Honeymoon cost

Kristen625

Hi Ladies,

So FI and I are loosely planning our honeymoon to Italy for two weeks.  Air fare is going to be at least $3,000 total round trip for both of us (that cost is the fore sure one I know).  We of course want to do a LOT of things in Italy and its looking like about a $7,000 trip!  Is this normal?  Has anyone gone to Italy who would know more?  We would like to visit, Florence, Venice, and Rome for sure.  We are also looking at going to the Mediterranean as well and possibly if time allows, northern Italy near the Alps.  Would going to a travel agent help us figure out cost?  Cause online its looking pretty steep.  Please keep in mind the other $4,000 (which seems like a LOT to me) includes; hotel, transportation (car, boat, train, bike, etc), food, site seeing tickets, spending money, and anything else that we may do/need.

girlinchicago

We did 16 nights in Italy in June 2012.  We stayed at 4-5 star hotels, ate at some good restaurants, and visited 5 cities (Venice, Florence, Montepulciano, Positano, and Rome) - total cost was right around $10k.  I definitely think $7k is reasonable and doable - you could do it for more OR less.  

JoanE2012

Kristen625 said:

Hi Ladies,

So FI and I are loosely planning our honeymoon to Italy for two weeks.  Air fare is going to be at least $3,000 total round trip for both of us (that cost is the fore sure one I know).  We of course want to do a LOT of things in Italy and its looking like about a $7,000 trip!  Is this normal?  Has anyone gone to Italy who would know more?  We would like to visit, Florence, Venice, and Rome for sure.  We are also looking at going to the Mediterranean as well and possibly if time allows, northern Italy near the Alps.  Would going to a travel agent help us figure out cost?  Cause online its looking pretty steep.  Please keep in mind the other $4,000 (which seems like a LOT to me) includes; hotel, transportation (car, boat, train, bike, etc), food, site seeing tickets, spending money, and anything else that we may do/need.

Yup, we did Italy for 12 days and it was somewhere around $10k.

Jells2dot0

I agree with @girl. Europe, and Italy in particular, can be quite expensive. There are ways to save money, but $7,000, especially for anything more than a week, is normal and perhaps even a good deal depending on what types of things you are looking at. I do think it would be worthwhile to contact a travel agent- one that specializes in Europe/Italy in particular and have them work up some quotes for you. They can give you tips on where to stay, what to see, what to skip, and how to get the most out of your time and money.

jsquared62009

Yea 7,000 doesn't seem too bad esp since Italy can be expensive. The 4k of spending cash seems reasonable too once you divide it up by the 14 days. It's definitely a daunting number, but Italy is totally worth it IMO

allispain

It all really comes down to how much you're going to treat yourselves. Are you planning on staying in 4 and 5 star hotels? Or 2 and 3 star ones? Will you be eating out at top notch restaurants or going more "local" and trying the smaller mom and pop places? When you travel by train, will you go first class or tourist class? Or will you get a rail pass? Are you planning on site-seeing on your own as a couple or on booking tours?

I've spent a lot of time in Italy (studied abroad there in college and have been back to do some traveling since then). If you need any advice on things to do, feel free to PM me.

Pepper6

We just went to Italy last month with the same itinerary and with all travel, hotel, activities, shopping, food, etc, we spent right around $8K for 10 nights (3 each in Venice and Florence and 4 in Rome).  We booked our travel through Costco, which was pretty reasonable and very convenient because it included everything we needed (flights, hotel, airport transfers, train tickets, & daily breakfast).  It was also nice because they only required a 50% deposit to book, and then we paid the balance a few weeks before the trip, which helped soften the blow a bit.

It was pricey, and we probably could have saved some money here and there by choosing slightly lower priced hotels, arranging our own transportation, skipping some of the tours,etc, but I wouldn't change a thing about how we did our vacation (except maybe adding another night in Florence and Rome, which would have obviously added money, not saved).

If you want more info on exact costs, hotels we stayed at, tours we did, etc, you can PM me.  I had a blast, so I'd be happy to help!

alithebride

When will you be going? What's common in August is a ripoff in January.

delujm0

that's completely reasonable...generally i like to allot $200-250/night for hotels (and that's a regular trip, not a honeymoon).  So if you're doing two weeks, assume you'll spend $3k on hotels.  Italy isn't cheap, unless you go in February, and even then the exchange rate makes it pricey.  it's your honeymoon - provided that you have the cash to pay for it, do it!  but don't go into debt for it, or assume your cash wedding gifts will cover the cost, or anything like that.  that would be bad for your future.

 

For reference, i went to italy in 2009 with my mom and spent $3k - but keep in mind that i used miles for my flight and hotel points for 8 of the 16 nights we were there (mom paid for the other nights).  That $3k was basically 100% train fare, food, shopping, and entertainment.  and to be fair, mom probably picked up more than her fair share of the food costs as well.  even though i was 27 at the time, and gainfully employed, she still couldn't really accept me sharing some of the expenses!  We did go to London/Paris last year, and she actually agreed to spilt it about 50/50, so she's coming around. :-)

Kristen625

Thank you so much ladies.  We are looking at going at the very end of May, and it will bleed into June.  I did think about the exchange rate too, so that is something that cuts into cost.  If we have to we will cut our trip a bit.  But I do feel a little bit better that I'm not acting like a crazy person for a 7k trip.  Also its good to know that Italy will be worth it

dalm0m

We did 2 weeks in Ireland & the trip was in the same price ranges you're talking about.  Don't fret; it's your HM.  As long as you're not going into debt for it, you'll be fine. 

Heck, I'm trying to plan a 2 week trip to Hawaii & can't figure out how I'm going to do this for less than $12-$15k. 

delujm0

dalm0m said:

We did 2 weeks in Ireland & the trip was in the same price ranges you're talking about.  Don't fret; it's your HM.  As long as you're not going into debt for it, you'll be fine. 

Heck, I'm trying to plan a 2 week trip to Hawaii & can't figure out how I'm going to do this for less than $12-$15k. 

Haha truth.  Hawaii is SO EXPENSIVE.  We went for a week last year, stayed in a time share for 5 of the 8 nights (so i count those as free), and still wound up spending $5k.  And that was in my "regular vacation" mode, not "honeymoon" mode!  I have a budget of $15-20k for two weeks in southern Africa (i'm fresh out of hotel and airline points now unfortunately).  I have been on shopping probation for 8 months now. But it will be worth it!

Pepper6

delujm0 said:

dalm0m said:

We did 2 weeks in Ireland & the trip was in the same price ranges you're talking about.  Don't fret; it's your HM.  As long as you're not going into debt for it, you'll be fine. 

Heck, I'm trying to plan a 2 week trip to Hawaii & can't figure out how I'm going to do this for less than $12-$15k. 

Haha truth.  Hawaii is SO EXPENSIVE.  We went for a week last year, stayed in a time share for 5 of the 8 nights (so i count those as free), and still wound up spending $5k.  And that was in my "regular vacation" mode, not "honeymoon" mode!  I have a budget of $15-20k for two weeks in southern Africa (i'm fresh out of hotel and airline points now unfortunately).  I have been on shopping probation for 8 months now. But it will be worth it!

Is it the flights that made it so expensive??  We're in the process of booking our trip for this November and with RT flights for both of us, hotel & rental car, we're only at around $2K for a week.

amyelise25

DH and I traveled to Italy this past May (middle of the month). I had originally worked with a travel agent because our trip included three cities, trains, planes, and automobiles.  When I ran the numbers myself, I was able to shave off a couple thousand dollars from her original quote.  Even though I had to do the work myself (which I love), it saved us a bunch in the end. 

I was pleasantely suprised at the cost of hotels at that time of the year.  I spent about $150/night in a nice hotel 3 blocks from the Duomo in Florence (Art Atilier Hotel).  I picked that hotel because it was within walking distance of the train station (no need to get at taxi).  I also spent about $450 for 4 nights in a beautiful 2-bedroom apartment in Tuscany (near Montepulciano).  The rental car for four days probably ran us about $600.  That includes the cost of $150 in gas and a GPS (very useful tool). 

Raileurope.com can give you price information for all your train travel.  If you book through them, you will be paying a heft surcharge ($30).  But I didn't want to wait until I got there to book tickets.  The site was great for mapping out itineraries. 

The food was also pretty reasonable as well.  You can save money by doing cheaper meals here and there.  We cooked a tasty pasta dinner one night in our apartment.  The other night we just did cheese, cured meats, and bread for dinner.  DH loves wine and he found that the house wines served in the restaurants were usually of high quality at lower prices.   

 

delujm0

Pepper6 said:

delujm0 said:

dalm0m said:

We did 2 weeks in Ireland & the trip was in the same price ranges you're talking about.  Don't fret; it's your HM.  As long as you're not going into debt for it, you'll be fine. 

Heck, I'm trying to plan a 2 week trip to Hawaii & can't figure out how I'm going to do this for less than $12-$15k. 

Haha truth.  Hawaii is SO EXPENSIVE.  We went for a week last year, stayed in a time share for 5 of the 8 nights (so i count those as free), and still wound up spending $5k.  And that was in my "regular vacation" mode, not "honeymoon" mode!  I have a budget of $15-20k for two weeks in southern Africa (i'm fresh out of hotel and airline points now unfortunately).  I have been on shopping probation for 8 months now. But it will be worth it!

Is it the flights that made it so expensive??  We're in the process of booking our trip for this November and with RT flights for both of us, hotel & rental car, we're only at around $2K for a week.

Yes, we went in May (over Memorial Day weekend) from the East coast...and the flights were $1,200 each.  I think the flights can vary in price pretty widely seasonally and depending on what part of the mainland you are coming from - also if you have to add island-to-island flights, etc.

Keep in mind that food there is VERY pricey.  Especially in hotel restaurants.  So you're going to want to work that into your budget as well.

 

I'm super jealous of your cost!  We're going to St. Lucia for 4 days in December and it's costing us $3k.  But it's for a wedding, so that's allowed under my current "shopping and travel probation" budget. :-)