Travel Italy on a Budget: What Does it Cost?

Can I travel Italy on a budget?

The answer is yes, you absolutely can travel Italy on a budget. And the best part is you can travel Italy on a budget and enjoy all Italy has to offer.

All you have to do is get a bit savvy and keep your eyes open for deals and ways to save money as you go.

My husband and I spent 3 weeks in Italy traveling all over the place, with a budget of $200 per day for two people. 

If you went to Italy for one week on that budget, your trip would cost you $1,400, not including airfare. That’s pretty dang good!

This $200 per day budget is absolutely doable and enjoyable. If you have more money to spare for your trip, up that budget a little and make it your own. On a tighter budget? You can make it happen!

We easily could have spent even less if we had stayed in hostels and eaten mostly from the grocery store.

On our $200 budget, we ate delicious pizza and drank local wine every day, stayed in hotels, and did awesome activities like exploring Cinque Terre by scooter and seeing Florence from the top of the Duomo.

This post may contain affiliate links. If you use these links to buy something I may earn a commission, at no additional cost to you.

•10 Budget Friendly European Cities You’ll Love to Visit
•10 Essential Items To Pack For A Trip to Europe
•Packing For One Week In Europe, Summer & Winter

How to Travel Italy on a Budget

With a bit of planning and armed with knowledge about how to keep costs low while traveling, you can have an amazing, budget friendly trip to Italy to see so much that the country has to offer!

Define Your Budget

Everyone has a different idea of what ‘traveling on a budget’ means. For some people, that might be a $50 per day budget staying in hostels and eating meals from the local grocery store. For others, it might mean something entirely different. 

So, you need to define your budget and what you feel comfortable with.

For the purposes of this post, we’re going to operate on a $200 per day budget for 2 people, so $100 each, per day. It’s a nice round number, and it gives us a little room to work with. The daily budget number includes food, accommodation, transportation, activities, souvenirs, and rentals.

Bonus points if you spend below your budget one day and have a little extra to spend the next. Other days you may be over because of unforeseen costs. 

But, the principles we’re going to cover can apply to any daily budget.

While the daily budget is important, your most important number will probably be your total at the end of your trip when you’re looking at your bank account as you fly home. So, keep your daily budget in mind, but don’t miss the big picture!

Where to Find Affordable Accommodations

Likely, accommodations will be your biggest expense every day. So, if you can get this number pretty low without sacrificing your preferred level of comfort, it will really help you keep within your budget.

The first place I always go to when I start to look for hotels is Booking.com. 

Booking.com has the best roundup of hotels, B&B’s, and apartments, and you can find a hotel practically anywhere in the world on their website. 

Pro tip: use the Booking.com app to get their mobile discounts! Also, their Genius program (not an additional sign up) will help you get additional discounts, as well. 

AirBnb is always a great place to look for accommodation, although I find that with the additional fees and taxes it sometimes ends up being more expensive than a hotel. 

In Italy, I’ve found that Airbnb’s and hotels are both good options and can be competitive in price, so I recommend you check both platforms when looking for places to stay.

For unique accommodations, I find that AirBnb is the best place to search. We’ve stayed in some very cool places through Airbnb, like our favorite rental in Scotland. 

If you’re working on a tight budget, hostels are always a smart way to save money. In some hostels, you can book a private room that feels very similar to a hotel and that offers much more privacy than a dorm style room.

To give you an idea of how much it costs to stay in a hotel in Italy, here are some of our actual hotel prices when we visited in September. 

Our Hotel Costs in Italy

Florence: €83/night – Hotel Caravaggio

Fié allo Sciliar, Dolomites:  €59/night – Huberhof Agriturismo

Riomaggiore, Cinque Terre: €81/night – Viadeibanchi 

Ortisei, The Dolomites: €97/night – Garni Dolomitenblick

Naples:  €74/night – Vecchia Napoli Apartment

Rome:  €54/night – B&B Drago D’oro

Venice:  €59/night – (I don’t recommend where we stayed so I won’t be mentioning it, but just know there are budget options in Venice if you’re trying to save money.)

*We normally don’t stay anywhere with less than a 3 star rating unless it’s all that we can find in our budget.

Cutting Costs on Food

While food in Italy is not as expensive as I assumed it would be, three sit-down meals a day can really add up, especially for two people and in tourist areas. 

You can cut down on food costs in a few easy ways and still get to experience the mouth-watering food Italy is known for.

In some towns, we ate out at every meal because the food wasn’t very expensive. In others, we bought breakfast and lunch items at the grocery store and only ate dinner out. You can spend as much or as little as you want on food, really.

Here are the numbers of what we spent per day on food while traveling Italy on a budget. This includes our morning espresso, meals, snacks, and gelato 😋.

Naples: 36€/day

Rome: 49€/day

Florence: 42€/day

Cinque Terre: 38€/day

Dolomites: 34€/day (we bought groceries and had snacky lunches while on the road in our rental car.)

Make It A Picnic

Our go-to way to save money on food while we travel is picnic lunches! 

We hit the local grocery store or local market, pick up some bread, meat, cheese, and drinks then find a great spot to enjoy our destination.

Pick up some adult beverages, and you’ve got yourself quite a little picnic!

I find that not only is this a way to save some money, but I think it’s very fun to wander around grocery stores when I travel and see what I recognize or what is entirely new to me.

Check the Cover Charge

When you do sit down for a meal, be sure to check the ‘coperto’, or the cover charge for the table. 

It’s very common for restaurants to include a small charge for your table, usually 2-3 euros. Just note this when looking for a place to eat, it’s usually listed on the bottom of the menu.

Coperto is something that most sit-down restaurants do, so there is no need to go scouring the streets for the restaurant that won’t charge you an extra €2. It’s just something to be aware of!

Get Savvy and Eat on the Go

Share an entree and order an appetizer or two to keep the cost a bit lower, and if you’re looking to have a drink, order a local glass of wine. Wine in Italy is abundant, and the local stuff is very affordable!

We also grabbed to-go snacks or meals pretty often to save time and money. It’s easy to find focaccia, a panini, or a fritto cone (fried snacks or seafood, yum!) just about anywhere for a quick lunch or snack.

Be Picky About Tourist Attractions

You will need to decide what you believe is ‘worth it’ when you’re figuring out your stops for the day. 

Not a museum person? Here’s permission to not go to the museum. Just decide for yourself what you want to and don’t want to see and spend money on. It’s your vacation, you get to decide what you want it to be!

Some famous or popular tourist attractions are that way for a reason, because they are a truly spectacular experience. Others are famous simply because they have always been that way.

I recommend doing a bit of research ahead of time to make your own conclusions! 

Here is the cost breakdown of what we spent on tourist attractions and activities while traveling Italy on a budget:

The Vatican Museum:  €17/per person

Colosseum:  €16/per person

The David:  €16/per person

Scooter Rental Cinque Terre: €51/day

Seceda Cable Car:  €35/per person

Find Free Activities & Walking Tours

Wherever you go in Italy, there will always be free activities to take part in as a way to save money. 

If you’re near the beach, spend the day enjoying all that comes along with the coast and the water. If you’re in a city, find a free walking tour online (self-guided or led) and learn about the history, culture, and architecture. 

Some museums or tourist attractions offer discount days or holiday specials. For example, the Colosseum in Rome is free to visit on the first Sunday of every month.

We’ve found that almost anywhere, if you get out and start walking, you’re bound to find something interesting to do or see! You can always ask the locals and 

•22 Things To Do In Florence, Italy While On Holiday
•5 Amazing Towns in Italy You Should Visit
•How to Get Around The Five Villages of Cinque Terre

How To Get Around Italy On a Budget

Traveling by Train in Italy

One of the easiest ways to get to and fro in Italy is by train. Their rail system can take you just about anywhere you want to go and the train times are abundant. 

Italy’s train system is extensive, and it will even take you to places that used to be much more remote, like the train that connects all five towns of the Cinque Terre!

Don’t expect Italy’s trains to always be punctual, but they tend to be pretty good. Only a few times did we run into a late or canceled train while traveling for 3 weeks in Italy by train.

Seeing Italy by train is a great way to get around, and with the faster high-speed trains that offer service from most major cities, it’s quick and comfortable. 

Trenitalia is Italy’s largest provider, with Italo being another popular system you’ll see.

One of the best things about traveling in Italy by train is that it’s convenient! You can purchase tickets online, arrive at the station, and hop right on to your train. Then, once aboard, you can sit back and relax, maybe even take a nap or watch a movie. 

Think about how long it takes just to get to the airport, drop of your luggage, get through security, etc. Train travel tends to be much less of a hassle, in my opinion, especially if you’re traveling within the country.

Is Traveling Italy by Train Affordable? 

Yes! Of course, ticket prices vary based on the itinerary, but they tend to be a very affordable way to travel around what is a relatively large country. 

The high speed train from Rome to Florence costs €20 and only takes about 1.5hrs traveling at 189mph!

Tip: purchase your tickets in advance online if you know where you’ll be headed and when you’ll be leaving. You’re likely to save some money this way.

Bus Travel in Italy

An even more budget alternative to taking a train in Italy is hopping on a bus to get where you’re going. 

That being said, the bus system in Italy, mostly serviced by Flixbus as there is no national bus service, is not nearly as extensive as the train system. 

Buses are advantageous for getting around in areas like Tuscany or the Dolomites that aren’t served as well by the train system.

We spent a few days in the small town of Montaione in Tuscany, and we had to take a combination of trains and buses to get there. We ended up taking a bus from Florence to Castelfiorentino, then a bus on to Montaione because there was no direct train service. 

When we made our way from Cinque Terre to Ortisei in the Dolomites, we took multiple trains to end up in Bolzano, then a bus to get further up into the mountains.

Is Traveling by Bus in Italy Budget Friendly?

Certainly! While taking a bus to get from point A to point B while in Italy isn’t always the most efficient method, it is certainly affordable. Because there is no national bus service, you may have to search around to find the best routes and prices. 

If you’re looking to travel Italy on a tight budget, buses will be your friend!

Flying to Get Around Italy

While you can certainly find cheap flights from the major cities like Milan or Rome, and it can be a time saver to fly long distances in Italy, it isn’t the fastest or easiest way to travel. 

Flying within Italy to get around can be used as a piece of your travel itinerary when it’s advantageous, like if you’re going from one end of the country to the other. Otherwise, I recommend using the trains. 

Is it Affordable to Travel Around Italy by Plane?

Unlike back home in the U.S. where I’m from, traveling by plane in Europe can actually be budget friendly. This makes traveling in Italy on a budget a bit easier.

If you’re looking for flight deals, always check Skyscanner and Google Flights. 

Plus, check out the budget airlines that fly in Italy like ITA Airways, Ryanair, and Vueling to name a few! (You can find these flights listed on Google Flights but it can pay to check their websites as well.)

The Best Places In Italy to Travel on a Budget

Surprisingly, large cities in Italy like Rome and Milan can actually be pretty budget friendly and offer enough options to allow you to stay in whatever budget you decide on.

From our personal experience, we found Naples and Rome to be affordable and have lots of options for people trying to travel Italy on a budget. 

We also kept to our budget in Florence, though we spent a bit more on food here because we could tell that the city had a great culinary scene. 

There are destinations in Italy that are primarily focused on catering to tourists, so you can expect prices to be higher there, whereas in the big city, prices are also influenced by the locals. You will also have a larger variety of options in a larger city.

We decided to visit Cinque Terre, which is a very popular tourist destination, but we were still able to keep it within our budget by being a bit savvy with a lot of the tips mentioned above.

There are some areas that tend to be more expensive to visit for whatever reasons, like the Dolomites or the Amalfi Coast.

I hope this guide helps you plan your next trip so you can travel Italy on a budget that works for you!