I hope no one is angry at me, but I need to ask a really general question. My boyfriend and I are going to Spain and we have no idea about budget. Some of the guide books are quoting prices that are REALLY expensive, similar to Italy or France. We want to go to a vartiey of places, on and off the beaten track. We want to stay in hostels, and are hoping to get double rooms, although if they are too pricey, dorms will suffice. We are there for about a month in all. Can anyone hazard a guess as to how much $$ we will need - either as a couple or individually? I am getting desperate.

It depends on the time of year and where in Spain you are planning to visit, and Dollar- Euro exchange rates (the peseta is tied to the Euro, so if the Euro strengthens, your dollars (or Pounds sterling) buy less).
Keeping those things in mind, try http://www.hotelsearch.com to get some idea of what lodging will cost you.

As for meals: Figure on 300-to-400 pesetas for breakfast (coffee & churros or toast), for midday (main) meal you should be able to find a menu del dia for 1,200 pesetas or less (in Campello, for example, there's a lunch area in the supermarket where the menu del dia is about 900-pesetas; and in Bilbao, on a sidestreet near the Guggenheim I found a menu del dia for 750-pesetas). Evening meal (snack) can consist of tapas.

[This message has been edited by Eddie (edited 01-03-2001).]

You want to stay, probably, in hostales (small hotels). This board reviews a number of them. I'd calculate as follows: 7-10 thousand pesetas a night a room (in small towns, less); depending on how you like to eat, 3 thousand pesetas a person a day is good; trasportation, depends how much and where: bus rides and trains within spain, reasonable. So you need around fifty dollars a day per person to be comfortable. On the real cheap, you could do it for $30 per person per day, I would think. Other members, does this sound right??? how old are you, BTW? I'm thinking someone in their 20s.

I am 21, as is my boyfriend. We are going on a true backpacking adventure, doing EVERYTHING as cheaply as possible. Our budget for the entire 5 months overseas including Spain is AUD$30 for accommodation and AUD$30 for daily expenditures (EACH), but we were led to believe that in Spain you can live on much much less.

[This message has been edited by Isy (edited 01-02-2001).]