High Season travel is for teachers and students...and those who can not possibly avoid it. I would never travel to Europe on high season unless somebody else pays the bill, which has been the case a number of times (employer...). My preference is shoulder season which translates to high season weather with low season crowds.

RENT A PROPERTY WHILE IN ITALY. My favorite vacation saving tip while abroad is renting a property (weekly etc...). You are anchored for a time, but if you pick the location wisely you can do fabulous day trips and still save tons on lodging, meals, transportation, etc... Favorite spot to do this? French Riviera, Costa Brava (Spain), Tuscany, Bavarian Forest, Bergen (Norway), County Kerry (Ireland), and the Lakes District in Northern England.

Italiannotebook (Yolanda) makes a very good point. The cities in Italy are vastly more expensive than the towns. We traveled small towns and villages in the Abruzzo, Le Marche, Puglia and Sicily over the course of a year recently.

Our daily costs (for a couple traveling together) were just under a $100 CANADIAN per day.

There are charming small hotels in towns and small cities for 60 Euro with breakfast included(30 Euro per person). There are restaurants and enoteca where simple meals can be had for 10 Euro per person . And then there are the markets and groceries that offer cheese, fruit and bread for a 3 Euro per person picnic lunch. You can buy decent Italian wines for 3-4 Euro.

This math, however, does not apply to Rome, Florence, Venice, unless you are willing to do hostels only and subsist entirely on yoghurt and crackers.

hey tc,

> You always see those books that claim Europe on $5-25/ day.<

Where have you been for the last 30 years?

The 2004 Edition was "Europe on $85 per Day".

((I))

My trip to Italy last year cost <$100 day per person, including

all transportation (airfare from US, trains, rental car)
meals
lodging
sights

It was a very comfortable vacation in high season - neither bare bones nor luxury, but comfortably in between.

Your costs are largely influenced by how and where you eat, for instance. Food for the day can be less than 20 Euro or over 200 Euro - your choice.

We just returned from two nights in Rome and seven in a villa in Tuscany. We paid 74 Euro per night to stay in a convent one block south of Piazza Navonna in Rome. We incurred no cost for the villa stay, as a friend was "hosting" a large group to celebrate her 50th birthday.

We flew with FF miles and only paid roughly $200 in taxes for the airfare, but somehow we managed to still spend well over $2000 for this trip.

Food, train fare, some shopping, lots of cappucinos, wine and a rental car added to the total.

It's possible to do it for far less or far more --- your option!

Travelerjan: read the title. The question was just about Italy.