MemberFiance and I have our trip to Italy tentatively planned as follows:
3 nights Venice
3 nights Lake Garda
3 nights Cinque Terre area
3 nights Siena (or a Tuscan hill town)
3 nights Florence
Curious about tips on budgeting for food and entertainment. We’d like a mix of maybe one fancy restaurant in each place, and the rest more casual. Also open to hotel recs!
MemberI’m sorry if I end up not being too much of a help since I’m going somewhere else, but have you looked at Expedia? We booked our honeymoon through them and it was very affordable! We are going to Japan for 2 weeks and paid less than $3K in tickets and accomodation. 🙂 I think our cousins used airbnb for Croatia and they seem to be enjoying it a lot too.
MemberWhen I go to Europe, I plan for $1000 per person for 5 days for meals and entertainment – no hotel or airfare included in that. I also don’t include any purchases of clothing or souvenirs in that figure. Depending on which country and the exchange rate, I have just gotten by on that or come home with some leftover. The euro is at an all time low right now for the exchange rate so enjoy! I was fine in Italy with that budget on a trip last year, this year in Paris I had money left over but in Copenhagen a few weeks ago it was getting close. Museum admissions can add up if you hop around like I do so sometimes the package admission plans can save you money. I eat at mostly sit down, medium priced places for breakfast and lunch and then more expensive for dinner so I hope that helps you. I think it really depends on the country, the conversion rate and how much you want to do and what level of eating you want to experience. One last note, Europe has switched over to only taking credit cards with security chips in them, most retailers will not accept cards without them. Am Ex was the only card I have with a security chip but is not widely accepted so I ended up using cash the majority of my last 3 trips. My ATM does not have a chip but it worked fine in ATM machines to get cash – make sure you notify your bank that you are going before you go (I learned that lesson the hard way). I hope that helps you, best wishes!
Membermochikj: I’ll take a look- thanks for the rec! Japan sounds incredible!
Foreverblonde345: This is awesome- thank you so much! We are mostly trying to figure out how much to budget for food and fun, so your number is very helpful. I do happen to have a card with the chip, so that’s good news.
MemberHi
I think 200 euros per day for food & entertainment…
My tips…eat where the locals eat (food tens to be better & less pricy) use local transpostation where possible to experience a day in like of italians, rent bikes etc…
When eating casual look for happier hours/specials…avoid eating in the hotels & go out to eat!
Depends what you want to do…tripadvisor has list of things to do & some activities are even free..
Or you could do a cruise 🙂
I am well gel…have fun and congrats
Memberkam2178: No problem! Just be warned: Expedia won’t hold responsibility in case something goes wrong with your flight, they are really just a website that will get you the best deals, if you have a problem with the flight you’ll probably have to talk to the airline, same thing for the hotels. Looking online though, many people seem to like it and didn’t really have huge problems or anything. 🙂 Some of my friends used it as well and they like it a lot.
Member
kam2178: hi, we want to have 4 nights in rome and a week in sorrento for our honeymoon and have been quoted around £4,500 for both of us from Kuoni. this includes flights (newcastle – heathrow – rome return), hotel (sorrento half board) train journey between rome and sorrento and airport transfers. i think this is alot of money – even though im sure the hotels will be extraudinary… is that around the same figure you have been quoted?x
Memberkam2178: I have a detailed recap here for my expenese: http://boards.weddingbee.com/topic/my-italy-switzerland-trip-recap/
We did budget accomodations around $100-$125/night (location was most important to me) and ate out a lot mid range, nothing really fancy.
Memberkam2178: Hi there!!! I am originally from Italy, although I moved to New York about 4 years ago. My Boyfriend or Best Friend and I had a similar trip to Italy last year, except that we stopped a few days in my beach house in the South for him to meet my parents.
I think the major budget issue in your plan will be Venice. DO NOT stop have coffee sitting in Piazza San Marco!!! I know that it might sound like something that will cost you only a few bucks, but those cafes went all over the news as they not only add a whopping 15-20 euros per person as “music surcharge”, but also completely inflate the price for tourists, so you can find yourself paying literally hundreds of euros for no absolute reason. They are scammers. Eating is OK, I would recommend the small, simple restaurants with fixed price menus, so that you know ahead how much you will be paying. If you go in the Rialto area (next to the famous Rialto bridge) you will find nice restaurant, with good food (including seafood) at good prices. For a fancy restaurant, go to Riviera. I do also recommend going to visit the Lido in Venice, you will love it.
Siena is lovely, I think it is one of the best choices for Tuscan towns. Make sure you take a few hours trip to Pisa to see the leaning tower. Siena itself is pretty inexpensive, and you will find a lot of food options quite easily. I ate in a couple of the restaurants in Piazza del Campo (right in the town center, where they race the horses in the summer) and they were all lovely.
Florence is wonderful, I lived there as a teenager. As of Siena, is mostly a historic place, with not too much to do at night (but you will be super tired after all the art and sightseeing). I advice you to get the ticket for the Uffizi, the most important museum, ahead of time online, as the line can be worst that the one to get on the Tour Eiffel in Paris!!! Firenze is NOT the place to eat fish, you gotta eat meat there. If you want to splurge the best place to eat, quite fancy, is the Enoteca Pinchiorri, right by where I used to live. Rent a bike in Florence, and please go the “Piggy market” (“mercato del porcellino” in Italian) to find some gorgeous handmade leather goods. If you are a fashion addict you must go right outside Florence in the factory stores of Prada, Gucci and so on. You will love it!!!
I do not know much about Garda and the Cinque Terre, as they are mostly places that we would visit on a daily trip, not actually sleep there. Feel free to PM me if you need any more advice!!! Btw… I do not know if this is your first time in Italy… But if it is, you should make some room for Rome!!!
MemberMy husband and I spent three weeks in Italy for our honeymoon and would suggest the following:
– do not eat in main tourist areas or hotels
– their house wines are usually really good
– Take public transportation…it is surprisingly easy to figure out even if you don’t read Italian
– buy tickets for attractions beforehand…use online sites such as Viator or direct from websites
– If you want a drink but don’t necessary want a full meal….every restaurant seems to give you snacks when you order an alcoholic beverage
– the train system is great for travelling and there are I think four levels of seats. I wouldn’t do the very cheapest but the next one up would be fine
Memberkam2178: 150 per person per day should be more than enough for F&B and entertainment. My guess is some days you’ll spend much less and then you might max out a couple times too.
We averaged 175 a day for two. But we spent a third of our trip just vegging on our terrace eating salads/sandwiches/pizza so that brought our overall average down a hair. With an itinerary more like yours we would have averaged 200-225 a day for two. So if you plan for 300 for 2 you’ll spend less than planned.
Our 175 a day average included F&B, museum & park fees, cooking class, a few tours, train/bus/taxi/Uber.
A nice 2-3 course dinner with wine typically cost us around $120. We never did Michelin fine dining though. But nice. Breakfast was never more than a coffee & biscuit. Lunch was simple salad/pasta/pizza with wine at a cost of $40-$60. Sometimes lunch was the big meal of the day with a lighter dinner.
MemberForeverblonde345: Most credit cards now have the security chips. I have recently gotten them on my Capital One and Chase VISA as well as my AMEX.
When we went to Venice, we stayed outside of the city. It meant we had to take a bus into town every day but it saved us a lot of money.
Memberpinkshoes: moonyla83: mckeestephanie: lim3: Thanks so much for the helpful tips! We definitely prefer to try to experience as much local stuff as possible and avoid tourist traps as much as possible. If you didn’t speak any Italian, did you get by okay? I’ve been practicing on Duolingo and speak decent Spanish, but I don’t know how helpful it will end up being 🙂
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