How Much Does a Trip to Italy Cost (On Any Budget)?

Italy is one of our favorite countries to travel in and write about, and one of the most common questions we get about it is also one of the hardest to answer: how much does a trip to Italy cost?

The short answer is anywhere from basically nothing to the GDP of a small country… but that doesn’t provide a lot of useful context, right?

The estimates we’ve put together here stem from more than a cumulative year each spent traveling in Italy over the last 10+ years. We have most frequently traveled as a couple but have also visited the country as a family with our young child, with our dog, on multi-generational family trips, and with friends.

We’ve traveled to 14 of Italy’s 20 regions, spent a month each “living” in 3 cities (Florence, Bologna, Rome), and don’t expect our Italy travels to end anytime soon!

From our backpacking days to splashing out on luxury stays, we’ve had a chance to travel at a wide variety of price points in the country.

And, while each trip is unique, we think this guide will give you a solid basis of how much a trip to Italy will cost for you!

How We Structured These Italy Budget Tips

All of these estimates for the cost of a trip to Italy are given in USD, assume that you are traveling for 3 weeks or less, and assume that you are spending at least half your time in tourist hotspots like Rome and Venice.

Like all of our various travel budget blog posts, we are ignoring the cost of actually getting to Italy in these daily estimates, as those expenses are so wildly different depending on where you are coming from.

They are also an estimate for one person.

If you’re traveling with other people (especially more than one other person) and are able to split the costs of things like accommodations, you will likely be able to lower the cost per person even further.

Of course, it’s safe to say that traveling in Italy has seen a fair number of price increases since we first started visiting, especially since 2020! We’ve done our best to adjust these estimates to 2026 levels, though ultimately, they’re just an estimate: every trip and every traveler is a bit different!

The Two BIGGEST Ways to Cut Your Italy Travel Budget

While I have written this Italy vacation costs guide with a fairly typical first-time itinerary in mind (something like this, for example), I do need to point out that the biggest ways to limit how much your trip to Italy costs don’t have anything to do with finding cheaper restaurants or skipping a 20 Euro attraction.

If you want to truly change the cost of traveling to Italy, the two biggest factors are when you go, and where you go.

If you’re trying to visit Italy on a budget and want to see the most famous cities, I strongly recommend considering a trip between November and March (excluding the weeks leading up to Christmas). For the cheapest prices, look at January and February trips.

Not only will you save lots of money that way, but you’ll have far more flexibility and elbow room when seeing top attractions like the Uffizi and the Colosseum!

On the other hand, if you’re hoping to travel during the on-season, which is most of the year these days, consider being flexible on where you go instead.

The Amalfi Coast and Cinque Terre are beautiful, yes, but so are the regions of Puglia, Sicily, Calabria, and Sardinia…. not to mention hundreds of other beach destinations lurking just off your radar in other regions, from Gaeta to Rapallo to Sirolo. A quick glance at the map is enough to tell you that your coastal options in Italy are near-endless!

Florence’s art is sublime, but so is Ravenna’s.

Tuscany’s countryside makes an idyllic road trip, but so does Umbria’s, and so on and so forth.

When you consider how crowded places like Florence and Rome can be these days, I can confidently say that travelers who dislike crowds and don’t have a deep-seated desire to see a specific spot in Italy, but rather want to soak up the culture, food, architecture, and landscapes that make the country so special, may even have a better time on their trip by visiting less-famous spots!

Budget Trip to Italy Cost: $60-90/day

A budget trip to Italy does require some sacrifices on comfort, but not as many as you might think: Italy can be surprisingly affordable.

This is a rough sketch of what a budget trip to Italy will cost and feel like.

Keep in mind that this is a budget trip in the sense of a traveler who is visiting Italy as a standalone destination or as part of a defined trip, and who is looking to save money but also prioritize a fairly typical travel experience.

Shoestring backpackers who would like to cut costs by camping, hitchhiking, avoiding all paid attractions, etc., will, of course, be able to get by on less, but that’s not the target of this blog post!

Accommodation

At this budget, you’ll likely stay in hostel dorms or private rooms on Airbnb (as opposed to renting a whole apartment).

You’ll be able to stay in well-reviewed properties but may have to sacrifice a bit on location and stay further from the center of cities.

Alternatively, you can opt to roll the dice on less-nicely-reviewed spots to stay closer in.

Transportation

Local buses, international bus companies like Flixbus and perhaps the occasional budget airline flight will be your most common methods of transportation between destinations when visiting Italy on a budget.

Regional train tickets may fit into your budget occasionally, but you’ll typically need to avoid the expensive high-speed rail lines and therefore it will take longer to reach each destination.

If you have your heart set on traveling Italy by train (it is a delight!), we recommend opting for regional routes where you can, and booking any high-speed trains well in advance.

Being flexible in your departure times can help shave prices a bit, too! You can browse train timetables and prices here.

Food

If you’re traveling to Italy on a budget, you’ll want to shop for your own groceries at least half the time.

Luckily, this isn’t a chore in Italy: freshly made pasta, bread, pesto, and more are all reasonably affordable!

Local bottles of wine in grocery stores start around 3-5 Euros each.

Touristy markets are fun (especially for produce), offbeat farmers’ markets populated with at least some locals are even better, and boring-but-still-culturally-interesting grocery chains like Conad and Coop are often the most competitive of all.

You can supplement your food with affordable options like takeaway pasta, pizza, and sandwiches, and splurge on the occasional lunch special to enjoy restaurant meals in Italy.

Tours and Attractions

A budget traveler in Italy will likely need to be very choosy in which paid, famous attractions they choose to visit. Things like guided tours, special access tickets, and the like will almost certainly be out of the budget.

However, you can work some attractions into your budget!

Notable highlights that you may want to see like the Colosseum, Vatican Museums, Statue of David, Uffizi Gallery, Pompeii, etc., tend to cost between 15-25 Euros for a basic ticket, but accessing those prices will generally mean booking your timed entry tickets online will in advance.

Climbing towers to access the most iconic viewpoints (Giotto’s Bell Tower, Leaning Tower of Pisa, San Marco Campanile) costs around 15-20 Euros in Italy.

Less-famous viewpoints can easily be half that or less!

If you have your heart set on experiencing a variety of museums and attractions in Italy but aren’t too choosy about which art and views you see, strongly consider visiting more offbeat museums and skipping any icons you don’t have your heart set on experiencing!

Some luxuries, like riding in a gondola in Venice (around 90 Euros/gondola), will likely need to be skipped.

Mid-range Trip to Italy Cost: $100-150/day

We generally consider the bulk of our travels in Italy to be mid-range.

At this price point, you’ll be able to visit most attractions you would like to see, splurge on a guided visit or two (perhaps for visiting the Vatican), add a food tour or cooking class (we loved this one!), and eat more restaurant meals.

However, you’ll still need to keep an eye on your Italy budget daily to avoid accidentally overspending.

Accommodation

At a mid-range price point, budget hotels near the center of cities or slightly more upscale hotels outside the center of cities are options.

You can also opt to rent an entire apartment on Airbnb in most destinations.

Transportation

If you’d like, you can mostly avoid bus travel in Italy on a mid-range budget, though high-speed rail travel will likely need to be carefully rationed.

Regional trains and budget air travel will be your best bet for getting around Italy, and public transportation will still be optimal in cities.

If you’d like to visit part of Italy via road trip, a mid-range budget will allow you to rent a car for a small part of your trip, though you may need to cut a different tour or experience elsewhere.

However, we recommend avoiding renting a car while in a city (nothing ruins an Italian travel budget quite like receiving a ticket in the mail months after returning home) and limiting the time you have it to the bare minimum.

Remember that if you rent a car in Italy, you’ll need to have an International Driving Permit to do so!

Food

Midrange travelers can eat out more than budget travelers in Italy, but it will still be best to cook some meals if possible (perhaps 30%), and to eat the biggest meal of the day at lunch when many restaurants offer daily lunch specials.

If you’re a foodie, this budget may also allow room for a food tour or cooking class while in Italy.

We’ve taken many food tours in Italy and enjoyed virtually all of them, but here are 3 absolute standouts that are well worth the money:

• The Ultimate Trastevere Food Tour (deep-dive into one of Rome’s best neighborhoods)
• Dine Around Florence Evening Tour (a delicious multi-stop meal enjoyed on the “other” side of the river in Florence)
• Parmigiano-Reggiano Factory & Ham Tour (an unforgettable day spent among wheels of cheese!)

Tours and Attractions

Prioritization is the name of the game when it comes to balancing the cost of traveling in Italy with a mid-range budget.

You’ll be able to add some guided tours to your explorations, and will be able to visit just about any attraction that you want (but perhaps not all of them).

If you have your heart set on a particular luxury experience, like a gondola ride in Venice or a day spent boating around Capri, you’ll likely need to cut expenses elsewhere to make it work on this budget.

Luxury Trip to Italy Cost: $200-Infinity

Accommodation

Luxury accommodation in Italy can be truly magnificent.

Think upscale hotels (sometimes housed in historic palaces!) located right on the Arno River in Florence, overlooking the Spanish Steps in Rome, and along the Grand Canal in Venice.

At this price point, you can also consider renting out country villas in places like Tuscany, though bear in mind that many properties have a minimum rental period of one week.

Transportation

Without budget restrictions, high-speed train travel will likely be the preferred method of traveling around the country: it’s very efficient, very fast, and much less cumbersome than dealing with flying.

You’ll also have the freedom to rent a car as often as you like, however, we still recommend only renting one for the time spent outside cities.

Dealing with limited parking, many restricted driving areas, and hefty ticket prices (that you often won’t receive or know about until weeks after the fact) makes renting a car while staying in Italian cities more trouble than it’s worth.

Private transfers are generally unnecessary in Italy, however, if it fits into what you want your luxury trip to Italy to cost, they can be considered at this price point and can be especially handy for things like winery excursions!

Food

Italy is dotted with Michelin Star restaurants and luxury dining experiences, and a luxury budget will allow for these meals at least some nights.

If upscale dining is important to you, bear in mind that you’ll want to make reservations as far in advance as possible at the most popular spots.

Even if you’re not into upscale dining, though, the true freedom of exploring Italy’s cuisine on a luxury budget is being able to enjoy as many restaurant meals as you wish, without thinking about the cost.

… and it also means you may have room in the budget to ship some wine, olive oil, or traditional balsamic vinegar home, all of which I consider some of the best things to buy in Italy!

Tours and Attractions

Taking a trip to Italy without concerns about cost allows for some truly epic experiences.

Think unlocking the Sistine Chapel before it opens for the day and being one of the first people to step inside, visiting various monuments after-hours, taking a private gondola ride in Venice, setting off on private wine tours through Tuscany with your own driver, and chartering private boats along the Amalfi Coast!

When it comes to luxury sightseeing in Italy, the sky is truly the limit. If you ask us, though, the biggest luxury you can buy is avoiding the crowds by booking private and after-hours experiences!

For example, this Alone in the Duomo tour that I took in Florence was truly spectacular.

Not only did we appreciate the cathedral and its views (terraces included, which can only be accessed with a guide) with no crowds, but the experience of watching the Duomo be closed and locked for the night was far more special than I expected before experiencing it for myself.

Getting to Italy on a Budget

How much a trip to Italy costs before arriving on the ground varies dramatically depending on where you are coming from, of course, but where you arrive can significantly change how much your trip to Italy costs.

If you’re coming from Europe, be sure to check budget airline flights to and from Rome, Pisa, Bologna, Milan/Bergamo, and Venice in the north/central regions, and Bari and Palermo in the south. These destinations tend to have quite a few low-cost flights available.

Regardless of where you are coming from, be sure to compare the cost (including the cost of on-the-ground travel and time consumed by logistics during your trip to Italy) of a roundtrip ticket as opposed to two one-way tickets that will allow you to avoid backtracking, say, by flying into Rome and out of Venice.

Using one-way tickets isn’t always a good deal by a long shot, but it can be, especially for those playing the miles game!

How to Save Money on Your Trip to Italy

Consider sticking to a smaller geographic region.

Most first-time visitors to Italy will want to visit Rome, Florence, Venice, and a piece of the coast if they have time. There’s nothing wrong with that, it’s a fabulous itinerary that we frequently recommend ourselves!

However, if you are concerned about the cost of a trip to Italy, consider sticking to a smaller region.

Rome, Naples/Pompeii, and the Amalfi Coast require very little in-country travel and make for a stunning trip.

A Tuscany-focused trip, perhaps with a side trip to Cinque Terre in Liguria, offers a unique option as well.

If your heart is set on Venice, perhaps head to Verona or Milan after that, instead of further south.

This is even more about budgeting time than budgeting money: zipping up and down the boot not only makes for expensive travel days , but it eats into the time you could be sightseeing or relaxing in Italy!

Plan your route in advance.

As tempting as it is to let spontaneity guide you from city to city, if you want to keep the cost of a trip to Italy down, planning ahead is definitely the way to go.

Plane tickets and high-speed rail tickets can rise in price as the departure date gets closer, and booking lodging ahead of time will often allow you to find competitive deals in better locations than a last-minute booking.

Attractions, too, often need to be booked well in advance if you want to score base-price tickets on the official website, rather than booking last-minute through a third-party.

The exception to booking lodging in advance, though, is if you’re traveling in the off-season.

If you’re visiting at a point that you’re reasonably confident most hotels won’t be sold out (but also won’t be closed: I wouldn’t try this in Positano in February), you can sometimes get fabulous last minute deals on hotels by booking 2-3 days in advance.

That is a gamble, however! The safest bet is to plan ahead, especially if you’re traveling Italy on a budget.

Don’t forget about buses and planes.

Both Flixbus and Ryanair have a solid presence in Italy and are great alternate transportation options to consider when train travel looks too expensive.

The further south you go, the cheaper Italy is.

This is absolutely a rule of thumb that has plenty of exceptions thrown in (looking at you, Amalfi Coast), but it’s good to keep in mind as you scour the map!

Generally, your cash will stretch much further in Puglia, Sicily, or Basilicata than in Lombardy, Veneto, or Trento-Alto Adige.

If you want to plan a low-cost trip to Italy and don’t mind missing the most famous sights in favor of lesser-known but still incredible ones, consider sticking to the lower half of the boot–the further south the better.

Decide which tourist attractions are unmissable ahead of time, and budget for those.

If you book a trip to Italy knowing that your visit will feel incomplete without, say, a chance to see the Sistine Chapel or take a cooking class in Tuscany, go ahead and add that to your budget in advance.

That way, you will visit knowing exactly how much that experience will cost during your trip to Italy, and exactly how much scrimping you’ll need to do in other areas to make it happen.

Budget carefully for food.

Food is such a big part of the experience of a trip to Italy, cost of your trip aside.

Whether you’re traveling on the tightest budget or the most luxurious one, experiencing Italian cuisine is likely high on your list of priorities.

We recommend tracking your daily spending carefully on food. Individual purchases, say for a scoop of gelato or an espresso at the bar, can feel quite small but add up fast, particularly if your spending is limited.

If you have access to a kitchen, absolutely take advantage of it!

Heading to a market and purchasing fresh pasta, pesto, cheese, bread, and wine and then cooking at home will cost a fraction of what the same meal would in a restaurant, and is a fabulous experience to have regardless of your Italy budget.

Research restaurants in advance.

When you do eat in restaurants, do so carefully.

You may think that every restaurant in Italy would be fabulous, but that is definitely not the case. 

There are a lot of duds out there, especially near tourist attractions (shocker).

Dining out in Italy can be enormously improved by simply doing some basic restaurant research ahead of time.

This can be as easy as typing “good Italian restaurants near me” into Google and seeing what comes up that is well-reviewed and within your price range (though bear in mind fake reviews are a big thing: do a bit of scrolling to see what looks legimitate).

It’s not full-proof, sure, but it raises your odds considerably from simply picking somewhere you happen to walk by.

Go somewhere you’ve never heard of.

I covered this above, but can’t ressit repeating it briefly in this section!

Italy is absolutely chock full of insanely beautiful places that offer gorgeous architecture, delicious food, compelling history, and stunning nature… and yet, most of them don’t get seen, because we all have a tendency to visit the same places over and over again.

Sure, some of that is inevitable–there’s only one Rome, there’s only one Venice–but while Capri is gorgeous, comparatively few non-Italian tourists make it out to Sardinia, or even nearby Procida. While Lake Como is magnificent, Italy is full of beautiful lakes.

If you’d like to cut down your trip to Italy cost, consider taking off to a point on the map that makes geographic sense with your itinerary, but you’re not already familiar with.

You might be surprised at what you find (and how few other visitors that you have to share the view with).

Make lunch your big meal of the day, and look for regional cheap eats.

Many Italian restaurants run specials at lunch, offering a 2-3 course meal, often with wine, for a set price.

If you want to regularly eat out in Italy, this is the way to do it!

The same restaurants charge much more for dinner portions, but we’ve never been anything but stuffed after lunch in Italy.

Want to visit a restaurant but not do a multi-course meal? Pizzerias, as well as regional options like panino or foccacia shops, offer a great in-between option that allows you to enjoy a restaurant experience while still keeping your food budget down.

Here’s what to know about eating in Italy, including options for staying on budget!

Consider traveling in the winter.

Particularly if you’re wanting to visit cities in Italy on a budget, Italy makes an exceptionall great offseason destination.

Winter is mild in much of the country, and the Colosseum looks about the same regardless of whether or not you’re bundled up in a coat to see it.

Your trip to Italy cost will definitely be highest during the summer months, especially if you hope to visit the coasts and/or the most popular spots!

Read More About Traveling in Italy

If you found this guide to how much a trip to Italy costs helpful, we’d love to continue to be part of your trip planning here on Our Escape Clause!

We are Kate and Jeremy Storm, and if you add up all our trips to Italy, we’ve spent over a year traveling through the country.

You can browse our ~150 Italy blog posts here, read more about us here, or check out these other Italy travel guides:

• 13 Underrated Cities in Italy to Visit to Escape the Crowds
• Northern Italy vs Southern Italy: Which Should You Visit?
• 5 Days in Italy: Itinerary Ideas for a (Very) Quick Trip
• Venice or Rome: Which Italian Masterpiece is Right for You?
• Summer in Italy: How to Plan Your Sun-Soaked Dream Trip!