One of the most popular questions we get asked is how much does it cost to travel around the world. This was our biggest question too, before we decided to take a big trip like this.
It costs a lot less than you probably think. Traveling long term, several months or longer, costs a lot less per day than what you might normally spend on a typical 10 day overseas trip.
There are a lot of factors that influence how much you will spend…which countries you visit, the types of accommodations you stay in, how often you move between cities, your mode of transportation, and how many tours and activities you do. In this post, we will shed some light on the costs associated with around the world travel, and give you a ballpark estimate on what to expect if you have plans for a trip like this.
Factors that Influence the Cost of Long-Term Travel
The Countries you Visit
If you spend a lot of your time in developed countries (Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan) your costs will be very high. In Europe and Australia, per person costs average $125 per day. For our family of four, we averaged $350 per day in these countries.
Asia, Africa, and South America are cheaper. In places like Cambodia, India, and Nepal, you can spend as little as $50 per person per day and still eat well and stay in nice accommodations. Our family of four averaged $185 per day in Southeast Asia, $180 per day in Nepal, and $155 per day in India.
Planning your trip such that you visit more countries with a lower cost of living will help you keep your expenses down. And that is what we did, while making sure they were still countries we were interested in visiting.
During our 13 months of travel, we spent nine of them in Asia. We also spent six weeks in Southern Africa. These countries are on the cheaper end of the scale. We limited our time in New Zealand and Australia to seven weeks and we limited our time in Europe to just five weeks. All of these are on the more expensive end of the scale. We also knew we could travel back to Europe in the future more easily than we could Asia because of the travel distances from where we call home.
A budgeting resource we used is budgetyourtrip.com. This is a good resource if you want to get basic daily expenses for each country. Simply type in the name of the country and you will get an estimate of the average daily cost to visit that country. This is just an estimate, but it gives you a starting point of how much you can expect to spend in each country.
Mode of Transportation
Your primary mode of transportation will have a huge impact on your budget. Plane flights are the most expensive, whereas bus travel is extremely cheap. If you really want to keep your budget low, limit your flights and fill in the gaps with bus and train travel.
But remember, you get what you pay for. Bus travel is a very cost effective way of traveling, but it’s also slow and can get incredibly frustrating. When you are traveling long-term, you have the luxury of time, so adding in a day for travel between Bangkok and Chiang Mai may be worth the savings over the airplane flight.
What We Did:
In Europe, we traveled through Italy on the train and occasionally used the public buses. Once in Germany, we rented a car simply for the convenience of touring Bavaria.
While in Southern Africa, we rented a car for the entire six weeks we were there. We drove a lot, but saved a ton of money since we didn’t have to book flights for the four of us.
While in Asia, we booked airplane flights for our longer hops and filled in the gaps with bus travel. We did take an occasional flight out of convenience. For example, to travel between Laos and Cambodia, it was going to be two bus journeys taking over 24 hours that would have cost just a little bit less than a plane flight. In circumstances like these, it was a no-brainer to take the flight.
We toured New Zealand from bottom to the top in a car, our best road trip ever. In Australia, we primarily traveled by car but we did fly between some destinations.
All in all, over our 13 month journey, we traveled on 90 buses, 56 trains, and 44 airplanes.
Pace of Travel
The more frequently you change location, the more money you spend. Every time you transfer to a new place, you have to spend money on transportation, which increases your daily expenditures.
Many people, when they travel for a year, hop from place to place about every week or two. Some stay a month or longer, really getting to know a place. And, since there are no transportation costs during this time, expenses are usually very low.
The slower you travel, the lower your daily costs.
What We Did:
We were different. We moved very frequently, averaging just three days per city. In 396 days, we slept in 149 different places. Our costs were higher because we moved so frequently.
For us, it was worth it. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity and we wanted to see as much of the world as possible. It was exhausting and we were burnt out towards the end of the year, but I’d do it exactly the same again.
Type of Accommodations
Accommodations can easily be one of the biggest ticket items in your budget. So saving money here saves a lot of money overall.
During long-term travel, most people stay in two or three star accommodations, hostels, or apartment rentals. If you are traveling solo, hostels are usually the most economical, because you can rent a bed for the night instead of an entire room for the night. The downside is that you will be sharing a bedroom and bathroom with other people. But on the flip side it provides a social environment for meeting other travelers.
Hostels and apartment rentals typically provide kitchen access. So you can save even more money by preparing your own food when staying in these types of accommodations.
Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule, but accommodations in order of least expensive to most expensive are:
- Couchsurfing
- Camping
- Hostels
- Long-term budget rentals
- Low-budget hotels and B&B’s
- Midrange hotels and B&B’s
- Luxury hotels and B&B’s
When planning your travels, it’s easy to say that you will just stay in low budget, economical places 100% of the time. But every once in a while, it is really nice to splurge. After going budget for so long, those little extras you get at a better place will really, really seem nice.
If you are traveling as a family, hostels usually are not more economical, since they charge per person. We had much better luck in bed and breakfasts, cheaper hotels, and apartment rentals.
Another way to keep costs low is to combine your transportation costs with accommodation costs. Booking overnight trains and buses are great ways to save money.
What we did:
Primarily, we stayed in 2 to 3 star bed and breakfasts and homestays. A homestay is basically a room in someone’s house that is set up similar to a hotel room. These were great because we got more personal attention, they were flexible with keeping all four of us together in the same room, and sometimes they would cook us dinner (for an extra fee). And it was an opportunity to immerse ourselves in the local community and gain a better appreciation of how the locals lived.
Most of the time, we all slept in one room. This really kept costs down, since we only had to pay for one room. In Asia, if we asked, hotel staff were usually accommodating in adding cots or extra mattresses to the room. It took some adjusting being together all of the time, but it was one of the main ways we saved money.
Every once in a while we did splurge, either to have access to a hotel pool, have a great view (a watering hole with elephants in Botswana!), stay in a unique hotel (silos in New Zealand), or get a dose of luxury (a villa in Bali for our wedding anniversary). But places like these were few and far between for us on our trip around the world.
Food
Food is another item that adds up fast on the trip budget. If you are really trying to keep costs down, minimize your visits to restaurants and maximize your visits to grocery stores. Preparing your own meals will save money.
Dining out every day gets expensive, even in cheaper countries. Alcohol, even just a glass of wine, can start to break the budget.
Eating the local food is much cheaper than dining in restaurants that serve a western menu. Sometimes, your best bet for good, cheap food are the street food stalls. Just pick a place that gets a lot of business and always seems to have a line to avoid a case of food poisoning.
Activities, Tours, and Multi-Day Excursions
This is the fun part of traveling and yes, you do have to budget for it. Museum entrance fees, guided tours, zip lining, surf lessons, concerts, and excursions all need to be accounted for in your budget. So, how much do you need to add?
That’s a tough question. The answer depends on what you like to do. Hiking can be an inexpensive way to explore a place. Exploring a city on your own and visiting the free museums is a way to go sightseeing for the least amount of money. Add in a little bit of money for those other must-see sites. Once you start adding in activities such as food tours or adventure sports your costs will really go up.
Budgeting for activities can be very difficult because in most circumstances, you are not going to know what you want to do until you get there. And you do not want to fall into the trap of not doing anything because it will cost you money. Just remember why you are traveling in the first place.
If you plan to do a big ticket activity, such as going on safari in Africa, trekking in Nepal, or taking an expensive, multi-day excursion, put this money aside so it will be easier to manage your normal daily expenses. Most likely, these are activities that you are budgeting for during the planning phase anyway.
If there is something that you really want to do, then do it. You’ll regret it later if you don’t. Just balance out the cost of the activity with your other expenses. Find cheaper places to stay, cook more of your own meals, etc.
What We Did:
One of the main reasons we stayed in cheaper accommodations and took more buses is so that we had the money to spend on activities. We wanted to experience as much as possible. That meant if some amazing opportunity presented itself, we took it.
Now, that doesn’t mean we did every single thing we wanted to. We did have to pick and choose quite a bit. And if we spent money on an expensive activity, for the next day or two we had to find cheaper food options to make up the difference.
We also felt like we would get more out of the activities than nicer accommodations, creating lasting memories of our travels. Turns out that some of our budget accommodations and cheaper food options created lasting memories as well. So it was a win-win right?
Those Miscellaneous Fees
Unavoidably, you will spend money on miscellaneous fees, such as visas on arrival, souvenirs, laundry, replacing worn clothing, buying new gear, and for other unaccounted items as you travel. Many people advise having between $1,000 and $2,000 set aside to be used in these circumstances.
Pre-Trip Expenses
Unfortunately, there are more expenses to consider: those upfront costs that you will spend even before you set foot on that first airplane. These costs include plane flights, vaccinations, visas needed in advance, travel gear, travel insurance, health insurance, homeschooling materials, etc.
So, How Much Does it Cost?
In general, you should expect it to cost between $25,000 to $35,000 per person to travel around the world for a year. This rough estimate comes from reading travel budgets of other bloggers, various travel planning resources, and our own experience.
This is just the midrange. Yes, you can absolutely travel for less than $25,000 per person for an entire year. Many people have done it and written about it. Or, you could spend more for luxury, traveling for $50,000 to $60,000 or more per person.
The bottom line is that if you are a solo traveler, you should be able to travel the world for $25,000 for one year (that’s just over $2,000 per month, $66 per day)!!
Want to travel the world as a family, like we did? Try to do so before your kids turn 12. Most travel expenses, airline fees, activities, etc., are cheaper for kids under 12 years of age.
What’s Next?
If you are considering long-term travel, your next steps are to come up with a basic itinerary, determine your traveling style, and start making your travel budget.
Here are some more articles that can help you as you plan your around the world trip:
How to Design an Around the World Itinerary
RTW Ticket vs. One Way Ticket, Which One is Better?
Our Around the World Packing List
Or, check out our entire page devoted to around the world travel, including planning your trip, what to expect on the road, and what it is like to finally come home.
How to Travel Around the World
If you have questions, comment below or send us an email.
Cheers!
All rights reserved © Earth Trekkers. Republishing this article and/or any of its contents (text, photography, etc.), in whole or in part, is strictly prohibited.
Comments 66
Hi Julie!
I just finished family medicine residency and my husband and I have been using your guides to craft our RTW trip this next year! I was just wondering if there is a specific company you used for your travel insurance? We come home in between a few of our trips. Were you able to buy travel insurance for the entire year at once, including all of the locations? Or did you purchase individual plans for each country? Would greatly appreciate any advice you have and thank you so much for all the work you put into this blog!!
Author
Hello Morgan. That’s very exciting that you just finished your family medicine residency. And that you’ll be traveling RTW!! We had US health insurance, just in case someone got really sick and when preferred to travel back to the US for medical care (that never happened). We also had travel insurance through World Nomads. They have different plans that cover different things. We purchased it for the entire year. Again, we never used it. However, it was necessary to have it to sign up for a few activities we did, such as the Everest Base Camp Trek, and it gave us peace of mind. We did occasionally get sick a few times and paid for any meds we needed without the insurance (it was always cheap). Even though we never used it, we would do the same thing again on another RTW trip. It’s great, the knowledge you will have, while traveling. I got dengue fever in India and it took me a few days to figure out what I had. If you plan to go to Southeast Asia, I recommend getting rabies vaccines. We didn’t do it, had a few close calls with dogs, and just a month ago Tim was bitten by a dog in American Samoa. Cheers, Julie
What a wonderful blog, thank you so much!!! I’d love to ask if the amounts spent are in USD dollars?
Author
Glad you like it! Yes, these prices are in USD. Cheers, Julie
Wonderful blog, ive learned quite a lot from your travels and look forward to more..hope to finding more of your adventures online. Take care and safe travels for us all
Denny in Colorado
Were you able to take advantage of points and miles during your trip? I’m wondering how useful it would be to try and stockpile points ahead of a RTW trip. We like using hotels.com whenever possible as it is one night free every 10 paid nights.
Author
We did, but just a little bit. We had some hotel points that we used while on the around trip. And you would think that we would have racked up a lot of miles to be used later, but we flew a lot of different airlines and it never amounted to much. That’s a great deal on hotels.com! Cheers, Julie
Hi guys,
Love the blog. I’m hoping to go on a RTW trip soon and would love some advice re handling cash/ currency. How did you manage paying for for things/ withdrawing money each time you moved between countries, without incurring multiple bank exchange fees etc? Any tips on the best way to handle currency/ reduce expenses would be great. Thanks 🙂
Hi Beth. It is exciting to hear that you are planning a RTW trip! We used a credit card whenever possible. We found a credit card geared towards travel that didn’t have any foreign transaction fees and a very minimum currency conversion fee. It also had a rewards program that gave us cash back that could be applied towards travel expenses. As for withdrawing cash, we setup a Charles Schwab checking account that doesn’t have any ATM fees and reimbursed us for the fees from the bank that operated the ATM. We only used that ATM card. We would move money into that account a little bit at a time. That way our primary bank account was never exposed at an ATM machine. Remember to always submit travel notices to your financial institutions so they know which countries you are in and don’t cut you off by mistake.
Hey guys,
Thank you so much for putting this amazing blog togeather. I’m from India and me and my wife, we are planning our first europe tour. We plan to visit London, Paris, Lucerne and Zurich (as per the travel Itinerary) in the month of May this year. I liked your travel advice…
Maybe our next trip would be on our own…
Let me know if you have any advice for us..
Many thanks,
Raymond
Author
Hello Raymond. That sounds like a great introduction to Europe. We have more information about each of these places which you can see by clicking these links:
London
Paris
Lucerne
Zurich
Lauterbrunnen/Jungfrau area
I included the link to the Jungfrau area because we loved this place and it is worth it, if you have 3 or more days to your itinerary. May is a beautiful time to visit Europe. I hope you have a great time!
Cheers, Julie
Awesome blog and information!! A couple of questions, do you or your husband have jobs that you had to leave to travel? Icant do a year bc my job wouldnt allow it but I do get 2 weeks off for Christmas and I can take my vacay around that time ( 2 more weeks) making a month long travel excursion.
What do you recommend in Europe during that time for someone who is a solo female traveler, specifically any place thats warm in December.
I would love to spend that month in Italy, Spain, Portugal, and France. Is that too many places to really experience each one? Are those countries warm in Dec?
Also, how much do you think it will cost? Im thinking of mostly 2 or 3 star hotels or Air bnbs or bnbs., no hostels.
One issue I have is that I have been to Italy, in Milano, and I had the worst experience at the train statiom literally no one spoke english bc of that i got on the wrong train fell asleep and got robbed now im paranoid to travel by train, and buses are fine but take too long. Would bus travel eat up too much of my time?
Thanks!!
Author
Hello Marie. I worked as a Physician Assistant and Tim worked in the Aerospace industry. To travel around the world, both of us quit our jobs (and sold our house and cars and put everything else in storage). It was a tough decision but it was also one of the best decisions we made in our lives.
The southern area of Europe (the same countries you mention, plus Greece) will be the warmest area of Europe in December. However, it can still be chilly in some spots. On the website Holidayweather.com, you can get temperature and rainfall averages for these countries to help you pick the warmest, driest ones to go to in December. With one month, I would pick one to two countries on your list. You could easily spend a month traveling through Spain or Italy. It’s a wonderful experience to travel slowly through a country for a month or longer, getting to know it, but I also realize the appeal of seeing a bunch of different spots and different countries.
You could spend two weeks traveling through Portugal, then two weeks in Spain, traveling to Seville, Malaga, Granada, Valencia, ending in Barcelona. Or, you could turn it into a cities trip, doing Lisbon -> Seville -> Barcelona -> Nice -> Florence -> Rome. These are just 2 ideas but there are many more ways to travel through southern Europe with one month.
As far as pricing, prices will be cheap the first 2 to 3 weeks of December and then get a lot more expensive in and around Christmas and New Years. 2 to 3 star hotels could range from $50 to $125 per night (depending on the time of month), hostels will be cheaper. A man tried to scam us in an Italian train station too. We learned it is best not to accept help from anyone other than the train staff. We traveled by bus in Italy and didn’t have much luck with that…sometimes the bus didn’t show up for hours. But other than that one experience on the train in Italy, we have had great experiences on the trains in Europe, and in Italy too, and recommend it as the primary way to get around. It helps to learn a little bit of the local language, but in train stations, and throughout the cities in Europe, there should be enough people who speak English that they can help you out.
Cheers, Julie
I’m extremely impressed with your writing skill as well as the layout of your blog. it’s awesome to have a website, Thanks for sharing it with people