Europe on $85 a Day - A Convenient but Costly Vacation Rental Apartment Service

David and I are planning a five-week trip to Italy, Spain, and (maybe) Morocco for $85 a day per person based on shared accommodations. This is the fourth in a series of articles telling you how to travel as cheaply--and comfortably--as we do.

Our private terrace and villa rental in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico

In Monday's article, I noted that finding a luxurious apartment at a hostel price is not difficult, but it can be time-consuming. David and I spent almost two weeks locating our apartments in Rome, Florence, and Sorrento although our Torremolinos, Spain, choice was made within a couple hours.

Most tightwad travelers have more time than money and won't mind a time-consuming search, but if you are in a hurry, worrying about making a mistake, or simply need someone to walk you through first-time-jitters, there is an alternative.

Untours, a company that has been providing independent travel accommodations and support services for 36 years, shares my travel philosophy. Their 2011 brochure states that they want to meet people's travel needs, "...in a way that would allow people to unpack their bags, absorb the local culture, and actually live in Europe....Untours provides curious travelers with virtually everything necessary to enjoy a new culture as an insider."

To accomplish this, Untours provides trip-planning information; ground transportation in the form of a city transit pass; an orientation session with the on-site expert who is also available, via telephone, to help with any problems that arise; a dinner or special event with the other Untours visitors in the neighborhood; and, of course, an apartment.

You will undoubtedly find it comforting to have someone meet you at the airport and provide you with some basic groceries for your first breakfast in Europe, but the apartment where you will, "...enjoy a new culture as an insider," is expensive. When someone else does the legwork finding you an apartment, such convenience is costly.

I checked the "sampler" prices for a two-week package: one week in Florence and another week in Rome. The base price is $2349 but the Rome apartment I chose had a $91 surcharge (I noticed other surcharges for other apartments of $400-600 per person.) so the total price was $2440. Per person. That means two weeks of an Untours trip costs $4880 for two people or $349 dollars per day!

The Untours apartment rental costs each person $174 per day as opposed to the apartments David and I are renting in those two cities for 44 euros* ($63 at 70 cents to the euro) per person per day.