Amsterdam & Paris, 5 nights, how much $?

[six toe rings]

Looking for a little input as to how much cash is reasonable to bring for a couple kids on a budget. My boyfriend and I are flying into Amsterdam, staying a night, taking the eurolines bus to Paris for 2 nights, then coming back to Amsterdam for 2 more nights and flying out. [Sort of weird itinerary I know; last-minute plans]

We payed for the bus and flight obviously and deposits on the hotels. We'll owe a total of 216 euro for the whole 5-night stay.

We will live in a budget and don't need to go out to fancy dinners, etc., nothing like that.

We were planning to each save at least $600 =1200 = 800 euro. After our hotels, this would leave 600 euro between both of us for 5 nights. Running numbers, it seems to work, but it is pushing it? I can't imagine running out of money while we're there, that'd be a disaster.

Thing is, the trip is only 3 weeks away. With our paychecks, we could conceivably save more, but we'd have to live veryyyy meagerly til then, haha.

If anyone has any experiences with how much living cash is needed for a 5-day trip in Europe, that'd be great.

[lauren313]

I think you'll do absolutely fine with that! Especially if you don't need to be paying any more for accommodation, travel, etc. The money you have will need to cover travel within cities (eg metro), food and attractions. Lots of attractions you don't need to pay to get into, and those that you do won't usually cost more than a few euros anyway. Travel won't be expensive, in Paris you can get a booklet of 10 tickets for around 11 or 12 euros I think.

Then obviously how much food will cost will depend on where you go to eat. I'm sure you'll be fine.

[maracle]

That's plenty of money really, you should have a great time

I think you could do it with 300 euro if you were frugal so 600 should be comfy.

[omisan]

Hotels are expensive... if you guys are cool w/ a private room in a hostel, I'd recommend going that way. Otherwise you're looking at a typical going rate of €80-90/night for pretty standard accommodations.

In Paris, though, I'd recommend the Eldorado Hotel (www.eldoradohotel.fr), which can be as little as €50/night.

Otherwise, say you burn more than you expected on hotel and wind up with €400 for five nights of toolin' around, you should still do fine. There's plenty to do in Paris and Amsterdam for little or for free.

As Lauren mentioned, a carnet of 10 metro tickets in Paris is €11.50, and if you walk a lot (which is easy to do in Paris), that should work for the both of you for a couple of days. Otherwise, a single ride ticket is €1.50.

Transit in Amsterdam is fairly cheap as well. A strippenkarte (multi-tiered tram ticket) won't cost you much, and most of Amsterdam proper is highly walkable anyway.

Tours in either city will cost you around €15-20, but you don't really need those anyway if you research a bit before you go and want to hit the typical sights.

An evening spent at a weed bar - with 1 gram of good stuff - can cost you anywhere from €15-35, depending on how touristy it is.

Typical coffees or beers at cafes in either city will range from €2-€6, depending on how touristy an area you're in.

Meals can range from €6-€15 (lunch-dinner) if you keep it frugal, double that if you go with run-of-the-mill restaurants.

Most tourist attractions (museums, monuments, etc.) are around the €5-10 range.

The great thing about both cities, though, is that you don't have to spend any of the above money (except maybe food & drink) - simply get to one part of town, walk around, get lost, and soak it all in!

[marc873]

That should be enough cash. The best advice I can give you for A dam is Albert Heijn grocery stores. Just ask the front desk where the closest one is. This grocery store has everything you could ever want plus a huge microwave food section. Great for hostel kitchens. I have a ton of info on the Dam, so PM me if you have any questions.
Cheers,
Marc

[MeTurk]

In Amsterdam you can almost half prices by walking five minutes away from the centre.

With Paris just walking around the city is reward enough.

[Dig]

If you want to save a bit of money in amsterdam, do like the others say and get away from the central area. Once you get to the Rijks museum the prices start to drop a lot.

[six toe rings]

thank you all much. it looks like we'll be all set, as we already have more than we originally thought we could save. sweet.

[wanderingeek]

If you're feeling adventurous, I'd say get accommodation via couchsurfing or hospitality club-- it's a great way to meet people and the accommodation is free!
If the trip is a couple weeks away, I'd recommend sending out those emails now.

Have fun! Amsterdam has been my favorite place in Europe so far!

[fightyrdemons]

thirding/fourthing/xing the people saying get out of the centre of amsterdam and everything will be cheaper. food drops to at least half price and you will (for the most part) be escaping the pizza/kebab places which are pretty awful.

if there's nothing stopping you (disability etc) you can walk EVERYWHERE in amsterdam no problem. unless you get lost real easy, the strippenkarte is in my opinion at least a waste of time unless you like checking out transport.

we spent shit loads on booze/weed but not much on eats (€15 or so a day) and accomodation was about €60 for the both of us.

its a FAIRLY cheap city compared to others i think, what bumps your costs up (like anywhere else i guess) is the booze etc.