How much does travelling to Tuscany cost?

Hello friends,

Today I have prepared an article to help you work out the cost of a trip to Tuscany.

Currency and Exchange rate
All those readers of this weblog who are not Europeans have to know that in Tuscany the currency is the Euro, whose present exchange rate for USD is not favourable as it is 1 Euro = 1,50 USD. Anyway as exchange rates are variable I recommend that you visit this page in Yahoo to know the exact rate of exchange.

Restaurants
Dining in a restaurant is about €25-30, although prices can lower substantially depending on whether you drink wine or not. Eating at a pizzeria can turn out somewhat cheaper as cost ranges from €20-25.

Bars
A coffee is about €1 and full breakfast is about €5. Bars and pizzerias are the places where it is possible to have lunch for about less than €6.

Public means of transport
A bus ticket tends to cost about €1 and a train ticket Rome-Florence (3 hours of train journey) tends to cost €30 depending on the type of train. Important: tickets cannot be purchased on buses or trains but in the tobacconist’s or in some specific places devoted to selling them and then have to be validated on the bus or, in the case of the train, in the yellow machines that there are on the platforms.

Getting on a train without a ticket may cost dearly¡ therefore, watch out¡

Lastly, taxis are generally extremely expensive. There are a few and they have to be phoned, therefore you should avoid them as a journey of about 10 minutes can cost you about €20.

Sleeping- Hotels
The offer of Hotels in Italy in general is quite old and hotels tend to be of low quality, mainly, in cities where the strong measures to keep the artistic heritage prevent important restructuring.
A 3-star hotel in low season in the centre of Florence can easily cost about €120 per double room/night. If you can enjoy a trip of several days or have a car, I recommend that you stay at a country hotel in the surroundings of cities where it is possible to find accommodation of excellent quality at lower prices.

Parking
All towns are very ancient are were founded when there were no cars, therefore they are not equipped with parking area and more often than not it is hard to find it.
Street parking, in the Blue Area, tend to cost around €1.50 an hour (depending on the town you are staying), while private parking generally costs about €2 an hour.

Certainly, I hope you might find this information useful in preparing your trip,


Best regards,

Giovanni