Quick Travel Tools “Where can I travel that’s actually cheap?” has a data-backed answer. We scored 179 countries by their overall price level against the US (=100): how far a dollar goes once you’re on the ground. Here’s where it stretches furthest, and how to read the numbers so you’re not caught out.
The cheapest destinations
On the index, the US is 100. A country at 25 means everyday prices are roughly a quarter of US prices. The lowest scores:
- Egypt: 16. The single best value on the list; food, transport and sights all cost a fraction of home.
- Bulgaria: 21. The cheapest way into Europe by a wide margin, and that buys beaches, mountains, cities.
- Laos: 22. Southeast Asia’s quiet-value pick.
- Bhutan: 24. Low local prices (though note its separate daily tourism fee).
- India: 25 and Nepal: 25. Enormous range, tiny daily costs.
- Sri Lanka: 26. Beaches, tea country and wildlife at Southeast-Asia-beating prices.
Also scoring in the low-to-mid 20s: Pakistan, Sierra Leone, Tajikistan, Nigeria and Belarus. The full ranking of all 179 countries has every score, cheapest to priciest.
How to read the number
The index measures local price level: what you pay for meals, transport, and services once you arrive. It’s a strong proxy for “how far my spending money goes,” but two caveats matter:
- It’s not flights. A destination at 16 can still have a pricey airfare from your city. Always budget the flight separately. A cheap country reached by an expensive flight isn’t a cheap trip.
- It’s an overall economy measure, not a hotel-and-restaurant survey. Tourist-heavy spots within a cheap country can run above the national average. Treat the index as a strong directional guide, not a per-receipt promise.
A few countries are deliberately left off: those with managed or collapsed currencies where the official exchange rate doesn’t match what visitors actually pay. Publishing those numbers would mislead, so we exclude them.
Turn “cheap” into a real budget
“Cheap” is relative to how you travel. The same country costs wildly different amounts for a hostel-and-street-food trip versus hotels and restaurants. Once you’ve picked a value destination, run the actual numbers (flights, lodging, and a realistic daily spend) with the trip budget calculator to see your true per-person, per-day total before you book.
The takeaway
Your money goes furthest in North and East Africa, the Balkans, South Asia and parts of Southeast Asia, often 4–6× further than at home. Pick from the value end, budget the flight on top, and a modest amount of money buys a genuinely big trip.