luvlimoncello

We (husband and wife) were hoping to go on a trip, preferably a return trip to Italy, but we are thinking $6000 is not enough now. Although if you think we can do it for this amount, please say so. I'd love to hear your comments on that too, I so had my heart set on Italy!

If you had a $6000 budget, and 2 weeks to get away, where would you go and why? It does not necessarily have to be in Europe. I am posting to the Europe forum because Italy is my first choice. Unfortunately, with the exchange rate, I have to approach other options with an open mind.

dawnnoelm

Really it depends on your style of travel.. on if you can "do" it or not. Where are you flying from?

Mamaw

Other than say Paris and Rome I'd would go to Cancun. I would stay at the Ritz Carlton Cancun and be spoiled to death by the staff. I would do zero traveling. Just up eat,lay out,eat,sleep and so on.

Your killing me over here.

Kelly1212

My husband and I would -- and actually will -- go to Greece in May. The price of getting there (for a two-week trip) is steep: We paid $903 pp for round-trip direct flights from Philly to Athens. But the beauty of Greece is that in many places things are very affordable once you're there. In the tourist hotspots, like Santorini, we are paying about $300 a night for hotel (though you can find cheaper). But on other islands, such as Naxos, the typical rate for many hotels is about $75 per night. I estimate our trip in total will come in right around $6,000.
If you're looking for real steals, though, I might consider South America. Brazil and Argentina are both very affordable and have so much to offer.
Hope you have a great time!

sarge56

If you travel "off season", I think you certainly can have Italy for 6k.

You didn't say where in Italy you want to go, but if you rent an apt in Rome for one week and Venice for one week, in off-season, I think you could surely find something to suit your budget.

If you want to stay in one place, like Tuscany, for 2 weeks, same thing. Book at an agritourism site. (Private wine or olive or etc farmers that have accommodations.) My friends stayed in one near Chianti and loved it and it was very inexpensive.

If you do the legwork, and really want to go back to Italy, there is no doubt in my mind that you CAN do it. Use this site to search for inexpensive places to stay.

Re airfare- don't forget to search for other cities and non-direct flights. I often see really inexpensive flights from my airport to Frankfort. I would then look for fare from Frankfort to Rome, etc. Same goes for home. If you are in Philly, consider flying out of DC or NY. If you are in Dallas, consider flying out of Houston, etc. (yes, I know it's 5 hrs drive, but to save 500 bucks, I'd do it.)

Check out this site for all the cheap airline search engines, etc.

Renting an apt so that you can prepare your own meals will save you LOTS of money.

Good luck- I say "GO FOR ITALY!"

Paula

suze

Where are you starting out? (i.e., how much will you have to pay for two RT plane tickets from that total budget).

*I* definitely could go to Italy on that amount of money for two weeks (from Seattle), but my travel style is fairly simple (use trains, no rental car, stay in apartment or pensione or 1/2-star hotel), some grocery store meals, no fancy restaurants, etc.

tuscanlifeedit

I just added up all my trip costs for two weeks in Italy, starting May 1, and it comes to 3000 USD, for two people, without flights from US to Italy and back.

But it does include all transfers, trains, rental car, boats and other forms of passes and transportation. So basically we will add the occasional bus or taxi ride and meals. Our biggest splurge is for 3 nights in Matera at 130 euro a night, and one night back in Rome, near the train station for transportation reasons, for 140.

When we are in Rome for the first 4 days, we will have the Roma pass that will cover our transportation.

So depending on your airfare, it seems 6K will be a squeaker, if you are including meals and incidentals. I went about as low as I was willing to go on hotels, but it is true that apartments would be cheaper. We had apartments on our last two trips and they really saved us a lot of money.

After looking at all this, I am planning on eating rather inexpensively.

rex

See http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35105621 - - make sure and read the whol thread; skip to the most recent post I have made, but read about how to do it by following the flyertalk.com links provided.

It may still be possible to get some North America-Europe fares for under $500 all-inclusive and there ARE evidently dates into May and even June.

It's a glitch on priceline.

Might make your $6000 go further, depending on what your origination is.

Best wishes,

Rex

rex

Sure enough. i am so surprised. Available on priceline right now.

Total Trip Price: $474
Per Person Price: $474

Flight #1 - Thursday, May 22, 2008 (Arrives Friday, May 23)

Flight 814
Los Angeles, CA
Departs: 10:44 AM Thursday, May 22, 2008
Denver, CO
Arrives: 2:05 PM Thursday, May 22, 2008
------------------------------------

Flight 948
Denver, CO
Departs: 8:20 PM Thursday, May 22, 2008
London, United Kingdom
Arrives: 12:15 PM
Friday, May 23, 2008

------------------------------------
Flight #2 - Monday, June 9, 2008 (Arrives Tuesday, June 10)
Flight 925
Makes 1 Stop
London, United Kingdom
Departs: 4:20 PM Monday, June 9, 2008
Los Angeles, CA
Arrives: 12:01 AM Tuesday, June 10, 2008

------------------------------------
Flight #3 - Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Flight 542
Los Angeles, CA
Departs: 6:30 AM Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Phoenix, AZ
Arrives: 7:54 AM Tuesday, June 10, 2008

In case it's not obvious, you would simply ditch the final (third leg), LAX-PHX. Since you have to reclaim your bags on arrival in the US (I'm not sure where this flight #925 makes its one stop), you would have to NOT check any bags, because they would continue on to PHX.

For a fare this good, it would be worthwhile to ship stuff home if necessary.

I realize that you were asking about italy, but from England, you can surely find some cheap flights to somewhere in Italy.

I suppose this is worth sharing as its own posting, isn't it?

travelgirl2

We usually mix up our trip, staying in some more expensive places and some less expensive places. For example, we like an inexpensive agriturismo in Castellini in Chianti (about $1000-1200 per week) and then stay at a fairly expensive hotel in Rome, where the location is important to us.

If your heart is set on Italy, go there. Spain and Greece seemed cheaper to me, if you want other options. Paris is surprisingly affordable. While those places have a European ambiance similar (but not the same as) to Italy, there are lots of other places. We're trying Costa Rica this spring. People say Buenos Aires is an up and coming destination. Eastern Europe tends to be cheaper than Western (although I'm not sure how true that is anymore). Hawaii is lovely.

travelgirl2

That's for a family of 4.

Vttraveler

As others have said, if you limit yourself to a few destinations and rent apartments you could probably manage Italy on that amount especially in the off season.
Our most recent experience doing that was in Rome, paying 815 euros for a week for a 2BR apartment--not fancy but in a great neighborhood. We could easily have saved more money by preparing more meals at the apartment.
If you stay in cities you certainly would not need a car.

Here is a recent thread on "beating the euro" in Italy that might help
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35112143

Outside of Europe, you might want to think of Central or South America. My husband visited Mendoza last December (their summer) and had a great trip. A lot of what he enjoyed there is due to the European influence/feel
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=6

Vttraveler

The Mendoza link got truncated somehow
this is what I meant
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35095053

ira

Hi L,

Airfare usually goes down after Labor day.

Price on the Amalfi Coast go down after Sept 30.

For $6000 you don't have to scrimp:

Hotel for 13 nights - 1330E
Meals for 14 days --- 1190E

That $3650.

RT air - $1900

That leaves you $450 to spend foolishly.

iris1745

Hi luvlimoncello; You can do a two week trip for $6000 with a 'tour' company and go anywhere you want, including Italy. Go to pavlustravel.com and key in on 'Cosmos'. If this interests you, talk to an agent at Pavlus to get all the discounts. ENJOY Iris

cruisinred

$6000 would go very far in Southeast Asia, even staying at quite nice places. Places such as Vietnam, Thailand and Bali are still a great deal for the US$ traveler....even when accounting for the more expensive aifare to get there.

TPAYT

$6000 would do us fine in the most romantic city----Paris!!!

Second choice----Lake Como, Grand Tremezzo Hotel.

althom1122

I'm with cruisinred - SE Asia is definitely doable for $6000, and you could stay in some really nice places. Are you set on Europe? How about Egypt? Or Peru? (I know this is the Europe board, but you have lots of options!)

november_moon

My husband and I are going to SE Asia for 2.5 weeks in June - Singapore and Bali. Our total budget is about $6000, including airfare - and I think we may come in under budget since I think I have overestimated on some things.

We were set on going back to Europe until some friends invited us to go to Singapore. I had never thought much about travelling to that area, but now that we have been researching it, I think we may have found some good alternative destinations to make our money go farther, esspecially when the dollar is weak against the Euro.

JBX

These days your dollar will go alot further in South America. Also, depending upon where in the US you're starting, it's really nice to have little or no jetlag to deal with.

However, Peru or Ecuador aren't anything like Italy. Haven't been to Argentina; folks say that Buenos Aires is reminiscent of a European city.