How Much Money for Meals

That would be €50 per meal, per person, which sounds very generous to me. It also depends on where you are going, restaurants in the smaller cities, and in the south generally, are less expensive.

When I travel with my foodie friends, we usually average €30-35 per person, including wine and dessert. We have coffee, gelato and cocktail breaks, as well, and prices vary wildly for those.

We tend to have one lighter meal and one grander one; so one meal could be €25/pp, another could get closer to €60/pp. When I am on my own, I rarely spend more than €20 for the main meal of the day.

Again, it depends on where you eat and what you order. But basically that is about what we plan, maybe closer to 75E, each day. We generally are always under but sometimes over. That is a good starting point.

Dépends what you want:
In Florence for instance I can eat a really Nice pasta meal for 6-7euros with a glass of wine and a coffee.
À lunch menu at 14-16 euros, many Nice evening meal sur around 25-35 or an excellent gastronomic meal
at 50-60 euros.
Coffee is around 1-1.50 euro.
Ice cream : around 2 euros.
water around the same price,
Béer can be rather expensive

yeah, that is very generous. Maybe 50 for lunch, 100 for dinner, and 25 for snacks. Depends on where, it can be way less expensive.

200 Euros is not too little. You can get good food for way less. We have always enjoyed all meals we ate at Rick Steves recommended restaurants. Good food that won't bust the budget.

Thank you everyone. Zoe, you always have such great recommendations. I think I will stick at 200 Euros per day.

5 weeks and counting.

Craig

A full meal (first course+second course with side dish+wine+espresso, maybe even dessert) at a regular restaurant will probably average about 30€ per person in Florence. In smaller towns in Tuscany, discount that by 20-25%. At least that is my average every year.

I think that you have the right amount budgeted,Venice will be fairly high as well as Florence,in other hill towns it will be more reasonable.I do research before I leave home and also ask my hotel for restaurants with no English on the menu.
Mike

We travel a lot and eat well, if not fancy, and even in the U.K., in London, we don't spend that much daily. We average about Euro 115.00/day including wine, coffee, etc. Sometimes we eat very informal (panini for lunch) and often breakfast is included. Sometimes one dinner is >100.00 Euro, but the next day we may eat pizza for 30.00.

If you plan Euro 200.00 per day for two of you, you may be delighted at how much money you do not spend.

We have gone to Italy the last two years, and have found that $100 per day average (so $50/person) works well for us. Some days we have splurged and spent over $100 on dinners, but other nights shared a really great 10 Euro pizza and bottle of wine! If you have breakfast included daily, this will reduce your need a lot as well. You'll pay more for food overall in Venice & Rome, but good food is actually pretty affordable in other areas and small towns. Wine is less expensive than in the US, and the current exchange rate is in your favor!

Craig,

Have you travelled in Italy before? As you may be aware, meals are served in courses including Antipasti, Primi, Secondi, Contorni and Dolci. If you order the "full meal deal", it gets expensive very quickly (and you may not be able to finish it all). For supper I often just order a Primi item (Pasta), a salad and some wine which would be about €15-25, and that's more than adequate. If you don't mind something a bit less for lunch, just buy a Panini and a drink at one of the neighborhood Bars, and that should only be about €10 PP.

There's a wide variety in prices, and I'm sure you'll find the best balance after a day or two. One other point to mention is that if you have a sit-down meal, you may notice "Coperto" on the bill. That's a cover charge for servicing the table, and it's normal in many places in Italy. The Coperto is apparently illegal in Lazio but you may still see it on the bill. The Coperto is different than the Servizio which is for the staff.

Craig,
While over estimating is definitely better than under estimating your budget would assume gourmet meals more often than not and assumes you like good wine. For the aid of other travelers with similar questions, you should state these type of things.

I think half your budget would be more than sufficient and still be considered living quite well allowing for nice meals and not budget watching and good local wine! Most travelers will as many of have posted follow a nice meal with pizza the next night, mixing in a picnic or take out here and there and rarely have 2 costly meals a day on top of free breakfast allowing them to make due with 1/3 - 1/4 of you budget. I know I make it a point to eat much more than I otherwise would for breakfast on vacation, provides good energy to start a day of site seeing and walking plus is free so allows us to reduce meal expenses the rest of the day.

Craig,

There are restaurants for all budgets in Italy. So, first things first.

Don't expect an American style breakfast in your hotel (or anywhere else for that matter). The typical continental breakfast is cold cuts, cheese, breads, cereal, fruit, yogurt and drinks. The size of the buffet is heavily dependent on the price category of the hotel.

I have never been able to sit down and eat an entire first course (primi), second course or entry (secondi) and side course (vegi's etc.) at one sitting - too much food. My wife an I would often each order a primi and then we would split a secondi.

While sitting on a piazza looking at a church or fountain is really romantic, the price of the meal goes (way) up and the quality usually goes (way) down. Look for places a couple blocks away from the big attractions for better food at a better price.

I had fun cruising Google Maps looking for restaurants before my trip. Most have web pages and most of the menus were current enough to get a good idea of the cost.

To get the scoop on dining in Italy, check out blogs like Ron in Rome.

I've only spent one afternoon in Italy, where I had a pizza and a beer. With tip, the total was 13€.

I've spent 21 weeks in Germany over the last 16 years, and I always budget about 20€/day for meals (lunch, dinner, drinks, tip). Every place I stay has breakfast included, so I don't have that expense. I never dumpster-dive. The only time I bought food from a grocery store was when I had an apartment; I never picnic. It's an average - sometime more, sometimes less. I always eat at least one sit-down meal a day, often two. Occasionally, I catch a sandwich and a drink at the train station on the go. Sometimes I have a big meal at lunch and a light dinner. But I understand the menus in Germany, and the some of the regional specialties are very good and less expensive, so that helps the budget.

In general expect to spend a little less than you would at restaurants in California. Add to that the lack of the tip and you are saving at least 20% over comparable CA options.
Certain things like Soda will be much higher and House Wine much lower than you might be used to.

Although the breakfast is not as expansive as a US hot breakfast buffet may be, the breakfast options are enough to fill you up and have always been fresher as a whole than you get in the US. As long as you can fill up on cereals, fruits, breads, cheese and possibly some lunch meat ; usually it is buffet style so you can go back up for more. They may or may not have eggs, don't expect bacon, sausage, pancakes, etc...

I agree with multiple posters that find it way to much food at sit down restaurants to order each course and the waiters do try and guide you to do so. It takes a little resolve to order only what you want.
While I do not have any first hand experience with it, I have heard that asking for a "doggie bag" or taking something home you did not finish is looked down on so would avoid.
Each of you getting a different primi and splitting a secondi will not be looked down upon and will fill you up at a reasonable cost. You can choose to add dessert as well or pass on dessert and pick up a gelato walking around which we would usually do.

I get by just nicely with my budget of 10 euro for lunch, 30 euro for dinner, and 40 euro for wine. I love wine. Some days I go over for dinner, some under but it usually comes out right at the end of my trips.