How much does it cost to drink in Italy?

Pub/Birreria A pint of beer is around €4-€5, glasses of wine €1.50-€3, cocktails €6-€7; prices are usually lower in the early evening, when there's some kind of happy hour or drink special.



The cost of drinking in Italy varies wildly depending on where you sit and what you order. If you drink your coffee or a glass of wine "al banco" (standing at the bar), it is remarkably cheap, with an espresso costing around €1.20 to €1.50 and a glass of local wine for €3 to €5. However, if you sit down at a table (al tavolo) in a popular tourist square like Piazza San Marco in Venice or near the Pantheon in Rome, the price can triple or quadruple due to "service charges" or the famous coperto. In 2026, a standard Aperol Spritz at a local bar usually costs €6 to €9, often including a small plate of snacks as part of the "Aperitivo" culture. For beer lovers, a small draft (birra alla spina) is typically €5 to €7. Water in restaurants is usually charged per bottle (approx. €2.50), as "tap water" is not traditionally served for free. Overall, Italy remains very affordable for drinkers who follow the local custom of standing at the bar or choosing neighborhood enotecas over "tourist traps."

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Depends on the restaurant. But in a casual restaurant 3 to 4 euros for a glass of wine is about right, 6 euros for a beer. We went to a few osterias and trattorias in Rome where the price of a liter of the house wine (vino casa) was under 10 euro.

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As we said above, eating out in Italy is actually extremely cheap. At a restaurant in Italy, you can eat out for only 2.5 Euros (roughly 3 USD) per person for most meals. Grabbing a coffee and pastry for breakfast, and having all the pizza and house wine you can manage is surprisingly cheap!

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While meal prices in Italy can vary, the average cost of food in Italy is €45 per day. Based on the spending habits of previous travelers, when dining out an average meal in Italy should cost around €18 per person. Breakfast prices are usually a little cheaper than lunch or dinner.

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As part of the culture, wine is consumed at many meals. In support of the local trade and the quality wines in every region, Italians tend to sell and consume wine that is sourced within a few miles of where it is grown and produced. This practice reduces the cost of transportation and distribution.

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?? Italy Trip Cost for a Budget Traveler A budget traveler can expect to spend approximately $70 per day or $490 for one week of travel in Italy, excluding flights. Two budget travelers visiting Italy can expect to spend about $140 per day.

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Average price of breakfast in Rome Italians tend to shoot their espressos and eat their cornetti right at the bar. Coffee usually costs €1, a cappuccino around €1.20 and pastries are usually €1–2. So plan out an average of €3 for breakfast.

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Bring $100-200 USD cash, but keep it stashed away and don't change into Euro. It's only to be used as a fallback if every ATM in the country is out of order at the same time. Use ATMs to withdraw Euro from cash machine in the airport upon arrival, and replenish your Euro supply at an ATM when you run low.

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It's common to split food with people at your table, but usually this applies to antipasti or second courses, rather than splitting a pasta dish. All this said, the world's your oyster when it comes to eating out in Italy, so get what you want and leave the rest.

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Bottled wine is pricier but still very good value; expect to pay €9–20 a bottle in a mid-priced restaurant, and less than half that from a shop or supermarket. In bars you can buy a decent glass of wine for about €3.

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The legal drinking age in Italy is currently 18 years old. And drinking a glass of wine, even with breakfast, is probably more common and socially acceptable in Italy than it is in the U.S. Moreover, the tradition of an after-work aperitivo has become firmly ingrained in Italian traditions.

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Resist the urge to buy foreign currency before your trip. Some tourists feel like they just have to have euros or British pounds in their pockets when they step off the airplane, but they pay the price in bad stateside exchange rates. Wait until you arrive to withdraw money.

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Start off with 200 or 300 Euros and then take some out as you need it from a Bancomat (bank owned ATM) and not from a money exchanger such as TravelEX. Use your credit card as much as possible for larger purchases and keep your cash (large denominations) and passport in your money belt or pouch.

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Italy vs Spain: cost To stretch your travel budget, Spain is typically slightly more affordable than Italy, even in expensive cities like Madrid.

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