To provide full disclosure, we are receiving free accommodation for one week in London. It's my Mum's 70th birthday and my parents are paying for an AirBNB for all of our immediate family. Very generous!
Accommodation for the remaining four weeks is split between hotels and a Royal Caribbean cruise. Like our transport, I kept an eye on prices for a period of time and booked when the price was low. I also quickly realised that family rooms in Europe are in short supply and pretty expensive, so I have some tips below that helped us save money.
Accommodation
All prices are in AUD and include taxes.
London
$0: London AirBNB for seven nights
We're staying in an AirBNB at Chalk Farm. It's a few minutes walk to the tube station and a ten minute walk to Camden Markets.
Paris
$2185: Mercure Paris Montmartre Sacre-Coeur Hotel for five nights (two rooms)
Booked through Accor Website
We stayed in Montmartre (at the Ibis Styles Paris Batignolles) during our girls trip last year and really liked the area. Again, during my research, it seemed more affordable than staying in other arrondissements around Paris but still close enough to access everything. The hotel is walking distance to Place de Clichy Metro, Sacre Coeur, Moulin Rouge, Place de Tertre, Galleries Lafayette and tonnes of shopping. There's a Monoprix down the road for ready made meals and fresh food, a chemist, a Starbucks, restaurants and a fair few sex shops interspersed amongst it all... if you're into that sort of thing!
We felt perfectly safe, though. Our hotel backs onto a beautiful cemetery which I'm looking forward to exploring, too.
I joined up to Accor a few years back and booked direct through them. They have a family offer on many of their hotels where they offer the second room at half price. We also get a free welcome drink.
You can already see the price on the screenshot below that I took today. The price for our dates has already increased by 30% in the time since I booked it.
Screenshot from Accor Website
Amsterdam
$785: Ibis Amsterdam Centre for two nights (two rooms)
Booked through Accor Website
Again, this is an Accor hotel so we took advantage of the family offer on the second room at 50% off. They had family rooms available for all four of us but they ended up more expensive, go figure. I stayed here last year on my girls trip and it was an awesome location, right next door to Centraal Station and walking distance to all the sights including the Anne Frank House, De Wallen (Red Light District), canal cruises and Tony's Chocoloney (that place is awesome!).
I have cancelled this hotel and rebooked twice (no charge) as the price kept dropping. Loving the flexibility! We have three full days here as our night train leaves at 8pm.
Munich
$831: Buddy Hotel, Munich for three nights (one family room)
Booked through Expedia App
I stuffed this one up. Good location near the train station we're coming in on. Looks bright and clean. I found an excellent rate on Expedia (cheaper than the hotel website) and jumped on it, however I didn't take into account our night train. We technically only needed two nights as we head out to Rome late on the third night. It's non-cancellable, too... all good!
Rome
$1282: Hotel Columbia, Rome for four nights (one family room)
Booked through Expedia App
Found a good rate on Expedia (It was a mobile app special). We arrive off the night train at 10am at Termini and it's a small walk to the hotel. Walking distance to Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, Colosseum and close to a Metro station to get to Vatican City. All our hotels were chosen for easy accessibility to public transport.
Venice
$1240: Hotel Gorizia, Venice for three nights (two rooms)
Booked direct through hotel
We stayed there last year and the location was perfect. It's a flat five minute walk from the Rialto Vaporetto stop (no bridges when lugging suitcases) and in the San Marco district. It's an easy walk EVERYWHERE.
I've included the video below showing the Rialto water Taxi stop and how easy it was to get to our hotel.
Greece
$7201: Royal Caribbean Explorer of the Seas for Seven Nights in a balcony room.
Booked through RC Website
Well, shit. This is where the budget came unstuck. We were thinking of having a few days in Mykonos and a few days in Santorini; just soaking up the sun and exploring, but I found myself eying off the Royal Caribbean website instead. I kept a close look on prices (it was my husbands request to be in a balcony room, which I totally happy to do). Kept comparing a hotel vs the cruise, and in the end, we decided to bite the bullet for convenience reasons.
We get accommodation with a view. We get fed breakfast, lunch and dinner daily. We have pools, water slides and tonnes of stuff for the kids to do. We still get to see the sights around the Greek Islands but we can relax in between.
So yeah. $7201 buckeroos. Whoops!
Screenshot from Royal Caribbean's Website.
London
$453: Novotel London Stansted Airport for 2 nights
Booked through Accor website
Again, cheaper through Accor. Our home before we fly back to Sydney.
In total, our accommodation costs for five weeks in Europe for the four of us:
$13977
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