Projected Alps Expenses

So what will this all cost?

Airfare $650 - $1200

This is the biggest variable of the trip. Finding a round-trip fare to Munich for $1,000 should be easy, scouting for cheaper fares is tougher. I was able to pay $630 for my R/T to Zurich because USAirways had a big fare sale the day after they landed a plane in the Hudson.

Bike Rental $850-$1300

The current decline in the Euro works in our favor. Depending on whether you want a small BMW F650GS or a luxo R1200RT tourer there's a big range of pricing for the rental. You can rent a full-blown BMW R1200RT for about $1,250, and a perfect-for-the-Alps BMW F650GS or F800GS for $950. Enough KMs should be included to cover all the riding we would do.

Hotels - $600 (sharing) - $1000 (not sharing)

We'll need a night or 2 of hotels in our arrival/departure city, and it'not always easy to find good cheap lodging in city centers. Figure $100/night for just a room, no meals included.

Once out in the country the rates are much more reasonable. Between $65 and $85/night should buy a nice room with breakfast and dinner included. Sharing a room in these hotels does not halve the cost as you need to cover 2 meals. For our Arabba hotel the cost in 2009 was $65/each for double occupancy, or $85 single occupancy.

Fuel - $300

We will do between 2000 and 2500kms, which at around 40mpg and $8/gal puts fuel cost topping out at around $300. If gas prices go up, this number will be higher. The smaller F650GS gets considerably better gas mileage than the RT, so keep that in mind.

Food - $400?

This will vary by individual based on what you like to eat and how much you like to eat. On days outside of the city breakfast and dinner will most likely be included with the hotel, so you'll only be paying for lunch and snacks, maybe $25/day. For days without included meals, $50-$60 should cover it.

Other items - variable

I probably spent around $80 buying pins at the various passes, and would have spent more if I could have found more of them.

Train tickets in Switzerland ran us around $60 or so, between trains to Zurich HB and the round-trip to Arrau.

Total

So what will the trip cost?

$2,850 Low-end (cheap flight, small bike, share room)
$4,150 High-end (no deal on flight, big bike, solo room)
$3,250 Average (cheap flight, small bike, solo room - my plan)

We won't need to be making any deposits (bike, hotels) until around January 2011.