Does anyone know of a website that has some sort of travel budget calculator? I have put a few things into a spreadsheet to try to workout how much I should have in my cash account. We are two adults and and three kids 10, 10, and 4.

What do people typically pay for things like:
1. Standard 'tourist bus tour (hop on hop off) in a city like London/Paris/Rome?
2. Softdrinks snacks/per day
3. Average daily entry to attractions/museums excluding theme parks
4. City trains or trains about 30 minutes out from a city (we are staying outside cities).
5. Other standard items?

We are staying in self catering accommodation most of the time and typically spend about $200 Australian Dollars at the supermarket weekly so have budgeted around $300 Australian Dollars per week in supermarkets/markets in the UK, France, and Italy. Is this too far off the mark?

We don't intend to eat in restaurants much at this stage because of the risk of fatal allergies to our twins through peanuts.

PS Sorry if you see this message on the Italy and French areas. I couldn't find a general area.

Hi DonPolo,
I can't help you with specifics, but I do know that if you go to the Lonely Planet website www.lonelyplanet.com and click on the place you are going that it comes up with a rough budget depending on the level of activities and accomodation you want to do. It should let you know if you are on the right track with your budget.
In addition, slow travel has SOOO much information on here, a few hours of research and searching through threads etc would probably find you more specific costings if you need.

Have a great trip,
Rach

Of the three cities you mention, London will be the most difficult. I find prices shocking there, but they are paid to afford them. We aren't. A beer for £3? 5£? I participate in a UK cooking group and prices they take for granted are stunning.
I'll do better with Italy.
300 Australian $ officially is €178. You can grocery shop for that, but it isn't lavish. It won't be steak and asparagus budget and you can't afford to waste food on it. To make it stretch, the Italian meal plan of primo, secondo and contorno is ideal, because the most expensive thing is meat, and the 100 gram portion, +- is enough if you've had a delightful pasta or risotto first. Similarly, delicatessen items are pricier and the salumi, or cured meats among the priciest. You can have them, but not every meal, which wouldn't be that wise anyway.
The rest of your budget depends on you. If all five want to go into the Collosseum, it will add up. I recently did that with my sister and regretted the old days when you could wander in at will and look at the cats. I won't go in again, because to me it's the thing itself, sitting down at the end of the Forum that is interesting, and the tour we took was filled with exaggerations to make it more interesting, but not to me.
Museum costs are published on touring sites and you'll decide How many you wish to see.
If you take commuter means to reach the centers it won't be very expensive, but you will be paying 10 fares per day, so in any city that has weekly passes you should probably buy them. Rome can be covered on foot, which allows you to see the city better anyway.
I know less details about Paris because I don't cook there. I found typical restaurant meals about par with Rome. They do have Metro passes. It is harder to cover on foot than Rome. I probably use Metro 3-4 times a day in Paris to get to an area which I then cover on foot.

Have already given you a brief answer in the France section.

Website to try for free entertainment and events to keep costs down.

www.whatsonwhen.com/events

Elly

Thanks guys,

this is very helpful information. I will have a look at the lonely planet guide, sounds like it might help.

DC

Hey Don Polo,
I forgot to mention where to access the lonely planet guide. Once you get to the country page (ie going to Italy) its in the "money" section.

It's going to be tough to be on a very tight budget if you stay in cities.Rural would be much easier.Peanuts should be easy to avoid.I don't think I have encountered them in any dish.
RR

Robert, loads of EU labels warn that products are not suitable for peanut allergies. Either because they are processed in machine used also for peanuts or because they may contain peanut oil, one really needs to know the two words used for peanuts. It could be arachidi or nocciolini. That covers almost all chocolate!
While peanut oil is pricier and might not be chosen for cooking oil, the mixed oils may very well contain peanut oil. And the cook, never mind the waiter, might not even know it.

This advice applies to Italy costs only. I always add up my daily, per person expenses after my annual trips. We generally stay in self-catering appartments with maybe a hotel or two on transit days on either end of the trip which lasts between 14-21 days. The all-inclusive (including airfare, accommodations, food, admissions, gifts for the relatives, etc) cost in US dollars for our family has been between $175-$300 per person, per day. I don't know how much that is in Australian dollars. We don't buy extravagant gifts or antiques. We eat in restaurants about 50% of the time.
Aloha,
Dana

Hi there,

I've been reading the posts accumulating here and in the other forums for a few days and would like to add my two cents worth.

I've been living in Perugia for the last few months (which Italians generally reckon is "expensive") and have kept an exact tally of every thing I've spent, and you may find it interesting and useful.

My total daily expenditure (excluding accommodation/airfare/insurance) has been an average of 25E per day (about AU$41 per day.) 11E of that has been on food alone - and I'm eating REALLY well. I'm talking veal cutlets several days a week, fresh fruit and salad every day, prosciutto, salame, cheese, a pastry, a hot chocolate and a gelato every day etc. I shop at the market here in Perugia and at Coop too. I have found that food in general is about 25-30% more expensive than in Australia. What we pay in dollars, Italians pay in Euro.

The other 14E is made up of "other shopping" (eg clothes), train tickets for daytrips, entry fees, going out, eating out, movies and other miscellaneous items.

My food budget in UK was way less (mainly because I had less temptation!) Every day for lunch I ate an egg sandwich from Pret a Manger. It was only 1.30 pounds - cheap and nutritious. Plus heaps of attractions in London are FREE!!! My main expenditure was my Tube Travelcard for zones 1-3, which cost me 26 pounds for a week.

Also, before you go out and buy Lonely Planet, think twice. Several of my friends here in Perugia want to throw theirs out because they're so useless and they are constantly borrowing my Rough Guide instead! Go to the library and borrow several guidebooks before you settle on one to buy.


If you're REALLY interested, here is a price list I've kept...

Item Price (Euros)

20 paracetamol tablets € 2.50
Coop Bio tomato salsa € 0.94
Coop Bio yoghurt 250ml € 1.03
nice cheese (kg) € 16.50
prosciutto (kg) € 20.66
Perugian salame (kg) € 17.90
veal (kg) € 17.00
Coop pear juice € 1.32
500g lentils € 2.50
500g pearl barley € 1.22
Porchetta panino € 1.70
1/2 doz Coop bio eggs € 2.06
500ml FRESH milk € 0.56
125g block of Baci chocolate € 1.44
125g block of Lindt chocolate € 1.40
bag of salad € 1.65
taco kit at Gio` € 6.70
packet Barilla pasta € 0.48
450ml Dove body moisturiser € 4.50
bag of Pan Di Stelle biscuits € 1.55
100g parmesan cheese € 1.79
box of 12 Weetabix € 1.96
Coop 400g apricot jam € 1.32
6kg wash at laundrette € 3.00
Dove deodorant € 3.26

Buon viaggio, Claire.

Hey Claire,
Just a quickie, there is no need to buy the Lonely Planet guide, the information re: money & budgets is available on their website (free access).

The one place that staying in self catering outside the central city is a false economy is Rome. If you end up even in Monte Verde which is still fairly central (still on tram line 8)a one way commute can get as long as 40 minutes. This is important with kids because if you plonk your tired patooties down at any outdoor cafe you will be expected to order at twice the counter price. Free places to rest become few and far between and are crowded.

Bathrooms become an issue. If you figure every time you use a bathroom at a cafe and you order something to be polite costs increase. And when have all your kids ever had to go to the bathroom at the same time? If somebody forgets something there is a 1 hour commute to go back and get it, whether its raincoats or medicine or ?

The forced march that touring Rome can become with kids sometimes needs a break and when you figure an hour to get to the apartment then meltdowns happen.

The best advice I am going to give you is spend a bit more and stay in centro. What you will spend in additional rental costs you will more than save in bus fares, aggravation, etc.

Finally to answer some of your other questions.

Museum admissions - We average 35 to 40 euro a day on Museum admissions. That's for 2 adults, and that is 2 or 3 museums per day. We are doing this to assess the museum's status in terms of wheelchair accessability so we probably are doing twice as many museums as the usual tourist. Realistically with a family of 5 and figure you will see 1-2 museums a day you should figure 100 a day. Somedays more - somedays less.


Beverages and snacks while touring. We buy rolls and meat or cheese and gatorade or coolaid mix. We carry our sports bottles with the mix in dry and add water from the nostril fountains which is always cool and clear and refreshing. Coffee/cokes/snacks in restaurants/bars/etc realistically figure 1 to 2 euro per item. Gelato the perpetual favorite can vary from 1.6 euro to 2 plus euro for a small cup.

ATAC is the Rome bus company. The area they provide service to is really amazingly large and you can buy 3 day pass for 11 euro or 16 for a week long pass. Individual tickets are one euro. Don't know whether there is a different price for children.

http://www.atac.roma.it/

quote:

Realistically with a family of 5 and figure you will see 1-2 museums a day you should figure 100 a day. Somedays more - somedays less.

In Italy there is plenty to see even without ever entering a museum.Walking thorugh Rome is like walking thorugh an open air museum, same for Florence and Venice. To keep on a tight budget and please the kids it is probabaly better to plan to see only a few museums and to do more walks and parks