Been a few years since I´ve done any longer tours with a bike in Europe. Last year, me & my girlfriend went to ride the western coast of the US, and parts of the southwest as well. We stayed for 6 weeks, rode (2-up) a DL650, similar to what we have back home, stayed in roadside motels mostly (boy, was I tired of the faceless chain motels after our trip!!) Anyway, she kept a pretty thorough list of all our spendings there, including food, accommodation, fuel (that´s cheap compared to Europe!), tickets to the attractions, national parks, etc. We ate about 50% at the roadside places, another 50% bought from the big supermarkets. Her calculations ended up so that including the both of us, we had spend around 115 USD (about 85 euros by todays exchange rate) per day. This does not include our flights, or other costs (than fuel) related to the bike, like rental, insurance, etc.

This year we plan to do another tour in Europe with our own bike. The plan at this moment is 100% under construction, but it looks like we may spend some 5-6 weeks, preferably after the high season (we would start off early September) and we may head from Sweden and Denmark to Germany, then to North Italy, then Corsica, Sardinia & Sicily, then return via Italy and to Austria, Czech, Poland and maybe the Baltic states (or if it gets cold already, we take a ferry from Gdynia). I´ve been to those Italian islands with a bike in 1997, but never to Corsica. I´m estimating some 10000-12000 kms total on the trip.

We´re a bit short on space, so probably will not take a tent with us. Remains to be seen, if we´ll take our cooking equipment (didnt have it in the US). So we´ll eat in the cheapish places while on the road, and usually buy something from the supermarkets for the evening and next morning.

The ferry costs will naturally be significant, but I´d leave them out of this (as I may be able to get some nice deals with the operators here, and they may possibly be able to help me in the Mediterranean, too).

I´ve done many similar trips in the past, but they were a long time ago, when there was still the Deutsche mark, the French franc, and the Italian lira.... a lot has probably changed during this time. Now I´m wondering, what would be the rough figure per day, that I should use, when budgeting this for 2 people on 1 bike (basically including just food, accommodation & fuel) for 2010? I know the spendings will depend a lot on ourselves, too. What kind of accommodation we will get, how early we´ll start to look up for one, where do we eat, etc (we probably won´t spend many nights in big cities, didnt do that in the US either). And sometimes, when it rains and we´re tired, we will pay extra because we dont want to keep searching for a cheaper option... And some areas in Europe are cheaper than others of course, but we´re likely to travel across both western and eastern parts of the continent, as well as some parts of the south.

So, if we plan to do this in a similar manner as we did our 2009 tour in the States, any educated guesses of the average costs per day, even for some specific regions, or your own experiences of trips into those areas would be welcome!

if you travel budget, you may run on 100 euros/day plus fuel. but this is the minimum, if you stay in hotels.
camping is less, but this is not surprising..

__________________
regards...
-=airhead=-
http://www.euroheads.org

You may be right... in 2007. when heading to India, we did travel quickly from Germany to Greece, stayed in 4-5 places on the way there (we went through Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia and Macedonia).... and payed maybe around 40-50 euros per night. And this was mostly in eastern Europe, and it was in mid-October, so definitely not high-season any more!

Maybe I´ll try to look up a place to stay a little longer in Sardinia or Sicily beforehand, it would be nice to stay put for a while, and could also help with the costs a little...

One thing I´d totally forgotten: road tolls. The Italian Autostrada still as expensive as it used to be? Think it cost nearly the same that I had to spend on fuel, when riding an Africa Twin in the past, so I usually tried to avoid using them.... (and BTW, does Switzerland still obligate to buy the sticker for the whole year, even if you only pass by once?)

I 'think' you only need to buy the swiss vignette if you use the Motorways. My advice, and my own planned route is to cross from Southern German in the vicinity of Munich (Munchen) over Austria in the vicinity of Innsbruck to north Italy. (I will be going the other way. You can buy a daily vignette for Austria for well under 9 euros, again I think not needed if you do not use motorways.
If you stay off the Toll roads you will just about save enough to pay for cheap accommodation.
If you intend to stay a while at any of the islands, It might pay you to take your basic cooking gear and buy a very cheap tent when you get there. My tent from Le Clerc supermarket is now six years old and cost 15 euros. So it paid for itself the first night I used it. Budget 40-50 euros a night for a room. The really cheap places are usually on the outskirts of cities or major towns.
At that time of year I would go down as far east as you intend and return later by the more western route, as the winter cold comes later in the west. (but not the rain).

Yes they do. However, you only need a vignette if you need to use the motorways, all other roads are toll-free. Same for Austria - stay away from the motorways and you're good.

I can't help you with your budgeting plans since our way to travel is very different from yours. It also depends on the country you're in - Europe is very heterogene and some countries (Germany, France, the UK, Scandinavia) are more than twice or even three times as much as others (eastern Europe, southern Italy, southern Spain, Greece). We managed to average ~10€ per day in Western Europe without gas by buying food in supermarkets, cooking ourselves and camping wild. A few bucks more if you stay on campsites, and a lot more if you stay in hotels or hostels. Of course you can easily average 100€ per day without gas, too.

__________________
"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in one pretty and well preserved piece, but to skid across the line broadside, thoroughly used up, worn out, leaking oil, shouting GERONIMO!"

Yep, surely I´m aware, that the vignette in Switzerland is only needed, if you use the motorways. I´ve often traveled through the country by smaller roads, and especially in the Alps, if the weather is good, it´s actually much better that way - even though it takes a lot more time!

10€ per day in Western Europe... wow you´ve managed to do it cheap! But that cannot include the costs of any transportation, am I right? If we are planning to travel ~300kms each day (naturally we wont travel EVERY day, but as an average), then I think we need to take those costs into calculation, too.

Pecha72- The Swiss Vignette is now (since 2009) mandatory irrespective whether you say you will or will not use motorways- no matter how much you point to your gps and tell them you will use minor roads. The Swiss are adamant about this now.
BTW , it is worth noting that the Swiss can check your gps and if they find a radar database on it for their country... they will confiscate your gps until you return the same way and leave.
Average campsite between €20 and €30 a night.
Many now opt for the formula 'so much for the tent and so much for the bike'- In France it is mosty cheaper to use the Formule 1 motel chain - or camp wild if you can/want to.