Costs

Your math gives me fits. $10,000 minus fixed trans-atlantic costs of $2,800 equals $7,200. $7,200 divided by 28 days (four weeks) equals $257 per day. Yet the top of your per day guess is $250.

Last year three of my trips where with one other person. Each was of four week's duration. Each included major cities, but probably not to the extent that yours will. Each averaged, within a couple of bucks, $100/day/person.

This sounds like your first trip. I've made hundreds over a fifty year span and know how to wring the last drop of blood out of a euro. You don't. Allowing for the recent dollar decline, I doubt that I could reproduce any of these trips at $125 per person per day.

You're missing something -- snacks, local transportation, hotel rates that won't materalize, cost of meals -- have no idea what, but it's just not there -- can't be.

If ten grand is your upper limit and eleven grand will put you in the poorhouse, start cutting days, or switch cities for towns. Your estimate is on the thin edge of what a very experienced frugal traveler can do without sleeping under bridges.

This is very hard to respond to since budget is pretty personal and you are using very broad classifications. On the cruise you will have about $350 in recommended tips should you chose to do so plus drinks, photos, and some other misc expenses. I probably would add $500 to that part of the trip. I think you $100/125/person per day is low. At 70E a night only leaves about another 70 or so for food, admissions, local transportation, and, of course, big transportation when you move between locations and you have several big moves. Do you mean 2 or 3 museums total? It is not so much museums as admissions to all exhibits. You cannot come to Europe and not see anything other than the outsides of buildings. I would take your per day to at least $150.

Jessica, Kent's original post, which I just bumped up, may help you.

Jessica, €70/pp/nt is just over $200/nt for both of you. That doesn't leave much for the rest of your expenses.

You should really put projected expenses in Euro, because the exchange rate can vary too much. Cost in Euro will stay pretty much constant.

Traveling alone, I spend just over $100 or €70/day. This is for 4 trips in the last five years, to Germany, which I think is relatively inexpensive, at least my way.

This breaks down as €33/nt for accommodations, including breakfasts, €15/day for transportation, €19/day for meals, and €5/day for entrances and misc.

I mostly stay out of big cities (which you seem to emphasize), where expenses are higher. Staying in Privat Zimmer and family run Pensionen, I spend half of what you are projecting for accommodations. I limit my travel to a small area, where I spend less on transportation. For instance, on a recent trip I went FRA to Mosel to the Harz to the Black Forest to Mainz for a total of €116. No way does that compare with Barcelona to Paris to Munich to Venice. I understand German menus, so I can stick to less expensive local specialties.

Short answer, I think you are seriously underestimating your costs.

Thank you all for your comments. It is our first trip there so the knowledge of experienced travelers is what I need.
Susan – just checked out Kent’s post, great info. Thanks

Frank – the 1800 for the cruise did include an extra $400 for the recommended tips + misc. We do not drink or splurge on the photos. For our last cruise, we did not have any misc expenses, only the recommended tips at the end.
We decided to cut a couple of days out (not sure to which cities) and budget on spending about $150 per person/day. Thinking about cutting out Cinque Terre or decrease time at Barcelona & Venice.

Don't cut out Cinque Terre. It is a wonderful departure after all the cities!

Decrease Barcelona and Venice -- for certain -- before even thinking about cutting out the Cinque Terre!! The Cinque will blow you away -- and it's a cheaper destination than either Barcelona or Venice

Note that nights in Venice can be very expensive -- a cost saving measure could be to night train into Venice from Munich, then take a late evening train out of Venice to Florence. You could easily get 1 full day in Venice this way while avoiding the higher cost of accomodations in Venice.

Venice lovers may want to draw and quarter me -- but if your trip is getting tight on time and/or money, and includes Venice, that's where the opportunity could be.

Just to let you know that there's another viewpoint on the Cinque Terre . . . If this is your first trip to Europe, the CT are just not up there with Barcelona, Paris, etc., etc. The idea that you are being advised to decrease your time in Barcelona or Venice in order to visit these admittedly pretty but otherwise unremarkable towns is astonishing to me.