I'm visiting Barcelona, Paris, and London, anybody know how much money I'll spend in each city?

Hey! I’m going to Barcelona too!! mid Oct. Maybe I’ll see you there. And I sure will check back here for any interesting answers.

@skfinkel haha i don’t think so, i’m going on mid april, well if you need to learn any spanish ask me about it :P

I did a lot of calculating five years ago when we were planning a family trip, and I came up with a rule-of-thumb round figure of $100/person/day for everything other than room. I think rooms averaged out about the same (double occupancy), so I allocated about $800/day for four of us, in addition to air fare. It’d probably be more now. Barcelona wasn’t on the list; I don’t know how it compares with other European cities.

Of course, you can get by much more frugally, depending on how you handle meals, local transportation, etc. Where you stay is a big factor: luxury hotel vs. hostel, modest hotel room vs. couch surfing. So it would be hard for us to guess on your behalf.

Last summer as a graduation gift I gave my son a $5000 budget for a trip to Europe, all-inclusive, and I figured he’d be lucky to get 3 weeks out of it. He did some very careful shopping and planning on air fare from Boston, accommodations, intercity travel, etc., and managed to stretch it to four full weeks. Also, typically for him, he succeeded in spending just about every cent without going over budget.

To what comfort are you accustomed? I ask because it can be done on a shoe string and it can also be done rather extravagantly.

@Mat74UK shoe string ! haha

London, on a shoestring:

http://www.piccadillyhotel.net/ £12+ a night (in a dorm room)
Breakfast £3–6 a day, depending on what you want
Lunch £4+ a day
Dinner £10–20 a day
Transport – London Underground day pass c.£5.50 a day (discounts available for booking several days worth) – this may work on buses too, can’t think off the top of my head.

Many museums are free, including the Tate Modern etc, but stuff like Madame Tussauds (over-rated) and the London Dungoens etc will charge entrance fees, typically from £15—£25.
Souveniers will of course be hideously expensive, or cheap tat (or worse, hideously expensive cheap tat!) and you’ll probably spend at least £10 on a piece of rubbish t-shirt, several quid on a little red phonebox etc etc etc.

Drinking in London is rather nastily expensive, with a pint of beer costing at least £3—£4, and a small glass of apple juice costing something similar! Clubbing etc (not that I’ve done it in London) will also not be cheap… Comedy nights are quite good fun – again, at least £10 entrance fee for these.
Oh, and of course there’s all the shows – expect to pay at least £30 to go see one of these (although there are last-minute ticket sales kiosks all over town).

Hope that helps…

@harple thanks ! shit, at mexico a pint of beer costs £1

@max_gutierrez it is particularly expensive in London itself! Maybe get all your drinking done before you get there????

@Jeruba, that’s a fantastic gift! Wish I was your child!