Jess28

Trying to work out a rough idea of what I would need to budget daily in Italy. We will be there from the 29th September to 9th October. Accommodation has all already been paid for. Just need an estimate of what we'd need to spend each day: family of 4 = mom, dad, 3 & 8 yr old. We hope to have enough money for transport, entrance to museums and attractions, buying of small trinkets & postcards, food (looking at only having one sit down meal a day - nothing too high end, and this would not need to be every day).
Any estimations (however rough they may be) would be appreciated - just looking for an idea of where to start. Please advise in Euros - its far easier to convert to the South African Rand. Thanks!

Bamaman

I've never been good at daily budgeting. I think my wife and I spend about 125 Euros a day including a room. Double that for 4 and multiply by 150% for kids. No, just kidding.

You should get by on 100 Euros a day if your room's paid for. Some days more, some days less.

We eat heavy at the free breakfasts, and have been known to take cold cuts and cheese sandwiches with us for lunch. And we may picnic around 2:00 p.m. We try to buy one meal per day, and we don't eat that heavily.

And I've yet to find a lasagne in Italy that wasn't delicious.

adrienne

What type of transport? Train, bus, car? Where are you going?

You can look up train fares on trenitalia. You can get tolls and fuel usage on viamichelin.com

Admissions - again - I have no idea where you will be but you can look up exact admission fees on the venue web sites. The children will most likely be free. No need to guess or ask others to approximate for you.

In cities, food will cost more than in small towns. I would budget E150 per day, especially if your children drink soft drinks. If they're happy with water bottles you fill at the hotel and carry with you then less. If you carry snacks from grocery stores and don't need to fill them up throughout the day then you'll save money.

Sitting outside is the most costly, sitting inside is the second most costly, standing at the bar is the least expensive. Take away is cheaper than eating in.

BigRuss

<We hope to have enough money for transport, entrance to museums and attractions, buying of small trinkets & postcards, food (looking at only having one sit down meal a day - nothing too high end, and this would not need to be every day).>

How are you going to get useful answers to this if you don't tell us WHERE YOU WILL GO? Who knows what museums cost or food prices for an unnamed location? Speak in terms of destinations and probable sites (Vatican, Pitti Palace, Duomo, Palazzo Ducale, Colisseo???)

If you're spending all your time in Venice, for instance, your food expenditure will be far higher than in Rome or Florence. And the museums in the cities you visit will all have websites that tell you admission.

But for anything other than a wild guess, state where you'll be.

annhig

all i can do is to refer to what we tend to spend- which I think is on the high end for food, but the low end for excursions.

I'm thinking about the last family trip we made to Venice [expensive] with our kids. we like a sit down lunch [we find that we get more done that way as it helps to recharge the batteries] and dinner [perhaps salad or a pasta for lunch, a heavier meal for dinner] with wine/beer/cola and coffee.

we also like breakfast usually in a local cafe - between €3 and €5 pp.

adding all that together, breakfast is in the region of €20, €60 for lunch and €100 for dinner. transport and museum/gallery entry is likely to add a further €25 pp to that, so another €100. total €280 or €70 pp. your children are younger so they shouldn't cost so much with food or entry tickets.

sandralist

It really matters where you are going. Museum prices and food prices vary in Italy as much as they do in the US or the UK.

nytraveler

With 2 kids that age I would be sure your hotel room has a small fridge and that you keep milk, bottled water and some snacks in it for the kids. I think you may want to eat your sit down meal at lunch - since it will be hard to keep little kids up long enough to have a real dinner at 8 pm.

Just be aware that soft drinks are very small and very expensive - so always carry a bottle of water and small snacks with you for the little ones.

Peter_S_Aus

Leaving aside accommodation costs, we spent about 110 euro a day over a two month period. "We" are a mature aged couple. That amount of 110 euro included about five nights hotel accommodation, and say 200 euro for train fares. We were staying in an apartment in Venice, eating out about two times every three weeks.

We bought a bit of stuff, shoes and a few things like that. Without those purchases, it would have run out at about 100 euro a day, maybe a bit less.