Daily budget - Europe and Britain

For me, $125 a day is a comfortable amount. I don't spend much on admissions to museums, etc. Don't count on Oct/Nov being cheaper.

I agree with Swan's estimate.... myself and a friend are going for 39 days starting late August( London,Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Austria,Czech Republic ) and we budgeted $150.00 Canadian per day, which is about $125.00 US. This icludes accommodations, meals( we budgeted light here, no fancy restaurants or anything),transportation( Eurail pass, multi day subway/bus passes in several major centres) and a few major "attractions" ( eg passes for large museums). Spending money for souvenirs, beer,etc etc not included. Note that we're sharing the cost of a room so that will make a difference since you're travelling alone, , but staying in budget hotels( two star ) should be okay... for many of the hotels I booked, the single room/single occupant rate was very reasonable and wouldn't really cost you much more, if any.

Kent also makes good points...I found the hotel costs varied WIDELY depending on where it is...so, while we went two star anyway, we further "tightened" by staying in super cheap places in the more expensive cities...in London we're staying at one of the easyHotel chain...very very very very basic rooms...as one poster wrote "good cheap human storage"...lol. But it's clean, and has a private bathroom so... In Berlin, we're staying at a hostel that caters to all, not just younger people, and offers private rooms as well as dorm style facilities. Cheap, safe, and great for budget travellers..

Hi Dennis: You can help us to give you more meaningful answers, by clarifying your question(s).

First you mentioned hotel rates and then daily expenses, two separate subjects.

Do you mainly want to know about hotel rates? Reason I ask is, daily expenses include so many variables (what type of eating establishments, etc) that it's difficult for us to give you a meaningful answer to the daily expense question, at least without more info on type of restaurants.

Hotel rates in Europe vary substantially depending on where you are (city versus country, and which specific cities, for example: London and Venice are expensive hotel cities).

Without more info, we can certainly give you WAG's but they won't even rise to the level of SWAG's.

Thanks everyone who has replied. Kent, thanks for your input. To clarify, I am thinking a budget hotel. I am going to try NOT to stay in a hotel in Rome or London or Paris if I can help it. In Holland, I don't need to stay in Amsterdam. A cheaper burb would be fine. In England I may want to stay in Bath or York for instance. Or in a hotel in Normandy.Just one person, in a comfortable, private room. Budget to moderate.
In October and November. So that's the hotel question. Then all other expenses. Comfortable, not throwing money around but not having to pinch pennies either. Is this a bit clearer? Thanks again.

Dennis: Yes, avoiding expensive hotel cities is a way to contain travel costs. Of course, the obvious tradeoff or downside to that strategy is that you don't get to spend much time in Rome, London, or Paris, if you don't sleep there. In those 3 cities, the suburbs are distant from the city center, which means greater transportation cost and time to commute from the suburbs to the city center where the goodies are, every day. And some travelers have found that lodging cost is not significantly reduced in Paris by sleeping in the suburbs.

Single occupancy hotel rates are not even close to half of what double occupancy rates are; in some cases they are closer to the double occupancy rate.

Re total daily cost, there isn't much good data out there. Rick's book Europe Through the Back Door 2009 has a budget/trip cost chapter, in it he gives a figure of $185/person/day, this includes everything except airfare to/from Europe--but Rick's analysis isn't apples to apples with your trip because Rick's numbers are based on a couple traveling and sharing a room (but, as said above, single occupancy hotel cost is nowhere near half of double occupancy cost).

Thanks again, Kent. And Glenn and Swan, thank you also. Your information has helped.

Dennis