Atlas · Data study · Updated 2026-07-18

The Most & Least Expensive Countries to Visit in 2026

We compared the overall price level of 179 countries to the United States (US = 100). At the cheap end, Egypt scores just 16, everyday prices roughly 6.3 times lower than at home. At the top, Switzerland is the priciest place to land. Here's the full picture.

Egypt the cheapest, at index 16: your money goes about 6.3× further than in the US

21–111 Europe's range: the cheap Balkans (Bulgaria) to Switzerland, the priciest country on earth

Switzerland the priciest to land in, at index 111

Overall price level, US = 100 (the 100 tick marks US prices)

Every continent's price range

Each bar runs from a continent's cheapest country to its priciest, with a dot at the median. Africa and Asia sit lowest; Europe is the widest of all, from the cheap Balkans to Switzerland above the US line.

range: cheapest to priciest country median score (hover for the countries at it)

Oceania14 countries

cheapest Fiji 40 median Palau 85 priciest Nauru 102

Europe42 countries

cheapest Bulgaria 21 median Czechia 57 priciest Switzerland 111

North America22 countries

cheapest Nicaragua 31 median 2 countries at 53 Trinidad and Tobago, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines priciest Barbados 110

South America11 countries

cheapest Suriname 26 median Ecuador 42 priciest Uruguay 68

Africa48 countries

cheapest Egypt 16 median 6 countries at 33 Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Eswatini, Togo, Uganda, Zambia priciest Seychelles 57

Asia42 countries

cheapest Pakistan 20 median 3 countries at 33 Georgia, Kazakhstan, Cambodia priciest Israel 94

The bar spans each continent's cheapest and priciest country; the dot marks the median (hover it for every country tied there). Indexed to the US at 100 (the 100 tick); it tracks general prices, not a tourist basket, and excludes flights.

The index is a comparative price level. Egypt at 16 means everyday prices are roughly 16% of US prices, so the same budget goes about 6.3 times further. It measures a country's overall prices, which tracks closely with what a traveller pays for food, transport and local services, though it isn't a hotel-and-restaurant survey. Currency swings move these numbers year to year, and a few countries with tightly managed exchange rates are left out because the official figures don't reflect what visitors actually pay.

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The full ranking: all 179 countries

Every country's price level indexed to the US (100), cheapest first. Ties share a rank.

1 Egypt 16
2 Pakistan 20
3 Bulgaria 21
4 Laos 22
4 Sierra Leone 22
6 Bhutan 24
6 Tajikistan 24
8 India 25
8 Nigeria 25
8 Nepal 25
11 Belarus 26
11 Sri Lanka 26
11 Suriname 26
11 Uzbekistan 26
15 Bangladesh 27
15 Gambia 27
17 Madagascar 28
17 Tunisia 28
19 Burundi 29
19 Kyrgyzstan 29
19 Ukraine 29
19 Vietnam 29
23 Azerbaijan 30
23 Rwanda 30
23 Tanzania 30
26 Kenya 31
26 Mauritania 31
26 Malaysia 31
26 Nicaragua 31
26 Thailand 31
26 Timor-Leste 31
26 Turkey 31
33 Angola 32
33 Burkina Faso 32
33 Cameroon 32
33 Algeria 32
33 Ghana 32
33 Indonesia 32
33 Lesotho 32
33 Mongolia 32
33 Russia 32
33 Sudan 32
33 Syria 32
44 Bolivia 33
44 Colombia 33
44 Georgia 33
44 Guinea-Bissau 33
44 Kazakhstan 33
44 Cambodia 33
44 Mali 33
44 Eswatini 33
44 Togo 33
44 Uganda 33
44 Zambia 33
55 Benin 34
55 North Macedonia 34
55 Niger 34
58 Malawi 35
58 Philippines 35
58 Chad 35
61 Ivory Coast 36
61 Republic of the Congo 36
61 Paraguay 36
61 Senegal 36
65 Bosnia and Herzegovina 37
65 Botswana 37
65 Guyana 37
65 Mozambique 37
69 Armenia 38
69 Gabon 38
69 Moldova 38
69 Montenegro 38
69 Mauritius 38
69 Namibia 38
75 Albania 39
75 Brunei 39
75 Central African Republic 39
75 Morocco 39
75 Kosovo 39
80 Democratic Republic of the Congo 40
80 Fiji 40
80 Equatorial Guinea 40
80 Romania 40
80 South Africa 40
85 Dominican Republic 41
85 Ethiopia 41
85 Iraq 41
85 Serbia 41
89 Ecuador 42
89 Guatemala 42
89 El Salvador 42
92 Jordan 43
92 Libya 43
94 Comoros 44
95 Honduras 45
96 Bahrain 46
96 Croatia 46
96 Peru 46
96 Poland 46
100 Argentina 47
100 Cape Verde 47
100 Djibouti 47
100 Panama 47
104 Hungary 48
105 Brazil 49
105 Dominica 49
105 Sao Tome and Principe 49
108 Oman 50
108 Saudi Arabia 50
110 Chile 51
110 China 51
110 Haiti 51
110 Maldives 51
114 Saint Lucia 52
115 Lithuania 53
115 Latvia 53
115 Trinidad and Tobago 53
115 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 53
119 Belize 54
119 Slovakia 54
121 Greece 55
121 Mexico 55
121 Portugal 55
124 Czechia 57
124 Seychelles 57
126 Macao 58
126 Slovenia 58
128 Costa Rica 59
128 Samoa 59
130 Spain 60
130 Grenada 60
130 Jamaica 60
130 Singapore 60
134 Cyprus 61
134 Malta 61
136 Estonia 62
136 Kiribati 62
136 South Korea 62
136 Qatar 62
140 Papua New Guinea 63
141 United Arab Emirates 64
141 Kuwait 64
143 Andorra 65
143 Italy 65
145 Saint Kitts and Nevis 66
146 Japan 67
147 Uruguay 68
148 Antigua and Barbuda 69
149 Hong Kong 71
150 Solomon Islands 72
150 Tonga 72
152 France 73
153 Austria 76
153 Belgium 76
153 Germany 76
153 San Marino 76
157 Netherlands 79
158 Ireland 80
158 Sweden 80
160 United Kingdom 82
161 Finland 83
162 Canada 84
162 Norway 84
164 Palau 85
165 Luxembourg 87
165 Tuvalu 87
167 Denmark 88
167 Vanuatu 88
169 Australia 89
170 Marshall Islands 90
170 New Zealand 90
172 Micronesia 92
173 Israel 94
174 Bahamas 98
175 Iceland 100
175 United States 100
177 Nauru 102
178 Barbados 110
179 Switzerland 111

Methodology & source

Price level index = a country's PPP conversion factor divided by its market exchange rate, normalised so the US = 100, the standard measure of how expensive a country's overall prices are versus the US. Latest available year (2023, or 2022 where 2023 is missing). It reflects general prices (a strong proxy for how far a traveller's money goes), not a tourist-specific basket. 4 countries with managed or non-market exchange rates, where this method is unreliable, are excluded: Iran, Lebanon, Liberia, Zimbabwe. 179 countries ranked; the median price level is 42.

Data: World Bank: PPP conversion factor (PA.NUS.PPP) ÷ official exchange rate (PA.NUS.FCRF) (CC BY 4.0). Analysis by Quick Travel Tools.

Cite this study (free with a link back):
Quick Travel Tools: “The Most & Least Expensive Countries to Visit in 2026”. https://quicktraveltools.com/studies/most-and-least-expensive-countries-2026/