Many still believe in the most persistent myth in the world of travel: that traveling is necessarily expensive. That simply isn’t true. What is expensive is when you want travel to be as convenient as possible… or when you choose expensive destinations.
So after a (too) long hiatus, here is the next part of our ranking of the cheapest countries to travel to, the 2nd part of the under $30/day category (and 4th part overall).
This article series will help you choose one of the destinations on our flight deals page where you can also save money on the ground… and not just save money on your plane ticket.
I copied the detailed explanations about how the rankings work and what you need to know about the cost per day after the list, since you probably already read it in our previous articles. You’ll also find the complete ranking to date to jog your memory before the 5 new countries.
One addition to our notes: obviously, within the same country, there are usually regional variations. Some regions are cheaper than others, but usually the cost per day indicated is for the most popular or more expensive regions. So that also means there is another way to travel even cheaper by learning about which regions could be even more affordable.
Keep in mind that even in the same city, just as it is the case here in Canada, some neighborhoods are more expensive than others. Choosing wisely will help you save money here too, maybe a couple of dollars a day. That’s it for the explanations, for the full version scroll all the way down.
The Ranking Up To Now
Since it’s been a while, here is a reminder of our ranking of the cheapest travel destinations up to now.
Under $25 per day
- Vietnam
- Laos
- Cambodia
- India
- Nepal
- Nicaragua
- Bolivia
- Ghana
- Malawi
- Ethiopia
Under $30 per day
- Thailand
- Indonesia
- Malaysia
- Myanmar (Burma)
- Bangladesh
5 More Countries Under $30/Day
After focusing on Asia for the first part of the under $30 category, here are the 5 other countries mostly in South America (with one leftover from Asia) where travel is really affordable.
The many other countries at under $30/day will continue next week. Don’t forget to subscribe to our free newsletter to get all our content (and great flight deals) in your inbox.
Peru
I was there last summer, and Kevin (Flytrippers’ other co-founder) went last fall. We can tell you it’s definitely a very interesting destination. It is a very popular destination but it can still be quite affordable. Just to be clear, Machu Picchu is a must-see (one of the 7 wonders) and the entry price is a bit steep and will make you go over budget. But the rest of Peru is quite affordable if you want to explore the country as a budget traveler.
Some readers have told us about travel packages to Peru that were over $6,000 for two weeks, which almost made us have a heart attack. It cost us less than 3 times that amount, budget travel is almost always the way to go if you want to save money, not organized tours.
I will be posting blogs about my trip to Peru soon, I had a blast visiting Machu Picchu and the Sacred Valley of the Incas, exploring Cusco and Lima, surfing on sand dunes at the Huacachina desert oasis and finally seeing some penguins off the coast. It’s a very varied country, and I didn’t even visit the Northern part or the Lake Titicaca region!
How To Get To Peru Cheap
Flight deals to Peru (Lima) are relatively frequent from most parts of Canada around $450 to $550 roundtrip. I paid $389 roundtrip from Montreal but that was a one-off incredible deal we haven’t seen again since. You can also use our tips to find the cheapest dates if you are flexible.
Colombia
Another popular destination, one of the trendiest for 2018 in fact, is Colombia. The country is no longer dangerous for tourists. You still have to use caution (like most places in the world), but Colombia is now safer than many US cities.
It’s also even cheaper than Peru in Kevin’s experience. Flytrippers’ other co-founder spent a month there last fall for less than $500, much less than $30 a day, but he mostly stayed in Medellín.
It’s more affordable than ever to visit this country. It has a variety of landscapes, from many different and exciting cities to several hundred kilometers of coastline. In fact, Colombia was Kevin’s favorite country out of the 3 he explored in Northern South America last year.
How To Get To Colombia Cheap
Colombia is by far the cheapest destination to fly to in South America, with frequent deals in the $400s or $500s. Bogota is the city most often discounted, but sometimes Medellín, Cartagena or even Cali are reasonably priced. Again, you can also use our tips to find the cheapest dates if you are flexible (and also the cheapest airport).
Ecuador
The country located in between Peru and Colombia is Ecuador, another one that is quite affordable. This destination isn’t the first one that comes to mind for travelers, but it is where you will find the unique Galápagos Islands. Just be careful, while mainland Ecuador is very affordable, the Islands are quite expensive. Even just getting there is expensive, as the government wants to protect them from over-tourism.
Kevin visited both Quito and the Galápagos Islands, he will share an overview of his experience soon as we develop our travel inspiration section more and more every week.
How To Get To Ecuador Cheap
This one is the most expensive to get to, out of the 3 neighboring nations. Quito is rarely on sale, and short-haul flights between countries are quite expensive in Ecuador. The other alternative is to take a very long bus ride from either Colombia or Peru. You can also get there with travel hacking, as it only costs 7500 Avios Points from Lima to Quito (each way). For example, you can get 25,000 Avios completely free with the RBC Avion card.
Paraguay
https://www.instagram.com/p/BcqTcxPhQCx/The Republic of Paraguay is definitely not the first country that travelers think of when dreaming of South America. There’s no shame in admitting it, it’s quite normal, it surely is an under-the-radar country. With Bolivia, it is the only landlocked country on the continent. Located between Bolivia, Brazil and Argentina, Paraguay is a cool outside-of-the-box destination that can be visited on a budget!
https://www.instagram.com/p/BfHRljtB-aX/How To Get To Paraguay Cheap
That region of the continent is still extremely expensive to fly to unfortunately. Flights to Asunción, the capital and main gateway, are always over $1,000. It could be worth it to fly to Bolivia if there’s a decent price, and then to combine another ticket, but not often. Short flights are still expensive in South America, unlike in Europe, Southeast Asia or the US.
Another alternative is a very long bus ride from Bolivia (long bus rides are a recurring theme in South America travel) and finally another multi-ticket tip that is worth at least checking out is how two separate tickets would cost via the US (Miami, New York, etc.) since in case you haven’t noticed, Canada is one of the most expensive countries in the world for air travel and some US hubs might have better prices to Asunción.
Sri Lanka
As you can see, the South America theme is over. We really wanted to stick with 5 countries per article so here is the leftover from the Asia portion of the under $30 countries.
It is a country that really deserves the attention, beautiful Sri Lanka, an island-nation in Asia.
An island in the Indian Ocean off the Southeastern tip of India, all those who have visited this small country have been charmed by its natural beauty and its inhabitants. And of course, since it’s on this list, it’s quite affordable once you’re there!
How To Get To Sri Lanka Cheap
Deals to Colombo are somewhat rare, so the alternative is if you find a good deal to either India, Malaysia or Singapore, sometimes the total cost of the two tickets might save you a bit of money compared to buying the whole itinerary on one ticket. But as is the case with any multi-ticket situation, whether it comes out cheaper or not really depends on your dates.
Details About The Rankings
When you really want to discover the world and visit new places, you can. If you’re ready to make choices that are certainly less “practical” (but allow you to travel at low prices), it’s possible to visit dozens of countries for under C$35 a day. Here is the 4th part of this new series, 5 countries that you can visit for less than C$30 a day.
It’s really not that hard to travel like a backpacker, and it’s just as fun to travel this way (some would say even more fun). It allows you to see more places in the world than you ever thought possible… it allows you to simply travel more. Traveling doesn’t cost that much when you make the right choices.
How Budget Traveling Works
What are these choices? Sleeping in hostels (they’re great by the way but if you’re travelling with a companion, you can sometimes even find private rooms and still stay within the aforementioned budget), walking or taking public transit, eating in local restaurants / eating street food / cooking your own food, choosing free activities… but most importantly before you leave, you must find a great deal for your flight and above all, you must choose the right destination.
Because of course, if you’re going to Scandinavia or Western Europe, no matter what you do, yes traveling will be expensive (there are tips to reduce the cost… but it’s still expensive). But if you choose an affordable destination, you’ll quickly realize that the cost of living is infinitely lower than at home and you’ll be able to travel without breaking the bank. A good rule of thumb is that the more developed a country is, the more expensive it will be.
ALSO READ: Which Summer Weeks to Choose If You Want to Travel and Save Money
A Warning About The Budget
If you put a bit of effort into it, travel to these countries can easily cost you just this small amount daily. But these are obviously approximate figures… each traveler is different and it’s easy to go over budget if you’re not careful and splurge a bit too often, it adds up really quickly.
That said, it’s also possible to travel for even less than this budget if you want to stretch your savings as I do, since I want to travel more and I don’t spend much at all on activities and food. Others manage to lower these prices even further by lowering their quality standards for hostels.
There are plenty of variables, but know that this daily budget is very realistic and attainable: it is really a fair evaluation. It is a reference point, the budget for the average backpacker… and a great way for you to get an idea of the cheapest destinations and how much money you need if you want to take up budget traveling.
What Is Included In The Daily Budget
One last note. As mentioned, the purpose of this ranking is to show you the cost once you’re at the destination (including local transportation).
It does not take into account the initial plane ticket to get there because everyone leaves for a different amount of time, at a different time of the year and from a different airport, so we can’t guess over how many days you can spread out the plane ticket cost or how much it would cost from your airport or take into account if you are buying tickets at a higher price than you should, for lack of flexibility. So like all daily travel budgets you’ll ever find, they include everything but the cost to actually get there.
But that will be another series of articles after this series of articles about the cost of living. We’re eventually going to combine this ranking with the flight prices to make an Ultimate Guide of Cheap Travel Destinations, with the total prices to be expected for trips of 2, 3, 4 and 6 weeks, which will include all costs, if you’re flexible on flights, of course. Finding a cheap flight requires a minimum of flexibility, more on that too very soon.
So our recommendation is to be open to several destinations for your next trip, it will increase your chances of finding a cheap flight for your dates and therefore increase your chances to be able to go to a country where traveling is cheap.
About The Ranking
We already wrote an article on how to choose the cheapest countries, it was extremely popular so we are back with an exhaustive series and a more detailed ranking of countries. It was inspired by the map mentioned in the previous article and various rankings found online, including that of MyFunkyTravel and EternalArrival among many others.
We also included our own added-value: how to find cheap plane tickets for each destination. More details in future blog posts (we have 4 new articles out every week by the way, on top of our daily flight deals from 9 Canadian cities).
Bottom Line
Here are 5 more countries under $30/day, mostly in South America with a leftover from Asia. Don’t miss the next parts of the ranking every week!
Have you ever visited these countries? If not, which countries did you find to be the most affordable?
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