2 weeks in Italy cost HOW much?

Here’s the lowdown on how much 13 nights in Italy cost 2 people, including transport, accommodation, spending money and everything else!

Route

• Como x 3 nights

• Bologna x 3 nights

• Rome x 3 nights

• Naples x 4 nights [includes day trip to Amalfi Coast]

  
  

All ticketed activities are included in this cost, and we always have a bit of a buffer for each trip [around £50] for contingency. For transparency, I have a 12 month #travelinsurance policy with Puffin Insurance, and so I do not include this cost in any of my trip budgets as it was paid for separately. Some other things that can help bring the cost down can be found here.

We also found that travelling in October/November and so out of peak season definitely brought the costs down.

Travel - £720

We started our trip by flying from Bristol to Milan, before getting on the train to Como from there. To make our way through Italy we purchased a 1 Country Interrail Pass which was so handy, as it gave us free travel on most of our trains, with us only needing to pay for seat reservations on a couple. For more info on Interrail, check out my blog post.

We flew back from Naples to London which helped with costs, and as we were living in Birmingham at the time we were pretty flexible about where we flew into. Included in these costs are trains/coaches to and from the airports.

That being said, when flying long haul I'd recommend either flying with the same airlines regularly to build up Air Miles & Frequent Flyer Points, or opening up multiple cards and accounts so you can always capitalise on the best deals! More on that can be found here.

Accommodation - £1,199

3 of our stays were in hotels, and 1 was in an Airbnb. This trip was important to us and so we did splurge on the accommodation here, you absolutely could have gotten cheaper! 2 of the hotels had breakfast included, and our hotel in Rome had a big old balcony overlooking the city!

All of our accommodations were within walking distance to the city which is our main consideration when looking at places to stay. We would definitely stay at all of them again!

We'll also add that we've visited Italy many a times now, and so here's a list of all the places we've stayed during our trips. These won't all fit into this budget, but there are some screamers in here!

• Como: Le Stanze del Lago Villa Seta

• Bologna: NH Hotel, Airbnb

• Rome: Airbnb, ARA PACIS INN

• Naples: BB Casamatta

Daily spend - £1,404

We actually have a ‘daily spend’ amount that is the same for every single trip we go on. This amount includes food, drinks, miscellaneous items such as sun cream, plasters, souvenirs etc. For reference, we ate out for lunch and dinner everyday, and grabbed a pastry and coffee to-go each morning. The places we went to ranged from cheap ‘grab and go’ eateries to boujie restaurants.

We usually allocate £108 per day for the 2 of us on average, and so far we have not gone over! We could absolutely manage on less, however this is the sweet spot for us with seeing, eating and experiencing whatever we want. This might be different for you depending on your priorities.

Activities - £465

I always like to book my activities in advance so I can relax during the trip knowing I don’t have to faff around booking things. This also usually means that I get the cheapest rate for all tickets and activities as things typically get more expensive closer to the time or when paying on the door. Most things are always flexible should I need to cancel or change them, and it just means I can really maximise my time in each place.

That being said, Italian’s are quite laid back when it comes to football tickets, and so we had to wait until the day before the game before buying these! More info on that can be found in my European Football blog post.

Activities that were booked and paid for in Italy were:

• Como Boat Pass

• Bologna v AC Milan football match

• Colosseum and Roman Forum

• Lazio v Fiorentina football match

• Vatican and Sistine Chapel

• Teatro San Carlo Opera Tour

• Pompeii

• Mount Vesuvius

• Amalfi Coast Day Trip

• We also took part in free walking tours and entry to the Basilica of San Petronio was free.

Total Cost - £3,698

Total cost pER DAY £264 / £132PP

I found Italy overall to be a pretty cheap country, and great value for money! There are many factors that could increase or decrease the total cost, of which a few are:

- The time of year you visit

- What your priorities are for your trip [eating out, sightseeing etc]

- Your travel style [hostel, hotel, villa etc]

- How far in advance you book

- What sites you use to book

Here are some tools that I always use to ensure I'm getting the best value for my trips and that there are no hidden costs.

We would NOT be able to plan a trip without our trusted budget spreadsheet. It helps us see what we can (and can't) afford, whilst also helping us see how much we need to save each week to be able to do everything we want!