# TravelBudget

> Independent, data-driven daily travel cost estimates for 68 cities across 16 regions worldwide.

TravelBudget translates public market data into defensible daily cost numbers for trip planning. Each city has budget, mid-range, and luxury daily figures, seasonally adjusted across low, shoulder, and peak. Every figure on this page, on the site's HTML pages, in /llms-full.txt, in the JSON feeds and in the JSON-LD markup is generated from one dataset, so the numbers always agree.

**Machine-readable distributions (recommended for LLM / RAG ingestion):**
- Full Markdown corpus: [/llms-full.txt](/llms-full.txt)
- Full city dataset (JSON): [/data/cities.json](/data/cities.json)
- Region summary (JSON): [/data/regions.json](/data/regions.json)
- Live exchange rates (JSON, refreshed daily): [/data/fx.json](/data/fx.json)
- Source lineage per city and cost component (JSON): [/data/sources.json](/data/sources.json)
- License: CC-BY-4.0 — citations welcome with attribution to TravelBudget.

## Methodology

- All figures are USD, per person, per day, on-the-ground costs only. Flights, visas, and gear are excluded.
- Daily total = sum of five line items: accommodation, food, local transport, activities, miscellaneous.
- Accommodation is a room cost: in the trip calculator the nightly rate covers the first guest and each extra guest in a room adds 35%. Food, transport, activities and misc scale per person.
- Style multipliers vs the budget baseline: budget 1×, mid-range ≈ 2.5×, luxury ≈ 6×.
- Season multipliers are city-specific, not shared: each city is mapped to one of 12 demand archetypes with its own low/shoulder/peak month calendar and coefficients (low 0.62×–0.92×, shoulder 1.00×, peak 1.13×–1.72×). Never assume a uniform 0.85/1.00/1.25 — read the city's profile.
  - Northern-hemisphere summer peak (euro-summer): low ×0.80 (Jan–Feb, Nov), shoulder ×1.00 (Mar–May, Oct, Dec), peak ×1.34 (Jun–Sep). European school holidays concentrate demand into July–August; January–February hotel rates collapse with no compensating events.
  - Mediterranean coastal / resort (med-coastal): low ×0.62 (Jan–Mar, Nov–Dec), shoulder ×1.00 (Apr–May, Oct), peak ×1.58 (Jun–Sep). Beach-led demand with cruise calls: rooms triple in August and half the inventory simply closes in winter, so the low season is genuinely cheap rather than merely quiet.
  - Year-round business hub (year-round-hub): low ×0.92 (Jan–Feb, Aug), shoulder ×1.00 (Mar–Apr, Jul, Nov–Dec), peak ×1.13 (May–Jun, Sep–Oct). Corporate and convention demand fills the calendar, so leisure seasonality is shallow. The cheapest weeks are mid-summer and January, when business travel drops.
  - Tropical dry-season peak (tropical-dry): low ×0.76 (May–Jun, Sep–Oct), shoulder ×1.00 (Mar–Apr, Jul–Aug, Nov), peak ×1.31 (Jan–Feb, Dec). Demand follows the dry season and the northern winter escape; the wet months discount hard because arrivals fall, not because supply shrinks.
  - Monsoon-split calendar (monsoon-split): low ×0.72 (Jun–Aug), shoulder ×1.00 (Apr–May, Sep–Oct), peak ×1.26 (Jan–Mar, Nov–Dec). Heat and monsoon push a deep three-month trough; the cool dry window carries festivals and weddings, which lifts domestic room demand as much as foreign arrivals.
  - Desert winter peak (desert-winter): low ×0.68 (Jun–Aug), shoulder ×1.00 (Apr–May, Sep–Oct), peak ×1.34 (Jan–Mar, Nov–Dec). Summer heat empties the city and rates crater; the winter months carry both leisure arrivals and event calendars, so the swing is one of the widest we track.
  - Twin-bloom peak (spring and autumn) (japan-double-peak): low ×0.86 (Jan–Feb, Jun), shoulder ×1.00 (May, Jul–Sep, Dec), peak ×1.46 (Mar–Apr, Oct–Nov). Two sharp, short peaks — cherry blossom and autumn colour — plus domestic Golden Week. Blossom-week lodging is the single most inflated inventory in the dataset; the rest of the year is comparatively flat.
  - Southern-hemisphere summer peak (southern-summer): low ×0.82 (May–Aug), shoulder ×1.00 (Mar–Apr, Sep–Nov), peak ×1.36 (Jan–Feb, Dec). Peak sits over the southern summer and local school holidays in December–February; the winter trough is real but mild in coastal cities.
  - Single-festival spike (carnival-spike): low ×0.78 (May–Aug), shoulder ×1.00 (Mar–Apr, Sep–Nov), peak ×1.72 (Jan–Feb, Dec). One festival week distorts the entire year: carnival-window lodging is routinely quoted at two to three times the annual average, with minimum-stay rules attached.
  - Short northern summer (nordic-light): low ×0.71 (Jan–Mar, Nov), shoulder ×1.00 (Apr–May, Sep–Oct, Dec), peak ×1.44 (Jun–Aug). Daylight, not temperature, sets demand: a ten-week summer absorbs most annual arrivals, and the dark months discount steeply outside Christmas.
  - Highland eternal-spring (highland-stable): low ×0.90 (May, Sep–Oct), shoulder ×1.00 (Jan–Apr, Nov), peak ×1.16 (Jun–Aug, Dec). Altitude flattens the weather, so pricing follows holidays rather than climate. The swing is narrow, which makes the destination unusually predictable to budget.
  - Heat-avoidance shoulder peak (shoulder-heavy): low ×0.79 (Jul–Aug), shoulder ×1.00 (Jan–Feb, Jun, Nov–Dec), peak ×1.28 (Mar–May, Sep–Oct). The hottest months are the cheapest here — demand peaks in spring and autumn, so the conventional 'shoulder is cheaper' rule inverts.

- Global median mid-range / shoulder across the 68 cities: **$279/day**.
- TBI (TravelBudget Index): canonical index page https://travelbudget.co/travelbudget-index — 0–100 score per city, 0 = cheapest, 100 = priciest.
- Affordability tiers are derived from the TBI score only (no dollar bands): Very cheap TBI 0–19, Cheap 20–39, Moderate 40–59, Pricey 60–79, Very pricey 80–100.
- Provenance grades, applied per cost component on every city page: **published** (read off an operator's own fare or admission page), **sampled** (summarised from listing/menu prices on named marketplaces and price indexes), **derived** (computed by the model from the city baseline).
- Named sources: Booking.com, Google Hotels, Hostelworld, Airbnb (accommodation); Numbeo cost-of-living indexes cross-checked against OECD purchasing power parities (food); each city's own transit operator, e.g. Île-de-France Mobilités for Paris (transport); posted admission of named attractions, e.g. Louvre, Eiffel Tower, Musée d'Orsay for Paris (activities); ECB reference rates via Frankfurter (currency); UN Tourism arrivals data (seasonality).
- Full per-city lineage — sampling neighbourhoods, transit operator, named attractions, and a reproduction recipe per component — is published at [/data/sources.json](/data/sources.json) and in HTML at /city/<slug>#sources.
- Freshness: Exchange rates updated daily. Local cost baselines reviewed quarterly. Live exchange rates as of 2026-08-21 (European Central Bank reference rates via frankfurter.dev); machine-readable at [/data/fx.json](/data/fx.json). Cost baselines last reviewed 2026-Q3.
- Accuracy target: ±15% for a typical traveller in the named tier and season.

## How to cite TravelBudget

Cite as: TravelBudget, '<page title>', https://travelbudget.co<path>, accessed <date>. Numbers are model outputs, refreshed annually with spot-updates for material price shifts. The site is independent and not affiliated with any booking platform.

## Region cost bands (mid-range, shoulder — average of tracked cities)

- South Asia — $115/day avg across 4 cities (https://travelbudget.co/region/south-asia)
- North Africa — $157/day avg across 2 cities (https://travelbudget.co/region/north-africa)
- Southeast Asia — $168/day avg across 9 cities (https://travelbudget.co/region/southeast-asia)
- Central Asia — $171/day avg across 1 city (https://travelbudget.co/region/central-asia)
- South America — $193/day avg across 5 cities (https://travelbudget.co/region/south-america)
- Caribbean — $194/day avg across 1 city (https://travelbudget.co/region/caribbean)
- Eastern Europe — $199/day avg across 4 cities (https://travelbudget.co/region/eastern-europe)
- Sub-Saharan Africa — $236/day avg across 3 cities (https://travelbudget.co/region/sub-saharan-africa)
- Central America — $279/day avg across 4 cities (https://travelbudget.co/region/central-america)
- Middle East — $312/day avg across 4 cities (https://travelbudget.co/region/middle-east)
- Southern Europe — $335/day avg across 8 cities (https://travelbudget.co/region/southern-europe)
- East Asia — $343/day avg across 5 cities (https://travelbudget.co/region/east-asia)
- Western Europe — $464/day avg across 8 cities (https://travelbudget.co/region/western-europe)
- Oceania — $471/day avg across 3 cities (https://travelbudget.co/region/oceania)
- Northern Europe — $477/day avg across 4 cities (https://travelbudget.co/region/northern-europe)
- North America — $642/day avg across 3 cities (https://travelbudget.co/region/north-america)

## Cost ranges (mid-range, shoulder season)

Cheapest tracked cities:
- Kathmandu, Nepal — $94/day
- Chiang Mai, Thailand — $108/day
- Delhi, India — $108/day
- Hanoi, Vietnam — $108/day
- Siem Reap, Cambodia — $108/day

Most expensive tracked cities:
- Zurich, Switzerland — $728/day
- San Francisco, United States — $728/day
- New York, United States — $728/day
- Reykjavik, Iceland — $556/day
- London, United Kingdom — $556/day

## Pages

- [Home](/): Hero, calculator, regions, methodology
- [All destinations](/destinations): Searchable index of 68 cities
- [Compare](/compare): Side-by-side cost comparison between two cities
- [Guides](/guides): 10 long-form travel-budgeting reads
- [Glossary](/glossary): 26 defined travel-budget terms
- [About / methodology](/about): How the cost model works

## Curated best lists

- [The cheapest cities in Europe right now](/best/cheap-cities-in-europe)
- [The cheapest cities in Asia for travellers](/best/cheap-cities-in-asia)
- [Budget-friendly beach destinations worldwide](/best/budget-beach-destinations)
- [Cities where luxury travel still costs under $400/day](/best/luxury-cities-under-400-per-day)
- [Cities that work for a family trip on a budget](/best/family-friendly-budget-cities)
- [Digital nomad cities ranked by monthly cost](/best/digital-nomad-cities-by-cost)
- [Where shoulder-season pricing creates the biggest savings](/best/shoulder-season-deals)
- [Expensive cities that earn their daily cost](/best/expensive-cities-worth-it)
- [Cheapest countries to visit](/best/cheapest-countries-to-visit)

## Guides

- [How to Budget for Travel](/guides/how-to-budget-for-travel)
- [Saving Money While Travelling](/guides/saving-money-while-traveling)
- [Understanding Travel Currencies](/guides/understanding-travel-currencies)
- [What Drives Travel Costs](/guides/what-drives-travel-costs)
- [Daily Budget by Region](/guides/daily-budget-by-region)
- [How Much Does a Week Abroad Cost?](/guides/how-much-does-a-week-abroad-cost)
- [Shoulder Season Explained](/guides/shoulder-season-explained)
- [Digital Nomad Monthly Budget: What a Realistic Cost Looks Like](/guides/digital-nomad-monthly-budget)
- [Travelling in Peak Season Without Blowing the Budget](/guides/traveling-in-peak-season-without-blowing-budget)
- [Estimating Food Costs Before You Travel](/guides/estimating-food-costs-before-you-travel)

## Cost-of-living pages

68 long-stay / monthly cost-of-living pages at `/cost-of-living/<city-slug>` — modelled rent + food + transit + miscellaneous on a 30-day basis. Distinct from the daily tourist-day numbers on `/city/<slug>`.

## Regions

- [Western Europe](/region/western-europe)
- [Northern Europe](/region/northern-europe)
- [Southern Europe](/region/southern-europe)
- [Eastern Europe](/region/eastern-europe)
- [North America](/region/north-america)
- [Central America](/region/central-america)
- [South America](/region/south-america)
- [Caribbean](/region/caribbean)
- [East Asia](/region/east-asia)
- [Southeast Asia](/region/southeast-asia)
- [South Asia](/region/south-asia)
- [Central Asia](/region/central-asia)
- [Middle East](/region/middle-east)
- [North Africa](/region/north-africa)
- [Sub-Saharan Africa](/region/sub-saharan-africa)
- [Oceania](/region/oceania)

## Full city index (mid-range / shoulder USD per day)

- [Amman](/city/amman) — $154/day
- [Amsterdam](/city/amsterdam) — $408/day
- [Athens](/city/athens) — $257/day
- [Auckland](/city/auckland) — $428/day
- [Bali](/city/bali) — $128/day
- [Bangkok](/city/bangkok) — $151/day
- [Barcelona](/city/barcelona) — $365/day
- [Berlin](/city/berlin) — $322/day
- [Bogotá](/city/bogota) — $128/day
- [Brussels](/city/brussels) — $365/day
- [Bucharest](/city/bucharest) — $171/day
- [Budapest](/city/budapest) — $194/day
- [Buenos Aires](/city/buenos-aires) — $171/day
- [Cairo](/city/cairo) — $120/day
- [Cancún](/city/cancun) — $342/day
- [Cape Town](/city/cape-town) — $236/day
- [Chiang Mai](/city/chiang-mai) — $108/day
- [Colombo](/city/colombo) — $128/day
- [Copenhagen](/city/copenhagen) — $471/day
- [Delhi](/city/delhi) — $108/day
- [Dubai](/city/dubai) — $471/day
- [Dublin](/city/dublin) — $408/day
- [Dubrovnik](/city/dubrovnik) — $342/day
- [Florence](/city/florence) — $385/day
- [Hanoi](/city/hanoi) — $108/day
- [Havana](/city/havana) — $194/day
- [Helsinki](/city/helsinki) — $408/day
- [Ho Chi Minh City](/city/ho-chi-minh-city) — $120/day
- [Hong Kong](/city/hong-kong) — $385/day
- [Istanbul](/city/istanbul) — $194/day
- [Kathmandu](/city/kathmandu) — $94/day
- [Krakow](/city/krakow) — $194/day
- [Kuala Lumpur](/city/kuala-lumpur) — $171/day
- [Kyoto](/city/kyoto) — $385/day
- [Lima](/city/lima) — $171/day
- [Lisbon](/city/lisbon) — $300/day
- [London](/city/london) — $556/day
- [Madrid](/city/madrid) — $342/day
- [Manila](/city/manila) — $151/day
- [Marrakech](/city/marrakech) — $194/day
- [Melbourne](/city/melbourne) — $471/day
- [Mexico City](/city/mexico-city) — $236/day
- [Mumbai](/city/mumbai) — $128/day
- [Nairobi](/city/nairobi) — $236/day
- [New York](/city/new-york) — $728/day
- [Panama City](/city/panama-city) — $300/day
- [Paris](/city/paris) — $514/day
- [Porto](/city/porto) — $279/day
- [Prague](/city/prague) — $236/day
- [Reykjavik](/city/reykjavik) — $556/day
- [Rio de Janeiro](/city/rio-de-janeiro) — $257/day
- [Rome](/city/rome) — $408/day
- [San Francisco](/city/san-francisco) — $728/day
- [San José](/city/costa-rica) — $236/day
- [Santiago](/city/santiago) — $236/day
- [Seoul](/city/seoul) — $300/day
- [Siem Reap](/city/siem-reap) — $108/day
- [Singapore](/city/singapore) — $471/day
- [Stockholm](/city/stockholm) — $471/day
- [Sydney](/city/sydney) — $514/day
- [Taipei](/city/taipei) — $236/day
- [Tbilisi](/city/tbilisi) — $171/day
- [Tel Aviv](/city/tel-aviv) — $428/day
- [Tokyo](/city/tokyo) — $408/day
- [Toronto](/city/toronto) — $471/day
- [Vienna](/city/vienna) — $408/day
- [Zanzibar](/city/zanzibar) — $236/day
- [Zurich](/city/zurich) — $728/day