Spending Budget - Europe - 6 Weeks
 

Hi All,

We are travelling to Europe in September/October for 6 weeks next year.

I am trying to get an understanding on how much we should budget daily for the following:-

Food (lunch/dinner at local cafes)
Taxi once or twice a day within the city
Trains tickets (metro)
Laundry

All accommodation, care hire and excursions will be booked and paid for prior to arrival. Most of our travel within the city will be on train. Taxi may be only taken after boozy night out.

The places we are visiting include - London, Paris, Barcelona, Venice, Tuscany and Rome.

We have budgeted 140€ per day for 2 adults. (70€ each).

If we have an expensive dinner then this would be over above amounts.

Look forward to your feedback.

Thanks

Prices are going to vary all over the place with London being high and probably Barcelona being lower.

We tend to budget E25 per person for supper and E15 for lunch

Train between cities or train in a city varies. "Metro" could mean an urban train system or a newspaper in these various countries. In a city you would be hard pushed to get through E5 a day.

Taxi, note that London is way bigger than the other places, so could vary E60 to E10.

Soo I think, in general your figures work, note that most Museums in London are free and are say E10 in most other cities (prices vary but for budget purposes)

Bilbo is right and his budget seems balanced.
Budget varies with city and with people...
Mine is much less balanced (for Paris) : usually at breakfast I spend 1 € for a 'petit pain au chocolat', then usually around 3-5 € for lunch (sandwich) and about 35 € min, more often 50 € for dinner.
I I'm alone I usually go in a sushi bar and it costs about 15 €.
A museum here or there for 10 €.
Never used laundry.
Never take a taxi in Paris. Only to and from airport (et encore).

London - I blow my budget there each time I go.

If you are renting apartments a washing machine and drying rack is usually included, so you just need to cover the soap. Some apartments the cleaners take unused food and detergent, other apartments this doesn't happen so there may be soap there for your use.

I think a more typical expense would be 15 for lunch and 25 for dinner (which I see now is identical to Bilbo's recommendation). London will be highest cost, France and Italy like USA, Spain less.

In addition to the benefit of washing machines renting apartments will greatly help with your food budget. Eating out all the time can get expensive and sometimes it is nice to have a break from restaurant and eat at home.

For Venice - I don't know how long you are there but public transport is pricey and water taxis are crazy pricey. You should look into a vaporetto pass for the days you are there, or stay very central so you can walk everywhere.

Happy planning!

Last time, 18 months ago, we spent about 115 euro per day. This did not include accom, as we were in an apartment. It included costs for a two night trip to Cinque Terre. The 115 was averaged out over a two month visit.

I think your budget is OK. I'd say a little bit low,except you mention any expensive dinners didn't have to come out of the amount.

I allow myself 100usd per day for walking around money which I've always been able to make work.

What about sightseeing n the cities. Have you looked at entrance fees. Granted many museums in London are free - but in all cities major sights may cost 15 to 25 euros per person for entrance.

Can't comment on food budget since we sit down for all meals - casual cafe or trattoria for lunch and a nicer but not luxury place for dinner. And we eat lunch (lighter meal) and dinner (full meal with wine) at appropriate time - and don't focus on special menus or whatever. We allow $125 to $150 per person a day for walking around money (including snacks, drinks, entrances, meals, transit and misc) and special dinner ($300-$350 per couple) are extra. Cultural activities (ballet, opera, etc) are all on top of this.

Dinner is typically the largest meal in France, at least in the south where lunch is served early (12:45 to 1:30 pm), while dinner is normally 8:00 pm, with some places closing their doors by 9:30 even though the restaurant may be open until 10:30.

You can dine later in Paris, but 9:00 pm seems to the time you'll find restaurants crowded with locals.

In Spain lunch tends to be the main meal of the day (except for some tourist), with lighter fare in the evening. Lunch in Spain is normally served from 1:30 to 4:00, while dinner would be early if you plan on dining at 9:00. We typically do pintxos or tapas in the early evening and skip dinner except for once or twice a week.

As far as your budget goes, you can find a number of restaurants offer reasonably priced fixed price menus in France, some for lunch, and some for dinner. In Spain look for the menú del día, which can be from 12€ to 15€, on up to 25€ at some Michelin stared restaurants. There is one Michelin 3 star restaurant outside of Bilbao (Azurmendi - rated the 3rd best restaurant in the world) where the menú del día, at their Bistró Prét à Porter, goes for a bargain price 38€ + VAT. The regular menus are a mere 145€ and 175€ + VAT, not including wine.

I think your budget is tight, of course you can do it. You aren't going to get too many dinners for 25 euro in some of these places. And if you did pay only 15 euro for lunch (that seems fine to me) and 25 euro for dinner, that means nothing for any snack or drink in-between or in addition to the food. Coffee routinely costs about 3 euro in lots of places at a cafe, sometimes more.

I don't think anyone on a strict budget should be taking taxis unless you have reasons for that, which is possible, of course (can't walk a lot or take the metro/buses easily due to mobility problems, whatever). I never take them in any city except sometimes to/from the airport or train station upon arrival and leaving.

I don't do laundry on vacation, the only stuff I hvae I hand wash, but that does not mean pants, major shirts, etc. I don't go for 6 weeks though, I just don't have much of an idea what that will cost.

So 70 euro a person (leaving out laundry or any admission fees? just because excursions are paid for doesn't mean you'll never to a museum or anything on your own, does it?) is fine without splurging at all. This is how I'd break it out:

15 euro lunch
35 euro dinner
snacks/drinks in-between 10 euro
local transportation 7 euro
admissions, etc. 5 euro (some are a lot more, certain museums in Paris are 10 and some Gaudi sites in Barcelona are a lot more)

so that's 72 euro a day without laundry

ah the day of the E1 espresso are now almost gone, back streets only.

I agree with Bilbo and the person who advised to avoid taxis in Paris (besides, the metro is so easy). The metro in Rome is very easy, quick, and cheap, and Rome has decent bus service. London is where you'll save on museums and spend Way too much on public transit. Rome is where the museums and attractions can be a bit costly (but it's balanced by a LOT of free/cheap things to do).

Are you mainly staying in apartments, hotels,..? It sounds like breakfast might be included where you're staying, which is handy. Italy isn't really a country of giant breakfasts but most hotels that do breakfast at least offer coffee, juice, croissants/bread, and fruit, while some also offer cereal.

I save even more money with apartment rentals since I can just buy groceries, prepare packed lunches, and dine-out less, but if a lot of dining out is part of what you'd like to do or you don't want to cook on vacation that's understandable. Apartments with a washer are a money saver too. When I stay in hotels/hostels I generally hand wash things for short trips and use local laundromats for longer ones. Rome, Florence, and London are full of laundromats, and though it's been awhile since I've been to Venice and Paris, I feel like this must be true of them too. As long as you never use hotel laundry you'll save money :)

Italy is definitely a cheaper place to dine than England (and major US cities to be honest), and much more fulfilling.

Pariswat's daily food budget outline is more or less what I would spend eating out in Rome. I save money and enjoy truly delicious food by dining away from tourist areas (or at least not right on a piazza attached to or with a view of something touristic-you won't generally catch me at a sit-down restaurant w/in a block of the Vatican or right in Piazza Navona) and always making sure to check the cover charge before ordering so they don't mess around with the bill....which is generally a thing I've only seen happen in touristy places. In fact, this blog post explains it in detail: http://ciuitaly.com/blog/files/coper...ver-charge.php

If you want wine with a meal but aren't particular, order the "house wine". Pitchers of house wine in most places can be enjoyed for less than the cost of a bottle of US grocery store wine, and they usually range between fairly drinkable and surprisingly good (I can't say the same about the range of less than $20 California wine that's available where I live. The "best" bottle I've ever picked up for $17 at my local supermarket or paid $25+ to drink with dinner at a local restaurant was never as good as the "worst" pitcher of house wine I've ever been served in Rome).

Aperitivo can be a good way to get a filling snack/meal, try a lot of different things, and enjoy some drinks. Generally you buy a cocktail or some wine and for an extra euro or 2 can enjoy the snack buffet. What's served depends on the place, ranging from standard chips, nuts, pretzels, to mini-pizzas, bruschetta, finger sandwiches, and some places even serve warm pasta or meat dishes. Of course it's really to spark your appetite for dinner but I've gotten so full at aperitivo hour so many times that it seems to be a good budget hack.

A note on Taxis in Rome-if you call for a cab, the meter runs from the minute the cab is dispatched, NOT the minute you enter the cab. Not a problem if you're staying somewhere central, but if not you could potentially order a cab and have one arrive with 10 euros already on the meter :P

It might be a good idea to show up with a small medical emergency budget too since 6 weeks is a decent amount of time, or maybe you have traveler's medical insurance. If you don't, ER trips or being seen in an ER by an after-hours doctor if you have no GP are generally free in England and you only have to pay for prescriptions out of pocket. Seeing a GP costs the price of an office visit (usually 25-60 pounds) + any meds prescribed. In Italy, ER trips are completely free and again, you pay for any prescriptions out of pocket. Seeing a GP for an office visit is usually 25-50 euros, and calling the after-hours number for a doctor to visit you where you're staying is usually 25 euros if the responding physician feels like charging you, + any meds prescribed. Meds are generally Much cheaper than in the US, and in Italy you can even get certain antibiotics otc. I'm not sure how it works in France and Spain these days.

I hope some of that is useful and you have a great trip!

THANK YOU for all the great suggestions and responses! It has definitely helped us. I think 70 euros pp/day is a basic budget to use however,we will most likely have a few thousand dollars on credit for splurges. I think if we don't set a budget we will overspend and tap into savings too much. Part of this trip is to immerse ourselves in the culture of some of these places. Part of that would be eating at local small cafes, markets and street food. Water can be purchased from super markets.. most of our excursions such as the Louvre museum, Eiffel tower, London eye, bug bus etc. would be pre purchased.

>>most of our excursions such as the Louvre museum, Eiffel tower, London eye, bug bus etc. would be pre purchased.<<

Some pre-purchasing is OK -- but some are a mistake/costly. The Eye for example is VERY weather dependent. What if you pre-book for a day it is pouring down and you can't see a darn thing except fogged up windows?

Also -- if you pre-purchase you can't take advantage of the 2for1 discounts in London. http://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/2for1-london The Tower of London alone the 2for1 will save you £20 ($32). The Eye, St Paul's etc etc -- just a HUGE savings.

I was going to say what Robert has said - eating a main meal at midday can keep your costs down considerably with a 3 course menu del dia being as little as €9-10 in Spain - which is the cheapest of the places on your list. London is probably the most expensive but you can keep costs down there too [and eat well] but having decent sandwiches like those from Pret for lunch, and eating at "ethnic" restaurants in the evening. Brussels is also expensive because of all of the Eurocrats who live there on their expense accounts.

What JJ has said makes a lot of sense too.

It makes sense to pre-book when it saves waiting in a huge line (Eiffel Tower, Uffizi, Vatican Museum) but not usually otherwise. I recall a tiny savings by prebooking the Tower of London (less than 5%) but this was in July when the 2-4-1 offer mentioned by Janis is suspended.

What people spend on travel is all over the map. We averaged 60 euros a person this summer mostly in Italy and that included all expenses (lodging, trains, admissions, etc). I would have a hard time even spending 70 euros/day for food. It would take effort to find restaurants that charge so much.