Food Budget for Europe

I believe 30 euros per day is a good guideline but hopefully not a strict one. You will need to look at menus bef you sit down for sure to ck prices. And go to restaurants for lunch/dinner that RS guidebks recommends. The cities you mention are very expensive. And forget alcoholic beverages&coca colas unless you buy at grocery stores and take back to your lodging. Figure you will need to picnic and have baguette sandwichs to go also here and there. And brfast of coffee and pastry alone is about 10 euros per person unless you stay at lodging that includes your brfast which can be a huge cost/time/convenience saver. If the abv is not what you prefer best increase your budget by another 20 euros per day p/p.
Hope this helps a bit.

I don't think you can do it for thirty euros. I can, and do, even slipping in a beer with lunch and supper and an extra coffee or two during the day. You can't because you don't have the experience or knowledge. Here's a couple of examples based on my wife and I traveling at a hundred bucks a day and a buddy and I traveling on a bit less (both per person). These figures have been our average costs over the last ten years or so. I make about three one-month trips per year, either alone or with one of those two, so I have a fairly substantial experience base from which to speak. I also note every expense as it occurs, not because we're exactly paupers, but because I need to figure out what's going on so I can keep traveling at the rate I do. Backing out car, gas, tolls, parking, lodging, and the odd entrance fee - - leaves fourty bucks, roughly thirty euros, for food. Sounds good, but hold on. Note the car expense - - I always, always have a car. In the back seat is a food sack and it's stocked with breakfast and lunch grub from the large grocery stores on the outskirts of towns where stuff is cheaper - - you'll never see one of those. Sandwiches, pastries, and street food will cost a heck of a lot more. That makes supper the big (only sit-down) meal of the day and it tends to run about twenty bucks - - if you're doing the math and it doesn't work, write off the slop to beer and coffee and it will be close. I can stumble around in a batch of languages. In the big cities, we wander into areas you wouldn't on a first trip and eat in places that you wouldn't on a third trip - -another savings. continued

continuing In October, my friend and I spent about a month in France and England. We had about three nights in London and three or four in Paris. The rest of the time was in towns you've never heard of. The nights in the capitals were way the hell over the average - - and remember I think I know where to go. I just got back from southern Spain and Portugal for about three weeks with my wife. We spent a couple of nights in Cordoba and a couple in Sevilla - - the rest where in places you'll probably never hear of - - same thing - - supper in the cities blew the average to pieces. Now, it looks like you're going only to cities - - and to some of the most expensive ones to boot. I couldn't do it at thirty euros per day in those places no matter how hard I tried. Additionally, if you're going on a reduced grub budget, there's a good chance your lodging budget will be a bit on the stringent side as well, so breakfast darn well might not be included. Even if it is, it's been my experience that, except in the UK, an included breakfast is not good value - - in fact, we think it's such a disvalue, that we try to get a room rate that excludes breakfast. Taking a wild guess, based on the cities you'll visit and that this is your first time out, I'd say you should figure closer to fifty euros for comfort and hopefully you'll have a bit left over. Good luck.

First, start out by looking at Frommer's Free & Dirt Cheap guides, which I found on Amazon for London and Paris. They have good tips for food, accommodation, attractions, and well-written too. I live in London and on eating-out days I'd expect to spend maybe £5-8 on lunch and £10-15 on dinner. When I was still living in a hotel I bought a box of cereal and a liter of milk, which I asked the concierge to keep. I do see full English breakfasts advertised for a couple pounds, but the best option is to buy a little sandwich and coffee or something at a coffeeshop or Pret a Manger-type places. The chain restaurants here are quite good. I was also in Paris recently and spent about the same amount for dinner but only about €3 for lunch, as I ate street food (mostly crepes), and had a baguette for breakfast (90 centimes).
So - I'd say 30 per day is a good estimate, but you can really save on breakfast if you're tight, or splurge on dinner if you're not.

I can only speak to London and Paris. In London, if you stay in a bed & breakfast, you can get a really big breakfast, which should last you until dinner. If we get hungry in the afternoon, we have Balance Bars which we bring with us. For dinner, you can get take out fish & chips and really good take out sandwiches for a really reasonable price. I haven't been to London for ten years, so I can't quote prices. In Paris (where we've been the past two years) we stayed in an apartment and bought food for breakfast. A baguette at a bakery is 1 euro and can provide lunch time snacks. There are great take out crepe places and bakeries and other take out places that offer incrediby good food at really good prices -- under $10 a person. So your budget is absolutely doable. If you want to eat nice sit down meals, it will be a challenge. But if you go the take out route for all, or even some of your meals, you can eat well very cheaply.

What if I bump up my 30 euro budget to 40 euros a person? Would that be better giving me a little more cushion room for food? Again, I will have to double check but I think that some of my hotels don't include breakfast unfortunately.

Brandon, Increasing your food budget to €40 PP per day would be a good idea. Some days will probably cost less and some a bit more, but overall it should balance out. As the others mentioned, you'll be travelling in some expensive cities, where even McDonald's will be "pricey". Most Hotels provide some sort of breakfast, which tends to vary by area. In Italy this is often somewhat of a simple "Continental Breakfast", although lately this seems to be improving to some extent. You'll probably find the most substantial breakfasts will be in Austria or Switzerland (of the countries you're visiting). However, if your Hotel in London offers the "Full English Breakfast", that will keep you going well into the afternoon (I'd suggest asking them to put a "hold" on the Black Pudding). Interlaken will tend to be more expensive than staying further out in the Lauterbrunnen Vally. Is there a specific reason you're staying in Interlaken? I usually like to have a "proper" supper, so tend to have a lighter and more informal lunch, perhaps just a Panini or whatever from a local Deli. You'll probably find that supper will be the most expensive meal (especially if you want a glass of wine with dinnner). Don't forget to allow for the Coperta in Italy. Happy travels!

Fourty should do it, but it'll still be tight for those cities. Wander a couple or four blocks out of the major tourist areas. Eat where people are reading the local paper, or little old ladies are sitting with shopping bags. Avoid any place with people with cameras around their necks or guidebooks on the tables. Also eyeball the outside menus and don't change your darn mind when you get inside. Lunch is cheaper than supper if you can stay awake for the afternoon after stuffing your face - - I can't. And snack out of your pocket instead of at the steet stands. Most importantly, for that morning coffee or afternoon snort, take it at the stand-up bar inside rather than renting an outside table.

Brandon: You can do it for under 80 euros per day average. (If you don't drink even less!) You do not have to have a car or extensive experience. Just be smart and follow Rick Steves' advice. We got back from Italy in October and averaged 76 euros per day for all food and beverage. We had B&B arrangements 10 out of 24 nights. When we were not provided breakfast, we had a 1 euro coffee and a pastry, nowhere near the 10 euros quoted. If you need cappucino, it will cost a couple of euros. When we had a frig, we bought yogurt and fruit. We almost always took our coffee at the bar, not sitting, which saves a few euros. Always had another coffee or two later in the day as well. We love coffee and wine so did not skimp on those at all. We ate gelato, but not every day, and kept it to one or two scoops, no toppings, places away from the main piazzas where possible. We had three splurge dinners at over 90 euros each, otherwise spent 30-60 euros on dinner. Drank a lot of house wine, but some good bottles too, especially in Montalcino! (to be continued)

Part two: Venice has GREAT panini (sandwiches) in most of the bars you'll see everywhere. Another money saving tip is to minimize your bottled water purchases. You can refill at the fountains (nasone) in Rome and Venice. Many travelers don't realize you can do this. Again, read Rick! Picnicking is a budget saver, but we only did that 3 times. Ate pizza a lot (Dar Poeta in Rome was THE BEST), and it's pretty cheap, even when adding in wine and a salad. You can usually order an antipasti plus a primi and salad or vegetable side dish, skipping the secondi (which I didn't find to be particularly inspored most places anyway). For your splurge meals, seek out good secondi. In Venice try Nono Risorto for dinner, in Rome Antica Taverna near Piazza Navona, and Cul de Sac also near P. Navona. Skip McDonalds all together. You won't need to sink to that level. to stay in budget. :-)

You absolutely can do $30 per day. All these cities have modestly (compared to eating out) priced grocery stores. Find one and make it your friend. Somebody else mentioned it already, but try not to spend a lot for beverages. Sure, have the odd coke, beer or coffee during the day, but try to stick to tap water as much as possible. Ethnic food is almost always cheaper. Chinese, Indian, Thai all tend to run cheaper for sit down food. There are exceptions. For instance, some Indian food places. Street food can be a good deal. In fact, I'd argue street food in Italy and France is better than some of the sit-down food at home. The less sit-down eating you do, the less you'll spend. Make lunch your biggest meal of the day and each lighter at night when it is more expensive. Have a couple of kabob days. One of those puppies and you won't feel like eating again for awhile. That all said, do budget for some splurge meals.

My wife and I don't drink much and we will be drinking alot of water instead of cokes or even bottle water. So that should save us some money.

I do believe in having a budget for travel and watching it, but I sure would want anyone traveling Europe to realize that part of the experience is the food that you eat. I would hate to go to France and just eat Chinese, for example. ; ) I'm not saying that every meal should be a memory, but be sure that you've budgeted so that you can explore the cuisine of the places that you visit. ; ) Pam

Well said by Pamela (post immediately above). Some travelers feel there's more to it than just how cheap can you possibly eat during your Europe adventure.

I agree with you Pamela, but it reminded me of something I learned at a cooking class in Paris. The chef was talking about day to day foods the French eat. I guess I always assumed they have these lavish meals eating all kinds of rich foods. The chef presented a far more basic picture. Dinner consisted mainly of salad, some veggies and bread (ok, that didn't surprise me). He said protein like fish, chicken, rabbit, etc..... would be once or maybe twice a week.

Couple of additional pointers. In Paris and, I believe, in London, you will often have the option of paying for your room only, or paying an additional fee for breakfast included. In those cases, buying breakfast at a cafe would be much cheaper than paying for a hotel breakfast. In Italy, yes, espresso is about 1E. Cappuccino is a little more (2E?). If nobody's already pointed it out, in Italy it's always cheaper to stand at the bar and drink/eat than to sit at a table. Same is usually true in Paris. In Paris last month, our breakfasts were about 7 Euros per person for one croissant and a cafe creme or hot chocolate, sitting outside (table service).

I doubled checked the hotels that we are staying at and in London, Lauterbrunnen (not Interlaken), and Venice breakfast is provided. We will need to get breakfast in Paris, Vienna, Florence and Rome. thanks for all the great tips

I don't know if I'm the only cheapskate in the bunch but when breakfast is provided I often take an extra roll and a piece of fruit - voila, lunch or dinner. (Don't worry, I'm not an embarrassing American.) Also, I love to wander around foreign grocery stores and buy things - that fills in some gaps. Usually I have one large(r) meal a day and I try to make it memorable. Good point that Pamela had about making sure you enjoy the cuisine of a country as well as everything else!

Amen to the notes of Dorothy and Pamela. You can learn about a country, and its people, in the museums and the castles but remember, you can also learn in the restaurants and cafes. And it can be done on a budget. Do NOT return from Vienna before you have tried tafelspitz and washed it all down with a nice pilsner. We aren't big drinkers either but when traveling, if it goes with a meal, we try it. If we must eat out of the back of our car, best to do it at home.

To those of you taking extra bread and fruit from the breakfast buffet for your lunches later on - this is considered quite tacky. What if everyone in the hotel did this? How much do you think this would cost the hotel? No wonder so many places have stopped offering a free breakfast buffet. I mean really, you can't afford to pay 50 cents at a bakery for a roll or 50 cents for a piece of fruit at a market?

"we will be drinking alot of water instead of cokes or even bottle water." If you planned on using public water fountains to quench your thirst, realize that these are very rarely found in Europe. You would have to carry around a bottle and fill it in public restrooms or buy bottled water. And taking away extra food from a buffet? Yes, that's considered exceptionally rude over here.

Sorry I have to disagree with a couple of posts here. Taking lunch from the breakfast buffet is not considered cool in Western Europe. I have started to see signs in some hotels which have had to say that its not on. There are some parts of the world where it is done. In trips to Haifa in Israel we were positively encouraged to do so, particularly on Shabat. Not France, Italy, Germany, BeNeLux, Switzerland, Austria. And definitely not in the UK. As for water fountains, it is rare to find the US style of water fountains. However almost every fountain or trough in Switzerland is potable (signs if not), Belgium has many, the Nasone in Italy are specifically for drinking from, and thoughout Europe the water is excellent quality. When we travel on the Continent we travel with empty water bottles for such occasions. I've never bought water in Switzerland (except when the bottles got too grotty) or Italy.

Some cheapskates stick a candy bar in their pocket on the way out of the grocery store.......not much difference, really.

The ettiquette must be different for when you are actually served a breakfast, including rolls, meat and cheese, as opposed to a buffet, because I was encouraged by the innkeeper to take them with me, and she even offered to wrap them for me. It would seem that health regulations would prevent them from being re-served.

If you get a meal of bread, cheese, meat etc. and you save the bread for later, that's ok. If it's a buffet and you go up and actually take food to eat later, incredibly tacky. Even at buffets in the states they ask you to not take food. Will it really break your budget to buy a roll or something from a bakery?

Bit of a difference don't you think, between the hotel offering to you to take some leftovers and deciding to take them on your own. Left over breads may be ground up to make bread crumbs that might re-appear as schnitzel breading, or chopped into bread cubes to make bread pudding or semmel knoedel (bread dumplings) Left over cheeses and meats might re-appear in a baked casserole, or au-gratin dish. This is just smart use of left-overs that any decent restaurant kitchen will utilize to keep costs down that they can then pass on to you, the guest.

My rule of thumb costs are least the same in Euros as they are in dollars. = you get abouut the same in euros as you would at home in dollars . unfortunatly the euros cost 1.35 .

I am more familiar with Italy than the other countries. I would guess the included breakfast in Italy is a pastry, juice and coffee--not a big breakfast. But that is not always the case. In Florence the prices in the grocery and restaurant are quite a bit less on the south side of the Arno. I eat for less than 30 Euro a day. But do not drink wine and beer everyday to keep down the price. And part of the time I put together a picnic.