Is Europe really THAT expensive?

Yeah the dollar is weak right now 1 euro = 1.23 usd.
But you might be missing something in your approach to your biggest expense i.e. your flight costs.
Paying on Average $ 1600-1700 per person is outrageous.
You should tell us where exactly are you flying from and maybe someone savvy here will figure out a cheaper way.
And the longer you wait on the air the worse the price.

Yup, it is that expensive.

I assumed you are quoting this in $US, so converted it to $CAD, and found that based on our average costs over 8 trips you are about 20 or 25% lower than my number. We do the same as you mention...picnics when appropriate and preparing some meals in apartments, and accommodation is nice but certainly not deluxe.

Edit: For the record, the exchange rate at this very moment is 1 euro = $1.57 CAD

The flight prices seem high but otherwise... the dollar is weak, your destinations are popular and expensive ones to start with, and you are traveling around a lot from place to place in high season.

As long as you have no non-refundable flights or rooms booked, you might reconsider some/most of your destination choices. Do a tighter travel circle.

Rick suggests that the heat, humidity and expense of summer travel in Italy isn't worth it. You might have a look at destinations in France, Germany, and the Czech Republic instead. Also, consider apartments. I was just looking at a 3-bedroom apartment with 1,000+ square feet in northern Bavaria - 4 nights for less than €200 for August dates.

I don't think your total estimates are too out of line, but I wonder how accurate your subtotals are, and what you're basing them on. That being said, you're planning to visit at the busiest time of year- ergo also the most expensive.

• where are you looking for flights and prices? I hope it's somewhere like Google flights or kayak, which check over a wide platform to give you the best selection. And are you looking at return flights or multi city? Since we don't know your departure/arrival cities, it's impossible to comment further.

• hotels- probably should have been booked by now. Quad rooms are hard to come by in a lot of European cities. This price seems low, unless you're willing to stay in the burbs or less desirable neighbourhoods. Or are you staying Airbnbs?

-trains - this looks really high to me, especially since 4 of the places are in Italy. Their least expensive, advance purchase tickets are cheap! What site are you using? For Italian train tickets, use the trenitalia website (and the proper Italian city names) to look at train times and fares. You should be able to buy them now, for the best savings.

Meals- that's pretty bare bones. Hopefully you'll have breakfast included with your hotels.

You also haven't accounted for daily city travel (bus/metro/taxi), or incidentals or souvenirs.

I hate to say it but for June/July (peak) travel those airfare prices are not unusual if you're flying from something other than a major market airport and if you want something other than 2 stops and a long total travel time. I had to pay $1500 to fly from Portland (PDX) in July and that was 6 years ago - I limit my flights to no more than 1 stop and less than 15 hr total travel time. It's an unfortunate fact of life for some of us.

I don't use RS train cost map because, like the Rome2Rio website, it is based on full price last minute purchase of tickets. If your itinerary is set, tickets can often be purchased ahead of time on the rail companies' website for much less.

Some days you may spend $100 or more for admissions, etc. but on other days you may not spend anywhere near that much. I also think you can lower your meal costs somewhat by either getting hotels with breakfast provided or by eating in if you have rent an apartment. Shopping at markets and having picnic lunches can also save a lot.

Yes, Europe is expensive and I think it's wise to maybe over-estimate a little bit so you're not caught short, but there are lots of ways to economize. Do some searches on here because there have been several threads about tips on how to save money.

Have you purchased flights yet? If not, maybe give the folks here where you are flying from and maybe they can give you suggestions on where to find cheaper flights.

Train travel: $1,700 for whole trip (estimated with https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/transportation/trains/cost-maps )

Those maps assume you are buying tickets on the day at the station. In most cases you can get substantially cheaper fares (½ to ¼ price) by buying in advance direct from the railway company website. For example, Munich to Berlin.
** The map quotes USD 170
** The DB (German Railways) website ( https://www.bahn.de/p/view/index.shtml ) is quoting fares for tomorrow at between €115.90 and € 135.90, depending which train you choose.
** For a random date in June (25th) DB is currently selling tickets for most trains at €19.90, one at €67,90 and one at €95.90

The hotel price you quote sounds OK for 4 people. Some places cheaper than others. How much per night would you pay where you live?
You might be able to squeeze on the food, but you should be enjoying new culinary experiences, not being mean with yourselves.

If you could give your preferred airport in Texas maybe some people could help look at creative airport and fare ideas. There have been some deals this spring and also some "normal" summer fares.

Your budget is mind boggling high to me and we typically travel with other family members anywhere from 3-6 people for 3-4 weeks.

It depends a lot on what standard of service you're looking for, what you're planning to do, and how flexible you can be with your plans. You certainly can spend that much, but I've never spent anywhere near that much per person per day on any of my trips to Europe - and I'm hardly a bare-bones budget traveler.

Others have mentioned that your flight prices seem very high. I just bought a round-trip flight from Washington DC to Zurich in late June for $610. Try searching different combinations of airports to fly into and out of - even if it means doing your itinerary in a slightly different order. Keep an eye on flight prices - they go up and down a lot. If you can't get a good deal on flights, do your trip at another time - maybe even next year.

Meals: That works out to $18 per person per meal, assuming you get breakfast at your hotel. That's a pretty basic meal in a sit-down restaurant, I'd say - but keep in mind that there are also informal cafes and street food vendors, which can cost a lot less. And of course supermarkets, which you mentioned. There's a lot of middle ground between full-service restaurants for every meal and picnics for every meal.

Trains: I find the train price maps on this site to be highly misleading. They're generally the prices for the walk-up fares, which I personally never pay - I've saved as much as 80% off the prices on those maps by buying tickets in advance. It takes some research and planning to figure out how to get the best deals, and you lose some flexibility by being locked into taking a particular train, but I find that the money saved is well worth the effort.

I am not sure what airlines or sites you have been checking but a quick check of Icelandair got a RT price of $875 leaving Sun Jun 24th and returning July 17th.

As for accommodation I strongly recommend checking out AirBnb it will save you money.

It can be done much cheaper than your estimates.

If you use Rick's rail-fare maps for your estimates, they will be the most you would pay if you walked up to the counter on the day of each trip and bought the tickets then. That's not an affordable way to cover long distances, though it's workable if you're taking short hops between small towns in a limited area. You should use either Trenitalia plus the Deutsche Bahn or trainline.eu (which covers both countries) to get your prices, but understand that the fares for your dates will creep upward if you don't buy the tickets right away. And those tickets will be non-refundable/non-changeable, so you must be very sure about your plans before buying.

I thought your airfare estimate was high, but I've taken a quick look on Google Flights and I'm seeing figures similar to yours for multi-city flights into Rome and out of Berlin from both Dallas and Houston. I guess there's a lot of demand from Texas this year and not a lot of competition in the marketplace.

Authorized - I think for $4,150 per person, your family could have a really nice, if not luxurious, two week trip to Europe.

It's easy enough to find hotels in Germany and Italy with room rates that include breakfast - so fill up and you can probably skip lunch. You can use the savings to buy wine - I'd need plenty of wine if I was traveling with 2 kids!

Texan to Texan, I like to buy train tickets on loco2.com. There's no markup; you can select your seats; and it's very user-friendly. Be sure to select "Euros" from the drop down menu. You can have them email you when tickets on your preferred dates are available for purchase.

https://loco2.com

I thought your airfare estimate was high, but I've taken a quick look on Google Flights and I'm seeing figures similar to yours for multi-city flights into Rome and out of Berlin from both Dallas and Houston. I guess there's a lot of demand from Texas this year and not a lot of competition in the marketplace.

On the other hand, you can get a round-trip from Houston to Munich or Frankfurt for $1100-something - and Kayak advises me that prices are likely to fall within 7 days. These are good quality flights on British Airways/American Airlines, one stop each way, nothing too crazy.

If you want to see Germany now and save Italy for another time, that could potentially save you a lot of money.

Hard to give advice without knowing where you are flying out of and in to.
If you can get to Austin, Norwegian Air Shuttle is flying into London Gatwick much cheaper than you're talking. From there, you can get to and from just about any European city in 2 hours or less for $100 on EasyJet. Norwegian is finally getting enough Boeing 787s in their fleet to go to MidAmerica even if just in a limited basis.
Your intraEurope itinerary is covering all of of miles. Flying to Munich and Berlin would be warranted.

Airfares in the summer are horrendous and are high because of the summer holidays, I don't know if you can perhaps plan a layover to lower the airlines price but right now your airfare does not seem so much out of line. Please watch out for the lower cost airlines like WOW, they can save you money but if something goes wrong, many times you're SOL.

The amount of time and places you are traveling to( 6 cities in all) also increases the cost. Is there a way to cut the vacation down to two weeks and perhaps either visit Germany or Italy? Just remember unless you are old or infirmed, you and/or the kids will go back to Europe again.

Finally, check to see whether the hotels you want to stay at offer breakfast included or at a low price. I've found it's easy to load up on a good breakfast that will tide you over for a late lunch or early dinner. Also don't overlook buying some fruit or sandwiches in grocery stores.

Basically agree with everyone but remember that for me 24 days with a family of 5 and poorer exchange rates $1.34=1 euro) cost $14,000 in 2014, that included the more expensive UK (Germany and Italy sim prices to US). So your total cost isn’t bad even if your individual items seem high. You will need apts to get that $175 since 2 hotel rooms will be more. Try for $1000 airfare although this would have been much easier in October. I commented on your earlier post that there’s no 100 day sweet spot for fares to Europe, 6-8 months out is a better time frame to buy for all but the busiest markets.

Yes, it's expensive, and I hate to say it, you're kind of late booking Europe for summer. Some of the hotels that I booked a few months ago for my July trip are now sold out. The flight does sound a bit expensive, though. Have you looked at a) flying open jaw [into one city, out another, also called a multi-city itinerary], or b) flying into/out of alternate airports (like Dallas vs. Houston, Amsterdam vs. Berlin, etc.). I have personally found that Zurich and Istanbul are two of the cheapest flights and/or have the best Skymiles availablity to/from Europe (at least from Atlanta). You can take a cheap inter-Europe flight from most cities. For example we are flying from Barcelona to Geneva for $50/pp on easyJet.

I also agree with other posters, if you can give us your preferred airports and dates, we can help you search and see what we can find!

My numbers are in line with yours, except for flights. I go 2 weeks, not 3 so spend much less but the daily is close enough. From Chicago I usually pay about 1000 per person for air. If I can fly from Toronto I can do 700.

I do think your flight cost is high, but not ridiculously so. I would not pay more than 1500, though.

BUT a trip can be done for much less. I highly recommend Airbnb. With kids you get more space and a place to store snacks. Even if you don’t “cook” having a kitchen saves money. I stay in pretty nice ones for $200 or less - 2 or 3 bedroom, often a terrace or deck, great location. There are more simple but still good ones for a lot cheaper in many cities.

I think your train costs may be high, too. I’d go online now and price point to point tickets for your dates. The farther ahead you book the cheaper (on high speed routes).

Reasonable? I guess that's in the pocketbook of the beholder. You definitely can save money by planning farther ahead, especially for airfare and trains. And you are going in high season. So considering the timing, I'd say it's not unexpected.

One time I read that a typical per person per day cost for adults is $150 - $180 -- not counting airfare. I think if you do the math, your estimated costs without airfare for 21 days are pretty close to that. I didn't count the 10-year old. I did 21 days X 3 people X $150 = $9450 + $7000 for airfare = $16,450. RS gave the $150 - $180 pppd number but of course, I can never find that little tidbit when I try to look for it. I do know that range was spot on for my husband and I, depending on the country.

I think the $1,700 for trains also seems high. I'm assuming you are looking at the point-to-point ticket map. I hope you're not planning to use Eurail passes. I think (someone will correct me if I'm wrong) the map has full-price walk-up ticket prices.

If you can plan ahead more, you can save a lot of money by buying early, but you will be committed to the train and time you pay for.

For example, using Trenitalia I tested 3 adults, 1 child (at 10, there is a 50% discount, but I didn't go far enough to find out about all the options), going 5 April from Roma Termini to Firenze S. M. Novella, leaving after 10:00 on a Freccia (arrow) fast train. The price was 122,70 Euro for all of you. The Regionale price was 117,00 Euro, but the journey takes 3+ hours and has train changes.

Skip ahead to 26 June and the Freccia price drops to 69,70 Euro. There are no Regionale trains loaded yet. That's a huge savings if you can plan ahead. Based on clicking on the I for information, I got all excited about the Familia and Bimbi Gratis options, but then I noticed they don't seem to apply to any of the Freccia trains. You might be able to take advantage of those options on other trains.

I adore the Freccia trains. There's just something about that screen showing that we're going 250 kph that fascinates me. But they don't go everywhere.

BTW, I tested the trip from Venice to Munich for 10 July using DB Bahn. Trenitalia would only go to Innsbruck. I have been on that route through the Dolomites. It is absolutely stunning, but the total journey with no train changes takes about 7 hours. As with Trenitalia, the cost for the 4 of you (kids are kids ages 6-14, so your teenager might qualify), dropped from 159,80 Euro for 5 April to 79,80 Euro for 10 July for the exact same train. You can buy a ticket for this train from DB Bahn.

If you do some testing on DB Bahn yourself, be sure to click on Show Details and click on Intermediate Stops and especially on Map View. It shows the route of the train. In fact, you can use DB Bahn for any train schedule or route in Italy and do the same thing. You just can't buy your Italian train tickets from them. I love seeing the maps and dreaming about what I'll see along the way.

However you do this, y'all are going to have a great time.

Comment on Lo: Never buy Austrian train tickets on trenitalia.com, use bahn.com for tickets to Munich.

There are ways to finesse the flights, but takes some extra time. Using Austin as a "major Texas city" you can get round trip tickets to Newark for $200 per person on Southwest. Spend a night at a lovely Newark airport hotel on each end of the trip, guessing about $200/night. Then you can get a nonstop on United to Milan with a nonstop return from Berlin for under $1000. Now you've got your flight cost to $5200. $1300 is nothing to sneeze at.

It depends which country. There are big differences. Scandinavia, Switzerland - very expensive, Great Britain - still expensive, then Germany, Austria, Italy. Spain, Portugal, Greece - cheaper. All former communist countries are cheaper; the farther to the east - the cheaper. There are big differences in airline prices, too.

My wife and I usually spend $6,000-7,000 for a two week trip, but it's just the two of us and we go shoulder season. We also don't cover as much ground. Italy and Germany in big cities tend to be on the expensive side. The exchange rate doesn't help. Looking for places to stay for four people, $175 per night in high season does not sound off the charts to me. As others have indicated, apartments could be your pathway to a more reasonable cost. As a point of reference, my wife and I are doing a Poland-NE Germany itinerary this spring. We paid $1,300 each for the flight; if we wanted to go the next week it would have been 2X the price. We paid $1,500 each to fly into Porto and out of Lisbon in September-October 2008. That's the most I have ever paid for a flight. Often flying in high season and to destinations to as well served by various carriers, costs top dollar. Covering a lot of ground costs you too. I think the answer is for the itinerary you have chosen at this time of year, you could very well pay a bundle.

Trayla, Thanks for the Loco.com link. It’s very easy to use, only research for now.
Kathy

It's no more expensive than travelling to the US. I find costs comparable between the UK and US although there are some differences particularly with groceries. Beef is significantly cheaper in the US but free range/organic chicken is far more expensive in the US in comparison to the UK. Eating out is comparable.

Your flights appear expensive, we've paid not much more for business/first flights with BA London to Miami this August so unless you're avoiding economy I'm sure you can find cheaper.

You are travelling peak season, so prices will be high and unfortunately, you have left it rather late to be looking at accommodation. You are also intending to move on rather a lot, which will take time and money.

One way of reducing your spending would be to spend a week in one destination, then you could hire a cottage or apartment, not stay in a hotel, then you could cut some of your food budget and laundry bills by not eating out for every meal.

Venice is eye wateringly expensive and I’m not sure that your children are old enough to fully appreciate it, so I would consider dropping this. It’s a place better covered off season to avoid queues.

I think that Italy is more expensive than the UK, other than London.

I want to add that my trips in the US are similar per day, except for the airfare. Train fare is replaced by rental car and gas. Hotels are sometimes cheaper, sometimes more. Food is the same - yes, I could eat McDonalds every meal and save money but you could do the equivalent in Europe. That's unpleasant on the stomach, though!

As for Europe, I spend less in Spain (other than Barcelona), Sicily and Greece (except for Santorini). I assume I would spend more in Switzerland and Scandanavia but have not been so can't say for sure. Italy is fairly expensive - Venice the most so, Rome not so much.

Adding that train fares for children under 15 often free, but no more than half fare. The older teenager may also qualify for a discount. Both Italy and Germany are generous with train discounts for children, even on the low advance purchase fares.

Also: We have had McDonald's everywhere but it is not really much of a cost savings nor even the cheapest place to eat. And the automated panel ordering (at least in France) is stressful and hard to get what you want, and you will have to pay up front to a person anyway since no PIN on credit card.

At least you're budgeting. That's a good start.

I usually pay much less per person for airfares but it depends largely on where from, where to and when. As a general rule, search both flexible dates and flexible airports. Is it worth it to drive 100 miles to save $1,000? That's something you have to decide but try lots of take off airports, landing airports and adjusting up to a few days to see if you can find a better price. I set up alerts and watch for awhile to get an idea of a good price. I won't use Google flights anymore, they're price alerts seem oriented toward getting you to jump on tickets rather than giving you information you can use. I start at Kayak but also check individual airline sights, Cheaptickets, etc.

Hotel prices are generally lower in Europe unless you want luxury. I traveled with three kids and only paid more than 150 euro a couple of nights (as a planned splurge). I regularly rent small studio apartments now on Airbnb for under 50 euro per night. I travel spring and fall, however, and prices go up for both flights and lodging in the summer.

Food depends a lot on you. If you rent an apartment and shop at a grocery store, it's not bad. If you eat at kabab stands or get a sandwich from a deli (in the back of German grocery stores, Charcuteries in France) it's not more expensive than eating fast food in the US (except sodas are a lot more).

Tickets is where I go over budget. I used to be picky and only pay to see things I really wanted. Now I figure I won't be back soon. If I'm even a little interested, I'll try to see it.

Fortunately, McDonald's isn't the only option for a cheap, quick meal - in the US or in Europe.

Hotel prices are generally lower in Europe unless you want luxury.

Germany in particular where the modern budget hotels have to compete with the private rooms at hostels and smaller bed and breakfast operations. Two double rooms at an Ibis or Motel One might hit your price point if you can take advantage of any non-refundable rate discounts. (The Accor chain that runs the Ibis brand has lots of sale rates and you can sometimes catch a good one with them)

One thing that people traveling with children find is that rooms for 3 or 4 are harder to find and more expensive than at home. A majority of US hotels have rooms with 2 queen beds and if you have 4 people who can share 2 beds then...you are set in most hotels. The room rate is what it is, for 2 or 4 people. In Europe you need to find rooms specifically for the number of people you have. You can't put 4 people in a double room- the hotel wouldn't allow it and there would be only one bed (or 2 singles) anyway, so 4 wouldn't fit. So you need to find a room meant for 4, which are less common. Many "budget" hotels only have singles and doubles. Quad rooms are either expensive or get booked very fast. It's a very real difference in hotel size/policy/standards that takes some getting used to.

Hence my suggestion of apartments. Airbnb or ones found on booking.com. They often have 2 bedrooms, or a bedroom and sleeper sofas in the living room. I do spend $150-$200 a night on these, but wouldn't have to - there are plenty that are cheaper

With advance purchase, assuming the second child to be over 14 (multiply by 2/3 if under 15), Venice to Munich can be as low as 120€ (about $150) for 3 adults, one child 6-14, and Munich to Berlin can be 75€ (~$92). (How does that compare with your estimate?) For the best rail prices into and in Germany, use the German Rail (Bahn) website.

I'll let those more familiar with Italian Rail estimate Rome to Cinque Terre to Florence to Venice, but I'm sure they can beat your guesstimate.

Rick's handy-dandy chart, unfortunately, assumes you take the most expensive train without any discounts. It is a "worst case" scenario. Much better prices are very possible.

BTW, your itinerary is almost all big cities or major tourist venues. They are the most expensive places to stay and eat.

How do you count days and nights? 18 nights would be 19 days (17 full day between the nights plus 2 partial days on arrival and departure). I would usually count 18 nights as 18 days because the two partial days add up for meals as one day (at worst 2 lunches) and for sightseeing as less that a day. How do you get 20 days with only 18 nights?

As David in Al and Brad in Co said, Norwegian might be the way to go for flights. Could possibly cut the amount you budgeted for flights in half.

Agree with Mira:

One thing that people traveling with children find is that rooms for 3 or 4 are harder to find and more expensive than at home. A majority of US hotels have rooms with 2 queen beds and if you have 4 people who can share 2 beds then...you are set in most hotels. The room rate is what it is, for 2 or 4 people. In Europe you need to find rooms specifically for the number of people you have. You can't put 4 people in a double room- the hotel wouldn't allow it and there would be only one bed (or 2 singles) anyway, so 4 wouldn't fit. So you need to find a room meant for 4, which are less common. Many "budget" hotels only have singles and doubles. Quad rooms are either expensive or get booked very fast. It's a very real difference in hotel size/policy/standards that takes some getting used to.

I think you may be in for some rude awakenings when you try to book hotel rooms for 4. There are not as many options for us. Start looking now!

Other thoughts:
Yes, it is expensive, I think. But if you can get the airfare a bit lower, you'd be doing really good w/ that estimate, esp for 3 weeks. I paid about $1,100 each for us to go from Nashville to Prague, and Amsterdam back to Nashville. Bought in December.

i think $100 a day for tickets is a high estimate, bc you may not do museums every day, but it's good to budget it. Some tours/outings may cost even more.

We spent approx $12k(!) for our 10 days in Italy last May/June. My kids were 11 and 13, so similar to yours. I used a travel agent and we did all train travel and stayed in hotels. I probably paid more using a travel agent but I was intimidated and had not yet discovered this forum. We ate on the cheap a lot. Pizza by the slice, panini shops, vino della casa...only a few splurge meals, and the dollar was stronger than it is now which helps.

This year I planned our Germany trip (w Prague and Amsterdam at either end) with no professional help except the very helpful RS forum and the rest of the internet, and I think it will come in at around the same cost ($12k) but we have 3 extra nights (13 instead of 10) so I think I am a pretty good travel planner. ;)

Wow, thank you for all these insightful comments. Here's specific responses to a lot of topics:

• Flights: DFW to FCO on June 25 (arrive on 26th), then TXL to DFW on July 13 or 14. I have checked Google Flights and Kayak and also checked directly with a few airlines. I cannot find lower costs unless I accept really awful flights, like ones going 25 hours or with bad carriers (e.g., ones that are deceptively over-unbundled with their pricing) or hacker fares that are difficult to deal with (e.g., very short time to retrieve bags and get on next flight). I think these sites do a good job of also reviewing costs of flying to another airport first I also checked one-way costs to assure that I am selecting the best days. These are a Monday and a Friday (or Saturday with July 14th), and adjacent days are significantly more expensive.
• Heat: We're from Texas. We deal with it all the time. :-)
• Hotels: I am having moderate luck finding quads so far! Airbnb wasn't that useful. It seems that Airbnb's main value is against high-end stuff. I'm going for modest accommodations as near city centers as feasible, and Airbnb isn't helping much. I suspect that as I go to Munich and Berlin, I may be able to find much lower cost lodging? Or maybe I'm dreaming?
• Trains: I did see that RS's train price guide is high-end costs. I did plan to reserve in advance, so my actual on train transportation could be considerably lower. Thank you for sharing how much lower they could be!
• Meals: My average means $12.50 per person per meal. I anticipate that being average, with some more, many less. I am also watching for included breakfast but not prioritizing it. We'd be happy with low cost, store-bought or corner cafe quick foods.
• Cutting vacation back: I have resisted that idea since flights alone are so high, almost half the whole trip cost. My thinking is that if I am paying this much (holds arms way apart) for flights, reducing the rest of the trip won't have a huge effect on total price.
• Car renal: I see lots of advice to avoid renting cars due to cost of parking, hassle, and risk of getting into those poorly-marked ZTLs in Italy. I'm not opposed to it, though.

Munich is an expensive city for accommodations too. Berlin used to have the reputation for being cheap by the standard of European capitals, but not so much any more. I'm seeing $125 for doubles in May, which admitted is still cheap vs. New York or San Francisco. But for a quad in July I am thinking you'll be well above that. Since you are visiting mostly big cities a rental car really does not make sense in terms of logistics. On the positive side, there are many whole in the wall eating places in Italy where you can inexpensively get a slice of pizza and a beverage.

Is there a reason you aren't considering Icelandic Air? They have flights out of DFW into Milan and out of Berlin Tegel into DFW for about $811 pp.

Also check the Hotel Ambassador in Berlin for a very good location and price. When we want a budget friendly time in Berlin we stay there.

Edit: I see that IA has a one day layover in Iceland but you could build that into your trip perhaps.

If the exchange rate is still decent, then Europe is not expensive. Of course the present exchange rate vis-a-vis the $ is less favourable than that of last summer or the summer of 2016. Traveling in the US is far more expensive with regards to accommodations. If I go to Wash DC I can expect to pay from $180-220 for a single/double occupancy, likewise in LA or New Orleans.

When I travel to Germany solo, I pay in Berlin less than 43 Euro for a single, in Munich in the summer 45 Euro. In Düsseldorf 65 Euro. In Paris for a 2 star hotel, I pay 86 Euro.

If I choose to stay in a 3 star hotel in Germany, then it's 65-80 Euro. There are hotel chains in Germany if you are there from mid-July to August, the rate is at its lowest for the year since that time period is viewed as the slow season, ie, a 4 star hotel room for a single could conceivably be 79 Euro when normally it could be over 110 Euro. In Vienna I reserved a single at a 4 star hotel for 92 Euro. If I were there on this trip in July, that price could be reduced by 10 Euro

My flight this time is $500, the B&B in London at Kings Cross for a single is 84 GBP, much cheaper (even with the deteriorating exchange rate) than I would pay or did pay in New Orleans, DC, or other cities in the US. Inexpensive places are available depending on when you are over there, (My recent trips have been early to mid summer), and that you know what to look for. Due to present family considerations I have not been back from mid-July to mid-August, which I used to do.

Apart from the flight cost in Economy, I know traveling in the US or just in Calif would far more expensive

I hope you are using Booking.com to search for your lodging. It is great for searching by number of adults and kids. When you put in the kids, you'll get a drop down box to put in their ages. Then you'll know if they are really kids or not.

You can choose the type of lodging, including apartments and B&Bs as well as hotels. You can filter by price, by review score and by lots of other criteria. I never use stars because they're not used for apartments or B&Bs. Last year was the first time I actually rented through them. In the past I've only used them to identify possible lodgings and then booked direct.

I'll say straight up that I'm not an Airbnb fan due to a terrible experience with my first rental through them and the fact that they sometimes charge more for the same rental than other resources. It seems like that name is being used generically like Kleenex for tissues or Coke for soft drink. You can also find apartments through HomeAway, VRBO, Booking.com and any number of other more local resources. Owners sometimes list on multiple resources.

I'm not sure if this is your first trip to Europe, but one comment you made about getting your luggage and getting to the next flight led me to believe that traveling light, carry-on only is not on your radar.

I'm going to recommend that to you, especially since you will be moving around so much. You do not want to be lugging lots of luggage around. There will be no one to help you get on and off trains, up and down stairs to your lodgings or anywhere you might have to walk with it.

Many people who participate here pack for a week and do laundry along the way. We sink wash in the room, use a self-service laundromat or have it done for us at a laundry. I have done this for years. You tote what you bring, regardless of size or age.

Here are some helpful links:

Packing Light

Sarah Murdoch's Packing Light & Right

Packing Forum

Enjoy your continued planning and the trip itself.

Several comments:

AirBnB is indeed the most expensive due to high fees, try Homeaway/VRBO (same thing) but they now charge fees too, also try TripAdvisor for rentals. They all work. Some local markets, Rome, Copenhagen, etc., have local rental agencies so you can look for those.

Definitely look at IcelandAir and just train down to Rome from Milan. They will provide free food for children but adults must pay or carry food. Their Light economy fare does not include a checked bag.

Look at an internal flight, say Rome to Munich or Berlin, these can be cheap. Then you are not tied to an itinerary exactly linear, say something like Milan>>Venice>>Florence>>Rome fly to Berlin>>Munich, then you can play with different transatlantic flight cities for a better fare.

As to rental vs hotels: some people find the thought of cooking on vacation a ghastly premise and will never stay in apts, others find the extra space and ability to stagger bedtimes very relaxing, like the ability to wash clothes at will, and love a simple breakfast at "home." I find that eating out in Europe is frustratingly time consuming and gets old, and prefer cooking and eating out less often, but then if I could stop eating and still biologically function I probably would.

Car rentals: unless you are taking a predominantly rural vacation and staying away from cities these usually don't make sense. If you are willing to adjust your goals to less urban areas then yes it is a cheaper way to travel for families than paying 4 fares.

Do not underestimate the value of a good hotel breakfast. If you're envisioning the "continental" breakfast served at many US chain hotels - where you get some packaged, preservative-laden muffins and donuts, rubbery reheated scrambled eggs, and maybe a make-your-own waffle station if you're lucky - it's so much better than that. A good breakfast spread will include fresh bread and rolls, quality cheeses and cold cuts, fresh fruit and even fresh vegetables, yogurt, granola, and more. Not every hotel is this good - some economize by serving packaged crap - but many are.

When you can eat heartily enough at breakfast that you can get by with just a light snack for lunch, that saves you the better part of $100 a day, according to your budget. You may pay a bit more to get a hotel with breakfast included, but not usually $100 more, I don't think.

The reason your airfare estimates are so high may be because you are pricing one-way trips to & from Europe. You will likely get much cheaper rates if instead of selecting one-way fares, use the multi-city fares.

The reason your airfare estimates are so high may be because you are pricing one-way trips to & from Europe. You will likely get much cheaper rates if instead of selecting one-way fares, use the multi-city fares.

No, it's multicity, and the flight to Rome is a non-competitive nonstop so that's driving up the fare. FYI: Many airlines only sell one ways, so there's no advantage to booking round trip with them: Icelandair, WOW, Condor, Norwegian, Thomas Cooke, and maybe others, do not sell round trip tickets.

When you can eat heartily enough at breakfast that you can get by with just a light snack for lunch,

I'm the opposite! A big part of my reasons for travelling is the food and I will almost always forego the hotel breakfast (even those buffets of cheese, cold cuts etc are still cheap and low quality) and eat at a place that excels at a good breakfast and then follow it with a good lunch and the same with dinner. Eating for me is about enjoyment not sustenance.

JC: To each his or her own. I'm all in favor of eating for pleasure too, but I'd rather save my money for one memorable meal a day (because I ate one at the hotel and economized on the second) than try to find spectacular culinary experiences for all three meals. And maybe we stay in different places, but I've definitely stayed in hotels (and not terribly expensive ones, either) that excel at a good breakfast.

Anyway, this, like all money-saving tips, is something you can take or leave. But if you choose to reject money-saving tips for whatever reason, then don't be surprised if you're spending more money than other people are.

About what Mira said regarding hotels:

IMO online searches are overwhelmingly suited for two adults to a room. They don't do nearly as well for finding rooms for families or odd sized groups.

Contacting a hotel directly is so much better for traveling as a family. I took three kids and a wife from Amsterdam through Germany and Austria and ended in Rome (with a leased car). I made only a few reservations ahead of time. Mostly I traveled with a list of potentials, then called ahead the morning before arriving to check for vacancies. You rarely need reservations unless you want something very specific.

When I contacted the hotel. I'd tell them what I needed rather than what I thought I wanted. I'd say, "I need a place for 5, two parents, three children, boys 16 and 12 and an 8 year old girl for three nights". I'd let them suggest what they had that would fit my needs. I'd then ask the price and if it was good, I'd book and tell them when we would arrive. Sometimes we stayed at hostels, boys in one room, girls in another. Other times we had family suites or two separate bedrooms in a hotel. Often hotels would give us a two bedroom apartment they owned. The price was always reasonable, often cheaper than reserving ahead.

My phone service now lets me call 60 countries for free so I can call ahead with questions about rooms, prices, vacancies. I've found phone works better than email and picked my service based a lot on that.

Another good alternative is Airbnb. I only started booking with them within the last two years but they're good for telling you exactly what the place has and whether it will accommodate your family. The only place I'd avoid Airbnb is in big cities like Paris that are starting to clamp down on residential short term rentals.

As to rental vs hotels: some people find the thought of cooking on vacation a ghastly premise and will never stay in apts, others find the extra space and ability to stagger bedtimes very relaxing, like the ability to wash clothes at will, and love a simple breakfast at "home."

And then there is the middle ground of the extended stay or 'aparthotel' where you can kick back and eat your takeaway meal on hotel-provided dishes that are washed in the hotel-provided in-apartment dishwasher.

I love extended stay hotels, especially the ones that are breakfast included, and book them whenever I'm going to be some place for more than about two nights and the price and location make sense.

But if you choose to reject money-saving tips for whatever reason, then don't be surprised if you're spending more money than other people are.

Oh I'm fully aware that I spend more on food than some other people do but I accept that and I choose to do so. Just as other people choose to spend significantly more on clothes than I do, each to their own. I was simply giving a different take on what people consider as acceptable considerations for money saving.

I also save money by not subscribing to expensive tours, preferring to research and educate myself but everyone is different and we all have our own priorities.

Thanks for the additional info! To address a few more things that were brought up:

• Iceland Air or other creative options: Ah, now I see their routemap includes Milan! I'll see what that could mean. Thank you!
• Booking.com, Airbnb, VRBO, etc.: I'm using various sites to find lodging. Thank you for the suggestion. I also feel that Airbnb prices are higher than they should be.
• Emails for finding lodging: I have had many cases where hotels' web sites say that nothing is available, yet when I email them and they reply back, they magically have the quad that I need! I went through the RS Italy guide and emailed all 2 and 1 star hotels in Rome. I think I have almost 10 rooms to choose from based on the responses, and this is for dates in late June!
• Luggage and packing light: It is my intent to pack light. We will see what I can manage. :-) Wouldn't surprise me if we still need 1-2 checked bags.
• Rural areas: I considered this, but based on advice from a lot of places, I don't think I could keep the kids entertained in a lot of rural areas. That said, we are NOT averse to rural areas. We camp with Boy Scouts all the time, and in Colorado, we typically stay out of the big cities. But I am not confident I can make rural areas work well for the kids in Italy or Germany for a first-time Europe trip.

Rural: European countryside is full of castles and ruins and history and lots to do. Even the countryside can be fairly populated and have great restaurants and shops. It’s not corn, pickups, and chewing tobacco.

I just checked what Iceland Air offers. It looks like the only way that will work is to fly into Milan. Including the cost of a train ride from Milan to Rome, I'm saving about $65 per person. To do that, I have to I cut my trip 1 day shorter and deal with a train from Milan to Rome.

How about tightening the trip up for the2 countries you are now focusing on with some city and outdoor time. You may be able to get RT DFW tickets to FRA for about $1,000 pp. that would save almost $600 each for starters. Then I'd do this boxy route with a family rather than the long linear route that has much higher fares.

2 nights on the Rhine with a day boat trip to see castles.

4 nights Train down to SW Germany to a charming town on the Bodensee. This area abounds with beautiful scenery, a bike around the lake culture, lake excursions, etc.

3 nights Train down to Milan for the duomo, Leonardo science museum, Sforza castle (or Lake Como)

3 nights in Venice to wander

3 nights Train up to the Dolomites and stay in Merano, vineyard walking, river biking, spa town

5 nights Munich could stay a week with kids. English Garten exploring, science museum, Dachau day trip to Salzburg, etc

2 nights Dinklesbuhl/rothenburg/heidlesburg on way back to Frankfurt via train for flight home

I know it doesn't go up to Berlin or down to Rome but because the airfares are so high this late in the game, this might help stretch your budget and give you a varied, kid friendly European adventure.

I've just thrown these # of nights and specific locations out there. I've been to all of them and there are kid friendly and unique experiences in all of them. Do your kids have specific hobbies or interests?

Planning is fun but frustrating at times, I know...

and deal with a train from Milan to Rome.

You make it sound like a chore! Taking the fast train from Milan to Rome is an easy, comfortable and stress free method of travelling and will take you from the centre of Milan to the centre of Rome in three hours.

I should have also said, it depends on where you go. Spain and Poland are noticeably cheap. Scandinavia is expensive. Switzerland is off the charts. Big cities like Paris, Rome, London, Madrid, Barcelona, etc. are significantly more expensive than the rest of the country.

Eastern Europe-Croatia, Hungary, etc. are cheaper than many places in Western Europe and less crowded. Could be an option.

The main thing that jumped out at me was the budget for meals. Perhaps your family is less interested in food than some, but I view food as part of the culture to experience when I travel.

At today's exchange rate you're budgeting 30.25 € per person per day. That seems a bit low to me. I would recommend raising it by about 50 percent to 45 € per person. That would give you, per person, 5 to 10 € for breakfast, 10 to 20 € for lunch, and 15 to 30 € for dinner. It would be easy to spend less than that on any particular meal. And it would be easy to spend more than that on any particular meal. But I think it would be a reasonable budget to target for the trip.

But then again, I like good food and the occasional nice restaurant.

Thanks again everyone for these great and helpful responses. We decided to punt for this summer. In addition to the cost surprising us, we're running late on booking everything. On top of that, we would prefer our children to be a bit more mature before we try this. We may try again for a summer 2019 trip, and we may watch for opportunities for shorter and less expensive getaways.

The good thing is I learned a ton from researching what to do. I feel far better prepared for attempting this trip in the future.

With all of the desire and research you've put into this trip it should make planning a summer 2019 trip a little easier. For starters, since you've done so much homework with airfares and know what a "typical" airfare runs out of DFW, you can start checking again when new fares are posted 330 days in advance of when you want to fly next summer. That way you'll better spot a sale or get creative with Icelandic Air.

Also if you are serious about 2019 you can have the year leading up to it be a year of travel gift giving for birthdays and holidays to help spread your costs out. We've given luggage, train tickets, museum cards, travel books, etc out to family members in the year preceding a big family trip.

I think that early planning is even more important for families/groups. I am willing to bet that early this fall you will see good airfare for May 2019. People dispute this but my experience is that booking early (6-10 months)lands the best fares so start watching when fares are posted (about a year ahead) and buy when it’s reasonable.
Also look at other airports you can drive to or combine flights (cheap domestic flight to somewhere like NY then many hours later an international ticket at a much lower rate than going from Texas). If you do that leave plenty of time so a delay in your flight to NY doesn’t make you miss the international flight.

Also the cheaper hotels with family rooms are in high demand so booking early helps.

As a family of five, we almost always book our hotels or apartments (fully refundable just in case) at the end of summer the year before. We also book inexpensive tours then as well (we prefer private tours and when you can get them for 200 euros for the full day, well, its worth it before these wonderful guides get booked up). We book our flights in Jan usually. Sign up for notifications when schedules are released for trains. If you book them as soon as reservations open, they can be very reasonable. Do research into restaurants. Many have menus posted online. You can find some very nice, inexpensive places to eat in most locations. But $150 a day for four is very very low. Think of where you eat out at home and the cost. You can't do it for $150 a day I would think unless you're cooking it yourself.

For comparison, look at my costs. I have no travel companions. I am taking a 14 night trip (to Greece, 1 night on the flight to Greece, 13 nights on the ground) in October. l expect to spend $2,800 to $3,100 total. Let us assume a rough ballpark estimate of $3,000 US dollars. 3,000/14 = about 214.29 per day for me. 214.29 x 4 people = about 857.15. You say you expect to spend $16,600 for 18 nights. 16,600/ 18 = about $922.23. That is only $65.08 more per day than I will spend. This is just a rough ballpark estimate. I predict that you can’t expect to spend much less than your $16,600 estimate; if each adult contributes half the cost, would your personal cost be just $8,300?

Suppose you limit yourselves to no more than one meal per day in a fancy restaurant with table service, eat the breakfast your hotel provides, and buy the rest of your food from grocery stores? Good grocery stores I bought from in ltaly included a fruit section, and a deli counter with some prepared foods; I went to Italy in July 2017; they had stricter hygiene standards than we do - they provide disposable plastic glove you are supposed to put on before touching produce, or an employee has to give you the produce. You might be able to reduce your food costs by a few dollars per day. At least be careful about what you order in restaurants so that you don’t spend MORE than your $16,600 budget.

If you fly Iceland Air, they do have children's prices. I do think you are wise to wait another year. With little ones, you need to really plan and prepare.
We are taking our two (11 &14) for their first Europe trip.
We fly out of Anchorage on Iceland Air to Oslo, Norway and return from Glasglow, Scotland.
Fares for adults were $1,200pp and that was booking over 6 months in advance. Now those same tickets are $1,800pp
My best tip is to book very far in advance!

Luckily for me I live near San Jose and San Francisco, because I booked my flight 6 months in advance for the whole month of June, I got San Jose to Paris for $550 each. Also booking some of my rooms in advance It came out an average of $90 a day. Right now on google flights San Jose to Paris Dec 26ish to Jan 14th ish is $450 round trip.

My girls go to college in Iowa, small towns not tourist attractions. I've been telling people that I pay more for Super 8 type hotel rooms in Iowa than "nice enough" places Europe! While in Barcelona, Paris, Munich, Vienna, I get rooms for about 125 euros or less, in smaller cities in France, I've paid anywhere between 60 and 80 euro. In southern spain, its pretty consistently around 65 euros including breakfast. These are 2 and 3 star hotels, usually recommended or in Rick Steves guide. I usually picnic for lunch so we can see more and save money. We found meals in France cheaper and better than comparable in the U.S. I do A LOT of research. I usually travel slightly off season. I did spend a lot of time in Switzerland January 2017 and there was no way around it, its expensive. I did ok by using VRBO in Berner Oberland where I saved money on the accommodation, got a nicer place and cooked some meals in. Geneva was so very expensive that we stayed in a hostel. It was fine, and I felt it was a good experience for my college aged daughters to have. I'm not sure why your air is so expensive. I've paid as much as $1200, and $850 a few times, usually air is about $1000, and I live in MN where we have an airport dominated by one airline. I usually pre purchase train tickets.

Traveling alone has so many advantages in my experience but after reading these posts I have to add an economic advantage. I love to travel and in the past 8 years I have traveled to Austria, Italy (3 times), Spain (4 times) Portugal 5 times.. Including Azores twice. I had to figure out how to do this on a retired teacher 's pension. A huge advantage is having my airfare paid using miles. For the past 3 years this has been business class for the transatlantic part. My last trip to Italy was United Airlines business class out. And British Airlines business for the return. Total cost for the 2 flights was $450.00 but only because London Heathrow charges that fee. I used booking.com for my accommodation and booked 7 months in advance to get the best price for the places and properties I wanted. Most expensive was Rome at 115.00 per night the least was a nice apartment is Orvieto for 35.00 per night. Average for the 23 days was around 65.00 per night. All very nice well located places. Train travel in Italy is very cheap. I love to get food from local fresh markets,but I would eat at restaurants as well, but not every meal. I would buy a bottle of wine and keep it my accommodation to have a drink whenever I wanted one.
Next trip in a few weeks is to fly into Stockholm business on my United miles and the return using the last of my BA miles. I knew I couldn't afford hotels in Stockholm or Copenhagen so I have 2 ABnB reservations in the 2 cities average cost 65.00 per night with kitchen access so I do not have to eat in restaurants which in those countries is very expensive. I know this is a long post but I have left out the many details of my strategie. After reading how much people spend per day I was surprised and grateful realize how little I spend in comparison while maintaining the quality of my experience.

I think you are really smart to wait a year. Our first family trip to Europe (boys were 10 and 8 at the time) I started making reservations 6 months out. That means my planning had started a lot earlier. Just a heads up about Icelandiar..they give free lunch/headphones mini drawstring backpack to travelers under the age of 12. My boys loved it. But in economy you have to pay for those things for everyone else.

I also let the boys miss the last week of school, meaning we were able to leave in early June and miss some of the worst of the crowds and have better weather. We also saved over $100 on each plane ticket by being able to leave that one week earlier. As you know with a family that adds up. Trust me the memories/history/culture they experienced was worth missing the week of movies/field day etc...

Good luck with your planning for next year. It is totally worth the investment of time and money!

Our last couple of trips (two of us) for 22 nights have been between $8-9,000 Canadian, including airfare, holiday rental and car rental. Scout for airfare deals well in advance, looks like you may be stuck with hotels by the number of places and time of year you want to visit.

JG, you need to redo you math. The OP is now on their trip.

OP here. Nope, we punted. See my April 15 post. However, had we stuck with the original plan, we'd be at the halfway point right now.

JG, I have been corrected by my wife, actually closer to $9,700 Canadian ($111,500 US). I'm sure she's wrong.

Big save was Aer Lingus to Frankfurt, $640 pp. AutoEurope, with all the bells and whistles, $980.

hey authorized customer
happy 4th to all
i kept up with posts from beginning and was not surprised with costs. you were planning high season and main cities that all tourists want to see for first visit. Don't know if you plan next year, but you know now to book early, check air flights doing a multi-city (into one city out of another), no backtracking. are there low cost airlines flying outta texas, like WOW, Norweigen, sales at major airlines, have alerts set up. I use google flights, kayak, airfarewatchdog, fareboom, scott's cheap flights, justfly, etc. stay in smaller cities not that far away for cheaper rooms, booking trains early if you know exact dates, apts for more room to spread out in. we may see you again by end of year or beginning next year. good luck
aloha

Authorized Customer - a big thing that will help now, as you start looking at a trip next year, is you'll have more "give" in the dates you're searching for airfare. Being locked into a very certain departure and return dates really squishes the flexibility in what fares you can find. With a wider window, and ability to adjust your dates, you should be able to find some better fares than what you were seeing for your very specific dates this summer.

And you're right -- as you've started planning and now know the kinds of things to look at, you'll be very well positioned to put together your trip for next summer!

Stay tuned for our upcoming, month long trip to Europe in 4 days. I plan to post trip reports, including all the money the trip cost for the 4 of us.

I'm late to the conversation on this one. But, I wanted to provide some encouragement and experience.

Travel with a family or in a group is expensive. But, you should be able to find airfare for less than $1,000 per person, especially if you can fly from a major hub airport. That cuts your estimated airfare budget in half. I've even found summer deals below $500 per person, especially if you are flexible with your itinerary and don't mind multiple flight connections and taking a little longer to get to Europe.

You can also save money if you move around more slowly - or if you are willing to rent a car and drive or take the bus. Or, if you have light luggage, look for flights on the budget airlines within Europe. Fast trains are indeed fast, but they can also be very expensive. I tend to look for destinations that I can get to within 3-4 hours by bus or regional train to limit travel costs. That's usually about 180-250 miles in proximity. (both the Venice-Munich and Munich-Berlin stretches fall outside this recommendation - I would also note that Rome to Berlin is similar distance as New York to Florida).

And, you can make it much more affordable if you get most of your food at the market or grocery store and prepare most of your meals. You can save on lodging and food if you look for hostels and AirBnB and VRBO rentals that have food preparation and cooking facilities. If you stay in a hotel, look for those with free breakfast. Market and grocery shop when you can - this is a great cultural experience in itself and you will save a ton of money on your food budget!

As Kim mentioned, with timing flexibility for 2019 you can jump on occasional airfare sales -- we recently got back from an April/May flight SFO-CDG-SFO which I had booked the prior October at under $450 per person round trip. Get on the free email list for Scott's Cheap Flights, watch for people posting about airfare sales on this forum ... and be prepared to move quickly when you see a good deal. Enjoy the planning!!

Of course it all depends on where you go and when you go and where you stay.. If the number you came up with scares you, then Think about taking the kids someplace else for a totally different experience ... and this year, not next.....

Lets say a winter wonderland Christmas and New Year Trip to Central Europe for the snow (maybe), Christmas Markets, Lights, Food, Concerts and Theaters.

Friday 21, Last day of school
Saturday 22 Depart IAH
Sunday 23 Arrive, night 1 in Budapest
Monday 24 night 2, Budapest
Tuesday 25 night 30, Budapest
Wednesday 26 night 4, Budapest to Prague by CSA Flight ($125 each or $500) - Christmas in Prague
Thursday 27 night 5, Prague
Friday 28 night 6, Prague
Saturday 29 night 7, Prague
Sunday 30 night 8, Prague to Vienna by train (about 19 euro each or about $85)
Monday 31, night 9, Vienna for New Year's Eve
Tuesday 1. night 10, Vienna
Wednesday 2. night 11, Vienna
Thursday 3. night 12, Vienna to Budapest train to Budapest (about 19 euro each or about $85)
Friday 4, night 13, Budapest
Saturday 5, night 14, Budapest
Sunday 6, Flight Home
Monday 7, Home
Tuesday 8, First day of school

International Airfare: December 22 to January 6 (your kids Christmas Break) Houston to Budapest is about $1200 round trip on Turkish Air; so $4800.00

European Airfare Budapest to Prague is about $125 on CSA, so $500 total. Why not an open Jaw into Budapest and out of Prague? Best i could find, this was cheaper x 4 is a lot.

A short term apartment rental for four can be had for under $125 a night. If you found rooms for 4 at $175 in a hotel; well done!. But with the short term rental you can probably get at least two bedrooms in one apartment. This trip is 14 nights at $125 or $1,750.00. The schedule has minimum 3 night stays that most short term rentals will require.

Food? Hey you have an apartment. Eat breakfast in. For this trip, i figure $120 a day for basic good food (I think your number is low for where you plan to go) = $1680.00

Train tickets $170 (by them in advance and buy them from the train company not a broker)

Tickets and other costs, $100 a day. I think thats a pretty fair guesstimate including transit tickets. So $1400

So, my total for a trip this Christmas is $10,300; and i would call that $11,000 or $12,000 with all the incidentals overlooked like taxis to and from the airports and those special shopping trips along the way.

Ive done this trip with my kids, and at Christmas. Actually we have spend a number of Christmas' in central Europe.

Hi,

Have you looked at Norwegian Air flying out of Austin, don't know if that has been mentioned?

In 2011, we took a trip with our 3 adult children. We didn't spend hugely. We planned ahead by taking rooms and pensions, not hotels. For all nights but 2 (of 20 days), we spent under $100 per night for all 5 of us. We rented a car for the entire trip (after 4 days in Vienna). That ran about $800 for the entire time. Gas was not expensive, as European cars are efficient. We do not do expensive things on the trip, like Disneyland or the European equaivalent. We ate at inexpensive local restaurants. We spent $2400 for airfare for all of us. I doubt we spent $100 for tickets on any one day. We visited 2 attractions tops per day. Probably we spent $50 in tickets per day.

I think your estimates are high. But most importantly, you do not need to spend $175/night in hotels. If you go to hotels, you do. So, don't go to hotels. Find apartments to rent. These are much cheaper. Don't go for fancy places. We were in quite unremarkable places usually. We don't go to Europe for a fancy hotel. We got up in the morning, and left to do something fun. We seldom paid for a fancy breakfast, usually a coffee and roll was enough from a street vendor or coffee shop. We walk around a lot, which is free.

If you go to Europe and stay next to George Clooney, you will spend a lot of money. We don't do that.

We travel for considerably less by staying in apartments and cooking most of our own meals. For four we can usually find someplace closer to $100 per night rather than $175. However, most apartments have a three day or more minimum and I see you have 5 destinations in 18 nights. Reducing the number of destinations will make for a more enjoyable trip (less time in transiting and more time sight seeing) as well as reducing travel costs.

I know I am late to the party, but ...

When you are visiting anywhere as a tourist it will always cost more per day than you are used to spending at home. You are renting a property to sleep at and maybe cook a couple meals a day and do laundry at a rate much higher than the daily cost of where you live now. You are probably eating more meals at restaurants than at home. You are paying for the daily events you participate in that are probably more frequent than you do at home. You are either renting a car or paying to ride trains, buses, or other public transit. You do't know where to shop or eat or do anything at the lowest price like you can do at home. And of course the cost of getting there is more than anywhere in the US (or wherever your home is). True a few things do cost more in Europe than in the US. Auto fuel is number one.

I challenge anyone to plan a vacation where it is required you must fly round trip to and from in the US doing a fair amount of touristy activities like visiting museums, taking an hop on hop off bus tour, eating in restaurants, and so on, and (other than airfare) it comes in cheeper per day that Europe. So you could rent an Air BNB and do nothing but sit there the entire time, but is that really a vacation? And you could do the same thing in Europe seeing none of the sites and never mingling with the locals.

My point is, you don't have to go crazy with spending, but you are going somewhere you hopefully have always wanted to go so don't worry so much over the pennys you will spend and allow yourself to enjoy the time there.

The cost per day depends in Austria and Germany on which city I am visiting, the cost of the Pension or small hotel, or possibly a hotel (Graz, Vienna), how much I rely on public transport or the amount of walking I do, where I want to visit in the place, just the Zentrum or the non-tourist areas as well, or most likely a non-tourist town totally off the international and American tourist radar, how many times I "picnic" at dinner (this last trip I did that several times compared to past trips), etc, etc. Unless I stay at a three star hotel, I am paying 45-50 Euro for a non en suite single in a Pension....makes no difference to me. Those prices are there if one knows where to go depending on one's expectation of luxury. The more amenities you want (AC, 24 hr reception, etc), the more you can expect to pay. In the US I have to pay $100 a night min.