Hi all I have not been to Italy in 4 years and have only ever travelled with my husband. In spring we will be spending 5 days in Rome and 2 in Florence with our 2 teenagers ( 14 and 17) so 4 of us total. Our hotels come with breakfast. What would be a an amount you would expect to spend daily on food with 4 people. I know no one truly knows but just trying to get an idea. Would paying in cash be preferred or using a card? We don’t plan on any high end restaurants but pasta pizza etc. any input would be appreciated.
Posted by
Bend, Oregon
2311 posts
You can take a look at menus on sites like TripAdvisor to get an idea of current pricing.
One thing that can quickly add to the food budget is soda. It’s typically 3-4 euros for a can (or similar size) with no refills. If you bring refillable water bottles you can save a lot of money. If you order water, you need to specify tap water or they will bring you bottled water for a charge.
We budget about 15-20 euros per person per meal, excluding breakfast, for basic sit down meals. Sometimes two of us will split a pizza and salad. Sometimes we grab a slice of pizza from the little walk up places. Other times we have a nicer meal and it costs more.
Don’t forget the gelato budget. Minimum one gelato per day, easy.
Posted by
2494 posts
We were in Northern Italy in August with a group of 7. Our dinners which included wine and water and shared salads and vegetables ran between 15 and 25 Euros a person. I know that is large range but the nicest dinners were 25 Euros a person while we got pizza ect several times for about 15 Euros a person.
Lunch depends what you want to eat. We found sandwich for less than 10 Euros--sometimes 6 or 7. If you want much else we found it was typically about 12 Euros a person. But then you were eating pizza or pasta which was more like a dinner.
We may have paid cash at some sandwich shops but otherwise used a card.
Posted by
Los Angeles
4389 posts
Rick always has dining recommendations and price ranges, as you note there's really no way to know what you would be eating so no way to accurately guesstimate.
My motto is, I'm on vacation just pay the damn bill and worry about it when I get home.
Posted by
Idaho, USA
7277 posts
I would budget about the same amount of money for food as if you were eating the same types of food in your nearest city (I’m making an assumption that you live in the US.). The food is usually much better & the same cost or less if you walk a few blocks away from the tourist center of the city. And that’s true for gelato, too.
You don’t tip in Italy like the US - just leave a few Euros in cash for the staff.
Posted by
Wilmington, DE, USA
1046 posts
Can I recommend my favorite local place in Trastevere? Carlo Menta is loud, crowded, fun, and very reasonably priced. The food is honest and very good. You can eat very well for quite a little bit. My first time there I asked the server to basically order for me. What's the Italian equivalent to "soup to nuts"? The tab was less than half what I spent the night before at another place. I went back for lunch and was even more happy. I'm a regular whenever I'm in Rome. So, who was there? I saw large groups of teenagers and young adults. There were also families that looked to be 3 generations. I didn't see many tourists - most people seemed to know their server by name. You may have to wait a while for a table but that's not a bad thing!
Posted by
California USA
3950 posts
We traveled with our 2 teenaged granddaughters to Italy and France for 3 weeks in 2019. I’ve linked a trip report that has a paragraph about food costs in the second section. Our granddaughters are adventurous eaters and we were on a food focused vacation. We could eat less expensively in Italy than our area of California for similarly styled meals.
Posted by
martinez, ca, usa
2299 posts
hey hey susan
totally agree with Robert about carlo menta. staying in the piazza navona area, took a walk thru the fun and exciting campo de fiori over the Tiber river to roam thru the jewish ghetto down an alleyway to the beautiful basilica of santa maria in trastevere. strolling along we saw restaurant and stopped for lunch. outside under the canopy with long tables, family style sitting near many residents and kids, asking questions about anything and everything, like making new friends.
shared a delicious pizza, wine and a fresh salad and dessert was yummy tartufo. think the meal was about 35E.
on the other side, our last night in Rome before transatlantic cruise, went all out and had a fabulous meal down some small alley at the pantheon, costing 110E. so much fun, laughs and people watching. enjoy
aloha
Posted by
WA USA
1076 posts
I didn't even budget food on my trip with my daughter in 2019. I'm not a foodie and figured the amount I would spend wouldn't be different enough then what I would spend at home or not enough different to put in the effort to budget.
I tended to buy food at grocery stores, eat at cafeterias etc. And yes, we ate gelato every day. Actually I found the food pretty inexpensive.
But really the budget you need could be very different depending on your travel style.
I'm the type of traveler who buy's basic economy tickets to save money. So having a sit down meal at what I would consider expensive restaurants would not be my thing.