Tour out of pocket avg cost

Tony,

Hard to answer without knowing your dietary preferences at lunch and dinner. As a broad rule of thumb, I plan to spend what I spend at home. If you spend $15-30 on lunch and $30-50 for dinner, then expect that in Europe. Only caveat, if you want a top cullanary experience unique to each city, be prepared to spend much more. Beer and basic wines are inexpensive; water, liquor and soft drinks usually are not.

Other expenses will depend on what you plan to do in your free time. Walking vs taxi or metro. Museums or a concert vs just wandering the streets and parks, etc.

Hi Tony. I travel solo and am not a foodie so my budget may be different than yours. I budget 50 € or £ per day. Sometimes it's less if free time museums are cheap and I grab an inexpensive meal. Sometimes it's more if free time plays/concerts/operas and museums cost more or I want a good meal. Then the daily cost can be over about €150. Example I paid 90€ for a front row seat at the Spanish Riding School (Lippizan horses) in Vienna but the Bundestag in Berlin was free. Tickets were difficult to get and took planning. I also buy a lot of Christmas ornaments and souvenirs along the way but don't count those in my budget.
Give yourself permission to spend money on what is important to you.

I agree with Horsewoofie…I mentally allow 50€/£/whatevers a day for expenses on a tour. When I took the 21 Day tour some days I spent almost nothing, some days I went over 50€.

The most expensive day was the full day in Switzerland. My guide offered to lead people up the Schilthorn and then had the bus meet us, take us in to Lauterbrunnen and most of us went up via cog train/gondola to do the Mannlichen-Kleine Sheidegg hike with the cog train back down. Even back in 2014 when I did this tour transportation in Switzerland was a bit expensive. I don’t have the figures on how much the day cost but it seems like it was over 100 Swiss francs. However…i think when I totaled expenses at the end of the tour I averaged about 30€ a day.

In some places I just didn’t think about cost because I wanted the experience. Switzerland was one of those!

I do not know if it helps: a new article of public TV news in German language shows a diagram of price levels for accomodation and restaurants between European countries (April 2024). Germany is index level 100 (no currency) to compare the others. As in years before Switzerland is most expensive but Denmark was overtaking Norway.

Also within countries you will find very different price levels. Munich and Hamburg for example are more expensive compared to Berlin although the difference is getting smaller.

For translation I recommend DeepL.

I would think that all non tour activities would be discretionary and therefore totally within your control. Extra dinners, well that could be fancy or from a grocery. Still, discretionary.