What do you think a day's worth of cash is?

There is no way to answer that for you. We have no idea what class of hotels you are looking at, what type of dining you do, how many activities you need to pay for, how many people you are covering, what cities/areas/countries you will be in. If you could fill in some of the blanks, we could give you better answers.

If you really need to know, do answer Nancy's questions, as well as one more: do you prefer to use cash or a credit card when you have the choice?

But, I'm not sure you really need to know. Unless you will only be in the euro-zone countries for a total of one day, just take out a few hundred euros from an ATM. If that lasts for your whole trip, great; if not, just make another ATM withdrawal when you need more money. Unless you're going to a very isolated area, ATM's are as prevalent in Europe as they are in the US, meaning they're everywhere. And if you have some extra euros at the end, you can use them to pay down your last hotel bill, then put the rest on your credit card. Or, you can do what most of us on this Forum seem to do - save them for a future trip!

I agree with Harold and Nancy. One more thing to consider: will you use passes or city cards, will you have reservations paid in advance for sights (Roma Pass for example)? Keep in mind that many small restaurants don't take credit cards. Do your hotels include breakfast? Will a €3 coffee and pastry be enough if you have to buy breakfast, or will you want a €10 American breakfast?

I am a frugal traveler, so I budget €40-50 per day for food and incidentals. First and last days in a city will be more, if taxis are involved. Train tickets are bought in advance, except for short day trips. City cards or passes cost from €10-75, depending on the city and type of pass.

Kathi, we usually budget 100 a day for the two of us. Sometimes it could be more and sometimes it could be less but 100 is a good figure. This will buy meals and get you into sites. Usually, our hotel offers free breakfast so for meals we have a quick lunch and a good dinner. We don't go overboard on any of the meals but if you want something special you should plan for extra money.

I would suggest that you book some sites ahead of time. This way you don't need to budget those costs into your daily spending.

Donna

Each day I generally carry about a hundred euro +/- 20 in a secure pocket for my daily spending money unless I know that I will have a bigger than usual expenditure that day. If I am running short that day, during one of my visits to a toilet I will replenish my daily money from my money belt. If I am low on cash totally, then I will hit a convenient ATM and more most of that cash to my money belt on my next visit to a toilet.

Kathi,

I think it is important to think about the amount of money you feel comfortable carrying on your person. If ATM fees are not a big issue, I would tend toward carrying 100 euros and know that I can get more if needed.

Nancy's questions:

We have no idea what class of hotels you are looking at, - I have them all booked they are mid-range like the Albergo del Senato Hotel we booked in Rome to luxury like the Palazzo Sant'Angelo we booked in Venice.

what type of dining you do, - Every hotel serves breakfast. We eat whatever is around during the day that looks good and prefer the Ruth Chris style restaurants for dinner. We are foodies.

how many activities you need to pay for, - We have purchased the Vatican Skip the Line tour, the Firenze Card, Venezia Unica Card, and still not sure about the Roma Card yet. I think we should get it, but the other 2 couples don't think so. We put a small deposit on a wine tour/cooking class and paid about half of a boat tour in CT. We rented a car in Sicily. We have a One Country rail pass all trains, but the few regionals are booked. Our plane tickets to and from Sicily are paid for already. We also took out a travel insurance policy, just to be safe.

how many people you are covering, - My husband and myself. We are meeting up with two other couples in Rome and will be with them the remainder of the trip.

what cities/areas/countries you will be in. - We will be in Florence 2 nights, Cinque Terre 1 night, Rome 2 nights, Sicily 6 nights, Venice 2 nights and back to Rome for 1 night before we fly home the next afternoon.

In Chicagoland we use debit/credit cards and very little actual cash, but Italy is mostly a cash based country. I don't want to walk around with too much, but also don't want to have too little on my person if that makes sense.

Thanks for all the answers and help. I should have read this forum in February when I started plans for this trip. I screwed up on the Euros already by getting way to many in March from my bank. Live and learn lol...

Kathi

Kathi
You respond confused me a little. Is your original question about how much total Euro you should be carrying or just the amount of Euro you should be carrying each day?

For your next trip you need to consider open jaw (multi-city) tickets. You would have saved time and money by booking your return trip from Venice or Milan instead of returning to Rome for your trip home. Another advantage to coming to this site earlier.

Or you could have flown out from Catania or Palermo and connected to a flight in Roma or elsewhere, but don't worry about it now.

As for too many euro, I have never had that problem. Perhaps you can pay cash for a hotel, or just save them for the next trip.

Frank,

It would be how much to carry each day out of the money belt to avoid finding bathrooms to get to the money belt cash.

Zoe,

It's not that I won't use all the euros I purchased, but that I paid a premium buying them here in a large quantity. It turns out my debit card has no fee, so I should have only pre-order 100-200 Euros.

I know the plane tickets were not right, but one of the other couples booked them first. So like a lemming I followed as did the other couple. I did change my original tickets though last month to include the 2 nights in Florence and 1 night in CT since it seemed a shame for my husband not see them (I have been through out Europe in my teens and early 20's - Finally going back now in my 50's). My new flight goes from Chicago to JFK 1st class and then on to Rome business class. I ended up with 2 - AA voucher credits of $978 that I will use on my Dec. 26th - Jan. 11th annual Maui trip with my family and in-laws. I am beginning to book now, which is later than I normally do.

Kathi

My budget was $100 per day for food. Most days I was under and used the rest for souvenirs. Most hotels had breakfast included. I budgeted $150 per night for hotels and most of the time was under it. But I didn't pay in advance. I wanted the option of being able to cancel. Geneva was sky high for our hotel so we exceeded on those nights. I budgeted $25 a day for miscellaneous travel, taxis, buses, whatever. I booked all the train tickets, except Switzerland well in advance to take advantage of discounts. I also booked our tours ahead of time too. Probably more info that you wanted.

Jenny

At the start of each day, as you fill your day-use wallet before leaving the hotel, you will have a good idea of what you expect to buy next, such as a bus pass, museum ticket, train reservation, lunch, etc., and your guidebook will usually list prices for each. You'll probably have a plan in mind of whether you'll be back to the room before dinner or not. You'll not be likely to spend more than €100 per person, unless it's for souvenir shopping. I keep one credit card handy, since it can also be used for larger expenses, with the rest in deep storage.

Hotels are usually paid upon departure. You hand over that amount before you ever step out to the street, so it's separate from the rest of the day's budget. If a hotel wants cash payment at check-in, then inside the hotel lobby is a pretty safe place to pull out your money belt for funds. In the interim, finding another quite corner or restroom is not the end of the world, and many people make a plan to use the restrooms before departing a museum or restaurant, any way.

$100 a day for food? wow. Glad I will have a apartment to cook my own, way to pricey to eat at a restaurant all the time.