Budget for Italy 3 week trip

This is impossible to answer without a lot of context, so first clarify what you are including. For me (speaking for a couple), the biggest expenditure is the airfare, followed by accommodations (~150 USD per night). Also, who is "we?" Will you need more than one room, etc.? What kinds of accommodations do you anticipate--hotels, b&bs, etc. I almost always do a rental so I can make my own breakfast and do my own laundry, two cost savers (not counting free breakfasts of course).
We do not do a ton of city/museum visits, so describe the kind of trip you are taking and to where--cities are far more expensive than smaller towns and villages. We tend to rent a car because of the places we go. We splash out on dinners with booze, but we tend to eat picnics for lunch.
All of these factors make a huge difference.
I would need about 10k for three weeks, just as a random guess.

Are you foodies, do you want lodging that's refundable/ cancelable, want breakfast supplied, elevators instead of stairs, air conditioning, city- center locations, ........?

So many variables - which are important to you?

Accommodations in Italy are typically more expensive, for us, than other locations in Europe. We like more moderate, family owned places, smaller accommodations so that, in general, saves us money. It also depends on the cities you choose. Cities south of Rome can be less in expensive (except Amalfi), whether a city is big or small, or heavily touristed factors in. We also tend to pick more family owned, smaller restaurants which can often be less expensive.

We always first try to plan our trips with public transportation which can save money. From there, we'll rent a car for the portions of the trip where that makes sense logistically and financially.

I believe Rick's current quote is about $200/day per person with two people traveling together. He provides a good breakdown of where that money goes to give a good idea of budget so you can adjust accordingly.

I find my wife and tend to spend less than this on average and I don't think we're really skimping when we do this since we essentially do what we want and are willing to sometimes spend money to avoid hassle and speed things up. But obviously what you "want to do" is crucial in determining the cost of everything. Heck, someone posted recently quoting prices of lodging in Florence for 4 days that cost as much as our usual whole three week trip budget.

Lodging is the biggest expense and cities cost more than towns and touristy places, like Amalfi, cost more as well. Fast trains in Italy can be expensive but you can book early and sacrifice flexibility for savings, but in general I don't find public transportation expensive. Things like guided tours are an expense but can really add richness and context to sight or town.

You need to figure out what you really want to see and experience and then start to put a plan together. Airfare and lodging are be biggest part of you costs so they are pretty searchable and will be known - and probably even paid for - before you go so there shouldn't be too many large surprise expenses. Booking tickets for large sights and big train trips is just smart travel planning and also help nail down more of your expenses before you leave.

Also don't forget about the variable euro hit so everything could be about 5% +/- or so more expensive priced in euros versus dollars.

Plan ahead, pack light and have a great trip,
=Tod

Welcome to the forum!

I'd go with Rick's WAG, about $200.00-$250.00 a day per person.

If you would provide us with more information we could give you a better answer. Have you been to Europe before? What are your transportation plans? What accommodation level do you want? Where in northern Italy?

How many is "we" ?

If you want the budget to include travel cost to/from Italy, knowing your origin point is required.

Where are all the points in 'northern Italy' you want to include.

Where you are planning to travel makes a very big difference in lodging cost. Go to booking.com and compare hotel rates in Venice and Padua for a clear example. There's a good chance you can beat booking's rates by going directly to the hotel's websites, but booking.com is a fabulous research tool when you're roughing out a trip budget. You'll be able to come up with a much more accurate budget if you take the hotel cost out of the calculation.

I'm usually a solo traveler and in southern Europe can most often keep the cost of my (very simple, but air-conditioned) summer hotel rooms under the equivalent of $100 per night. I think that would generally not be possible in Venice, Florence, the lakes, etc., even in spring and fall. Business cities like Milan and Bologna can be a challenge as well, depending on what's happening in the city at the time. Double rooms will cost more than the tiny singles that are my preference.

Those of you who mentioned Rick's estimate - what does it include? Does it include lodging?

Those of you who mentioned Rick's estimate - what does it include? Does it include lodging?

My response included lodging, but we stay in inexpensive hotels and B&Bs. We also travel off season, so accommodations are cheaper. My wag doesn't include airfare.

Just for fun, I checked Castello di Verrazzano, where we stayed December 2015. A room for 6 nights in October 2024 comes up at $705.00 or $117.50 a night. We went to Salzburg, Ljubljana and Vienna and our rooms were ~$120 a night for decent rooms 10 minutes from town.

At around $150.00 a night for a room, that leaves plenty for meals, transportation and sundries on a budget of $200-$250 a person.

We prefer modest B&Bs over fancier B&Bs or hotels. They are a lot more fun. We actually did our 7 day trip to Tuscany, including meals, our agriturismo and a rental car for less than $250.00 a day for the two of us.

For spring and fall traveling, these are my estimates.

Airfare: $800 to $1000 per ticket. I’m guessing here because I get my tickets with miles

Hotel: About $150 per night for a double room staying in mostly 3 star and some 4 star hotels

Daily expenses: $75 to $100 per person eating in mostly $$ type restaurants. Really depends on how much you eat and how expensive you like to eat. Also depends on how often you change towns as train tickets can eat the daily budget if you move too often