Last week we talked about the health benefits from traveling so now it seems appropriate to discuss keeping your wallet en forme at the same time. One of our local newspapers, Midi Libre, featured an article from the French financial services comparison site, “Hello Safe”, that listed the daily cost you could expect to pay while on vacation in 136 countries around the world. Acknowledging that costs will depend upon the chosen standard of accommodation and restaurants, for example, the study’s authors used both objective and subjective means to analyze the data. Let’s find out where it’s cheap to go on vacation!

To arrive at their figures, Hello Safe included the following for one person:

• Accommodation: hotel or vacation apartment rental
• Food: restaurants
• Local transportation: train, bus, taxi, plane

Not included: Transportation to get you from your home to your final destination. 

So, where in the world can one person eat, sleep, and travel for only 7€ a day? Laos. Double that if you want to see Mongolia or Georgia while for 18€ you could visit Rwanda, Honduras, or Columbia. Nepal or India? Just 24€ in either country.

Looking at Europe, we have Serbia for 33€, Poland 54€, Romania 69€, and Croatia at 85€. Come over to the western side for Portugal at 122€, Ireland 128€, Germany 136€, and at the top of the list, unsurprisingly is Switzerland for 239€

Three Caribbean islands make it to the top of the list as most expensive—Barbados, Antigua, and St. Kitts where you can expect to spend between 256€ and 311€ per day. Spend a day in the United States for 235€, Monaco for 190€, or in the UK for 162€.

From our own experience, our best tip for economical travel is to book early. From the US we always knew that we’d be returning to France in a year so we booked the air as soon as we could which also meant that we were able to choose our favorite seats. We now travel by train in Europe and follow the same logic: cheapest fare early, especially with our Senior Card for discounts and our favorite seats before they are gone.

For accommodations, if we’re going to stay for more than a day or two we often book a vacation rental apartment that typically offers a discount if you stay for 7 nights. That gives us a kitchen where we usually fix our own breakfast and dinner. Even if we’re in a hotel we do the same thanks to take-away food from nearby grocery stores. Sure, we eat in plenty of restaurants but it’s a pleasant change to enjoy fresh fruits and vegetables from the market or convenience store.

But wait, we’ve left out La France! It comes in as the 4th most expensive country in Europe with a daily expense of 178€. Hmm, looks like it’s time to dig out that old copy of “Europe on $5 per Day” that was first published in 1957!

Original comparison article: https://hellosafe.fr/assurance-voyage/budget-voyage-classement-pays

Photo notes: That’s Corsica as the featured photo and those umbrellas help keep the sidewalks cooler in the summer sun in Carcassonne.