Inspired by the recent Mercer HR study on the living costs of popular cities around the world, World’s Most Expensive Cities: June 2007, I decided to put together a similar study for budget travelers. The Mercer study looks at the cost of living for expats around the world, in order to determine which are the most expensive cities. I, on the other hand, was more interested in finding out how expensive various cities around the world are for budget travel. So, I made up a simple formula that I could then use to compare the cost of budget accommodation and inexpensive local meals of 94 different cities around the world. The formula is only based on these two variables, and provides a value that I call the “Budget Cost/Day” of a city. Below is a more detailed description of the two variables:

1. The cheapest private, double occupancy room that I could find in each city. (I used private rooms, as they were the most commonly available accommodation options I found across the board. This does not mean that these are the cheapest of all accommodation options, as a dorm style accommodation is certainly less expensive when available. However, for comparison purposes it made more sense to just look at private rooms.)

2. The price of a cheap local meal in each city, multiplied by 2. Meant to represent the cost of two meals per day.

Obviously, there are many other travel expenses that I didn’t consider, such as transportation costs, site-seeing fees, bars/clubs, etc. Unfortunately, with my limited resources, I am simply unable to take on a more comprehensive survey. However, I still think this study provides an interesting look at the wide range of travel costs throughout different parts of the globe.

All expenses displayed below have come from either my personal experiences, information provided by traveling friends of mine, HostelBookers.com (accommodation prices), HostelWorld.com (accommodation prices), and the Lonely Planet World Guide (cheap meal prices).

Important – Please Note:

The main goal of this survey is to provide an idea of how each travel destination ranks internationally in terms of costs to the budget traveler. The following costs for accommodation and food reflect that absolute cheapest available option in each destination. The survey does not account for transportation, site-seeing, or even the most basic of luxuries (an occasional beer, souvenirs, or even a cup of coffee). The budget cost/day is simply a variable that I used for comparison purposes.

Please DO NOT assume that a trip to any of these destinations will be as inexpensive as the budget cost/day variable my imply. In general, the most budget minded travelers will likely spend between 150%-200% of the budget cost/day for each destination listed below. Less budget minded travelers will probably spend even more.

For an inexpensive vacation, check out a caribbean travel getaway. Or find another cheap vacation with discounted airline tickets and cheap flights. Complement your travels with great hotels and a great deal on a car rental.

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