How Much Does it Cost to Travel Around the World?

Between 19th and 23rd January 2018, we carried out a huge survey among 848 people who travelled the world for more than three months. We asked them detailed questions about the handling of their expenses by item and by country. Find out more about our methodology

The total average budget of a round-the-world trip is £13,000 ($16,000 – €15,000) per person. However, this figure isn’t set in stone.

Some globetrotters manage to travel with next to no money. They do this by getting around on foot and by hitch-hiking / boat hitch-hiking, camping, or benefiting from other people’s hospitality.

Others, however, take lots of flights or travel in an expensive vehicle, stay in hotels and do lots of activities. The biggest budget from our survey is £70,000 ($85,000 – €80,000) per person!

Between these two extremes, you can find all sorts of budgets. However, more than three quarters are between £7,000 ($8,500 – €8,000) and £17,000 ($21,000 – €20,000)

Note : These figures only correspond to trips whose route strictly adheres to the definition of a round-the-world trip, that is to say, going round the world, and returning to the place that you started from.

Trip duration

Unsurprisingly, this is the factor which has the most influence on the total budget of the trip. That’s right, fixed prices (equipment, vaccines…) only represent a very small fraction of the total cost of a round-the-world trip. Whereas fluctuating costs (plane tickets, local transport, accommodation, food, activities, travel insurance, visas…) weigh a lot more heavily on your budget, and depend on the trip duration.

Countries visited

There’s a fivefold gap in the average daily budget amongst globetrotters’ most visited destinations. In India, globetrotters spend £15 ($19 – €18) on average per day, whilst in Polynesia the average daily budget is £73 ($92 – €86).

If you don’t have unlimited funds, the best way to travel for a long time is to stay in cheaper countries as much as possible.

• The cheapest area is Asia (excluding Japan, Korea and China).

• China, Latin America (excluding Brazil, Chile and Argentina), and Eastern Europe come in a little more expensive, but they’re still affordable.
• Western Europe, North America, Japan, Oceania, Brazil, Chile and Argentina require a big budget.

Few globetrotters visit Africa. Unfortunately, therefore, we don’t have a lot of data on this continent. However, contrary to popular belief, travelling in Africa isn’t always cheap. In fact, there’s hardly any backpacker-oriented accommodation or transport.

World map of average daily budgets per person

Where does the data come from?

The data comes from our survey. It only applies to long trips of more than three consecutive months. Most of them took place in 2017.

What do these budgets ?

The budgets, per country, include all costs whilst travelling:

• Accommodation
• Food
• Drinks / going out
• Local transport
• Activities / sightseeing
• Shopping

On the other hand, they don’t include the cost of international transport to get to the country, nor potential visa costs.

Budget reliability

For each country, we show the number of answers we received in our survey and from that we deduce the budget reliability:

• Unreliable: from 1 to 5 responses
• Not very reliable: from 6 to 20 responses
• Quite reliable: from 21 to 40 responses
• Very reliable: more than 40 responses

Budget level by type of trip

For each country, we’ve established three budget levels:

• Basic budget: this is the budget below which 20% of the lowest spending respondents fall. It relates to a trip where you mostly stay with a resident (Couchsurfing, Wwoofing, Helpx, Workaway…) or camp, you get around by hitch-hiking, on bike, or sometimes by local transport, and you don’t do any expensive activities.
• Backpacker budget: this is the median budget among respondents: 50% are above, 50% are below. It relates to a trip where you stay in the ‘economical’ category of travel guides, get around by local modes of transport and treat yourself to an activity every now and then.
• Comfortable budget: this is the budget above which 20% of the biggest spending respondents fall. It relates to a trip where you stay in the middle category of travel guides, sometimes renting a car and treating yourself to lots of activities.

Links

In the last column, links to Lonely Planet’s budget pages will give you an idea of the cost of accommodation and meals in each country. You’ll also be able to get an idea of an estimated budget for countries we didn’t sufficiently cover in our survey.

Daily budget per person for each country according to our survey

Travel pace

Number of people travelling

Travellers age

Plane tickets

Three quarters of long-term travellers mainly travel by plane and local transport. On average, people who travel around the world spend €2,700 ($3,300 – €3,100) on plane tickets (for an average of 11 months travel), whilst those who go on a long trip without doing a round-the-world trip only spend, on average, £850 ($1,100 – €1,000) (for an average of 7 months travel).

When buying your plane tickets, there are three available options:

1. Buying your tickets as you go

2. BUYING A ROUND-THE-WORLD TICKET FROM BIG AIRLINE ALLIANCES

3. BUYING A ROUND-THE-WORLD TICKET FROM A SPECIALIST TRAVEL AGENCY

HOW CAN I CUT MY PLANE TICKET BUDGET?

Equipement

INSURANCE

VISAS

You’ll need to pay for a visa to enter some countries. Most Latin American countries are accessible without a visa for stays for up to 90 days. In Asia and Africa, on the other hand, lots of countries ask for one. On average, globetrotters spend £170 ($215 – €200) on their visas. When the option is offered, go for e-visas as they’re usually cheaper than conventional visas.

Some examples of tourist visa prices for the most visited countries by frequent travellers:

To find out more, take a look at our article on visas.

VACCINES

VEHICLE

On average, globetrotters spend £9,000 ($11,000 – €10,500) whilst travelling, this is around two thirds of the total budget.

Generally speaking, you can roughly divide the budget whilst travelling into four equal parts:

• Accommodation
• Food and drink
• Local transport
• Sightseeing, activities and various expenses

But this divvying up varies from country to country. If you do a guided trek in Nepal, or if you take diving lessons in Thailand, the activities budget will be higher.

If you go to Patagonia in Argentina, your transport budget will be greater. In wealthy countries, it’s quite the opposite – your accommodation and food budget will be higher.

Accommodation

During their trip, most globetrotters stay in backpacker accommodation. These are often guesthouses or bungalows in Asia, and youth hostels or small inexpensive hotels in Latin American and wealthy countries.

In very touristy areas, prices soar during peak season. But, the peak season isn’t the same in every country. Therefore, with a little organisation, you can avoid being amongst the hordes of holiday-makers and paying a high price.

When you travel in low season and your accommodation isn’t very full, you can often get a discount by haggling a bit. The important thing when negotiating is to stay calm and keep smiling.

You can make huge savings by opting for other types of accommodation:

• Camping: setting off with a tent will make your backpack heavier, but it means that you can sleep for free anywhere in the world.
• Couchsurfing: the main point of this is to meet friendly locals and share their culture, but also to find free accommodation.
• Volunteering: via websites like Wwoof, HelpX or Workaway, you can volunteer with a local community, and have bed and board in return.
• Sleeping on a bus: in Asia and Latin America, a lot of buses have reclining seats for sleeping on overnight trips, which will help you save on accommodation.
• Sleeping in a van: if you travel in large, wealthy countries like Australia, New Zealand, United States, Canada and western Europe, it might be worth buying a van and sleeping in it, or buying a car and a tent to go camping. You can then sell them when you leave. The longer you stray, the better value it is compared to renting a vehicle.

Food

In many countries, you don’t need to go to a restaurant to eat well. Street food and food markets are always fresh and their dishes aren’t made to please western palates, making them more authentic.

But, when in countries with a higher standard of living, be aware of how much you’re spending on food.

It’s much cheaper to buy food in shops and cook than it is to eat out. Most youth hostels have kitchens you can use.

Pick local products, they’re often cheaper than imported products. If you’re camping, invest in a portable stove and a cooking pot as this’ll help you save a fair amount of money on food.

Drinks and going out

It may sound like a minor detail, but a boozy evening in a bar or restaurant can quickly throw your budget off track. In a lot of countries, a beer is more expensive than a meal. So, reducing your alcohol intake will be good for your liver and your wallet.

However, we wholly understand your need for a tipple from time to time. So, rather than depriving yourself completely, try local drinks which are usually cheaper than beer.

Local transport

Buses will be your main mode of transport. Go for local buses, they’re cheaper and more authentic than tourist buses. In several countries, particularly India, the train is just as cheap, as long as you avoid luxury classes. Domestic flights are generally more expensive. However, in Asia, low-cost flights are sometimes worth a shot.

In countries where the cost of living is low, you can get around by taxi, tuk-tuk or rickshaws without breaking the bank. By reading your guide book and asking around you, you can quickly, and easily, find out the “normal” price for a ride. Setting a price in advance will help you avoid a hefty bill on arrival. Most travellers now use Uber or a local equivalent to avoid bad surprises.

Sightseeing and activities

Visiting top-rated tourist attractions, going on tours or doing sporty activities like trekking with a guide and diving can quickly make your budget skyrocket.

As soon as you arrive in a new city, your hotel usually offers you activities in partnership with local agencies.

By looking around, you can often skip the agencies and do them by yourself: – sightseeing, visiting a monument, doing a hike or making the most of all kinds of tourist attractions…

Of course, you’ll be the target of what we call “fear marketing”. People will try to convince you that you can’t do it by yourself, that it’s impossible, blah blah blah… Don’t be fooled.

For example, in Nepal, it was very easy for us to to hike the Annapurna Circuit trek without a guide, but with a good map.

Some examples of prices for sightseeing tours and activities:

• PADI open Water diving lessons in Thailand: £200 ($240 – €230)
• Guided trek in Nepal: £450 ($550 – €520)
• Paragliding lessons in Nepal: £250 ($300 – €290)
• Death Road mountain bike tour in Bolivia: £100 ($120 – €115)
• Machu Picchu and Huyana Picchu pass: £60 ($75 – €70)
• 3-day Angkor Wat pass: £40 ($45 – €50)
• Spanish lesson in Buenos Aires: £130 ($160 – €150) per week
• Nazca Lines flight tour: £70 ($85 – €80)
• Salar de Uyuni and Sur Lípez 4×4 tour: £70 ($85 – €80)

Bank charges

Each time you use your bank card to pay or withdraw money abroad, your bank charges you a fee. If you’re with a traditional bank, these fees can go up to £400 ($490 – €470) for a year-long trip.

So, it may be worth opening an online / mobile bank. Some banks offer free withdrawals abroad.

To find out more, take a look at our article on the best debit cards with no foreign transaction fee.

Other expenses whilst travelling

Other expenses may include:

• Laundry
• Hairdresser
• Buying souvenirs and presents
• Sending packages back home
• Mobile phone and internet fees
• Purchasing or replacing equipment in the event of theft, loss or damage
Scams
• Medical fees in the event of an accident or illness (later reimbursed by your travel insurance)

We often forget them when budgeting for our round-the-world trip. Certain fees at home don’t stop just because you’re travelling. Remember to leave enough money in your account to avoid going into debt without realising it.

To find out more, take a look at our article on pre-departure paperwork.

We advise you to put a little bit of money aside for your return. According to our survey, on average, globetrotters put £1,700 ($2,100 – €2,000) aside for their return.

Subscribe and receive our travel budget tool for free!

To help you estimate your budget before you leave and follow your expenses during your travel, we created the ultimate travel budget spreadsheet.

It’s free if you subscribe to be notified by email when we publish a new article or carry out a survey about travellers’ choices.

We explain in details how to use the spreadsheet below.

*We'll tell you when we publish a new article or when we carry out a survey among our readers to help us write the next article. We'll send one to three emails a month. Pinkie swear we'll never sell your datas nor spam you!

Estimated budget

Estimated budget by country

Select the countries you plan on visiting with your arrival and departure dates. Our tool automatically calculates your total estimated budget by country and depending on the number of travellers (adults and children).

The calculation is based on the median budgets that were obtained in our survey.

The degree of reliability of the estimation (which depends on the number of survey respondents) is shown in the table.

You can also choose to increase or decrease your budget in relation to the globetrotters’ median budget so that it reflects the way you travel more accurately. You can also use it to make sure you have a safety allowance.

A graph is automatically generated to illustrate the breakdown of your budget per country.

Equipement

We’ve listed all the possible equipment that you might take travelling: bag, clothing, camping gear, toiletry bag, medical supplies, electronics, accessories, paperwork and even kit for the kids. Of course, you don’t need to take it all, but this comprehensive list will ensure that you don’t forget anything.

Select the equipment that you already have and those that you need to buy. Note the quantity, price and unit weight. The tool automatically calculates the total budget and weight of your equipment.

Other expenditure items

The spreadsheet also lets you estimate the budget of the following things:

• International transport (plane, boat, train, bus…)
• Travel insurance
• Visas
• Vaccines
• Activities
• Vehicle
• Expenses which continue whilst you’re away

Tracking your budget whilst on the road

Once on the road, you can continue to use our spreadsheet offline to jot down your expenses as you go from country to country. Note the date, the amount in the local currency and the type of expenditure. The spreadsheet automatically calculates the total expenses in the country and the remaining budget in relation to your estimated budget. It also generates a graph to help you visualise the distribution between the different cost items: accommodation, food, local transport, activities, drinks / going out and shopping.

You can also follow:

• Unexpected expenses on the road (plane ticket purchases or changes, replacing or repairing damaged, lost or stolen equipment, scams…)
• Bank charges for each withdrawal and card payment

Recap

The recap tab lets you:

• Visualise the breakdown of your provisional budget
• Follow the progression of your spending whilst travelling in relation to your budget
• See a detailed breakdown of your spending whilst travelling

Aside from the number of adults and children, don’t fill in anything on this tab. All other amounts will be automatically calculated when you’ve filled out the following tabs.

How to use it?

For optimal usage, we advise you to use our tool in Google Sheets. It’s just like Excel, but online.

Go to this page. Connect with your Google account if you already have one. If you don’t have one, create one.

Once you’re logged in, drag and drop our file into your Google Sheets space. You can share it and use it with others, which is practical if you’re travelling as a couple or a group. You can also access it on all of your devices: computer, mobile phone, tablet…

Using the spreadsheet offline

During your trip, you’ll be able to use our tool offline by following this tutorial.

Help the globetrotter community

If you have any problem using our spreadsheet or if you have any suggestions for improving it, send us a message. We’ll get back to you quickly, and that’ll allow us to continue improving it for future globetrotters.

If you use it during your trip, it’d be great if you could give us some feedback. This will allow us to be even more precise when estimating future budgets.

Download our travel budget spreadsheet

Subscribe and receive our travel budget tool for free!

To help you estimate your budget before you leave and follow your expenses during your travel, we created the ultimate travel budget spreadsheet.

It’s free if you subscribe to be notified by email when we publish a new article or carry out a survey about travellers’ choices.

*We'll tell you when we publish a new article or when we carry out a survey among our readers to help us write the next article. We'll send one to three emails a month. Pinkie swear we'll never sell your datas nor spam you!