Traveling Abroad Can Be Less Expensive Than In The U.S.

In my experience I have found that traveling abroad can be less expensive, and significantly so, for most Americans than traveling in the U.S.

Göreme, Turkey where our daily budget was around $100/day for 2 people.

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And, I feel that I get more value for my money spending my vacation time wandering ancient streets eating authentic Italian gelato or laying on a pristine, white sand beach in Thailand.

I am aware that I am making a broad general statement here, however I do have evidence to back it up!

Travel in the United States is great, but it isn’t cheap! It especially isn’t cheap for the majority of Americans and definitely not for many people from other parts of the world.

After spending 6 months traveling to 18 countries in Europe and Asia on a budget of about $155/day with my husband, our eyes were opened to the stark contrast in the cost of traveling the states vs. traveling abroad.

We have traveled to many U.S. states and we were born here, so we have lots of experience traveling the states. Without a doubt, we have spent just as much or more on our U.S. travel than our international travel.

If you want to travel more or are planning a trip and are trying to decide where to go and how to spend your money, let me make a case for an international experience.

I’m going to share my observations about the ways traveling abroad can be less expensive than in America and my top tips for traveling abroad on a budget!

I also want to be clear that I believe you can travel just about anywhere on any budget, but it is much harder to do in some places than others!

Český Krumlov, one of our favorite cities in Czechia. Our daily budget here was about $125/day for 2 people.

Comparison Example of International and Domestic Travel Costs

Let’s do a little comparison here so I can show you exactly what I mean when I say that traveling abroad can be less expensive.

This statement is also about value. What are you getting for your money? Because yes, you can find a $70/night hotel in America, but is it the same standard as in, say, Greece for example?

Let’s pretend we are planning two trips for the same dates, one to San Diego, California and another to Athens, Greece.

Both are near beautiful oceans and beaches, and both are popular tourist destinations.

We will be looking at dates in the summer, when it is the high tourist season for both of these destinations. I’ve chosen a 10 day trip in May.

And, let’s set a daily budget of $200/day for 2 people, making this a $2,000 trip (minus airfare). All prices have been converted to USD.

Of course, this is just one example designed to make you think about how international destinations may be more affordable for travel. There are hundreds of ways you could create a comparison like this. I also believe you can travel almost anywhere on a budget, but it is harder to do in some places than others.

San Diego, Photo by MontyLov on Unsplash

Hotels

First, let’s look into some hotels. For the sake of ease, we will say that we will be staying in the same hotel for all 10 nights of our trip.

Athens: $92/night – I found this boutique hotel for $92 per night. A good breakfast is included. You can walk from this hotel to the Acropolis in 30 minutes.

San Diego: $105/night – for the same dates and same price, the only options are 2 star hotel chains like the Days Inn I found for $105/night, no breakfast included. This hotel is a 1 hour and 10 minute walk to the San Diego Zoo.

Activities

Now for activities, we’ll see the biggest attraction in each city!

Athens: $14 – for an adult ticket to Acropolis and Parthenon w/ audio guide.

San Diego: $71 – for an adult ticket to visit the San Diego Zoo.

Hmm…

Transportation

To get around town in both of these locations, let’s look at the public transportation options.

In Athens, you can use the underground metro, buses, and suburban railway by purchasing a $1.29 ticket that is good for 90 minutes. The public transportation has an extensive reach in Athens, and will also take you to the main international airport.

To get from the hotel we chose in Athens to the beginning of the ancient Roman sites on the way to the Acropolis in 10 minutes on the Metro. Another 15 minute walk will have you atop the Acropolis.

San Diego has mostly buses available for the public transportation option. From the hotel we chose to the San Diego Zoo will take you 37 minutes by bus and cost $6.

Now, let’s say we wanted to rent a car in both of these cities to drive to the beach, and get around outside of town a little.

The following numbers are the cheapest rental car listings I could find for the dates we chose.

Athens cost: $162.14 for 10 days. This comes out to about $8 per day, per person.

San Diego cost: $293.25 for 10 days. This comes out to about $14 per day, per person.

Athens, Greece, Photo by Spencer Davis on Unsplash

Food

How much are we going to spend on eating while we’re on this 10 day trip? Let’s assume that we will be eating out for each meal since we are staying in a hotel with no kitchen.

This number can be a bit difficult to nail down, but I am going to create an average estimate based on the information I have found on other blogs.

Our Athens hotel includes free breakfast in our room rate, so we will calculate our daily food cost based on lunch and dinner there, but all three meals in San Diego.

The numbers I’ve found are for a frugal food budget, not eating at the top restaurants every night, but rather very middle of the road establishments.

Average cost per day for food in Athens: $25/day for one person

Average cost per day for food in San Diego: $40/day for one person

Totals

Now let’s look at the totals for the numbers above for the cost of accommodations, transportation, activities, and food in both Athens and San Diego.

Total daily cost to travel in Athens: $94.30 per person

Total daily cost to travel in San Diego: $183.50 per person.

10 day trip for 2 ppl to Athens cost: $1,886

10 day trip for 2 ppl to San Diego cost: $3,670

Is It Really Cheaper To Travel Abroad Than In America?

Both of the hypothetical trips we planned above were planned on a budget, I was finding the least expensive options of each category, while maintaining comfort and safety.

Our target budget was $200 per day for two people, which we were able to stay within in Athens. In San Diego, we ended up spending almost $200 for just one person, per day.

In the end, the trip to San Diego ended up costing just about 2x more than the trip to Athens, Greece.

The most notable difference was in the price of activities, food, and the value of accommodation.

In Athens, you would not have to limit yourself too much to save money. You would have to be very frugal in San Diego, and you still would not be able to stay within budget.

So, as far as value, I think it’s clear that your money would go MUCH further in Athens than in San Diego.

Of course, airfare to even get to both of these places will need to be factored in, but I simply wanted to show you how once you arrive, the prices will be much different.

This will definitely depend on where you are coming from, so these prices can vary heavily.

The reason that we love to travel internationally is because we are able to get almost free flights when we fly using credit card points.

So, if we aren’t going to be paying for the plane tickets, Athens would be the obvious choice!

I wrote a whole blog post to teach you how we use credit card points to pay for our flights!

So, yes. Traveling abroad can be less expensive than domestic travel in America.

Florence, Italy. We found that Italy is much more affordable than one would think!

Why It’s Less Expensive To Travel Other Countries

There are a few reasons why traveling in other countries is less expensive than in the U.S.

Most of them have to do with the fact that the USD can go much further elsewhere and that the tourism sectors are set up quite differently.

1. Lower Cost in General

The United States is one of the most expensive countries to live and travel in. This has to do with the currency of the American Dollar as well as the economy.

We certainly don’t need to dive in too deep to the specifics, but the American Dollar is a strong currency. That means that Americans can leverage the dollar’s strength in conversion rates.

For example, a meal in Thailand that costs 100 Baht would cost about $2.90 USD. However, a $100 meal in the U.S. would cost 3,445 Baht! These currencies are not worth the same amount, so 100 Baht ≠ $100 USD.

The U.S. also has a relatively high cost of living, ranking consistently in the top 20 of most expensive countries to live in.

So, when Americans visit other countries abroad, they’ll notice their money will go a lot further.

For example, it is hard to find a decent 3 star or higher hotel in the U.S. for under $100 per night. But, in most countries in Europe, it is very easy to find lots of nice hotel options for under $100 per night. And in Asia or South America, you can find 4 and 5 star hotels for less than $100 per night!

So, if you are an American looking for an affordable travel destination, Asia and South America are often referenced as being the most budget friendly destinations! Europe can also be generally more affordable than the U.S.

In lots of places in Asia or South America, you can find accommodation for as little as $5-10 per night. And luxury hotels are much more affordable as well.

2. More Hotel Options & Hostels

Of course we have tourism in the United States, but it isn’t quite as extensive of a network as in other places.

The reason for this? Not many people from other countries can afford to travel to the U.S. on vacation for the same reason as I talked about above.

This also decreases the amount of competition in the tourism space, especially with hotels.

Because of this prices tend to be higher than if there was more competition in the hotel industry. In much of Europe for example, there are many individually or locally owned hotels and B&B’s that compete with the larger hotel chains.

Not to mention that hostels are much more widely available to travelers in other parts of the world than in the U.S. And staying at a hostel is one of the easiest ways to cut down your travel budget!

We always use Booking.com to book all of our hotels around the world!

Koh Tao, Thailand where our daily budget was well under $100 per day for the two of us!

3. Flights (typically) cost less in other countries

In the United States, there are certainly budget airlines and hostels, but they may not be as common or as well-established as they are in other parts of the world.

This can make it more difficult for American travelers to find affordable options.

Let’s do an experiment. I went to Google Flights, put London as my origin airport, and clicked on the Explore feature. This map will show you the least expensive flights out of London for any given time. I chose a 4 day round trip itinerary.

This is what the map looks like:

Next, I did the same thing with Washington D.C., the nation’s capital, as our city of origin. Look at the differences in prices for the exact same dates!

While this may not always be true, it is very true that air travel in other parts of the world can be much more affordable than in the U.S.

You may be thinking, “well yeah, Nikki, but it’s about the cost of getting there that makes international travel unaffordable.”

Well, I’m going to let you in on a little secret… Colton and I rarely pay full price for our plane tickets, even when we fly halfway around the world.

We do this by using credit card points to pay for our flights. All we have to pay is the taxes and fees!

I’ve written an entire post about how we use credit card points to travel on a budget that you should read if you’re interested in drastically reducing the cost of your flights on your next trip!

Even if you don’t use points, I can often find flights to Europe from the east coast that cost WAY less than trying to fly to the west coast, or even Denver!

I use Google Flights to find all of my flights on a budget!

6 Tips For Traveling Abroad on a Budget

So, now you’re convinced that traveling abroad does NOT have to be more expensive than traveling in the U.S.

So how do we really do it? What are the practical, actionable steps for planning a trip on a budget?

1. Stay in Hostels or Small Locally Owned Hotels

You will most likely find better hotel prices if you stay in a hotel owned by a local.

Staying with any of the large hotel chains that have properties all over the world is going to cost you. The only way I recommend staying with big name hotels like Hyatt or Marriott is if you are using points from a rewards program (like credit card points) to cover some of the cost.

You are almost always going to find better rates elsewhere.

And, you don’t have to sacrifice quality just because you are staying somewhere local. In fact, you may end up with an even more enjoyable experience. Often, you can get amazing recommendations for restaurants and activities from your local hotel concierge. Not to mention the boutique hotel experience and customer service.

2. Walk as Much as Possible & Use Public Transportation

One of the easiest and best ways make traveling abroad less expensive is by walking as much as possible!

Walking in a place you’ve never been to before is a great way to get to know the town or city you’re staying in. It is also the most cost effective way of getting around.

As an alternative to renting a car, you can walk, rent a scooter, or use public transportation.

In America, public transportation gets a bad reputation.

That’s mostly because we have a car dependent society and do not prioritize the upkeep or expansion of public transportation. The less we use it, the worse it gets.

In many other places around the world, public transportation is the primary mode of transportation for most citizens. It’s also fantastic for tourists! And in many of my experiences, public transportation options are clean and easy to use. So don’t be afraid of it!

3. Book Ahead (most of the time)

In most cases, booking your hotels or tours ahead of time will save you money. However, there are exceptions to this rule!

I especially recommend you book ahead of time if you are traveling to a destination during their high season. You are less likely to have many options if you wait until the last minute and prices may go up.

It’s more likely that there will be no availability for activities and tours that you try to book last minute. For example, we didn’t go to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris because we did not book ahead of time!

There are some instances where this rule doesn’t apply.

For example, when we were in Thailand, we walked up to a tour company and told them we wanted to go on a private longtail boat tour the next day. They got us set up, and we found out later that it would have been more expensive to book online ahead of time.

For very popular tourist attractions however, I always recommend booking tickets ahead of time.

This rule doesn’t necessarily apply to everything, all the time. But, if you want to be safe, I would book ahead when possible!

4. Create a Daily Budget

One of the ways traveling abroad can be less expensive that has really saved us hundreds of dollars is having a really good budget.

Actually, just having a budget at all is a good place to start!

Many people go on vacation with no idea what they should be spending, so it is very easy for them to overspend.

Take the amount of money you have for the entirety of your trip, divide it by the number of days, and you have your daily budget. Then, actually track it while you’re on your trip!

Seeing this daily budget number and having it in your mind will help you determine which purchases are in budget and which are not. This way, you won’t unintentionally overspend, but rather you have a reference point for all of your spending.

5. Travel Slow

The faster you travel around, the higher your transportation costs will be, and consequently your daily costs.

If you can travel slowly, staying in one place for longer than just a few days, you’re likely to spend less money.

This is easier to do if you have a lot of time for travel, like if you’re on a long-term trip. But it can also apply to a week-long vacation as well!

6. Use a Cash Back or Rewards Credit Card

One of the biggest ways traveling abroad can be less expensive is by avoiding high flight prices.

There are many travel credit cards that offer rewards for purchases. Some of the most popular travel rewards credit cards offer a point sign up bonus for a certain amount of spending on the card. Those points can be redeemed for flights, hotels, and even rental cars.

In fact, travel credit cards are the way we have been able to save thousands of dollars on flights all over the world. We purchased flights to Turkey for the beginning of our 6 month trip for only $5.60 per person!

Read this post I wrote if you want to know more about using credit card points to get almost free flights all over the world.

If you’re interested in what cards we use to pay for our flights, check out this list of my favorite travel credit cards.

There are also lots of credit cards that offer cash back for your purchases, meaning your bank will give you a certain percentage back on your purchases. This is a great way to save money while you travel!

What if with every purchase you made, you got a 5% discount. That is essentially what a cash back card does, when you think about it.

There are lots of cash back cards with $0 annual fees and no international transaction fees, making it a no brainer for when you travel!

You will also earn cashback on all your purchases back home, as well. Which means more money in your pocket to go towards your travels.