General cost range for 12 days Italy? Recs?

Depends a lot on how you fly, where you stay, and how you like to travel. Economy vs. business class and basic vs. nicer hotels will swing the total pretty quickly.
For two people traveling to Italy for 12 days, I’d use something like this as a rough mid-range estimate:
Flights: $2,200
Hotels: $2,000
Trains/local transportation: $300
Food: $1,350
Attractions/tours: $700
Estimated total: about $6,500–$7,000

That’s a little higher than the $5,000 estimate by The Ocean, but with economy airfare, careful hotel choices, and not going overboard on restaurants and tours, you might be able to get to that $5,000.

I agree that you do not need a travel agent for this kind of trip unless you really just do not want to deal with the planning.

Google Flights is a good starting point for airfare, and ITA Matrix is useful for digging into flight options:


From another post I made:
Google is good search for flights but they also host this
LINK https://matrix.itasoftware.com/search

Another site to give you alternate views is Momondo

LINK https://www.momondo.com/

OTAs are fine for comparing prices and schedules, but I always book directly with the airline. Fewer headaches if something changes.

For hotels, TripAdvisor, Google, Booking.com, and Kayak can all be useful, but read reviews with a skeptical eye. Look at recent reviews, not just the overall score.

Also look at how the hotel manager or a host responds to complaints. Some places tell on themselves pretty quickly. There are some piss ants out there.

AI can also be useful for sketching out routes, estimating costs, and suggesting itineraries, but verify prices and logistics directly before booking anything.

The first two posters estimated between $4000. and $7000.
For that to work you will have to go with very few frills or luxuries.

We budget $1000 a day it usually hits.

quote:

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Hotels: $2,000
Trains/local transportation: $300
Food: $1,350

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This is ridiculously low.
$166/night for hotels?! I’m guessing average hotel room is $300/night. Not having specific region makes it difficult to guess.

$55/day per person in food?! In Italy. One $250 dinner in Italy blows your budget for two days. Gelato one day will be 20% of your daily food budget.

The only way $300 covers your local transportation budget is if you never leave one town the entire 12 days. And limit taxi/uber to one round trip a day.

Don’t forget the exchange rate isn’t in your favor at the moment.

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Half the time we were on food and wine tours so meals were covered.

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How much did those cost?

Take it up with ChatGPT:)
They’re estimates for mid range.

YMMV

Go in shoulder season (April-May, September-October) if you can. Italy gets hot and crowded in the middle of summer. Prices are cheaper in off peak times too.

If it's your first time in Europe, I wouldn't rent a car, especially in Italy. Use high speed trains to get between cities. High speed train tickets are like airline fares - they open a few months ahead with cheap promotional fares, then rise into normal pricing and then get more expensive the closer your departure date gets. Some will even sell out. So book your train tickets in advance once you get an itinerary and plane tickets set in stone. For places off the beaten path (say a village and winery in the Tuscan countryside), just look into doing a local guided day tour. Just do a Google search and you can find those for $50-150 pp..


Everybody has different opinions when it comes to hotels. I put the focus on location. Factor in getting from the airport or train station with luggage. Then look at everything you are planning on doing in that city. Is it an easy walk? Is it centrally located? Is it a good neighborhood for restaurants, cafes, etc. A nice hotel at a fair price that is way out in a suburban business district defeats the whole purpose for me. As long as it's clean and professionally organized, I don't care about the other crap. It's just a bed for me to sleep in after I've spent the day elsewhere. But that's just me.

One nice thing about Italy is you can get good food cheap. The price doesn't always dictate quality. Read reviews online and you will see glowing reviews for little hole in the wall pasta bistros and negative reviews for some 3 star ordeal. Also, some restaurants have a promotional meal they serve between lunch and dinner to take advantage of the lag.

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Took the train everyday into the city

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To city center, yep. Took 10-15 min?

Meant to reply to you ^^^