oi_kate

hi travellers,

what would your average daily budget be, in any European Capital City, including all meals, transport, entry to museums, and the nights accomodation?

Does your budget change dramatically if you are travelling in rural areas, instead of capital cities??

I'm thinking around 200 pounds for a couple for everything, including a budget hotel....

canterbury

Our last trip, which included Netherlands and Belgium hotels was a budget trip for us. It ended up being about $500 a day - a little over your estimate.

Three nights of hotel were a steal at $250 in Brussels. Paid about $325 for lodging in NL for three nights. One night free in Frankfurt with hotel points.

plafield

We just added up our total for two weeks in Italy (13 days) and we came out at $8,000 for 2 of us, including everything: hotels, airfare, all trasport (trains, taxis etc)great food, all museums, things we bought to take home (we're not big shoppers.)

So not counting airfare, it's about $500 a day,as canterbry said.

plafield

We did Rome, Florence and Venice.

CarlosSandoval

wow.......I guess I do pretty good with my budget. We live in the Northeast USA, and I guess I'm able to find better airfares that benefit us on our budget.

In any case, our average 2 week european budget inclusive (lodging, air, transportation, meals etc) will be $5K - $6K. However given that I use my points to buy the airfare, then it will be $1K savings to our budget.

kenav

Went to Budapest at the end of March and beginning of April (time of year does matter) - 9 days total including flying in and out. Spent a total of $2800 which included $100 of insurance (which we used since our dvd camera was lost on the plane.) Also included: We went to the opera ($130 tickets), and a side trip/overnight to Eger (don't remember what the train fare was.)

kenav

Addendum: The above total included airfare from NYC ($1200 for two with all taxes, etc. included). So, we spent $1600 for everything else, for the full 7 nights/8 very full days we were in Budapest. Not bad, eh?

grimmy

We just returned from 12 days in Italy (Rome and Amalfi coast).
Our total came to $6K all inclusive (air, hotels, ground transportation, guides, museum fees, great meals ,wine, gelato etc..a few purchases, parking for our car at airport back home)

PalenQ

$70-90 max per day depending on the country and time of year; sometimes less.

suze

Traveling solo I have to allow a bit more, since I am not sharing the hotel room with someone. So for me I'd allow $150 for the hotel and $75 for the rest of my daily expenses. $225 USD per day for one person; but that would be just $150 USD pp, when two are traveling together.

take_time_2_travel

As anywhere, it depends on your tastes!

On two different trips (May-June and Sept-Oct) to Italy, I would say we spent $200-$250 a night for rooms. Most of those rooms had breakfast included. For lunch and dinner, we spent anywhere from 10 to 100 euros (about $13-$130) per meal (2 people). Some days/nights, we just grabbed a quick bite to eat on the street and other times we had very nice meals.

Ticket prices for the Vatican were 21.5 euros ($29) each. A gondola ride in Venice at night was 150 euros and 100 euros in the daytime. This cost would cover how ever many you have in your party (2-6 or so). In contrast, the public vapperetto is very reasonable and quick.

I can't really remember other ticket prices. We didn't have any private/small group guides and usually just toured the museums, etc. on our own. When I go back to Europe, I think this is one thing I will research a little better as I think if you can find the right type of guide, it can be an even richer experience. Our Vatican tour was with MANY other people and the guide used the dreaded "microphone and umbrella" technique. We ended up ditching the tour (which stopped at every place where you could buy a souvenir, "unavailable" after that point (?!)) Don't let this description overshadow the greatness of the Vatican...just trying to make a point.

We did not find that traveling in the rural areas was any less. The lodging, meals, and tickets seemed to be about the same. However, we chose nicer hotels than was really necessary. (I was especially looking for hotels with no pets/smoking due to allergies and asthma. We also wanted a private bathroom....and a great place to relax after a long, full day!)

Our favorite hotels:
Rome: Castello della Castelluccia (right outside Rome in Lazio...had to take the train into town each day, which was about a 20 minute ride)
Tuscany: Villa Vignamaggio (car rental is a must)

These two places were fantastic for what we were looking for. All other hotels we stayed in were fine, but these were our 2 "splurges."

I think $500 a day is realistic. This would not include our plane tickets and car rental though.

Have a great time!

bobthenavigator

See if this helps. You will find that everyone travels at different levels. I think that $300/day is average:
http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/planning/budget.htm

Jake1

Excluding airfare from the USA, about $300 a day in a big city for 2 of us. We are not shoppers. Out in the country would be less.

Bob_C

Our trip this spring to Provence and Burgundy cost $380 per day (air not included). This includes room, gas, car & food. Main cost was food. Because we were not in large cities the rooms were $100 to $145 a night, where food was at least $100 per day.

maitaitom

$300 - $400 per day depending on whether we buy any cat puppets.

WillTravel

With some effort, I have our hotel budget at around 80 Euros per day average for our August trip, for a 3* standard mostly including breakfast. This is for several disparate Europaen cities. However, getting these prices for good locations requires a fair bit of effort. And some cities are just expensive - Copenhagen is more expensive than Berlin by a long shot - so the 80 Euros is an approximate mean rate.

Once you have your accommodations selected, then you can decide whether you are going to spend 30 or 100 Euros per day each for everything else. Not surprisingly, the more places we visit and the more we see, the more expensive it is. Theatre and concert tickets and museum admissions and audiophones and tours add up. But I consider all of those to be necessary expenses, because they are all things I really enjoy.

Groceries are relatively inexpensive. In some cities, sit-down meals are poor values (in my opinion), and in other cases the differential between a sit-down meal and one cobbled together is hardly significant.

In my opinion, 200 pounds ($400 USD or 295 Euros) for two people per day would be enough for a luxury trip, by my standards.

CRAZY4TRAVEL

maitaitom...LOL!!

We usually spend about 400 Canadian a day per couple including all expenses except for air.

blh

We just returned from our trip to France - 7 days in Normandy and Brittany and 7 days in Paris. Our total came to $300/a day - including car rental and expenses, all food, admissions, metro, taxi to airport, and purchases (very few). We stayed in B & B's, so breakfast was included the first week. We had an apartment in Paris, so we ate breakfast at the apartment every day and ate at the apartment several evenings. This did not include our airfare.

dgassa

We spent seven weeks in France, Germany, Bulgium, and Austria. Except for one night, we stayed in B&B's, and for the most part avoided big cities. Per day came to $213. This included airfare, lease car and all expenses. Subtract the airfare and car (it was prepaid) it comes to $147 a day.

Read how we did it here:

http://www.slowtrav.com/tr/triprepor...59&index=0

mlgb

Ouch. Glad I did the Europe tour when I was younger and it was affordable.