Cost florida round trip with children - car, hotels, meals, family travel blog

We were with our children (3rd & 6) for about 3 weeks in Florida with the rental car in hotels. All the costs of this Florida tour for cars, hotels, meals, flights, etc. can be found in this review.

Flight cost

The travel time has a massive impact on the cost of family vacation. Significant price differences can be felt, for example, in the case of flights. For a flight in May (including a return flight at the beginning of June), we as a family (2 adults, 2 children 3 & 6) Four paid around 2,100 euros. This was a direct flight from Berlin to Miami with Airberlin.

Cost of rental car

We rented a car from Sixt in advance online. We had booked the SFAR vehicle class for which the following cars are available according to the Internet: Chevrolet Traverse, Hyundai Santa Fe, Volvo XC70, GMC Acadia

Car rental Chevrolet Traverse LT

We got a Chevrolet Traverse LT here. This is a great car for which we paid $ 587 / € 534 for 14 days. By the way, we took the child seats with us from home (otherwise it would have cost $ 100) and used our iPhone as a navigation system with free Google Maps apps. We have foregone the often recommended toll inclusive package.

Refueling is pretty cheap in the United States. Despite our approximately 2,000 kilometers, we only spent a good $ 100 on gasoline.

In our rental car report there are more details.

Cost hotels

Through our tour, we stayed in many different hotels. Since there are many hotels in the USA with 2 large double beds in the rooms, we only needed one room for us as a family of 4 rent. On average, we paid 94 euros per night for our tour. The cost per night fluctuated depending on the location, location and stars of the hotel. We had everything from over 150 euros to 41 euros per night.

We booked the accommodations in advance, and almost all of them through Booking.com. We found that through these bookings we could choose suitable hotels in advance and none on site stress had more.

Costs food & Food

We were somewhat surprised that groceries in the supermarket are sometimes significantly more expensive than in Germany. Fresh vegetables and fruits cost twice as much. Self-catering became more expensive than expected. However, since we had traveled with the rental car and stayed in hotels, we hardly ever got to cook. Nevertheless, we often got breakfast from the supermarket: for fresh baguette bread, salami, cheese, jam and a juice and some fruits you hardly need cutlery and you can picnic on the go if necessary.

The situation was similar at lunchtime: it was easy to make sandwiches from the leftovers from breakfast or some additional bread. Together with some lettuce leaves and tomatoes, that’s definitely enough. And we even had our supper a few times. Then there was some chicken (whole grilled chickens are available in many supermarkets and are quite cheap at $ 6).

Otherwise there are of course a lot of fast food shops. The big chains call prices similar to ours. We preferred to let local diner restaurants go first. For dinner with drinks you have to expect about 40-50 dollars as a family.

On average, we spent $ 70 a day on food (breakfast, lunch, dinner), drinks, ice cream, and other groceries. In 14 days, we can get almost $ 1,000 as food costs. Sounds a lot at first, but comes together very quickly with 4 people. And without really living in luxury and abundance.

Cost of theme parks

In Florida and especially in Orlando, of course, the amusement parks attract. As a family, we paid around 460 euros for one day to enter Disney World. There was no overnight stay or meal. Even the parking lot cost an additional $ 20. In the park itself we spent about $ 40 on food, ice cream and cool drinks. Since we had a cheap hotel in Orlando for $ 41 a night and were able to save on it, the entry costs were put into perspective.

We also visited Seaworld Orlando and Busch Gardens in Tampa. Admission to one of the parks would have cost around 80 euros, as a combined ticket they both only cost around 100 euros. These theme parks also include, for example, Legoland or a water park, to which you can also get cheap entry with combination tickets.

In our experience report Florida theme parks with children there are further details, as well as the question of which park is suitable for children.

National park entrance fee

During our tour we were in some national parks. Almost all of them were chargeable, with prices fluctuating. From $ 6 for us as a family, including a car, to $ 10 per adult and for example. $ 8 from 6 years and under was free of charge. It doesn’t sound very expensive, but it can loosen up over the course of your vacation and can make up a few hundred dollars in the end.

Shopping

Whoever flies to the USA automatically thinks of shopping. There are many large malls and outlet centers, but really cheap prices are not standard. That may have been the case in the past due to the exchange rate, but now prices have adjusted. Although you can still occasionally make reduced bargains (but you can do that with us too). Nevertheless, you should calculate a few hundred euros for shopping or souvenirs.

Prepare for Florida vacation expenses

For a trip to the United States, there are some costs before departure that we do not hide here want:

ESTA entry form for our family: $ 60
Passports for the children (absolutely the new ones with the e-chip!): 13 euros per child pass
Map of Florida: 10 euros on Amazon
Travel adapter (suitable plug for electricity): 5-6 euros at Amazon

Conclusion: Cost of a round trip Florida with children

The bottom line is that the typical costs in Florida are the budget eaters:

Flight: € 2,100
Rental car: € 587 for 14 days
Accommodation: 94 € per night
Meals: € 70 per day
Theme parks: over € 800 for 3 visits
Other expenses: 600

We have now spent around 6,500 euros for 2.5 weeks. For 3 weeks that would be over 7,000 euros.

The bottom line was certainly not the cheapest vacation with children, but definitely one of the most eventful.

Potential for a cheaper vacation would be available here and there. Eg. in which you take a holiday apartment for 1-2 weeks in which you can also cater for yourself a little cheaper. We would then have had to exchange this for our way of traveling – namely a round trip – which we did not want.

Read more: Travel report Florida with children