Italy Travel Answers

60 Euros a day?? He's a backpacker! You can get a dorm in most cities for 10-15 Euro. Many hostels have cooking facilities, and some even offer meals at super cheap prices, figure 10 Euros a day. A train journey, which isn't every day, will average around 20 Euros (like Venice to Milan) You could do it on 30 Euros/day, but you won't have much fun. 40 Euros/day is totally do-able. 50 is perfectly fine.

If you plan on eating out and paying to enter attractions and museums, I think sixty to seventy euros a day is appropriate, and would include most inter-city transportation. You can cut costs by taking overnight trains for the longer journeys, cooking in the hostel, eating street food, staying in one place longer and (depending on how you plan to use your time) buying discount cards like the Roma Pass or the Venice Card.

@Fluffy_bunny I wonder how long you've been missing Italy. I'd be interested to eat for 10Eur a day :) imho almost enough (somewhere not) for a pizza/water/coffee

Stay in a hostel and see how many backpackers cook their own pasta (that's 0.70 Euro) almost every night. Pizza slices are couple Euro. A Big Mac meal is 7 Euros. Backpackers don't usually eat out.

I also just checked the Venice-Milan train ticket. On May 26th, 27th, 29th and 30th, it's 19 Euro.

There are also 8 hostels listed in Rome on Hostelword at or under 15 Euro. There are 7 in Pisa, 12 in Palermo, 13 in Naples, 16 hostels listed in Milan..... Plus there are also things like CouchSurfing and Hospitality Club (and others) which can help keep down costs. There no way i've ever spent 70 Euros a day in Italy.

I did a rough pricing of Milan - Venice - Florence - Cinque Terre - Siena - Rome - Naples - Milan and on a three-week trip it would average about ten euros a day (that's based on averaging the regular and sale May prices; I suspect they will be fairly similar in December but they could be higher or lower). If you get one of those coveted fifteen-euro hostel rooms, you're now at twenty-five euros a day for a place to sleep and a way to get from city to city. You want to go to one museum or art gallery? That's five euros. And you haven't eaten anything yet (or bought a bottle of water!). And you haven't taken any public transportation. You haven't bought a postcard. You definitely haven't taken an organized tour or day trip, needed a taxi or gone out for a night on the town. The second-worst case scenario is that you budget too much and come home with cash in your pocket. Stick it in the bank for your next trip. The very worst case scenario is that you run out of money and you really can't get more. Your parents don't pick up the phone, your friends are too broke to wire you more, your credit card gets compromised and your account is frozen... Don't let that happen.

Now I'm sure, it's quite a lot you've not been to Italy. About train fare those does not mean anything, the OP thinks going to Italy in December when the trains use to be full as many people don't use cars or are going to visit their relatives. I don't think nobody would have just enough meal having a couple of slice of pizza, this mainly because it's pretty cold in December and it'll be for three weeks or more. Anyway to be up-to-date about prices [at supermarket] check where you want to go here osservaprezzi.sviluppoeconom... keep in mind that in Italy on December everything, obviously, costs more than other months. Using Couch Surfing Hospitality Club (and others) it's good as much as there are users interesting on hospitality exchange of the Country you are, anyway what you don't spend in holiday, you're going to spend it at home. Right for some hostels, but not all of them are always trustable, again, thing are changed a little bit lately, Italy is Europe and hospitality before all, so it may happen.... especially for those places where it's possible to cook yourself... well, it's not like anymore few years ago :) I would never suggest them!!!! IMHO "You could do it on 30 Euros/day", beside it's not doable anymore, it does not meant to make a good holiday without diets, better staying home. LBNL lately all taxes have grown up a lot in Italy and also prices are arising quite a lot.... also transports and other fares are going to arise.

Please note the part where i said "but you won't have much fun". This means no museums, no parties, no dining out... FUN! With even 20% CouchSurfing (or similar) 30 Euro is enough to sustain life. I fear you overestimate a large percentage of backpackers by assuming they wish to visit every museum, sample local food in restaurants or do much more than watch whatever movie is playing in the hostel on any given night. Does 30 or 40 Euro mean a fully experiential visit tasting the very best the country has to offer? Of course not. But this is how budget travellers have done it for decades. It's truly amazing what people are willing to do to save a few Euro. I have personally couchsurfed in a number of Italian cities. And i'm an ugly, 30-something man. OP is a 20 y.o. girl. Darn near every couchsurfer in Italy will host her. Some here may doubt the site. But 4,000,000 members can't all be wrong. Jetygirl's calculations were 30 Euro for travel, accommodation and museums. 10 Euro for food is little more than junk food, but guess what, that's what sustains countless 20 y.o. backpackers. That makes 40. I then threw in another 10 for postcards and bottles of water and what-have-you. That's 50. This is a backpacker budget. These are the minimums. Clearly you could spend 1,000s more, but that's not the 20 y.o. backpacker market. Jetygirl also said "The second-worst case scenario is that you budget too much and come home with cash in your pocket." This is very sound advice. But simply because OP is unable to save 80 Euros/day, doesn't mean she can't do it. That's what credit cards were made for.

PLS note I use to LIVE in Italy most of the year... and it's from where I'm writing now.

I completely understand. I also know that there is a HUGE difference between living in a country and backpacking through it. I have spent the majority of my life living and working overseas. Yet, backpackers more often than not teach ME about how cheaply they can live in the countries i live in. Again, backpackers are rarely about dining out or meeting friends for a few drinks. Quite often it's about grabbing a pizza slice and a beer from the shop and sitting in a park. There's a difference.

I don't think traveling backpack means automaticly to be like an homeless, anyway you can't live of only pizza and don't forget that it could be cold eating in a park in winter, also in Italy, a cup of tea may be better than a fresh beer. BTW in Italy wine used with meals is cheaper than beer.

Yes, i understand that, i was speaking in generalizations in that last comment. Fine. I'm completely wrong about pricing. Perhaps the fact that Lonely Planet (arguably the world leader in budget travel) says "A backpacker sticking religiously to youth hostels, snacking at midday and travelling slowly could scrape by on €40 to €50 per day." Or Let's Go travel guides which say "a bare-bones day in Italy (camping or sleeping in hostels/guesthouses, buying food at supermarkets) would cost about US$50 (€32)" But hey, what do world wide leaders in travel know anyways. lonelyplanet.com/italy/pract... letsgo.com/10220-europe-trav...

Going anywhere I don't trust LP anymore, I found prices not up-to-date too many times also on the lastest editions and lately I'm also aware about "where" to go eating and sleeping.