10 day Trip to Europe for middle class couple cost $10,000 (hotel, Paris, hotels)

[The Investor]

A couple I know just returned from their first trip to Europe visiting France and Italy. After talking about how great of time they had, the conversation turned to how much money they spent. They insisted they traveled moderately and did not splurge at all, but the total cost for the ten day trip was about $10,000.

$3000 for Airfare ($1500 a piece)
$2500 for Hotel ($250 a night average at Comfort Inn quality spots)
$2000 for Food (An average of $30 for breakfast and lunch and $70 for dinner per person for ten days)
$1000 tours and attractions
$1500 for trains and buses and inter Europe (Paris, Venice, Florence and Rome)

TOTAL $10,000

Is this a logical number for a nice trip to Europe for a couple?

[motordavid]

Seems to be in the ballpark, imo...
A "$G a day" is a common cost for vacations for two, in my experience.

The couch surfers and anecdotal budget minded will post lists of how to do it for ~$300/$500 a day, inc air, but realistically a vacay to Europa, or anywhere over an ocean, (with air travel), is in that cost area.

My 50Cts...
GL, mD

[L2DB]

Seems a touch high to me, but not unreasonable. I'd think you could get that down to $7,500 or so with better planning and some minor sacrifices here and there. $1000 for tours and whatnot and $1,500 for trains/busses/inter-Europe airfare seem the most out of wack with my expectations.

[The Investor]

When my wife and I went to Europe last year visiting those same places we spent $3000 between us:

Airfare $250 (Taxes and fees for the frequent flyer awards we got by getting two American Airlines Credit Cards that gave us both 60,000 miles)

Hotels About $100 a night for nice hotels using the "Name Your Own Price" option on Priceline

Food: About $40 per person per day (We did not feel we had to eat a nice place every day. We bought lots of picnic lunches and had fast food many days)

Tours: There is lots of things to see for free and buses are cheaper than Grayline Tours.

[Dd714]

Originally Posted by The Investor

A couple I know just returned from their first trip to Europe visiting France and Italy. After talking about how great of time they had, the conversation turned to how much money they spent. They insisted they traveled moderately and did not splurge at all, but the total cost for the ten day trip was about $10,000.

$3000 for Airfare ($1500 a piece)
$2500 for Hotel ($250 a night average at Comfort Inn quality spots)
$2000 for Food (An average of $30 for breakfast and lunch and $70 for dinner per person for ten days)
$1000 tours and attractions
$1500 for trains and buses and inter Europe Airfare

TOTAL $10,000

Is this a logical number for a nice trip to Europe for a couple?

This is a logical number for people that don't know how to travel and are inexperienced. They didn't do their homework on a travel budget. You can easily cut that number in half and still have a very comfortable trip (not staying in Hostels or anything). Particularly if you say they just returned? It's the off season!

Hotels - you can always find deals for $100 or $150 a night if you do some searching and cut a few corners without compromising comfort or safety.
Food - Breakfast - Oh my God, so you do what the European's do and go to a deli and have a few cruissants. Many hotels provide breakfast. Dinner - same thing, meals add up yes. So eat at a stand-up café every other night like the locals. Look for early sitting deals, etc.
Transportation in Europe - Once again countries have deals - one payment for a week's travel, etc. You just have to know where to look. Trains in Italy are not that expensive.

[njkate]

Originally Posted by The Investor

When my wife and I went to Europe last year visiting those same places we spent $3000 between us:

Airfare $250 (Taxes and fees for the frequent flyer awards we got by getting two American Airlines Credit Cards that gave us both 60,000 miles)

Hotels About $100 a night for nice hotels using the "Name Your Own Price" option on Priceline

Food: About $40 per person per day (We did not feel we had to eat a nice place every day. We bought lots of picnic lunches and had fast food many days)

Tours: There is lots of things to see for free and buses are cheaper than Grayline Tours.

Agree except for the bolded, not everyone is going too or be able too open new credit cards for the miles.
Everything else totally agree

[pigeonhole]

This is a logical number for people that don't know how to travel and are inexperienced

Spot on! I could even add something more cruel, but never mind...

[prospectheightsresident]

Originally Posted by The Investor

When my wife and I went to Europe last year visiting those same places we spent $3000 between us:

Airfare $250 (Taxes and fees for the frequent flyer awards we got by getting two American Airlines Credit Cards that gave us both 60,000 miles)

Hotels About $100 a night for nice hotels using the "Name Your Own Price" option on Priceline

Food: About $40 per person per day (We did not feel we had to eat a nice place every day. We bought lots of picnic lunches and had fast food many days)

Tours: There is lots of things to see for free and buses are cheaper than Grayline Tours.

Right, acknowledging your FF miles benefit, that's certainly more reasonable. I'd like to know where they were flying from, but assuming from somewhere in the continental US, $1,500 per person for airfare seems a bit excessive, especially at this time of year. Also, like you wrote, they could've gotten great hotel deals on Priceline. I booked a 4 star hotel through Priceline Express Deals for around $70 per night (with my $20 off coupon included) for my trip to London next week; no, the hotel isn't centrally located in the heart of London, but it's close enough and a ten minutes walk from a tube station.

Even for food, one can eat great in Paris/Rome for way less than the OP's friends paid. While one can easily spend more on food, $2,000 for food for two over 10 days is certainly doesn't seem to be "not splurging" to me.

The OP's friends may be middle class, but their trip was hardly on a middle class budget. I know couples who could've made 3-4 comfortable international trips (whether to Europe or elsewhere) for that amount.

[Girl]

My parents went to England and France for 30 days and didn't spend $10K.

[botticelli]

$100 per person every single day just on food??
$250 per night on hotel, and only at comfort Inn level?

that sounds very high. Unless of course they are wealth. I wouldn't splurge like that unless I made $150k+ a year.

Having some great food on a trip is necessary. But is it necessary to have a full 4 course meal every single day? I don't think so.

$250 for hotel is only reasonable for cities like London and Paris (maybe a bit too high for Paris). Practically all other cities are much cheaper. a Budget of $150 is sufficiently comfortable for cities like Rome.

This is why Americans keep saying "How do people have the money to travel?" - because they just assume whenever they are on a trip, they HAVE to live like a prince eating $70 dinner every night.

$1500 on trains/buses is absurd too. Did they book the ticket on the same day for every trip, and first class? I remember my TGV trip from Paris to Avignon cost only something like $35, and my Rome to Salerno train cost about the same.