Saving for European Trip

If you are planning to take the Eurail, it will take you at least 6 to 7 days to cover the Madrid to Paris leg as you should stop in Barcelona as you will pass through the city. Did that stretch in July. You won't save a lot of time flying over taking the train as it was about 3.5 hours from Madrid to Barcelona and around 6 from Barcelona to Paris. If you download the Eurail app, you can verify the times. Only in Spain did you have to pass through any sort of security to get on the train. You can arrive less than 30 minutes to boarding. Can't do that at the airport. $1500 should cover you for food and sightseeing. $2000 covered 2 adults and 2 kids for two weeks. Ate at a lot of cafes, tapas places and cheaper restaurants so we could have spent less had we wanted, but obviously could have spent more at nicer restaurants. I found the food was about the same price or cheaper than here, plus tip is included in pricing. That saves you per meal. For example, 4 adults and 4 kids ate at this restaurant that specializes in duck and the bill was just over $200.

$100/ day is what we always budget for food for 2 of us. We do stay in airbnb places that have kitchens. So we usually eat breakfast in the apt. Lunch is usually something cheap and then dinner can be something nicer....but not always.

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Girlfriend and I are planning a trip in July 2017 to Europe, hoping to hit Rome, Florence, Madrid, and possibly Paris. Planning on a 13-18 day trip. The only time I've been to Europe has been through EF Tours, and trying to plan this on my own I don't want to over/under shoot the cost too drastically. What would be a reasonable estimation to plan on spending? I was thinking around $6000 should cover it (about $2500 for flights, $1000-1500 for hotel after we both use a lot of built up credit card reward points, and another $1500ish for food and sightseeing), is that manageable?

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You flight cost is wayyy too high unless you are flying business class. Budget $1300 and you are good.

Those cities = do not take trains (except Florence, Rome); you will need to book flights on airlines in Europe. Budget $100 per flight - they are super cheap one ways and tons of times to choose from. Pretty straightforward.

How old are you and the girlfriend? 4 cities in 13-18 days isn't enough for my taste. I would feel like I missed too much. To be fair, you have very large, touristy cities that have a lot to do...so it is more about personal preference.

You are going to spend ~$150 night, maybe a bit more for hotels. I typically do hostels, but I am younger. If you want it to be a romantic trip, then hostels won't fly. I think your 1000-1500 is on the low end unless you have a bunch of hotel points.

You will each need $1500 for food and sightseeing. Just the cards to get access to the tourist things you will want to see in each city will cost you about $350 per person. Add in food and additional sightseeing and you have hit your $1500 per person.

Train from Florence to Rome is $50-75 on Trenitalia.

The affordable route is to do this in hostels at ~$40/night/person for 15 nights is $600. I would search until I found flights for $1100 (July makes this tough...tourist season = highest prices). Given you are going to southern cities for the most part, I would recommend going in early May so that you miss some of the crowds.

I think you are around $7k total for you and your girlfriend - $3500 a person.

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I think the 2500 is for 2 tickets. IMO, that is a bit low.

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I disagree with that. There were so many sub $600 tickets this summer to Europe. And I see quite a few still.

Like this for $291 new york to portugal in July on TAP

Just got to time it right and jump on good deals

I was looking at tickets for this year at the time and can get a round trip to NYC from MSY for around $250ish and from NYC to Madrid for around $800ish (not exact numbers but close) compared to about $1200ish from MSY to Madrid so was thinking of doing something along those lines to try and save an extra couple hundred.

Thanks for all the help guys! I know its a long way away, but just want to make sure I am well prepared.

You will save a lot of money using airbnb

As for flights, try using European airliners Turkish air, Air Lingus, Brussels airline, ect. You can find pretty good deals and schedule extended layovers in these areas.

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Like this for $291 new york to portugal in July on TAP

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so 600 for 2 people one way and add another 900 to fly from Louisiana to NY....

if only since your Google flight link had 800 as cheapest and for 1 person.

2 people from new orleans to New York is not a stretch at 900 either

Cross pollinate.com is another good VRBO for renting apts instead of hotels. I think the $100 is good. Breakfasts in the Apartment, light lunch and then a dinner can be done