The 20 Cheapest Counties to Visit in 2018

Western Europe is out of reach for most travellers on a tight budget but Portugal is the exception. Far and Wide says that in the capital, Lisbon, you can stay at a hostel for around $15 a night, with rooms in more upmarket hotels starting at around $50. Lots of historic monuments to explore, great food and wine, warm weather and stunning beaches make Portugal one of the cheapest places for Canadians to travel in winter.

If you avoid the glitzy tourist resorts like Cancun, Mexico is a great destination for backpacking and all-inclusive deals alike. You can get cheap flights from Canada too! The country is vast and offers just about everything: archaeological sites, beaches, islands, lakes, villages with cobbled streets, indigenous culture, sophisticated cities, museums, food festivals and more. Our Mexico packing list will help you make the most of your trip.

Croatia isn’t as cheap anymore as it used to be, but according to Be My Travel Muse, accommodation in dorms and mid-range hotels in Dubrovnik, Split and Hvar ranges from $12 to $30. The country is a Mediterranean favourite and its luxury hotels are great places to spot celebrities. After all, Croatia is one of the main Game of Thrones filming locations.

Guatemala is the Land of the Eternal Spring, with warm weather throughout the year. The sweltering jungles hide astonishing Mayan ruins but if you want to see how this ancient culture lives today, head to the cooler highlands. Indie Traveller says that many travellers in Guatemala manage to spend less than $25 a day. Many never leave: Lake Atitlan is a place where you can retire for less than $1,000 a month.

Adventure movies, historical romances, horror movies, even Bollywood blockbusters have been filmed in the Czech Republic. And why not? It’s cheap and filled with fairytale castles, valleys and mountains, forests and romantic cities like Prague. The Travel says that a daily budget of €270, or just over $310, will buy you luxury accommodation and seven-course meals here. Naturally you’ll need much less if you opt for more basic lodgings and meals.

The Travel says that due to the very favourable exchange rate, you can have a good hotel room and nice restaurant meal for less than $100 a day in South Africa. The large cities and luxury safari lodges are more expensive but South Africa’s true beauty also lies in its more rural areas. Long-distance public transport isn’t great but one of the best budget trips to take when you can’t wait for retirement is to travel the coastline on the hop-on, hop-off BAZ Bus.

As a long-time favourite with European travellers, Greece is served by a myriad of low-cost airlines and you’ll find plenty of all-inclusive deals. If you prefer a DIY trip, Far and Wide says that even on popular Santorini, one of the world’s most beautiful islands, you can find hostels for $15 a night. What do you get in return? Ancient ruins, great beaches, sunny weather and glorious sunsets best enjoyed with a glass of local wine and a plate of fresh seafood.

If you’re looking for a Mediterranean holiday without the tourist crowds, look no further than Albania. This small, off-the-beaten path country has gorgeous beaches, castles aplenty, unique Ottoman architecture and a mountainous region known as the Albanian Alps, where you can go hiking in summer or snowshoeing in winter. As one of Europe’s most undeveloped countries, Albania is cheap too. Be My Travel Muse says that hostel accommodation starts at $9 while a room in a top-end hotel can cost you as little as $30 a night.

Thailand has been a backpacker favourite for decades and it’s not only because it’s a cheap destination to visit. The beaches here are stunning. Backpacker heaven is more inland, though: the Chiang Mai region boasts fascinating hill tribes, rice terraces and lots of Buddhist temples. Here you can find a dorm bed for as little as $5 a night, according to Indie Traveller. Thailand is also one of the best places to visit in April, when Songkran marks the beginning of the Thai New Year.

Taiwan may be one of the world’s richest countries but this doesn’t mean that it’s expensive. The Travel says that for less than $100 a day you can get a double room in a hotel, a decent restaurant meal and car rental. The cities are bustling with skyscrapers, night markets and raucous festivals but if you need some peace and quiet, head to the eastern part of the island for mountains, forests and deep gorges with many hiking trails.

India can be quite an assault on the senses, especially if you visit during a major festival like Holi, the Festival of Colours. However, the country’s landscapes are as diverse as its people and you’ll have no trouble finding a quiet beach, mountain or forest to take a breath far from the madding crowd. Travelling in India is ridiculously cheap too: Far and Wide says you can get a dorm bed for only $8 and street food – which you have to try – for only 30 cents.

Russia is one of the countries with the most billionaires but you don’t need to be one to travel here. In fact, as Be My Travel Muse points out, you can easily travel here on a budget of $50 a day. Moscow and Saint Petersburg are the star attractions, of course, but the world’s largest country also offers vast open landscapes where your only company might be bears.

Because Laos is landlocked and lacking beaches, it usually gets overlooked in favour of its neighbours in South East Asia. If you skip Laos, though, you’ll miss out on gorgeous waterfalls, boat trips on the Mekong River and a laid-back capital city where you’ll need less than $20 a day, of which $5 will go for hostel accommodation, according to Far and Wide. Vientiane is a fascinating place to visit too: where else in South East Asia are baguettes part of the local cuisine?

There’s more to Nepal than trekking to Everest Base Camp, which can be pricey. This mountainous country has plenty of other trekking options and shorter, more manageable hiking trails. Adventure sports abound and if you’re looking for something a little calmer, there are the beautiful temples of cities like Kathmandu, Boudhanath, Janakpur and Bhaktapur. Best of all is that it’s one of the best countries to stretch your dollar: according to The Travel, you can find three-star accommodation here for only $10 a night. Yes, you read that right. $10.

Bolivia is one of the cheapest countries to visit in South America. In the capital of La Paz, for instance, you can get by on a daily budget of around $27, according to Far and Wide. Aside from La Paz with its historic centre and fascinating museums, Bolivia also offers tropical lowlands, ski resorts, the surreal salt flats of Salar de Uyuni, death-defying mountain roads to bike and Oruro, one of the best places to attend Carnival.

With one foot in Europe and the other in Asia, Turkey is one of those fascinating countries where different cultures meet. With plenty of ancient ruins and Biblical pilgrimage sites, it’s a particularly good destination for history buffs on a budget.

However, you’ll also find great beach resorts and the surreal landscape of the Cappadocia region, complete with cave hotels and hot-air ballooning. The secret to travelling for less in Turkey is to go during the off season, when hostel accommodation can be had for $20 a night and a four-star hotel room for $80.

Colombia has thrown off the cloak of danger and, in recent years, has become one of South America’s top travel destinations. It’s still pretty affordable too, with a dorm bed in a nice hostel going for as little as $12 a night, according to Be My Travel Muse.

The country’s cities are the top attractions: Cartagena is famous for its pretty colonial architecture while Medellin, once one of the world’s most dangerous places, has reinvented itself as a centre of innovation and art. It’s now one of the best places to visit in August, thanks to its Festival of Flowers.

Estonia is one of Europe’s hidden gems. This small Baltic country boasts medieval castles and fairytale manor houses, lots of music festivals and more than 1,500 islands. Tallinn Airport is also one of the world’s best airports. The tourism industry here is still in its infancy and as such, you can get a hotel room for around $40 a night.

Vietnam is by far one of the cheapest countries in the world for travellers. Far and Wide says that in Hanoi, you can get by on a daily budget of a little over $18 a day and in which other major city in the world can you find accommodation in a four-star hotel for only $30 a night?

Of course there are many other reasons to visit Vietnam too: picture-perfect beaches and Ha Long Bay, magnificent waterfalls, interesting hill tribes, rare wildlife and floating markets are just a few of them.

The Five Stans are the collective name for five of the countries that make up Central Asia: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan. They’re way off the beaten path but will make for an unforgettable trip. The landscape is a mixture of mountains and steppe while the cities range from the historic, like Samarkand and Bukhara with their Silk Route past, to the truly unreal, like Ashgabat (pictured) with its buildings and monuments.

On the border between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan you’ll find the Aral Sea, one of those bizarre lakes that are weirdly beautiful. Travel here is very affordable too. Be My Travel Muse says that in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan you can find hostel accommodation for $10 a night, for instance, while in Kazakhstan you can travel on $25 a day.

Ready to book your trip? Find out how to save money on your next flight.