Take the breakfast in the hotel?

We prefer Bed and Breakfasts that include a nice breakfast.

Frequently, if we do stay in a four or five star hotel the breakfasts are way too expensive, so we eat breakfast elsewhere. However, we rarely stay at expensive hotels.

My only problem with hotel breakfasts is the timing. Sometimes I want or need to get out early, such as when I am taking a day trip using the train or bus. Since part of my hotel bill includes breakfast, I don't like to skip it, but will if I need to. When in Paris though, I booked a hotel that did not include breakfast. It was a good motivator for getting out to cafes or bakeries for something special.

We like to book hotels with the breakfast for many of the reasons above. Another main reason for us, especially when traveling with another couple, we can finalized our plans for the day. If it is not a travel or pre-purchased tickets day, we can decide what to do and see based on the weather and how we feel. If it is rainy or too hot, indoor sights, perfect weather, that walk around the park with a picnic or bike rental. Helps us to be flexible and enjoy the city more.

I love hotel breakfasts, especially when they have regional specialties. A buffet style hotel breakfast can fuel me for hours. I also enjoy meeting fellow travelers at breakfast and have gotten great tips on local sights and how to avoid lines.

I affirm all of the above reasons for hotel breakfast, I require several cups of coffee and some protein with breakfast to "get my day started ". I m incapable of a complex choice like "should i take my coat today " without coffee. A pair of one dollar flip flops stay on my packing list for in the room at night and down to breakfast. I'm quite fine w seeing that cute little bakery for a snack later in the day

Oh doric8, you've nailed it!

🤓 also, it provides an easy way to balance timing of showers, etc, with travel companions. When 4 of us shared a family room in florence, there might have been an altercation if going down to the coffee room was not an option

For a future strategy, if you think your hotel breakfast is expensive additional price, check whether a nearby hotel has open to public breakfast options. When researching Spain, that was a recommendation for, Seville or Toledo. RS had a recommended hotel but the breakfast was minimal at an extra cost. Up the street was a more expensive hotel but breakfast was extensive and value for money. I know it sounds complicated, but it is an alternative.
I do agree that it can be handy, but I do often find them expensive as they aren't included. It's one of the reasons I tend to take short let apartments instead. I do prefer a leisure morning coffee or two reading in my 'jammies. My latest experiences of hotel breakfasts have not been overly enjoyable with overcooked and precooked eggs, hard sausages and soso coffee. (A Montreal boutique hotel and several UK Premier Inns come to mind). The one in Istanbul, however, was tremendous.

Hotels that serve a lot of foreign travelers, (especially traveling Americans) usually provide a lot more variety and quantity to their guests. I think its harder to find that in cafes, where an espresso and a pastry are the normal breakfast for locals, not bacon and eggs and pancakes. Thats a big generalization but as Rick said in one of his books, the traditional Parisian breakfast is the three Cs - coffee, croissant, and a cigarette.

Yup, stan, we rented an apartment in varenna and my companions wanted to go out for a local breakfast, which was literally in a smokey bar, espresso and a crossaint from the basket 3 inches from the ash tray. 🤢

I also like being able to shower first, then go down to breakfast while my hair dries itself.

I agree as well. Unless I’m in a city where I have friends and we’re planning to meet up for breakfast, staying at the hotel makes sense most of the time. Sure, maybe there’s a cute café nearby, but in many places there are just chains that cater to office workers.

It’s nice to use that time to check up on social media, post some pictures, and check the weather and finalize the plan for the day. I have a rough idea of wha I want to do on a given day, but if the weather shows 90% chance of rain, I’ll skip the walking tours and substitute something else.

Quite frankly, most of the time, there’s not too much of a quality difference between the hotel breakfast and a restaurant. Sure, there’s exceptions. But, unless it’s quite near, I’m not going to go out of my way for a breakfast.

I have always taken breakfast in the hotel or Pension in Austria, Germany, :Poland, France, especially if the price is right. If it isn't, then I might choose on that day to go elsewhere. Likewise, with staying in a hostel and having breakfast there the next morning.

On unlimited coffee... I get that with the hotel breakfast as they are always (just about) buffet in Germany and Austria, be it in a big city (Kiel, Berlin, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Vienna, etc) or a town such as Minden,

I like the unlimited coffee and I like to take a cup back to my room and then brush my teeth before going out for the day.
That said, if the breakfast is extra and way more expensive then I want to pay, then I won't. Motel One, for example, offers bfast, but it is a reasonable cost, the Hilton isn't. No way will I pay 30€ for a breakfast.

Please do not use the breakfast buffets to make sandwiches or snacks for later. If every guest did this, the hotel would go broke. This includes taking an extra apple, banana, orange.

Am curious as to what would make someone "leery" of a hotel breakfast?

Funny enough, I rarely ever eat breakfast at home. I'll subsist on coffee through most of the day, until I finally break down and remind myself to have a meal so as to continue functioning as a living, breathing being.

When traveling, though, it's almost a welcome indulgence. Especially if the hotel offers up a nice one, it's hard for me to resist and I feel like I'm leaving money on the table if it's included.

It really comes down to price, though. When I cashed in a buncha points for a stay at a snazzy hotel in Rome and their continental breakfast cost 70 euros pp? No thanks. If it's a full English breakfast? Well... let's be honest... I'd pay most any price for that. :)

Yes to hotel breakfasts in Europe. Full English Breakfasts, Nordic/Scandinavian breakfast buffets, and German/Austrian/Swiss and even Italian breakfasts that are much more than a "continental" breakfasts. So far the only European country that served "continental" (coffee, crescent and a roll) was France.

And when in mountain resorts in small villages, we have found that the half board plan (breakfast and dinner) makes life relaxing by not having to think about were to trek to for our evening meal.

I tend to go with the hotel provided breakfast. It is simple and easy and for the most part I have found them to be appealing as well as filling, and in the morning before the coffee kicks in I need things to be as simple and easy as possible.

Recently I have found that many of the smaller hotels and B&B type places will be happy to provide a bagged breakfast to take with you if you are leaving early. Usually a piece of fruit or two, some type of pastry, maybe some meat and cheese and a take away coup of coffee. Just ask in the evening to see what the options are.

And no, the breakfast buffet is not intended to be your take away lunch as well. Sure I will eat my fill, probably more than I should if the offerings are tasty while at breakfast which might reduce what I want to eat at lunch. Then I prefer getting something fresh from wherever I am when lunch time comes. I like saving money, but I am just not that cheep.

70 E pp? Wow. Now that would be too much.

We are at a "characterless Ibis" hotel in Budapest near Hero Square. The hotel is really nice. The breakfast is 10 E, has many many options, is in a bright cheery room with plenty of space. The coffee is good.

Also since I get up 1-1.5 hrs before Wife, this allows me to do stuff while she sleeps.

Non-inclusive hotel breakfasts are generally much too expensive for me, although I don't eat much for breakfast usually. German-style buffet breakfasts are sometimes worthwhile, but the amount that some French hotels charge for just bread/pastries and spread is ludicrous.

Yes! For me anyway, this is always a part of traveling that is a luxury. Breakfast at home is usually nonfat yogurt & fruit or cereal and same-borrrring. Breakfast in most European hotels is a surfeit of riches for me, with the added bonus of someone else preparing it. And then no midday meal is necessary. With the usually plentiful hotel-provided breakfasts, I am usually happy until Happy Hour and/or a relatively early dinner. And Paul, I have found that if you are friendly and ask nicely, you can often get your first cup of real coffee before the breakfast room is actually open for business. Now, a caveat: if we are staying in a hotel for several days, unless breakfast is included in the room price, we will often find a place on the street for a croissant and cappuccino and that will do it for breakfast. But then I need lunch and dinner!

Usually breakfast has been included in the hotel price for places we’ve stayed in Italy, and most of them are very nice - juice, pastry, meat & cheese, and cappuccino/coffee.

I do enjoy the atmosphere of stopping into an Italian cafe/bar to stand at the bar for a mid morning espresso, though!

The price to pay for breakfast in our Spanish hotels was reasonable, so we always added it. In Austria & France we tend to decide whether to eat at the hotel or elsewhere. I did check the hotel’s websites because breakfast provided free has been a nice perk when booking directly with some of them.

Also heartily agree with others to not use the breakfast room as a takeout for your lunch. Expensive for hotel, plus I’ve read negative reviews from customers who complained that the hotel breakfast weren’t replaced enough for everyone to eat.

I do have share one funny experience of ordering breakfast at a restaurant. This was in Spain, and the hotel didn’t provide breakfast, but they had a restaurant on the ground floor and outdoors. My husband ordered “The American”, and I ordered “The Andalucian”. We laughed when they arrived, and I have side-by-side photos in our travel photo book!

The Andalucian: bread sliced in half, crushed tomatoes, sliced meats and cheese.

The American: toast, scrambled eggs, thick bacon, baked beans, and two hotdogs!! He was easily full until dinner!

I suggest trying to find online reviews for the hotel, for example on TripAdvisor or booking.com. Some will mention the breakfast. We stayed at a more family-run type of hotel in Budapest and I don't remember the breakfast being especially good or bad. This does vary by country. I think for Ibis the breakfast is a bit of a profit center for them, so my instincts say don't have high hopes. Best breakfasts are in countries with proper B&Bs such as Ireland and England.

At every hotel that I've stayed that provides breakfast, the hotel has given me a "brown bag" breakfast if I've had an early flight. Just request such the night before.

I will admit to making a sandwich from breakfast fixings several days in Peru. I don't eat wheat so "my" bread and some extra cheese made a sandwich for the hungry mommas we inevitably ran into on the tour. It was placed on the table so others weren't doing without. Not my practice when traveling on my own.

Wonderful hotel breakfast experiences. Enjoy the variety and the specialties of the particular region. What a treat to have a cappuccino made to order, freshly squeezed OJ, Omelet, Croissant... We don't eat like this at home. A couple of times breakfast was not included, but we paid extra and were so glad we did! At a hotel in Paris we were able to order one breakfast and share it. If we stay in an apartment we either eat in or visit a cafe.

The only time I ever eat hotel breakfasts is if work is paying! In my experience the hotel breakfast is an overpriced inclusion and if I can opt out for a cheaper room price, I always would.

I'd rather have a cup of whatever coffee is in my room to get me started and then head out for a 'proper coffee' and something to have with it as the first stop of my day. A bottomless cup of hotel coffee has no appeal as invariably it's filter coffee, which I think if you need that much of it ...it's not doing it's job!

I also have no desire to eat so much at breakfast that I have no need for lunch. Why would i want to deliberately miss the opportunity for lunch when on holiday?!

I'm surprised that I feel this strongly about this, and also that I seem to be thinking differently from other previous posters! Maybe I need another coffee... :)

I wish more hotels in the US included a good breakfast, instead of charging an arm and leg! One of the best things about eating breakfast in the hotel is meeting the other guests and comparing travel notes.

If it's a hotel we haven't visited before, we ask to pay only for the first breakfast and decide on the rest of the mornings ... or go down and take a look before committing. German/Austrian/ Swiss hotels are generally good deals, French may be more questionable as to value-per-euro.

Hotel breakfasts in hotels that attract tourists and tour groups can be a traumatizing experience. Watching folks pile their plates with foods that they might not otherwise eat and then watching them go back over and over again...it's disgusting.
I've seen folks carrying away two plate fulls of salmon, heaps of fruit, giant piles of dimsung...it's absurd sometimes. How about the omelet bars at Asian hotels...that's an experience. After a few weeks you get pretty turned off to tourists, and not just Americans.... a nice congee with thousand year egg, a few peanuts, a splash of soy sauce and white pepper can turn this mush into a great meal.
I love the simple bread, yogurt, sausage, cheese, boiled egg and coffee that you get in family run European places. The breads are usually the star of the show and the coffee is usually good. Loading up for later in the day....not cool.

If the breakfast is included, great! We love the one at Hotel Berna in Milan, for example, or the Hotel Relais Bosquet in Paris, which pales by comparison to Berna but the pastries make up for it. And they are included in the price and although these are not cheap hotels we think they are good for a splurge as usually we are only at them 2 or 3 nights. Most times we are self-catering so a nice hotel breakfast for a couple of mornings is a treat.

We also love the B&B breakfasts in Italian pensions and guest houses. Oh the meats, cheeses and breads in the north! Good yogurt, fresh fruit, house made pastries! Yum! The Swiss do a fine job as well, we have found. Usually these homey little places do not cost too much and usually they make us an espresso to boot! Bonus!

I am (for the most part) done with pay-for-breakfast when it is separately charged. Last week we were charged £12.50 per person for a meager spread at a hotel in London. I would have preferred a nice pastry at Paul or a wrap at Cafe Nero. Premier Inns, though, have a good value buffet if not the quality of Hotel Berna. To make matters more annoying, when I asked the hotel to take the last day’s breakfast off the bill as we were leaving over an hour before the service opened, the begrudged the refund.

Finally, the “inclusive” breakfast at most American chains (Residence Inn, I am looking at you!) are horrible. I cannot even stand the smell that emanates from the make-your-own-waffle machines, not to mention Froot Loop crunching munchkins running rampant and knocking little old ladies (me!) aside. And they can keep their acqua di polpo coffee! We like Residence Inn but go elsewhere for our morning meal if we are only staying a night or two.

When I book a room, I usually do it through booking.com so the breakfast is binary - it's either included or it's not in the total cost. It's not a deal breaker either way although it is more efficient sometimes to eat in the hotel. I do enjoy seeing the differences between hotels in how much of the presentation is local and how much is obviously catering to certain tourist groups (things like scrambled eggs, which you typically wouldn't see). I realize that hotels have to cater to both locals and tourists, including foods that locals wouldn't normally eat. My all-time favorite breakfasts were in Istanbul and in Germany (can't remember which city). I like fresh juices and breads of Germany and wonderful olives and mezzo spreads (lots of veggies) of Turkey. In general though, I'd prefer a la carte vs buffet for any meal. Buffets encourage overindulgence, it takes a disciplined person to eat a small amount. I'd rather have a lighter meal and stay in shape. Good coffee (made by the cup) is so inexpensive that unlimited coffee is not a draw either (unlimited espresso would burn a hole in my stomach anyway from the acidity). In general European coffee is much stronger, so not as many cups needed.

The only barely edible breakfasts I've had were in the US (mostly in the South) in 3-star nameless chains. They were served up on styrofoam plates and cups and complete with the fake juices (full of sugar) out of the machine. I've learned to stick with only hard boiled eggs, yogurt (if not overly sugared), and fruit and skipped all the processed and fatty/salty stuff.

I prefer hotels where the breakfast is included. On ones where the option is displayed I think the cost of the breakfast is too high. I like to go down to breakfast and return to my room to finish preparing for the day. As others have said, having a nice breakfast with protein and fiber allows me to eat pretty lightly the rest of the day; ie, perhaps a late afternoon meal and a snack in the evening. Or we snack at tea time and have a grocery shopped prepared meal in the evening back in the room. So for me it is a convenience, health and money saving tactic. Also, having breakfast in the morning doesn't make me eat a huge breakfast just because it might be a buffet.

A hotel breakfast is likely not representative of the day to day breakfast meal taken by locals but a holiday extravagance. Some of the best breakfast spreads I've enjoyed were put on by upscale tourist hotels in China. Tourist groups from Scandinavians to North Americans to Europeans would be happy with those breakfast spreads. And in many of these Chinese tourist hotels, the dominate tourist groups appeared to be Chinese experiencing luxury travel and exotic breakfast meals. The longest lines at some of these breakfast offerings were the cook to order fried egg stations, not the rice porridge and Chinese donut bar.

I prefer to include the hotel's breakfast as I find it gets me off to a good start time-wise, and nutritionally, too--eggs, ham or bacon and maybe some lox, and cheese; the protein keeps me going until early afternoon when I might have a snack, then dinner is at a sit-down restaurant. I find that if I have to search for food in the morning I end up with a latte and pastry and get hungry far too soon. Some mornings I'm not moving as quickly so just tidy up a bit, put on my glasses and eat, then get ready to leave for the day.

For us, the main considerations are cost and convenience. Sometimes those are contradictory. When you add up the cost of two cafe lattes (no free refills), two pastries, and an o.j. (My husband MUST have his o.j.), you may be approaching the price of the hotel breakfast. However, some hotels have begun to charge exorbitant rates for their breakfasts, like €30 - 35/pp. €70 for breakfast? I’d probably take a pass.
Then there is convenience. Sometimes you have very little choice; out in the country, in an unfamiliar city with no obvious commercial area nearby, early flight, etc., Then we bite the bullet and try to enjoy.
Then, we usually follow the pattern that several others have mentioned, a late main meal midday and a light dinner or evening snack.

I'm of a similar view to P-o-t-F-N and the opposite of Mack. We often stay at tourist type hotels where a big bfast is included(often due to loyalty status). This is a problem when we travel with our daughter because she skips bfast and is starving by lunchtime whereas we're not hungry after eating a big bfast at the hotel.

If the breakfast is extra, I spend from 5 Euro to 17 Euro. Mostly, at a 3 or 4 star hotel in Germany fall between 12-15 Euro, which has been my experience. For 17 -18 Euro it is a pretty big spread.

Obviously, those hotels that charges 5-6 Euro for breakfast did not offer the variety and abundamce as found in a buffet breakfast at 12-15 Euro.

The hotel we are currently at in Switzerland has a sign up telling people not to take lunch supplies away from the breakfast room. Given it’s a big hiking area, I can understand them not wanting to feed the masses lunch on the trail as well

I’m one of those folks who is carbs and caffeine only until I’ve been vertical for a few hours so a big spread is wasted on me but I love good quality pastries and coffee

I much prefer places that have breakfast included,and in my experience European hotels tend to do a cdecent enough buffet spread with enough choice for everyone, some of the bigger hotels are quite superb.
As to taking things away from the breakfast area for lunch,i personally think this is tantamount to theft. you take stuff away from breakfast area and the poor sods that come in a bit later have less of a choice .If you want to take staff away ASK!. generally hotels will do a packed lunch for a small fee or stand by the waste bins and take it before it gets chucked away.

I agree with Uncle Gus about snitching lunch from the breakfast buffet. I have friends who do that and it embarrasses me to death. Once at a hotel in China, the breakfast buffet was sumptuous, but there was a hotel employee walking up and down the line behind us all, looking very unfriendly as he observed what people put on their trays. No one “did lunch” from that buffet!

This is just cracking me up how strongly people feel about their breakfast sandwiches!

Probably, like me, they’ve experienced going to get breakfast and finding empty platters and people walking back to their rooms with bundles of wrapped food.

You find some guests missing out on breakfast while others take their share for lunch funny? That's interesting.

You guys really take food from the breakfast buffet for the family lunch? I never considered this but it does seem like a way to save a few bucks.

Big Mike, yeah people do this. You could take enough for dinner too, while you're at it. Ive seen it here in the US too. In the old days people used to steal towels from hotels, too.

Its just bad manners and taking advantage of the generosity of others. It leads to stories generalizing the poor behavior of groups of travelers. (I could not find an emoji with the right combination of amusement, bewilderment, and judgment).

We were in Norway this past winter with an American group. Folks were bagging sandwich material from the breakfast spread. Norwegians are so honest that there is no need for a don't take food sign. Rather than confronting individual guest, the hotel spoke to our American group leader who conveyed the prohibition against bagging food without paying. (You could pay about 75 NOK, about $10 USD and take a packet lunch from the breakfast spread). We were shamed into compliance not wanting to look like ugly Americans.

At a nice hotel in Sorrento, I watched a big group traveling together - not Americans, either - practically clean out the breakfast buffet for later consumption (this was after they'd all eaten). It was a little astonishing how much they piled into napkins and stuffed into their day bags!

We enjoy breakfasts which are included in the tariffs but don't eat at hotels otherwise. It's usually overly expensive to do so so we'll find something down the street which is a little more reasonable.

Stan, I get it. Anyway, knowing my luck I'd get busted and embarrassed. Unless it's explicitly stated one can take food with them I would think it would be wrong to do so.

In Italy, for instance, I prefer to have breakfast in a cafe in the city centre.
Coffee is cheap between 1-2 euros depending whether you want a caffe normale, a macchiato, à capuccino, marocchino and the brioches are generally fresh and nice. The breakfast in a hotel will be much more expensive and unless you can’t do without eggs or corn-flakes.
In Belgium or France, on the other hand I think breakfast will be much nicer in a hotel.

Stan. How about this?
🤔 oh, and remember when there were glass ASHTRAYS w familiar logos in the recreation rooms throughout suburbia?

An unclegus, towards the end of your post you have written that I can ask staff to come away with me. Should I make those selections based on language skills or on who can help carry my massive overpacking??🤹‍♀️🧦

been many times I have wanted to take staff away with me but it was a typo,and to keep the thread going I will not correct the typo.

Holiday Express Hotels in Europe (I've stayed in a few) don't have all the amenities such as exercise rooms, but they're clean, well-priced and best of all have an included breakfast that usually has a lot of great options.

I do find interesting the comments about taking something from the buffet interesting. I agree that’s it’s not the place to load up a backpack, but grabbing a banana for later is a habit I picked up during freshman year at college at my dorm and often still do to this day. I don’t do it often in Europe, however. That’s more of a domestic travel habit. I’m not sweating the calories during a Europe trip.

In the Pensionen I've stayed in Germany the owner or manager usually, or almost always, sits in the breakfast room when breakfast starts, 7 am or 7:30 am reading the newspaper, greeting everyone as they come in, and maybe even watching that no food gets taken from the buffet table. No one goes in and out without being noticed by the owner or manager sitting there in the same room where you're eating.

I've never seen it done in the Pensionen in Germany. I've never done it, never occurred to me...lack of imagination.

In the old days ie, in '70s I would guess if someone saw that in a German Pension, they would say something, just as I saw passengers getting on a tram not paying. A passenger sitting there or two would say something to that effect, ie making it their business when it was not their business.

In the big hotels most likely the chances of taking food (extra bread rolls, etc) are easier for that to go unnoticed.

Funny enough it's never once occurred to me to take food from the breakfast buffet for later. Not until reading about it in here did I ever even conceive of such a thing. I suppose, when removing hotels from the equation and thinking about any other buffet style eatery, it'd also be extremely strange to try and take extra food like that out with you, and is often expressly forbidden, so I never even contemplated it at a hotel. Though reading some of the replies in here led me down a Google rabbit hole, and I came across page after page of articles and travel forum posts discussing this very thing with most expressed sentiments being on the side of not taking extra food.

I guess I could see the logic in a parent taking a little something for a child that perhaps just isn't a breakfast eater or couldn't make it down to the dining room in time? Maybe a muffin or banana, but not the ingredients to assemble a meal. I'd also not think anything of it on something like a cruise ship or other all-inclusive establishment (such as a beach resort or something), where being able to eat as much as you want whenever you want is kind of a main selling point.

I'm not entirely convinced many (particularly smaller, independent) hotels' margins allow for much in the way of people turning the included breakfast in to extra meals for the day. While some might see it as a chance to claw back some value from the big, multi-gazillion dollar corporation, at many hotels offering that breakfast is more a means to stay competitive and put bodies in rooms, rather than something they can throw some inexhaustible supply of money at - they're trying to offer it efficiently and as cost-effectively as possible, perhaps even using the day's occupancy to determine how much food is made available; throwing off the system messes things up for em and might do the same for other guests. Especially at smaller establishments whose pockets aren't as deep, and who can't leverage volume for lower food prices, things could get further complicated. Too many people turning breakfast in to breakfast, lunch, and snacks could result in more and more of us finding a la carte the only option in the not-too-distant future.

I'm definitely in the avoid-if-possible camp. I stay mostly in budget hotels where the options are typically limited. In many countries the only protein available is yogurt, which can be bought for less than $1 in many little stores. The only beverage I'm interested in other than water is orange juice, not commonly offered in budget lodgings. Many places--though not usually in France--provide low-end bread products (cheap-supermarket-quality sliced bread) that I refuse to waste calories on.

A lot of hotels list their rates on booking.com with and without breakfast. I'm not sure I've ever seen a breakfast for less than 8 euros, which is about 3 times what the food would usually be worth for me.

I can ony assume that when the breakfast is "included", it's just as overpriced as when it's optional.

I have had a few memorably good breakfasts when there was no other booking option available (at least half of them in the UK, none of those in traditional hotels), but in my budget-travel world the odds are strongly against that outcome.

It's usually easy in France to find quiche at a boulangerie, and sometimes reasonably healthy sandwiches are on display on my non-early-bird schedule. Germany's great for offering small sandwiches on whole-grain bread quite early in the day; the French sandwiches are good but often larger. Spain outside the major tourist zones was more of a problem if you didn't want a cold slice of potato omelet.

I'll admit taking an apple or banana from the hotel breakfast buffet.

When staying somewhere a few nights or more we opt for an apartment rental, and simply pick up a few breakfast items from the store like cereal and fruit.

I usually skip hotel breakfasts. If I'm really hungry I'll grab a pain au chocolate and eat it on the go. We tend to eat an early lunch (around noon), and dinner around 8:00 or 8:30. That leaves us time in between for a glass of wine and snack...a cheese plate, or frites at a sidewalk cafe which we love to do in the late afternoon.

It looks like our early forum participant who commented that she takes items for lunches has removed her posts.

Just to add a bit of info. Rick used to suggest doing this very thing, back in former times.

Look at it this way, would you take food from any other buffet? If the answer is no, then don't take it from the hotel breakfast buffet either.

if we eat the hotel breakfast, we can get buy with a snack in the afternoon and a large dinner.

That will work in some countries, but not in France. As some have commented, breakfasts in France are usually what we Americans call "continental." They can be very good if the hotel uses a good source for baked goods, but often they're pretty sad. And pricey for what you get. That being said, on the rare occasions that we stay at a hotel in France, we often take the breakfast. In many towns we've stayed in there have been great boulangeries, but they often don't have coffee or seating. That's less of an issue in big cities.

Okay, I will admit it -- I do take food from breakfast. Now, I don't go over to the table and purposely make a full picnic of sandwiches, but on those times when, as my mother would say, "your eyes are bigger than your stomach" I will pack up the food on my plate rather than tossing it in the trash. (And adjust my selection the next time.)

Laura B
Permission granted.

Ireland B&Bs have these tremendous breakfasts with eggs, sausage, bread, fruit, bacon, bread... everything and then some, but my appetite just doesn't kick in that early, and I can't just force feed myself. If I had eaten everything available then I would probably have enough of a caloric intake for two days.

Laura, I think that would be fine. I hate throwing food away and at any buffet my eyes are always bigger than my stomach. If I stuff myself I don't feel very good.

It looks like our early forum participant who commented that she takes items for lunches has removed her posts.

And now I feel bad for helping drive someone away. I must admit, what I had in mind, was seeing the buffet stripped by families seeing "free" food" on a couple of occasions. Not just taking advantage of the hotel, but rude to the other guests. A piece of fruit, I wouldn't be troubled by, although I see no reason not to ask permission from one of the workers.

I do recall Rick also once upon a time (maybe still?) recommending taking uneaten leftovers from college cafeteria trays as a budget tip. I guess his advice might have changed along with his demographic.

I must admit, what I had in mind, was seeing the buffet stripped by families seeing "free" food" on a couple of occasions. Not just taking advantage of the hotel, but rude to the other guests.

My thoughts exactly. I've seen this a couple of times, most recently in a US hotel where I entered the breakfast room to see one woman with a large Ziploc bag taking all the bagels and pastries while her companion cleared out the tray of sausage. This is certainly much different than taking a piece of fruit!

Yup, I removed my posts because found the conversation ridiculous.

Would be interested to know what is ridiculous about this discussion?

I personally find it ridiculous that the thorny topic has been resurrected. I may be a novice to European travels, and I believe for the most part we are all adults on this site. I think I know the consequences of my own actions.

So, why does seemingly every discussion have to spiral into some debate on morality or highly charged personal feelings? It's of no value to the original intent of this or many other threads here about travel. Hoping not having to contribute anything more to this thread, other than to add on my first, and hopefully not the only, trip abroad I stayed in an AirBnB (Barcelona), and would go out to a cafe for coffee, OJ and a pastry, or else buy yogurt and fruit to eat in my flat.

-John

I forgot to add that in England I always take breakfast in the B&B, the full English breakfast, but so as not to waste food I tell them what they can omit, eg, one of the sausages or the eggs. The B&Bs I've stayed in London are always very accommodating in the regard.

In France there are small hotels where one has the choice of taking breakfast in your room by having it brought to you or going to the breakfast room. This I came across in our small hotel in Strasbourg, the Mrs prefers having in the room, whereas I rather go to the breakfast room.

Not so in Germany, different breakfast culture, so to speak.

Well...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=je98UffdN18

or...

You can chill around the breakfast bar https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ihb6FLSh64

Life is too short to argue over a bagel or an apple regardless....
one scenario is if a person over indulged with food on their plate; could not finish it, and took the item with them - fruit, cornetto - you can't put it back and better than throwing it out.

Deliberately or sneaking to pack a lunch with items from a breakfast buffet is not good. It's their conscience. Guess that doesn't bother them.