Budget Calculator

About these numbers

Typical costs come from the fall 2026 prices in our money guide and where to stay pages, using this site's hotel tiers for a room for two: $ under €120, $$ €120–250, $$$ €250–450 and $$$$ over €450 a night. A mid-range big-city room is about €220 a night, the figure in the money guide's sample Rome, Florence and Venice trip, and about €150 elsewhere. A day's spending then lands in or near the money guide's daily budgets per person: about €100–140 on a budget, €200–300 mid-range and €400–600 at the Comfort level, which assumes a $$$ hotel in a central spot. Hotel rates are for one room shared by two people; the calculator adds a room for every two travelers.

Italian prices include VAT (IVA), so the two extras are the ones Americans miss. Food figures include the coperto (cover charge) of about €1.50–4 per person at each sit-down meal, plus bottled water, but no servizio; if a 10–15 percent service charge is on your bill, you have already tipped. The city tax (imposta di soggiorno) is charged per person per night and paid at your lodging, often in cash: in Rome it runs from €4 at one star to €10 at five, in Florence €3.50–8, in Venice €1–5 and in Milan €3–12, and small towns charge about €1.50–5. Each city stops charging after 5 to 10 nights and exempts young children; the calculator charges every traveler every night, so long stays and families come out slightly high. Venice's day-tripper access fee (€5–10 on peak days) does not apply if you sleep in Venice, so it is not included. Big-city transport is metro, bus and vaporetto tickets (Rome's single ticket is €1.50, Venice's €9.50, with day passes from €8.50 and €25), plus taxis at the Comfort level, and arrival and departure use the Leonardo Express (€14) or Rome's €55 flat-fare taxi.

The car line is our estimate for a compact car booked a few weeks ahead with basic cover (about €28–45 a day), plus the zero-deductible add-on (€15–30 a day) at the higher levels and parking (€25–40 a night in a garage near a historic center at the Comfort level); booked the same week, the same car can cost €65–110 a day. Fuel uses the price you enter and about 39 US mpg (6 liters per 100 km), typical of the small cars you'll rent there; the €2.03 default is the national gasoline average for mid-October 2026, and diesel, which many rental cars use, was about €2.26. Tolls are our estimate of about €0.075 per km on half of your driving (a quarter in the South & islands, where some motorways are free). Not included: ZTL and speed camera fines, Milan's €7.50 Area C charge, a Telepass transponder (€6–12 a day), the International Driving Permit, travel insurance, ferries, shopping and big extras such as a gondola ride. See driving in Italy, getting around and art and churches.