How much does it cost to take a vacation in Italy or Ireland?

Recently we started working with a client who thought they would need $4-$5,000 per person for a 2-week trip (not including airfare). That is much more than we would normally spend.

When people fill out our questionnaire for our itinerary service we ask for their budget and we get all kinds of answers. Almost all of them are way, way over what they need.

In general, we send people to places that are between €90-€120/night per room, double occupancy. We have many places that are over that, and many that are way under, but in general that’s the middle range.

I understand why people's estimates are way over — a lot of packages we see for Italy quote room prices that are double or more compared to our usual places; and in general, I think the idea most travelers have about coming to Italy or Ireland is that it is super, super expensive.

But if you’ve been following our travels over the years, you’ve seen that the places we stay are gorgeous, and often in particular locations like castles or medieval towers or in ancient hill towns or cliffside chalets. We like comfort and beauty, but you don’t need to pay $300+/night to get that.

We definitely spend more on food than lodging each day, but eating affordably is also very possible here (and also in Ireland). We have some clients traveling in Ireland right now that are eating one "splurge" meal per day at a fantastic gastro-pub or seafood restaurant, then picnicking the other meals — for reasons of food-coma management first, and budget management second.

We also just started working with a client traveling to Tuscany this fall who wanted to keep the budget, food and lodging, to $180/day for two. That’s a bit tougher, but we’re close to coming in at that mark. For 7 days, their lodging is just about $750, and that was including a “splurge” place. And we’re helping them choose “picnic” options each day that mean the meals they cater for themselves are easy to make (no-cook), and full of local, artisanal products, even though they are budget-friendly.

Traveling to Ireland or Italy can be more affordable than you think! Here are a few pictures of some of our lodgings that are less than $80/night, and some of our favorite “picnic” meals we’ve had that trimmed our budget but didn’t leave us feeling deprived at all. We can help design a trip for you!