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How much day to day spending money?

Hi,

I have a trip planned in July for 20 days! We are a family of 4, 2 parents, a teen, and a 1.5 year old. Spending time in the dolomites, Cinque Terre, Lucca, Florence. Mostly staying at air bnb, so we plan to grocery shop and do breakfast in every day.
But I would imagine as we are out and about will be buying lots of snacks and dinners out. Not including flights/hotels/rental cars, how much realistically do you think would be spent on food, museum passes, train tickets, gelato, etc? I am thinking $200-300 per day? I want to start saving in January so I don't blow my budget! We've also never been so I have no idea!

Thanks!

Posted by
1585 posts

Azar,

For a family of 4, I think 5k to 6k for 20 days in July in Europe , which is peak season, is a target range for spending.

Posted by
5697 posts

P.S. while you are grocery shopping for your breakfasts, pick up some portable snack foods for during the day. Especially for the little one.
Also, dinners out get tiring so an occasional carryout roasted chicken at home with your feet up can be relaxing. And a €1.50 bottle of soda from the apartment refrigerator beats buying multiple €3 glasses of soda in restaurants.

Posted by
27393 posts

You can go to trenitalia.com and check on current rail fares, which will allow you to figure out that segment of expenses fairly accurately.

Except for Florence, the places you are going aren't heavy on museums, so entry fees probably won't be a huge expense. If you know what Florentine places you want to go inside, you can check their websites for entry fees; you might or might not save money on a museum pass. Bolzano has the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology, a really excellent museum housing the Iceman, which I'm almost certain would interest the adults and your teenager. The current price of a family ticket for all of you is 18 euros.

As of 2015, you would have been safe with an average cost of 2 euros for a snack-size serving of carry-out gelato; I'm sure I paid a bit less. It could be somewhat higher now. The main thing is that it will cost you much, much more if you eat your gelato sitting down in a café. The same goes for coffee, cold drinks, etc. Unless you seriously need to get off your feet, buy your refreshments at a bar or a carry-out stand.

Restaurants in Italy are not dirt-cheap. Italians care about quality and are willing to pay for local ingredients, etc. You'll see menus posted just about everywhere, so you can judge how costly it might be before going inside. Pizzerias will usually be about your least expensive hot-food option. You can run up quite a tab on bottled water and sodas at any seated establishment, so be careful there. What I try (and fail) to remember to do is drink a lot of the water I'm carrying around with me before I go inside a restaurant so I don't walk in dying of thirst. That way, I hope to get by with just one bottle of water rather than two. It will be very hot in July; you'll need water, but a restaurant is the most expensive place to buy it. In most cases a little corner store will be cheapest, though not necessarily if it's across the street from the Vatican. Next best will be buying and consuming the cold beverage at a bar. A few years ago that could cost as little as 1 euro in non-touristy neighborhoods.

You may find tasty snacks at street markets. You may also bump into shops selling prepared foods to consume at home. I don't remember what they're called, but it will be clear what they are from the window displays. A lot of the food is sold by weight, so if you don't go overboard you can put together a nice, moderately-priced picnic. You might need to eat the food in your hotel room (if that isn't forbidden), depending on the local customs. Some cities are fining people who plop themselves down in public areas to eat.

Posted by
4012 posts

There is no set amount because each person is different. Moreover, costs are not the same meaning there are cities in which for example museum entry is free. If you buy some sort of transit pass in which all of your public transportation is covered for one price over a specific amount of time, you don’t have to worry about day-to-day costs of getting on a tram, bus, or subway.

You have to look at your budget and where you plan to travel. Look up what the museum, church, attraction fees are if any. If you’re running a car, you have to consider parking fees and gasoline.

Nobody here can answer that specifically for you.

Posted by
16894 posts

About $300 per day should cover 3 adults/teens on a moderate budget for dining, sightseeing, and in-city transport. That's the estimate on p. 23 of Rick's Italy 2020 guidebook. The price key inside the front cover will help you interpret budgets for the restaurants listed, as well as sightseeing costs are specifically detailed in the towns covered. Probably a majority of restaurant web sites in Italy do not post menu prices, but all display menus outside on the street, so you can know before you sit.

See an easy overview of train ticket prices and discount options at https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/transportation/trains/italy-rail-passes, and for some longer distances at https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/transportation/trains/cost-maps.

Posted by
2768 posts

My rule of thumb for my family of 4 (elementary school age kids) is $400-500/day INCLUDING lodging and transit. The $400 - $450 number is about right for Italy, the higher is for more expensive places. So if my average hotel is $150 total, that means $300/day is good for everything else. We don't scrimp when it comes to sights and restaurants, so one could easily get by with less. Also, remember it's an average. One day may include an expensive museum or a $70/person food tour dinner...but the next day could be picnics and free sights. Don't skip somewhat pricey things if you care about them, just balance them other days.

Posted by
67 posts

Something I found surprising and a happy way to save money is the water all over Italy is safe, fresh and tastes great. We carried refillable water bottles on our trip last year and no doubt saving lots of money.

Posted by
27393 posts

There are very, very few places in Europe where the tap water is not fine. Two that I'm aware of are Ukraine (not sure it's an issue everywhere in the country) and the Greek Island of Skiathos (where I was told the water was safe but unpleasantly brackish). I wouldn't be surprised if there are some other places with issues, but that would be a rare exception,

Posted by
1799 posts

$200-$300 per day for sightseeing, public transport and food is $50-70 per person. That seems a bit high especially since you have a 1.5 year old and you will have AirBnb accommodations to cook or store food. However, better to save more than less. Enjoy.

Posted by
30 posts

We spent about $200-$300 per day for out of pocket expenses including most meals. We are only 2, but we dined out pretty much exclusively, so I think you’re in the right ballpark. The Cinque Terre food markets I saw were tiny so you might have some difficulty assembling meals there. Conversely, Florence has a lot of specialty food shops and it’s easy to gather great take home meals. Finally, you can spend quite a lot on museum passes so you’ll want to plan for peak daily budget in Florence.

Posted by
7867 posts

Our last trip on our own in Europe was 28 days in Wales and England (we didn't stay in London at all).

We averaged $120 per night for two persons for lodging, staying mainly in B&Bs. We rented a car, which you probably won't need to do, but you will need to spend some on rail tickets. We spent about $9000 total for the trip, including admission to sights, lodging, meals, rental car, air tickets from east coast USA. I think for four, your estimate is pretty accurate.

Posted by
847 posts

How much do you spend when you eat out at home. Dinner, lunch, snacks. Cause it's pretty much the same. I can get a great Mexican dinner at a semi-self serve place near me for $12 including drink. Or I can have dinner at one of the 'fine dining restaurants' near me for $75. So what style eating do you prefer. A small gelato in one location can be €2 and five minute walk away it can be €4. So food is going to be totally up to you. Museums and train tickets you can estimate by going on line to the respective museum or train sites. There are no transportation 'passes' that make sense. You didn't ask about driving costs but you should be aware that the cost of the car rental is sometimes only about half the total cost. One thing that is more costly than in (most of) the US is parking and gas and tolls. Also there are fees to the car rental agency that you pay locally (including second driver fees) that really add to the price AutoEurope or whoever you reserve with charges you.