How much cash would I need for a week in Italy by myself?

Question

I want to go to italy for a week ,just me,see the country side and eat some great food,nothing to fancy,do I take USD ,debit card?,how much will I need to have a good time?

Answer 1

How much depends on exactly where you are and whether you're including the prices of places to stay or just transportation, entrance fees, food, souvenirs, etc.

You can bring dollars and exchange them to Euros, but you'll get better rates just using your ATM card or credit card. If you use the ATMs to withdraw money, your card needs to be on one of the international networks - you won't have any problem finding one (just remember that an ATM is called a Bancomat here in Italy. You want to make a few large withdrawals rather than many small ones so you don't get hit by a lot of fees. My US bank account includes reimbursement of ATM fees from other banks, so I don't have to worry about this, but that isn't particularly common.

There can be a wide range of food prices. You can eat quite well for $50 to $60 per day if you stay away from the tourist areas when you eat.

You can check hotel availability and prices here: http://en.venere.com/italy/ I've found the site to be very reliable. You can select a particular area in a city if you want and then sort by price, rating, or other criteria.

For transportation, you can use the Italian train website to check specific schedules, prices, and travel times. http://www.trenitalia.com/en/index.html

For entrance fees to museums, art galleries, etc you can search for the specific attractions you're interested in and find the information easily on the internet. With no details of where you might be going it's difficult to provide any specific information. He are some sites to get you started though:

Florence: http://www.firenzemusei.it/00_english/ho...

Rome: http://www.placesonline.com/europe/italy...

http://www.romapass.it/english/index.htm...

Venice: http://www.museiciviciveneziani.it/main....

http://www.hellovenezia.com/jsp/en/venic...

There are thousands of interesting festivals in Italy every year that are well worth experiencing. There's a buskerfest in Ferrara right now. One really good festival in September is in Marostica: http://www.marosticascacchi.it/a_2_EN_9_... (a small town, but a really spectacular event held every other year) or the Eurochocolate festival coming up in Perugia.

You might be interested in checking this site for events during your time here: http://www.whatsonwhen.com/sisp/index.ht... or this one for food festivals in the various regions: http://www.sagreinitalia.it/