How much would a week long trip to Italy cost?

Question

My mom has had a hard life and went through so much to provide for me and my 3 brothers growing up. On top of that, she was a single mom. But she did a wonderful job and has always been a great mother. What she couldn't give us in material things she made up for w/ love. Now that I'm grown, married and finished with college, I want to give back to her.

It has always been a life dream of my mom's to visit Italy. I want to take her there. My husband and I are planning on starting a family within the next few years and I want to take my mom (just her and I) to Italy before we have children. How much should I expect to save for the trip? I can't afford anything posh but just staying in a holiday inn would be great!! lol. (we will spending most of our time outside of the hotel anyway).

What would be the best part of Italy to visit? How much should I expect to spend (I need to start saving). I just want a wonderful mother-daughter vacation with my mom.

Answer 1

Rome you can use the subway and walk everywhere to the things to see.  Hotels and restaurants are cheaper off the beaten path.  You can rent a car for 40 bucks a day and you could drive up to Pisa from Rome or do Tuscany.

The biggest thing is during the summer very crowded and airfare goes up drastically as the weather warms.  Jan - April are cheap but June 1st it goes up about 500 a head for airfare. If you can swing it try May, flowers and blooming in Tuscany and the weather is not too hot. You can spend about 50 bucks a day and up for food per person.  Hotels have lots of ranges.  Try kayak.com. they check all the websites and airlines and the different search engines for you.  Sign up for their buzz alerts on pricing.

Answer 2

Unfortunately right now the US dollar is very weak against the Euro so that is going to make any trip fairly expensive for you. On top of it, Italy isn't really the bargain that it used to be -- everything from lodging to meals to sites can be costly.

A few tips:

-- Go in the shoulder season. High season is way too expensive for everything and being high season that means everyone else is there too and it's crowded. (Off season means lots of places close). March, while sometimes iffy with weather, can be nice and if you do it before Easter, it will be cheaper. Other times to consider: Late October, November; Late April (after Easter) and May.

-- Plan ahead. Don't wait until the last minute to buy your plane tickets or book your hotels. You won't get the best deals. Check out www.farecompare.com for a comparison of the average ticket cost each month. There are smaller hotels called pensione (kind of like B&Bs) where you can often get a better deal than at a hotel. Better yet, rent an apartment and you can even cook some of your meals to save.

-- Avoid the big, touristy cities: Rome, Florence, Venice, Milan. Of course you'll probably want to see at least one of these but you'lll pay more to stay and eat. Pick less touristy cities that are well connected and take day trips to the more expensive spots.

If I had to make a guess on what a week-long trip could cost you right now, I'd say it could easily end up being $5,000 for two people (including everything).

I hope you're able to make the trip. It sounds like your mom deserves it and it would be a wonderful way to honor her and spend some great time together.

Answer 3

Just get on Orbitz or something and check flights and hotels.  You can take trains throughout the country once you get there.  Check for places to stay in Rome, Venice, Milan, and Florence.    If you want to go for, say, two weeks, you're probably looking at $5000 for a starting point for two people.

Answer 4

alot

Answer 5

For a week I would not try to see TOO much...just focus on a couple of areas.....

I visited mainly parts in central/northern italy and recommend them all.....

Verona was lovely and had a nice feel.  They have a collosuem there where they have opera's in the summer time.

Venice is so different, but does not really need more than 2 nights or days as its quite small.

Sienna is really lovely, with a very medieval feel.

Rome has a lot to offer and you can do day trips to places like Pompeii, Capri and Sorento.  It has the vatican, colloseum ,roman forusm, pantheon, trevi fountain etc

Florence is very lovely ( but quite touristy with LOTS of people) but the duomo is stunning and they have lots of great museums.  Its close to Pisa and I loved another little town called Lucca.

I would book things myself to save costs and pre-book.  If you go in some of down seasons oyu will escape some of the hub-bub......but I probably wouldn't like to go in winter. I went in April, there were a few people, but it wasn't THAT bad ( i did also go over easter, so were quite a few tourist).  Florence is probably more expensive to stay than Rome ( Venice and Sienna were also more costly).

I will give a couple of websites....some they say they are backpackers but they also have good hotels too and give you an idea of prices. Some also have tour acitivites which would be well worth a look.

Your big 3 areas of cost will be:

Accommodation

Food

Transport ( internal transport).  The train service is pretty good and works on a system of the distance, so short trips are quite cheap, while longer trips are more expensive, but I personally didn't find them THAT expensive.

  Hotels will usually offter breakfast, which is good.  Food is almost universally very good.

You will also want money for entry into museums, etc.

In choosing places to visit you may want to think about what you want to do and see.  Florence and Rome would probably be the best bases and allow you to go to other places without moving around constantly.  

I hope you get to go!