Budget for European holiday

[itchyfeet]

I have visited London fairly regularly since 2002, lived there for a couple of years from 2005-2006, and then again for the first half of this year. I agree with the person who said that pretty much everything there is now cheaper than Sydney except accommodation and transport! You can get by on very little with some forward planning. A few people have mentioned the free museums and galleries etc. Check out the timeout website for discounted activities, or grab a taste card for hugely discounted meals. It's kind of like their equivalent to our Entertainment Book... if you use it a couple of times you'll make back the cost of the card. If you are planning to see a show/ play/ musical etc, you can get half price (or at least heavily discounted) tickets on the day... just head in to Leicester Square early in the morning. If it's a weekday, you can normally snag fairly decent tickets! Bigger supermarkets sell everything, usually pretty cheaply (including alcohol). To give you an idea re: price comparison, Rekorderling cider is about $8/ bottle here, you can get 3 bottles for 5 pounds in Sainsburys! Fresh blueberries are usually about a pound a punnet instead of $6 or whatever here! Coffee is definitely improving in London (it used to be terrible!). Guaranteed if you find an awesome barista there s/he'll be Aussie! If you're after a particular type of cuisine, you can eat cheaply (and well!) by going to specific areas. eg. Shoreditch (pho mile) for Vietnamese, Brick Lane (or anywhere!) for Indian etc. Shopping is great anywhere (eg. the little streets around covent garden), but definitely check out the markets! I agree with the suggestion to buy an Oyster card for travel... you'll save some money. Buses are about half price if you travel with an Oyster card instead of using cash. Also, if you end up travelling more than the cost of a "daily" travelcard, it caps out.

As for Paris, I have only been a couple of times but found it to be not overly expensive. As others have said, their metro system is a cheap and handy way to get around. We bought a book of 10 metro tickets and that saved a lot of money (I think it was called a carnet or something?). The first time I went was in my younger backpacking days and we survived on cheese baguettes and wine. Pretty gourmet for a budget traveller.

Anyway, have fun!!!

 

[downunder39]

Hi Blinky,

My partner and I have just returned from 9 weeks in Europe mainly, Hungary, Spain & France. After accommodation costs, we set ourself a budget of AUD $150 per day between the two of us for everything else. As it turned out, we averaged only $105 per day for the trip as Europe is very affordable for Australians at the moment.

When in Paris I highly recommend the Bistro des Deux Theatres near the Trinite metro. The meal costs 42 euro which includes an Apertif, Starter, Main, Dessert, Coffee and a bottle of wine for two. I am unable to post their website but it is easy to find via Google or Bing.

 

[Blinky]

Hi Blinky,

My partner and I have just returned from 9 weeks in Europe mainly, Hungary, Spain & France. After accommodation costs, we set ourself a budget of AUD $150 per day between the two of us for everything else. As it turned out, we averaged only $105 per day for the trip as Europe is very affordable for Australians at the moment.

When in Paris I highly recommend the Bistro des Deux Theatres near the Trinite metro. The meal costs 42 euro which includes an Apertif, Starter, Main, Dessert, Coffee and a bottle of wine for two. I am unable to post their website but it is easy to find via Google or Bing.

Thank you. I'll keep the name of the bistro.

And to all others contributors, as I have some (temporary) spare time, I'll sort all of the suggestions by location, and make sure I take them with me.

 

[steve99]

We are seniors and have just got back from Istanbul, Central and Eastern Europe, eight cities for 5 weeks and spent $2000 a week for sightseeing, accommodation, food, train and air travel between the cities.

 

[Travelmonkey]

You can get an Oyster card in London which is a really cheap way of taking care of transportation in London. You can get one before you go with a GBP10, 15, 20 load which you can top up at any time and re-use whenever you are in London. It is also transferrable so other family members or friends can use it if you are done with it.

For the attractions in London, there is a London Pass which is a queue jumper and will get you into a vast array of museums & attractions for free or at a discounted rate.

In Paris, you can get a Metro Pass which will be unlimited travel on the metro which is very handy. You can get it to cover Zones 1-3 or 1-6 depending if you need it to go to the airport and back or to Versailles but if not I would just get the Zones 1-3. You can also get a Museum Pass for Paris which is similar to the London Pass.

Berlin also has a Berlin Pass but if you are on tour you will no doubt see alot of attractions via your tour group.

Rome is a walking city but you can get a metro pass from any tobacconists which will get you from one side of the city to the other pretty quickly and they are cheap as chips.

I would probably pre-book a Vatican/Sistine Chapel tour before you go to avoid queues. Anything pre-booked and paid for here I think saves you from dipping into your spending money.

There are a vast array of restaurants in all the cities you mentioned so walk around and see what appeals as you would here! Beware Switzerland is very expensive in comparison to the other countries that you are visiting but you can still get a decent meal for reasonable price anywhere in Europe.

Go where the locals hang and you should be fine! Try TripAdvisor for any restaurant recommendations also.

Have a wonderful trip. It sounds like a great trip.