Holiday Spending Money?

[Gillian76]

I'm in need of some advice... We are going on holiday to Italy in July - this is our first holiday abroad since having the children!

I'm wondering how much spending money we will need for the fortnight. There are 5 of us and we're camping (Keycamp) so will need to buy all food. We will probably eat out (nothing too flash) every couple of nights but see to ourselves the rest of the time.

Don't plan on doing huge amounts of travel and sightseeing, just lazing around and strolling round the villages.

Was thinking around £1000, but wanted to know what others think as we have no experience of this kind of holiday!

Thanks

do you have extra money you can access in emergencey on top of that??

Just imagine how much your expenses would be if you were having the same kind of holiday here. It will be slighlty less than that. HTH

We have a credit card, but are paying it off with our remortgage next week! It would have to be a real emergency to use it.

Do you think we should aim to take more than that?

how old are the children - babies cost less than children to feed.......and fewer icecreams etc

I used to budget £300/week for holidays. Weirdly enough, that was the right amount when I was single & even now that I have kids it's about right. So I think £400/week since you're camping, you're £1000 gives you a bit of breathing room.

Children are 5, 3 and 2. I don't want to be thinking about every penny we spend, but don't want to go mad either!

Will you be buying petrol?

I think you should work out how much you think you would spend a day on food and drink, then factor in the cost of a few meals out plus any trips you might like to do e.g. boat trips, sight-seeing - entry fees, then a bit for a comfort zone and see what that comes to.

I surpose it depends what type of holiday you have i'd spend that amount in a week - on trips - eating etc

We are hiring a car, JanH, but like I said, don't plan on huge amounts of driving. I would have thought 2 tanks would be about all we will use.

God, moet - I'm worried now! Could you really get through £1000 in a week?

I think we'll try to put away another £200 or so next month and take the credit card as a back up. Does that sound reasonable?

Gillian, funnily enough was talking to a colleague about this just now. I would say £1,000 was plenty. I reckon our week in GB (similar age children to you) costs us about £250 for food, a couple of meals out, maybe one trip to a play park or similar, ice creams every day, a little present at the end of the week. Really apart from eating out it?s not much more than you spend in a normal week, especially if you are self-catering (picnics etc).

Also, do you think we'd be off our heads to take it all in cash? We can hire a safety deposit box at the campsite.

How easy will it be to draw it out on yr cashcard? (ie will there be an ATM anywhere handy?)
I would be tempted to take a few hundred and draw the rest out during the holiday if possible/practicable (but not if it meant a big trip out somewhere)

I wouldn't take it all in cash - I would take maybe £250 to start you off and get the rest in £250 (or so) lumps from ATMs.

Eating out will be cheaper there than here. I would have thought £1000 was plenty for 2 weeks with small children (big ones much more expensive!) - it's £70 a day and most days you won't spend nearly that much - but the £200 cushion and credit card for emergencies makes sense.

Hope you have a lovely time, I've always wanted to do that - which part of Italy is it?

i've always been one of these that takes more just in case.

have you heard of the new travelerscheck card

here

It's basically traveller checks on a prepaid credit card - so it's fully insured for lost etc -and doesn't cost you anything to have one and you can use it at ATM's workd wide and as you would a normal card.

We're going to Lake Garda, JanH. Really looking forward to it

Not sure if our cards will work there. I will check with the bank. Will look into the card thingy. Thanks!

We rarely take cash and use ATMs and credit cards. We were at Lake Maggiore last year and even the smallest villages had ATMs, although a few smaller cafes didn't take credit cards. Lots of places in rural Italy didn't seem to do Amex but Visa and Mastercard were everywhere. I just use my regular bank debit card.
Some friends had cash stolen from a campsite last year, about £500, though not in Italy. I'd agree with taking about £200 in euros. I'd think £1000 was more than enough with little children assuming meals out will be of the pizza/local wine variety but do take an emergency credit card.