[Valour]

SO I was just wondering, for those that have taken delivery of their car i Europe and stayed for a week or two what the average cost of that trip was for you. I was thinking of a one week to a week and a half trip with my girlfriend and i'm at this point estimating the trip, food, hotel, and gas i think that's all right, will be around 2,000 -2,500 USD. IF i'm over or underestimating the cost let me know.

Separate question for the airfare, what i'm understanding is this: you get 1 ticket paid for taxes and everything then you get another ticket but all you have to pay for that one is the tax on the ticket right?

Thanks for the responses in advance.

[johnofcross]

Originally Posted by Valour

SO I was just wondering, for those that have taken delivery of their car i Europe and stayed for a week or two what the average cost of that trip was for you. I was thinking of a one week to a week and a half trip with my girlfriend and i'm at this point estimating the trip, food, hotel, and gas i think that's all right, will be around 2,000 -2,500 USD. IF i'm over or underestimating the cost let me know.

Separate question for the airfare, what i'm understanding is this: you get 1 ticket paid for taxes and everything then you get another ticket but all you have to pay for that one is the tax on the ticket right?

Thanks for the responses in advance.

This all depends on what you want to do. You can go on cheap hotels and save a bit, or go all out and stay at nice hotels every night and spend a bit more. It really comes down to what you want. But I think the static cost would be gas, cause I'm sure you'll be driving a lot

And airfare, I think you're talking about the Lufthansa 2 for 1, which they don't offer anymore. Now it's just a huge discount, around 15% I think. I could be wrong on that, been a while since I've checked (doing my ED end of month, already got tickets booked )

[Valour]

Great, perfect info about the airfare. But if you don't mind can you PM or post back in this thread the ballpark of what you spent while you are there? When you get back of course.

[series]

As I just booked tickets about 30 minutes ago for mine - the airfare discount is 10%.

[jbbrann]

Lots of variables at play here.

A ballpark figure, based on flying from Baton Rouge, would be at least $2,000 just for airfare for you and your girlfriend (with the Lufthansa discount, or another discounted rate). Hotels vary greatly, it just depends on your preferences. In general you'll pay similar rates to what you would in a metro area in the US. But if you stay in average hotels (3 star) I would count on at least $1,000 for a week. Gas is $150 or so per tank. Add in meals and I'd definitely say you would exceed $2,500 by quite a bit for you and your girlfriend.

In reality you would probably end up spending more than my estimates. I know I will be for airfare and hotels for my upcoming ED.

[batislav]

If the 2 of you stay for over a week you'll be lucky to keep your expenses under $4000

Airfare is usually at least 1000 a person even with discounts. Hotels can be expensive too. You can sometimes save money if you're staying at least a week in one location by staying in an apartment (lots of sites where people rent them out). Couple years ago I was in central Munich for a week with a parking spot for $450.

Food always costs more than you expect, even if you economize. You'll probably buy a few things for yourselves too. I'd figure 4000-5000 for 7-10 days.

Btw, I travel to Europe every summer so feel free to pm me if you have any specific questions.

[achopra]

I have been doing bookings for my ED later this months and my observation is

Airfare (economy) ~ $1000 / person

3-4 * Hotels (double occupancy) - $150 - 250 / night depending on the city and location (Paris and Venice for example are more expensive than Innsburck)

[Valour]

Right I just recalculated the cost and really just added 3,000 for the airfare but it looks like 5,500 to 6,000 is the cost of an average European Delivery.

You guys have been great! Very fast response and really informative thank so much

[JoeyO]

If cost is a concern, ditch the girlfriend and go solo. A man has got to have priorities.

[328i4me]

Originally Posted by JoeyO

If cost is a concern, ditch the girlfriend and go solo. A man has got to have priorities.

[raleedy]

I think the cost of the trip will run about the same as for a trip where you don't buy a car. Unless you rent a car, of course.

[gerbs]

The way I factored it, expenses for a very light 2-4 day trip for 1 person is about as much as the entire savings amount of getting an ED in the first place. In your situation.. for more than a week I'd say you're looking at $3-4k per person all in.

Add another person, and you're tacking another $3-4k on top of that.

So at least $3-4k per person for a week. $2-3k per person if it's only a few days. If you are trying to do it for the "cost savings" that really isn't an option. It's more like... ED is a bit cheaper to help pay for the costs incurred by doing it in the first place. Also your time, vacation time, etc. factors in and must be decided upon if the experience is worth the time off, etc.

[Valour]

ok now what if i pick one of the pre built "vacations" does BMW set all that up? Like book the hotels make reservations and so on? Or is it the kind of thing that you set up yourself? And do those end up costing more?

hmmm so having bmw set up your travel planning is not the way to go i'll use tripadvisor.com they seem to be a good way to get a decent cost and you can set limits.

[batislav]

Originally Posted by Valour

ok now what if i pick one of the pre built "vacations" does BMW set all that up? Like book the hotels make reservations and so on? Or is it the kind of thing that you set up yourself? And do those end up costing more?

hmmm so having bmw set up your travel planning is not the way to go i'll use tripadvisor.com they seem to be a good way to get a decent cost and you can set limits.

wikitravel also has decent information.

[SGScuba]

Originally Posted by Valour

ok now what if i pick one of the pre built "vacations" does BMW set all that up? Like book the hotels make reservations and so on? Or is it the kind of thing that you set up yourself? And do those end up costing more?

hmmm so having bmw set up your travel planning is not the way to go i'll use tripadvisor.com they seem to be a good way to get a decent cost and you can set limits.

I looked into that and thought BMW's vacations were very expensive for not much value-add. It's really not hard to book hotels in Europe, and unless you go in the height of summer or catch a trade fair/exhibition, hotels are reasonably priced, especially with the cheap Euro now.

I was in Germany and Austria (Munich-Nuremberg-Bamberg-Wurzburg-down the Romantic Route to Fussen-Garmisch-Partenkirchen-Innsbruck-Munich) in June, and my hotels were Euros 80-150 per night double occupancy (mostly at the Euro 100 level). Except for my Munich hotels, which were booked through the office, all the others were self-selected using guidebooks, tripadvisor or a couple of other websites, or just "walk-in" lucky finds. Not difficult, nor expensive, but it takes a bit of time and work.

Also, if you're in smaller towns on weekends, take a look at business hotels - they might be able to offer rooms at pretty cheap rates. I stayed at a Steigenberger hotel in Augsburg for 99 Euros on a Sunday night in June (versus 119 Euros on a weekday night), and it's a really decent business hotel.

[rmm0031]

I can also confirm, the standard hotel rate is about 100€, 150€+ for 4 star or major tourist cities. Booking.com is another great resource. As mentioned, apartments can be cheaper as well, but typically have longer stay requirements. Check LovingApartments.com, HolidayLettings.co.uk and homeaway.com

Also most all European hotels include breakfast, so that is one meal paid for. If they don't, don't get breakfast there at 15€/person, but find a bakery and get some pastries, coffee, breakfast sandwich.

Lunch can be as cheap as a beer and a brat for 5€ or finding a local grocery and buying meats, cheeses and bread to make your own picnic.

[ScheerSpeed]

thats exactly the trip I'm doing...

I leave saturday (the 11th) flying into dusseldorf (cheapest flight) and then taking a one-way to munich, which ended up costing $850, which was much cheaper than lufthansa. I got the flight on Delta through kayak.com and the one-way through air berlin's website. I'm going myself my girlfriend and my cousin. We are picking up the car the 13th and staying in europe until the 21st. We each figured to bring about $2K with us... I booked all the hotels, and you can find really good hotels for a decent price on hotels.com and booking.com, figure between $75-200 per night depending where you want to stay. make yourself a route map on google maps and it will estimate your fuel cost, Mine came out to about 300 Euro.