Interesting vacation cost comparison - no secret: France most expensive

Marriott hotels are expensive in France ! Well, who knew?

A key question for me is what was the home airport that the flights were priced from. I'm guessing the UK (LHR) or somewhere in Europe. It would be interesting to see what this looks like when priced from one of the East Coast and one West Coast hub.

It's got to be Mariott that skewing it. Steep prices, always major cities, etc. Even with friends and family rate (seldom available) we can always find something better. Probably grub and such was priced in the hotel as well, just to make the compilation easier to do.

I think hotels in France outside Paris are generally a terrific value. Not Marriotts, apparently, but I can easily find charming small inns for under 100E; even in Paris, I think hotels compare favorably cost-wise to other world class cities (London, NYC, San Francisco even).

Petrol in France was about .45c more per liter than Spain or in the ROI.

Is there an additional tax for fuel in France?

Anyone who thinks France is the most expensive country has never been to Norway.

"Ground beef is 7.86 EUR per kilo or about $4.29 per pound. But a nice cheap bottle of French Chardonnay cost $3.77!"

You gotta have priorities.

Last time I compared German prices in a grocery store, Muesli was €2/kg (about $1/#). Compare that to $3/# or more here.

Rolls were 19 cent, beer (1/2 l bottle) was 29 cent, French Bordeaux was, as Steve noted, between €3 and €4 per bottle. At Rademacher winery in Cochem they had bottles (1 l, I think, not 3/4 l) of Riesling for €3,90 to €6,90 per bottle.

BTW, I notice the Guardian did not rank UK for cost of travel alone.

To paraphrase Clara Peller, "Where's the beef?" Or in this case, where are the numbers? The article makes a lot of claims, but none are substantiate with actual numbers.

Also, their analysis is a perfect example of GIGO (garbage in, garbage out). There initial premise is flawed. In most of Europe, you don't have to rent a car and stay in a Marriot.

In countries like Germany, with excellent rail systems and low fares, you can easily save a lot by not having a car. But you sure can't get along without a car in the U.S. (which they rank as less expensive than Germany).

Similarly, in Germany I've averaged about €33 ($40) w/ breakfast per person per night (not at the Mar·riot) for 52 nights in the last 6 years. I wouldn't try that in the U.S.

So far, France has been the LEAST expensive place we have visited.

We just eliminated Verona from our next trip because the hotels were more expensive than we spent in Paris.

We found Italy pretty expensive. I haven't been to Paris, YET, but our apartment to-be (via Vacation in Paris) appears to be very cute and in a nice, decently located neighborhood (7th arr.) I could not come near decent lodging in NYC, San Francisco, Washington DC, or a number of U.S. cities for that price. My ex-husband and I spent the same for a decent hotel in New Orleans in 1995.

France the most expensive.....no way. I just looked at the hotel/lodging costs for our trip last year;

For the two of us our one bedroom Paris apt, with a view of the Eiffel tower, was only $90EU/ nite, our awesome hotel in Arles was only $60 eu/nite/ double. Bfast was an extra 8EU/ per person. Our B&B in Cour Cheveny was only $57 EU/nite, and our Hotel in Honfleur was only $80 EU nite. All were absolutly fantastic places.

I agree with Steve, the general cost of living is high, but we found great restaurants for not many $$$$.

Tom, you are so corrrect. I would like to go home to Norway, where my Grandfather was born, but just can't afford it.

I agree; "Where's the beef"..."show me the money!" Many of the Scandinavian countries are a lot more expensive than France!

Oh, and Lee, our average cost for a B&B in the US is only $15.00 a night; for the two of us. We are members of a B&B club; "The Evergreen Club", and make extensive use of their services when we travel in the US.

In all my travels through dozens of countries I found Israel to be the most expensive. A short cab ride would easily set you back over $20 while even a combo meal at the equivalent of a McDonalds was around $15. I was surprised that the costs were much higher than Tokyo, London or Switzerland.

Paris used to be cheaper for my husband and I - we spent 36 euros a night to stay at Hotel Medicis on our Honeymoon - yeah, my sleeping bag still smells like old garlic, but the room was clean and we were only there to sleep. Unfortunately, it has been turned into a four star hotel :(

I visited Paris for a week last December. My hotel, Hotel du College de France, was quite satisfactory and cost only 90 EUR a night for a single room, with a nice breakfast for 10 EUR extra. I thought that was a good price for Paris.

I was not, however, very pleased with the general cost of eating in Paris restaurants. On the average, I spent around 30 EUR for lunch and 40 to 50 EUR for dinner. I'm sure I could have done it cheaper, but it was hard to find a restaurant that wasn't mediocre for less money.

We are just back from Paris and last visit was two years ago. Prices are definitely higher--started our trip in Portugal and Spain and everything was noticeably cheaper. As far as dining in Paris, what we noticed to be up in cost was the wine. The wine ran about 30 euros per bottle in every restaurant where we had dinner. Our dinners were at moderate priced places--nothing fancy but good meals. The wine we purchased at the markets was usually 6 euros or even less and this same wine (and often the house wine) very marked up--just like in the USA! We tried hard to avoid the 4 euro water but really had to make it clear that a carafe of l'eau ordinaire was perfectly fine with us. Not trying to cheap out, but we travel alot and could not afford to if we did not watch the expenses.

I agree with Randy. We have travelled all over Europe photographing and do not find France expensive at all. We do not stay in the Marriott , but we do rent a car... or lease. If you look hard enough you can find wonderful accommodations and food and wine cheaply all over France.