Europe 2 weeks in June 2015

Your budget breaks down to an average of $366 per day, for two people, to include hotel, meals, sightseeing, and ground transport. Planning ahead and using good resources (such as Rick's guidebooks) can help keep the budget under control. Hotels are a large part of any travel budget and can be cheaper in smaller towns. In any size of city, booking ahead helps you confirm the spending plan in advance. Markets offer lots of ready-to eat foods for picnics that are cheaper than restaurants. See more budget tips at http://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/sleeping-eating. As Rick has long said, don't skimp on the sightseeing category, even if a museum entry may cost €15 per person.

Any of these areas can offer advance-discount train tickets, sold starting 3 months ahead, but base prices per kilometer (and the resulting advance discount) are higher in France than in Italy. Once you know your route, you can work locking in those discounts.

Another way of minimizing your expenses is to take advantage of sightseeing cards, like the Roma Pass for Rome, which gives you free or reduced admission to popular sights, plus covers your tram, metro, and bus expenses. Rick's guidebooks give details about what passes are available and if they're a good deal for a certain destination.

Because the Netherlands and France have Belgium in between, you could even squeeze in a day or two in Belgium if you took a day or two away from France or Holland.

If you started in Rome and ended in Salzburg, you might need to either return to Vienna or continue to Munich to get a flight to get home, if Salzburg doesn't offer acceptable connecting flights.

One other way to possibly save some money would be to fly to your second country, rather than using the train. You'd have to check on cheap flights on easyJet or another discount airline, but although that would mean going to the airport and going thru security, checking in early, etc., you might still save money and time compared with going by train. Happy anniversary, in advance!

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aditigupta1887,

I travel solo so you can take this as you see fit. Ive been also traveling solo for 3+ years so i have a "feeling" of costs. Especially what it will take just to get over there. So far for me, its been about 1200~1300 USD to get from PDX to Amsterdam (AMS). I use AMS as my "hub" and "gateway" into Europe, so far.

What i also learned is that #1 cost is usually travel. Airplane, train and bus. #2 and this is usually really close is Lodging. I dont pick the best, but i pick "convenient" to me and where i want to be. Thats usually near a transportation hub and or the center of things i want to do/see.

the rest is peanuts compared to the #1 & #2.

As a rule i try to keep my total cost to 100~200 USD/Day. That includes #1 and #2 and attractions. Souvenirs can vary and so can attractions since some places have "free" entrance fees like London. Food i dont consider since i dont have spend alot on it, but i will have nice meals when i can, but those will vary with location and how hungry i feel at the time.

How i try to save $$ is by booking my tickets ASAP. For Airplanes ive been monitoring prices, but i still buy my tickets as soon as i have my itinerary nailed down. Same for trains. What i will do since im already looking at the trains, i will look at buying a ticket next week and 3 months (if possible) from now and compare prices. If there is a price difference, then its a no brainer. If you choose to "wing it" sort of travel, that may be an issue, but you wont know until you do or if someone can tell you its not a big difference by booking now or later.

Since you have someone else to think about in terms of lodging, you will probably end up spending more than a solo traveler, but tastes can also affect the cost.

I try to plan my trips so that i dont waste my time figuring out where i want to go/do/see thing when i arrive, but thats how i do things.

good luck and happy trails.