Lodging venice,rome.

How many people? What is your travel style, for example, looking for super-budget travel or splurge-special occasion travel? What will you want to do? Tour the big sites in big cities or ??? Have you ever been to Europe?

Without a lot more information, I don't think anyone can really advise you with any accuracy. For accommodations only, you could have a look at booking.com for this year's prices during your time frame. You can use their filters to narrow the search to meet your preferences.

Look in the Travel Tips section for tips on sleeping and eating in Europe: https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/sleeping-eating

And while you didn't ask, don't forget to also budget for attraction entrance fees and local transportation costs

Hello jamesandizzybrown, and welcome to the forum.

Rick's current estimate is $175-$200/day - excluding intercity travel costs - each for a couple travelling together in his style but a lot depends on lodging choices. Some people spend more than that a day on lodging alone.

My wife and I do well on less than this spending ~$130/day on lodging ($65/each) on average in Italy when you include city taxes that come with tourist stays. We generally get by on (very roughly) $200/day including intercity travel and we do't feel like we're compromising in any way that matters to us. (Yes, I do confess to having spreadsheets of costs.)

Many things affect costs:
- Big cities and very famous tourist places (Amalfi coast) tend to cost significantly more than small towns in almost every way but especially lodging
- Attending places during festivals and special events
- Car rental is very expensive
- Dining out if your tastes run to Michelin stars and famous wines
- Private transfers and personal guides are expensive
Also Switzerland is expensive and I've heard even seasoned travelers refer to it as "shockingly expensive" compared to the countries that surround it.

I would suggest starting a list (or better yet a spreadsheet) and list the nights you have, where you're staying and check a booking site for general estimates of room costs. The RS books are also helpful if you want recommendations and a preview of cost levels for specific place. You can price out intercity travel prices - fast trains, flights etc - and this should give you the bulk of your costs. Add a daily budget for food, city transit and sites costs that's about everything.

My main recommendation is make sure you're spending your money on the things that matter to you and will make your trip special. Maybe that means staying in a bland, cheap hotel but attending an opera in a Roman arena or eating in a world famous restaurant but that's up to you to figure out.

The unfortunate reality is that travel is like anything else - there is no substitute for experience. Sometimes the only way to find out what really works for you is to go and really find out by doing it. It won't be perfect and you may overpack, under-plan, schedule too many things too close together or too few things too far apart and all you can do is staying "endlessly optimistic" and takes notes for next time. I think people here try and pass on their hard learned lessons to others but everyone is different and in the end everyone has travel their own trip.

Have a great trip!
=Tod

Welcome to the forum. It’s always good to start planning early, just be flexible when you’re a year away from your trip. Things change.

Here’s a thread from a week ago. It starts with the poster asking about an extremely tight budget. However, when more information was asked and answered her budget was double the original post.
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/general-europe/information-for-first-time-europe-travellers-itinerary

I mention all this because to get helpful answers 1) it’s important to provide as much information about your travel ideas as possible, 2) do your homework as you plan so we know what you want to see and do, 3) don’t ask all your questions in one post, 4) read previous posts.

And please don’t ask “best” questions. It’s like fingernails on a blackboard. What’s “best” for me may not be “best” for you.

All that said, as a budget solo traveler, I plan €200-250 per day (often spend less, sometimes more) excluding airfare and travel insurance. I stay in relatively inexpensive hotels, not a foodie so eat fairly cheaply but will spend money for concerts/operas, horseback riding, museums, food tours, local tours and a Rick Steves tour.

EDIT to add: Since your header asks about lodging, my independent lodging for Italy Sept 2024 trip is €145/night Venice B&B (discounted for 5 nights), €87/night Florence monastery (discounted for 4 nights), €85/night Rome monastery. All prices exclude city tax. I booked with the lodging for best price and better cancellation policy.

To get an estimate of lodging costs, I'd go to booking.com and see what's available for this summer in the cities you want to visit. Choose dates as close to when you expect to travel as you can. Rates will probably be somewhat higher in 2025, but this will give you a good starting point on a budget. Booking.com has a lot of filters you can set to narrow down lodging options. The best-value options are likely to book up first, so if you see places that sound especially good to you, make a list for future reference.

Booking directly with hotels may well be less expensive, but not always.