How much money should I take, need and in what manner?

Question

4 days in Austria, 2 days in Zurich and 21 days in Germany during the month of October, for hotels, meals and entertainment. Will already have prepaid Eurail Pass.

Answer 1

Take at least 75 Euro / $100 a day if you stay in hotels, plus drinking money of you want to drink seriously.
If you are willing to stay in hostels, self cater on a tight butget and be sensible with money for entertainment you can make it with less, something like 40 Euro / $55 a day, but if you can afford it, have more available.

The best way to take your money is keeping it in your bank account at home, and using ATM's with your debit card. Check with your bank what you will pay per time you use it, it should be free or token money only. If you pay more than $1 per time you use it, shop around for a cheaper card.
Use your credit card (if you do not have one yet, think about getting one) for emergencies and maybe hotel or hostel bills. Not for getting money out of ATM's as they can charge up to 5 euro per time you use it. (Flat fee, or percentage with a minimum.)
If you have more than one credit card among the group, use only one at any time, and keep the others packed away safe. Like in a money belt under your clothing, with your plane tickets and so on.
In Zurich you will need Swiss Franks, take some Euro in, but get some local money out of the ATM, change the left over into Euros when you are in the Euro zone again. (Cheaper near the border, not actually on it.)

If you can, have the money you expect to need in your normal bank account, but have some more in a savings account so you will not use more than your budget without noticing, send the money from your savings to your normal account when needed or ask a reliable person at home to do this for you, or to give you a loan if you get in a tight situation, (but not for more than you can pay back in a couple of weeks working.)

Answer 2

Take lots of money, it's expensive, the Euro is the currency in Europe, take a credit card that will work in most cities. hotels are quite high compared to what we pay in the USA as is food.

Answer 3

try hostels