Budget help! Can't figure out how much we need.

We figure on two hundred dollars a day but we travel less expensively than you will. I would up that figure to at least two-fifty and probably closer to three hundred considering where you are going.

Do you have a RS guidebook? We have always followed his estimations and they have always been about right. Of course London will be much higher and Germany less. You will know your flight cost, hotel cost, you can look up train cost bahn.com site and Auto Europe for car rental. Of course then you have gas, site seeing, food, etc. I think we estimate about $25 pp per day for sites (unless you know something specific) food we usually estimate about $50 pp per day for ( usually get breakfast included). But, some days we are a little high, some days we are a little low. I keep track and we always are under budget. If we are in an expensive city I budget higher. You can look on TripAdvisor for restaurant reviews pull up the website and look at prices for food. That is what I do. We are usually fairly accurate, but I always estimate high and then I'm thrilled when we come home with money for our next trip!!

We travel very frugally, and found rooms in Europe to average 70 euros. Sometimes more, sometimes less. You should easily be able to get by on $200 a day in big cities, less in smaller towns.
If you're going to spend a week around London, your time touring Belgium and Germany will be limited. It's almost 500 miles from Belgium to Munich, and then you've got to pay big money to rental car companies if you turn in a car in another country.
You would do better to do your London tourist thing, and then fly cheapon EasyJet down to Munich. If tickets are unavailable due to Oktoberfest, you could fly into Innsbruck and take a train up to Munich. You can easily tour Bavaria, Salzburg and the Romantic Road by auto picking the car up as you leave Munich. The Munich Airport is also a good place to fly home from too. If you're going to be in Munich during Oktoberfest, you'll want to get reservations now, as rooms can get difficult to find.

Somewhere sometime I read that $150-$200 per person per day not including airfare was a good estimate of costs. That has worked for us, including lodging, food, tourist sights, local transportation (trains, planes, buses, taxis, renting cars), etc. Others spend less and others spend more.

I'm assuming that you are planning to fly into London and home from Munich. Is that correct?

From your tentative itinerary above, I don't think you have enough time on the ground to do all you want to do without some adjustment. Keep in mind that 1 day usually equals 2 nights somewhere. And that every time you change locations, you lose time to checking out of and in to a different lodging, making your way to the transportation departure point, waiting for the train (usually) and doing the opposite when you arrive.

This year Oktoberfest is from 19 September to 4 October. Here's a link to the calendar of special events and a lot more information about it -- http://www.oktoberfest.de/en/article/About+the+Oktoberfest/About+the+Oktoberfest/Oktoberfest-Calendar+2015/4162/. This seems to be a biggie for your planning and when you decide to go will affect everything else. Keep in mind that lodgings fill up for it, so deciding when you want to go is very important.

To research train schedules from Brussels to ... where ever you decide to pick up your rental car, go to the DB Bahn website -- http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en. You will not be able to get prices this early for September, but you will be able to see schedules. For more information on everything about trains, including in the UK and getting from London to Brussels, go to http://www.seat61.com/.

To figure out where you want to pick up and drop off a rental car, go to Gemut.com -- http://www.gemut.com/. Thoroughly explore their website, read the brochure, "What you should know about renting a car in Europe," and contact Andy for help. He should be able to give you a ballpark estimate of the cost.

You will find more information about Germany, including the Romantic Road and Oktoberfest, on the Germany Forum under Destination Q&A. Many have said that the Romantic Road isn't that big of a deal. Having lived in Germany and driven parts of it more recently (in 2011), I agree with that. If doing it is really important to you, it may be worth the hassle of renting a car and driving, but you will probably need to cut some time from London.

I know it is daunting, but planning your trip is almost as good as doing it. Be sure to explore the many resources here at the Rick Steves website to help with that. You have time to watch the programs under "Watch, Read, Listen" and to get some specific publications for the trip, in hard copy or digital. For your time in London, I highly recommend Streetwise London which you can purchase here, at a bookstore or sometimes at AAA, where you would get your IDP (International Driving Permit) for driving in Europe. You may also want to get a Streetwise map for Munich.

clekitch,

Here is what i have found on my 3+ years of travel in Europe, so far.

-#1 cost is Transportation. Round Trip (R/T) tickets to/from Europe, puddle jumpers and trains. Sometimes it can take a back seat to Lodging, but it will depend on where you go to.
-#2 cost is Lodging. I fly solo, so i can do with less than others, but sometimes i will splurge if i feel like it or want to in a certain place.

-#3 is Attractions. that entrance fees, photo passes, horseback riding, or anything else.
-#4 souvenirs.
-#5 is Food. thats waaaaaaaay down the list.

What i also found out is that usually getting between A and B in Europe can be less expensive if you choose your places carefully and if needed, BOOK IN ADVANCE. same with lodging. Booking in advance can save you some $$$.

As mentioned look at the bahn.de and if you want, look at Seat61.com he has a plug n chug from A to B. Also, dont discount using airplane to travel. Sometimes they can be less expensive but on the flip side, may take the same amount or more time due to getting to/from the airports and security.

By checking out the train tickets prices you can see if its less expensive to book ahead vs not. Or you can ask here. ON my last trip from Munich>Prague>Vienna>Budapest>Krakow, most of my trains between those places were 20 Euros. The Train from Budapest to Krakow was an overnight train and of course more expensive.

Public transportation within the city, i dont budget for unless its a day trip in/out. Taxis are different since they are usually more expensive. But for busses/trams and such I will research into what is available as to city passes and if they include transportation. If not, i will also do some homework into any transportation day passes and see how much they are to determine if the city pass with it is "worth it". I always assume i will be taking public transportation at least one round trip per day.

With regards to your budget, i try to keep mine between 100 to 200 USD/Day and that includes #1, 2, 3. Sometimes my souvenirs come out expensive, but i like to bring/send home a lot of stuff for me and some selected friends and relatives.

just a comment and warning. If you plan on going to the Octoberfest in Munich, i would book your lodging ASAP! i forgot about it on my trip last year and by the time i was booking my lodging and got to Munich, i was looking at 300+ USD/night. So i opted to swap start/stop points and pass up on it for this time.

if you just crunch your numbers now. 8k/14 days (assuming you already know you will loose one day traveling there). then it comes to approx. 280 USD/Day/Per person. For me and how i travel, thats on the high side. But that is assuming, what i have posted in #1, 2 & 3

i found some of my data from my last 2 trips, it looks like about 80% of my travel cost on both trips was spent for Transportation & Lodging combined. For this year, the number is higher, but i havent figured out the costs everyplace i have planned to see.

note that i havent rented any cars over there, yet. so i dont know how much that will add to the budget.

also note that many museums in London are free. that helps some.

Happy trails.

Hi Clekitch

have you looked at Couch Surfing ? https://www.couchsurfing.com/dashboard It may be difficult to find a couch in London as it is hugely popular but you may find somewhere to visit out of London nearer Bath or Cambridge that will give you a taste of a real English home and family that will add to your trip experience and keep your costs down, leaving you more money for doing some of the other things you have planned. Its traditional to take your hosts a very small gift or to do something nice for them like cook a meal but a two night stay if very doable and it works out much cheaper than a London hotel.

Also, when you book your train travel, have a quick look at breaking the journey down into two stages. It is a bit strange but the cost of the two short journey's added together sometimes works out cheaper than the single journey. Be careful though as if one train arrives late you may miss the next one, so allow extra time. There's more info here http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/split-cheap-train-tickets/

I have no connection with either of the links other than I am a member of the couch surfing site and I use the moneysaving one often myself.

I hope you have a fab stay in the UK and that your onward journey through Germany goes well.
Regards
Hilary