European budget

Sorry michael, without plenty information about your travel style the question is pretty vague and difficult to answer... Food/Drink In each of the 5 cities you mention there is a vast panoply of choices - do you want Michelin Star (how many: 1,2,3?) or McDonalds? Sit down or picnic? Cook in an apartment or three meals out each day? Without knowing your preferences it is tough to answer. Local transportation Do you prefer taxi, bus, train, or walk? How many days - will you be anywhere long enough to make use of travel passes designed for locals? Will you be renting a car? Museums
Do you want to see a few or many? Most admission prices are available in the guidebooks or online and will require a bit of research.

One way to approach this is to have a 100 Euros/day budget, then figure how to stay within that. Some days you'll go over and some will cost less. In my budgeting, food/drink is the most flexible budget item. Some people travel for the food and might be flexible on the other items. 100 Euros/day (per person) is fairly skimpy if you eat all your meals "out." There are usually deals available for saving on local transportation. For two people a taxi is sometimes budget-friendly, especially when moving luggage. Go only to the museums you are really interested in. I don't go to lots of museums; about one a day is the most I can enjoy without getting exhausted. Recently there was a thread on this helpline about traveling in Europe on $200/day. I think this included transportation around Europe. You might look up that thread for more ideas.

valid question :) Our goal is certainly not to eat at fancy restaurants every day. I'd say mostly "1 star" restaurants, maybe an occasional "2 star". Museums: Depends on the country. It seems that many of the places we are visiting you can get away w/out having to go into museums. I'd suspect that the majority of museums we'd visit would be Paris and Rome. We are certainly not going to spend our time bouncing from museum to museum, though. Transportation-wise: We plan to rough it out.... subway as much as possible... water taxis in venice obviously. Thanks!

I think your budget of 100 Euro per person per day is very realistic. I keep track of our expenses as best I can on our trips and that is right in the ballpark of what we have spent over the past four years. We don't do much nightlife. However, in Spain most good local (not touristy) restaurants don't open for dinner until at least 21:00 and if you are interested in Flamenco, you may be out later than you anticipate. We rarely go to expensive restaurants, but we don't eat really cheaply either. Anywhere you go will be more expensive than you probably expect. We primarily use public transportation, but we do take taxis when it is easier or recommended for other reasons. Of course the exchange rate is a big factor in the cost, so it's good that you are already thinking in terms of Euros and not dollars.

For my wife and I, 100euro a day sounds right for Spain excluding something like day trips or private guides. For Paris and Rome I would like a little more and for Venice a lot more. Also depends on you lodging location (transportation) and on your confidence in your solo abilities. I can think of nothing worse than spending $5,000 on airfare and lodging and then miss something really special when you get there because of too low a budget. Remember to bring a couple of credit cards and a Debit card in the event you want re-evaluate your budgeting. Also, if budget is a major factor you are spending a lot of time and $$ because of the breath of the trip. But it sounds like a fantastic plan and a pretty well balanced mix of expense. Have fun.

Hi, Getting any budget right,regardless of what's for, is getting as few unknowns as possible. Two of your three are very easy to set, entry pricing is available everywhere , if you are limiting these, then its less of an impact.you will now where you are going and how much to get in there. the city to city and the local transport costs are also easily obtained. Day ,3day,weekly tickets save you money if you use /need it. Train tickets can be per paid, and air travel is CHEAP in Europe if you book early.
Your left with food. Breakfast, on the whole is in your lodging, so lunch, and dinner. We are all different, most likely on how much disposable income we have will set what we consider expensive. Again only the poster knows this. You are on Ricky's site, but it is common sense, one good meal a day along with a light one will sustain us very well, especially with the local snacks travelling provides. Picnic, if you want will reduce your costs, not cheapen the experience. You Need to do your homework now, to set you up for what's a considerable investment, regards, and have a great christmas

Great post, thanks Gerard! Luckily we did a lot of homework with regards to flights (surprised at how inexpensive this can be.... baggage fees not included!) and lodging. We need to better plan what we want to do each day and the cost, if any, for museums, transportation, etc.... I think the 100 euro budget per day sounds reasonable. Thanks for the help! :)