Which countries are the cheapest to travel to? Exclusive HelloSafe ranking of 136 countries
Planning a budget is always an important step for any traveller preparing for a stay abroad. Whether it's for accommodation, food or transport, it's important to be well informed before setting off. This study gives you the average daily budget required for one person in 136 countries around the world. It shows that the most expensive destinations are not always the ones you think of.
Good to know
This budget includes the expenses incurred by the traveller on site in the destination country, i.e. accommodation expenses (hotel or Airbnb-type reservation), food expenses (based on local CPI indices and the cost of catering) and transport expenses within the country itself (plane, train, bus, other public transport or taxi). Conversely, this budget does not include the cost of transport to the destination country (typically the cost of a plane ticket). To find out more about how this map was compiled, please refer to the "methodology" section at the bottom of the document. This data was collected as at September 2024.
High travel budget: our ranking of the 15 most expensive countries in the world
If you have a high travel budget, then here's the list of the 15 countries in 2024 where you'll have to pay the most once you're there. With a high standard of tourist accommodation, the Caribbean islands top the list:
- Barbados (£261 daily budget), Antigua and Barbuda (£244), and Saint Kitts and Nevis (£215) are indeed the countries requiring the highest travel budgets, followed by the Maldives (£207) and the island of Grenada (£205).
Also appearing in this top 15 of high travel budgets are three European countries known for their high prices: Switzerland (6th with a daily budget of £200), Liechtenstein (11th, £175), and Monaco (14th, £160).
It is also worth noting in this top 15 the presence of the United States (7th, £197) and Greenland (9th, £179) for North America, as well as the United Arab Emirates (10th, £175) and the principality of Oman (13th, £171) for Asia.
Source : Budget Your Trip, Kayak.com, Booking.com, HelloSafe's data (2024)
Budget travel: our ranking of the 15 cheapest countries
For travellers looking to get away on a budget, the list below of the top 15 countries to visit on a budget is bound to be of interest. It mainly includes countries in Asia and Africa:
- Laos (£10 per day), Kazakhstan (£14), and Rwanda (£16) are the three countries requiring the lowest budgets for a trip, followed by Ghana (£16) and Mongolia (£18).
- Also noteworthy among these budget travel destinations are the Caucasus countries of Armenia (£20) and Georgia (£22), as well as Serbia (£28), the only European country in this top 15.
Source : Budget Your Trip, Kayak.com, Booking.com, HelloSafe's data (2024)
The Caribbean islands top the list of the most expensive destinations for accommodation
The table presents the 15 most expensive countries in the world in terms of average price for a night of accommodation. At the top of the list, Caribbean countries dominate, with Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda, and Grenada showing rates over £170 per night. These destinations, known for their paradise beaches, attract a high-end clientele. Switzerland is the only European country to make it into the top 5, with a cost of £165 per night, reflecting its prestige and tourist appeal. Finally, France closes the list with an average price of £120, demonstrating relative affordability compared to other high-end countries.
Source : Budget Your Trip, Kayak.com, Booking.com, HelloSafe's data (2024)
Laos, Mongolia and Georgia: the three countries with the most affordable accommodation in the world
The table shows the 15 countries with the cheapest accommodation rates in the world. Leading the list, Laos stands out with an incredibly low cost of just £6 per night for one person, followed by Mongolia and Georgia at £13. Most of these countries are located in Asia and Latin America, with prices generally below £21. These destinations, while cheaper, offer rich and varied cultural experiences. India and Nepal, known for their diversity and spirituality, are also among the most affordable countries, making these regions accessible to budget-conscious travelers.
Source : Budget Your Trip, Kayak.com, Booking.com, HelloSafe's data (2024)
The UK is the 8th most expensive country in Europe in which to travel, with an average daily budget of £136
Europe has the advantage of being a continent that offers great diversity for travelers from all backgrounds. This is also reflected in the travel budgets required to visit these countries. Unsurprisingly, Switzerland is the most expensive European country to travel to (with an average daily budget of £200 per day), well ahead of Liechtenstein (£175) and Monaco (£160). France ranks fourth (£150), largely due to the high prices in Paris, which attracts a significant portion of the tourism in the country. Iceland (£144 per day) completes the top 5 European destinations with high travel budgets. Finally, the United Kingdom ranks eighth, with a required daily budget of £136 per person.
| Rank | Countries | Budget 2 weeks (1 traveler) | Budget 1 week (1 traveler) | Budget 1 day (1 traveler) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Switzerland | £2,805 | £1,403 | £200 |
| 2 | Liechtenstein | £2,446 | £1,223 | £175 |
| 3 | Monaco | £2,230 | £1,115 | £159 |
| 4 | France | £2,090 | £1,045 | £149 |
| 5 | Iceland | £2,017 | £1,008 | £144 |
| 6 | Luxembourg | £1,944 | £972 | £139 |
| 7 | Greece | £1,942 | £971 | £139 |
| 8 | United Kingdom | £1,899 | £950 | £136 |
| 9 | Denmark | £1,890 | £945 | £135 |
| 10 | Netherlands | £1,855 | £928 | £133 |
| 11 | Italy | £1,759 | £880 | £126 |
| 12 | Norway | £1,755 | £878 | £125 |
| 13 | Andorra | £1,737 | £869 | £124 |
| 14 | Finland | £1,660 | £830 | £119 |
| 15 | Germany | £1,601 | £801 | £114 |
| 16 | Austria | £1,595 | £798 | £114 |
| 17 | Spain | £1,594 | £797 | £114 |
| 18 | Ireland | £1,510 | £755 | £108 |
| 19 | Belgium | £1,503 | £751 | £107 |
| 20 | Portugal | £1,440 | £720 | £103 |
| 21 | Sweden | £1,404 | £702 | £100 |
| 22 | Slovakia | £1,335 | £668 | £95 |
| 23 | Malta | £1,241 | £620 | £89 |
| 24 | Latvia | £1,201 | £601 | £86 |
| 25 | Montenegro | £1,101 | £550 | £79 |
| 26 | Cyprus | £1,093 | £547 | £78 |
| 27 | Czech Republic | £1,082 | £541 | £77 |
| 28 | Estonia | £1,077 | £539 | £77 |
| 29 | Croatia | £998 | £499 | £71 |
| 30 | Slovenia | £986 | £493 | £70 |
| 31 | Lithuania | £972 | £486 | £69 |
| 32 | Hungary | £824 | £412 | £59 |
| 33 | Romania | £809 | £404 | £58 |
| 34 | Albania | £790 | £395 | £56 |
| 35 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | £721 | £360 | £51 |
| 36 | Bulgaria | £673 | £337 | £48 |
| 37 | Belarus | £649 | £324 | £46 |
| 38 | Poland | £635 | £317 | £45 |
| 39 | Serbia | £385 | £193 | £28 |
Methodology
Aim of the study
This study was carried out on the basis of multiple sources, all of which were taken into account in order to provide as accurate a picture as possible of the average travel budget required for a tourist stay for one person in a given country. The aim is to be able to offer an estimate of the budget per day that corresponds as closely as possible for each country studied to the reality of the places that tourists visit during their stay.
Categories of expenditure taken into account
This budget includes expenditure made by the traveller on site in the destination country, i.e. :
- 1. Accommodation costs (hotel or Airbnb-type reservation)
- 2. Food expenses (based on local CPI indices and restaurant costs)
- 3. Transport costs within the country (plane, train, bus, other public transport or taxi)
- 4. Expenditure on visits and tourist activities on site
Conversely, this budget does not include the cost of transport to the destination country (typically the cost of a plane ticket).
Methodological choices
The way in which a travel budget is put together can obviously vary according to a large number of criteria: the standard of accommodation and restaurants, different costs from one town to another or from one region to another within the same country, the type of transport preferred in the destination country, and so on. In order to arrive at a figure that is as representative as possible of the budget needed to travel in a given country over a given period, we have taken two approaches into account in our calculation algorithms:
- 1. Objective approach: using an artificial intelligence module developed in-house by HelloSafe, our algorithms have analysed tens of thousands of accommodation, restaurant and transport offers in each of the countries mentioned in the study, enabling us to establish average budget levels in each of the expenditure categories that are representative of the country as a whole and of the different standings available.
- 2. Subjective approach: we wanted the study to be equally representative of what tourists actually do in a given country. For example, if a majority of travellers to Egypt choose to take a cruise on the Nile, we believe that this specific tourist characteristic should be taken into account from a statistical point of view. To do this, we have based ourselves on the data made available by the Budget My Trip and Numbeo websites, whose method consists of allowing thousands of travellers to report the prices they observe and pay on the spot. These on-the-ground figures provide invaluable insight into the reality of what travellers actually pay in a given country.
It is therefore by taking these two approaches into account that we are able to propose the figures presented in this study.
Details and limitations
It is important to remember that the data presented in this study are estimates, and are by no means absolute. As we have said, planning a travel budget is a complex exercise that depends above all on individual choices and trade-offs. Nevertheless, the methodology we have used has enabled us to get as close as possible to a figure that we consider representative for all the countries for which we have been able to obtain sufficient data.
About HelloSafe UK
HelloSafe is a leading platform for comparing financial products (insurance, credit, investments) in the UK. Powered by its unique and powerful technology, HelloSafe provides users with dozens of free and anonymous comparison tools, calculators and expert, up-to-date content. Its platform empowers users to make the best decisions for their wallets and find the right products at the right prices for them.
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