also save money by shopping at local markets and utilizing the kitchen instead of eating out all the time. Some have lenght of stay requirements, but most don't. www.slowtrav.com has tons of information on Italy apartments. We've also stayed in one in Berchtesagden, near Salzburg.

I found that things were generally a little bit cheaper in Germany/Austria than in Italy.

Good luck and happy planning!
Tracy

nytraveler

Well - you can;t expect prives like 2003 - since you will have had 5 years of inflation in prices for everything - as well as a huge fall in the value of the dollar. So - I would assume that prices would be at least 1/3 higher than they were the last time you were there.

Naturally you can offset this by making decisions to travel more economically in all sorts of ways - but, basiccally prices will be noticeably higher.

basingstoke2

Ifyou are alright with staying near the Vatican in Rome, the Hotel Florida is a good buy. Spotless, nicely decorated rooms. Non smoking throughout. No lobby to speak of. In Florence the Hotel Enza should be on your short list of budget hotels.

J_Correa

My husband and I went to Germany last summer - Munich, Alps, and Nuremberg.

Our trip, not including airfare (used FF miles for that) ran us $160/person/day. That figure includes everything else - hotel, a car rental for a few days, train travel, shopping, activities, food, drink, etc. We travelled reasonably cheaply, although we didn't scrimp and save. We stayed in nice accomodations and ate well, but we didn't go for upscale stuff.

In Munich, we stayed at the Hotel Laimerhof for 86E per night, including breakfast. We thought this hotel was great - small rooms, but comfortable, good location, wonderful innkeepers.

In the Alps, we stayed just across the border in Reutte, Austria at the Hotel Moserhof for 90E per night, breakfast included. Another really great place.

Throughout the trip, our daily expenses ran about 100 E for the 2 of us - food, drinks, bottled water, snacks, local transportation, museum entrance fees. We did a few more expensive things, like a bike tour in Munich and touring the Ludwig castles near Fussen, which weren't covered in the 100E per day amount.

So that is an idea of what things cost us last summer in Germany. I would expect things to be a little more expensive this year, but nowhere near what you have heard. I think the only $6 water we saw was probably bottles of the fancy stuff in restaurants - or maybe at the kiosk at the top of the hill at Neuschwanstein Castle where they have you basically trapped and thirsty - LOL. I think we only bought 4 bottles of water our entire trip though - just kept refilling them.

WillTravel

Hotel rates in major cities are often cheaper in July and August. The issue then becomes whether you want to fork out for decent air conditioning, and for most of your locations, my answer would be yes, despite my budget emphasis.

However, in Italy, I have seen even budget places advertised with air conditioning.

The cheapest places might already be booked, but 80 Euros for a double room, per night, is possible, if you can get those places at this late stage. (For example, convent rooms.)

tyler

Thank you everyone for the great info.

nutjobz

One way we saved money on a recent trip to Paris was to get a hotel with a fridge/sink/2burner stove in the room. We made instant coffee in the morning and grabbed a croissant to eat walking down the street when we went out. Lunch was a sandwich also eaten walking.
If you buy water, cheese, etc. in grocery stores, the prices are highish but not unreasonable. Also make an effort to shop where actual natives shop and not in the tourist centers. Even in the US it's more expensive to buy a bottle of water at a fancy place than at Safeway.
I was in Munich in 2006 and the prices were not too bad, for example, with the VAT refunded, Mephisto and Berkinstock shoes were still a very good buy. I don't like German food and Turkish cafe type places are pretty cheap.

nutjobz

cont. from above, I hit post by mistake,
also bring things that you need with you, like aspirin, we ended up spending E5+ for aspirin & tylanol our first day in Paris. Books in English are pretty steep too and you may end up reading a lot if the TV is in a foreign language.