Travel Cost

yes it's realistic budget.

Having just returned two months ago from two week trip to Italy (Venice, Florence, and Siena), I would say that $4,000 to $5,000 would be realistic (not including airfare) if you stayed at 130 to 140 Euro per night lodging establishments, and ate relatively inexpensively. If you stayed at lodging establishments that charged less than 130 Euro per night, your budget (including airfare) would likely work.

I think the better answer is to start listing the various components of your trip. Also, there is a difference between two and three weeks of travel. Are you visiting expensive cities or less expensive out of the way places. How are you traveling - by public transport or renting a car? How many places do you plan to visit? You can check the airfare. I don't know where Collegeville is. Let's say that airfare for two people is $2000, you will have $3000 for everything else. $3000 is about 2200 euro (using 1.35 rate). Divide that over 21 days and you will have just over 100 euro a day for accomodations, food, transport, museum fees, etc. for two people. Hmmmm.......

It was looking good until you said -- including airfare. That is a huge variable depending on time of year. What dates were you considering? and what cities. On average it is easy to spend 200E/day for food, lodging, and sightseeing. That is about $3600 for two weeks and $5500 for three weeks. Airline tickets could be another $1,000 each so your are at $5600 for two weeks. And that doesn't include any additional transportation during the trip which there would be if traveling for two to three weeks. If we had more trip details we might better judge the true cost.

If you have the time do what we do. Work on your lodging first get an idea what it will cost. Ours for 12 nights is $1425 not euro. Ok so check air...ours for 2 is $1552. We're up to $2,977...if we spend $100 day on food were up to $4,177....now add train travel and sites. We travel cheap but I wouldn't think of trying 3 weeks with that amount. You have to allow some enjoyment and not worry about every penny. You can have a wonderful 2 weeks I'm sure!!!

I think you can do it for that amount. In March 2009 we spent 5 days in Siena, 5 in Florence and 7 in Rome using bus and trains for transportation between cities and spent about that much. We stayed in 2 star hotels using RS suggestions for some and booking through booking.com. They all included breakfast and delicioius Italian pizza for lunch was inexpensive. We also found we could eat lunch in delis where office workers eat and get a great home style meal at low cost. We like casual dining and were able to find small, non-tourist restaurants that were reasonably priced for dinner. We visited all the sites we could fit in, buying the museum passes in Siena and Florence and the Roma pass (museums and metro) in Rome. Even took a day trip from Siena to San Gimignano. Check out sites like Virtual Tourist and Trip Advisor and also Rick Steves Italy guide book for inexpensive restaurant and hotel suggestions. We are planning to return in March 2011 and are searching those sites for restaurants (hotels already booked) and making notes and we expect to spend about the same amount as before. Planning is 1/3 the fun, with 1/3 actually being there, and 1/3 going over pictures and memories. Have fun!!

The best rule I ever heard about travel is, "Take twice as much money and half as many clothes as you think you're going to need."

Marilyn come back tell us what your plan is. Otherwise we are just blowing smoke with different numbers. Jo's numbers rely on a sub $800 fare which I think would be impossible unless you are going in January or November. There are ways to cut corners but not all travelers are comfortable with some of the ways. We only buy about one meal a day. And try to make hard use of discount packages and tickets for sights. But that often requires a lot of pre-planning and research.

Marilyn, IMHO, the amount you've budgeted for two people to travel in Italy for 2 - 3 weeks (including air fare) is far too low. I haven't researched air fares from your area, but assuming you start with US$5000, if you spend US$900 PP return for air fares, that will leave $3200 for actual travel which is about €2400. If my math is correct, that equates to about €115 per day for Hotels, food, sightseeing and local transportation for two people. While it may be feasible, I'd be more comfortable with a larger budget (even if I didn't spend all of it). Of course, these are "ballpark figures" and there are a lot of variables, including currency exchange rates. In this situation, the choices would seem to be either increase the travel budget, or make it a two week trip instead of three weeks. Good luck!

Rick's book Europe Through the Back Door 2011 says you can "travel comfortably" for ~$185 per day per person NOT including airfare. The book says "students or rock bottom budget travelers" can do it for a bit over $100/day/person (again NOT including airfare). The book's numbers are in $'s, based on €1 = $1.25 and other conditions described in his book (two people sharing a room, etc). Our Guru has said: "I'm cautious about sending people to Europe with too much confidence and not enough money."

I love Tom's advice! Your budget is sound if it does not include airfare. We spent around that range ($4-5k) for 15 days in Italy in 2009. We stayed at modest hotels (nothing fancy) & ate at inexpensive restaurants. I would say $6-7k would be a more reasonable range to include airfare.

Frank, we're traveling in April....reason for cheap price....the stops. I really hope we don't have a problem with missing luggage but we're booked. Greenville SC to Washington, Washington to London and London to Rome. Return open jaw from Barcelona Spain to Madrid, on to DC then Greenville.
I know this isn't the best way to travel to Italy but it does get in your blood! Never thought we would ever go and now this is our 4th trip, first being in "06" but never with all the stops......I'll let you know how it works out.

Thank you so much for replying so soon. At least we can get a start on what we need to do. We would be flying out from New York or Philly. We do not need expensive accommodations or food. We can rough it to a certain extent considering our age. Marilyn

Airfair and lodging. Those are the two to really think about. Airfare you can't much change about aside from looking a lot, booking early and accepting some layovers and many transfers. Lodging; we just think of this as a place for our stuff and a place to crash at the end of the day being out and about. It cost less to be in town. There is no really saving to be outside of town and then travel in to see it. For three weeks, $5000 total means, 2500 each, being very careful about the lodgings. All the other costs don't matter much. You can eat well on 20 Euros a day total with the markets and average out a nice dinner or five. Transportation is just an after thought with Point to Point tickets. Our trips run from 8,000 to 4,100 total for two weeks. The least expensive ones turn out to be the best ones. We rent a motorcycle for at least three days, and that adds a great deal to the cost. These are much more expensive than renting a car. $5000 for three weeks, means you are in one location. And not traveling all that much to other areas or using open jaw flights. Florence or Rome would be my suggestion as a home base.