Data study

Trip Cost Index 2026

What 238 AI-generated itineraries across 75 countries say about the cost of travel in 2026.

Read this before you quote anything below.

These figures are AI-modeled estimates, not booked prices. Every number comes from itineraries generated by our planner, which anchors budgets to cost-of-living data. They are directional: useful for comparing destinations and trip lengths, not for booking decisions. We have not verified them against actual traveler spending.

$1,250
median trip total
$207/day
median daily cost
3.4×
a 3-day trip costs this much more per day than a 14-day trip
3.6×
priciest vs cheapest country, per day

All figures are on-the-ground costs: stays, food, activities, local transport. Airfare is excluded from every itinerary's budget.

The longer you stay, the cheaper each day gets

The clearest pattern in the data: daily cost falls steadily with trip length. A 3-day break runs a median $333/day; a 14-day trip drops to $98/day. Fixed costs spread across more days, and longer trips lean on slower pacing.

Median cost per day and per trip, by trip length
Trip lengthItinerariesMedian per dayMedian trip total
3 days22$333$1,000
4 days31$275$1,100
5 days39$250$1,250
7 days75$207$1,450
10 days47$155$1,550
14 days20$98$1,375

A 3.6× gap between the cheapest and priciest countries

South and Southeast Asia hold the cheap end; Western Europe and Japan the expensive end. Japan runs a median $400/day, 3.6× Indonesia's $110/day.

Median cost per day by country, all countries with at least 3 itineraries
CountryItinerariesMedian per day
Indonesia5$110
Egypt3$136
India11$136
Philippines3$136
Thailand5$170
Portugal6$211
Italy8$211
Spain7$214
Greece6$232
China8$250
United States32$251
Malaysia3$275
United Kingdom7$320
Austria4$338
France3$340
Switzerland4$357
Netherlands4$358
Germany4$358
Japan5$400

Single-country trips only, countries with at least 3 itineraries. Multi-country routes are excluded from country medians.

Swaps that make the gap concrete

Every pair below links to a real itinerary on this site, with its modeled total.

Cost swaps between cheap and expensive itineraries
The cheap optionCosts about as much as…
A full week in Bali — $950three days in Tokyo — $1,250
Seven days in Bali costs less than a Tokyo long weekend.
A week on India's Golden Triangle — $950the same week in Switzerland — $1,950
Identical length, roughly double the price.
A week in Egypt — $950five days in Paris — $1,700
Two extra days, and still $750 cheaper.
Five days in Palawan — $850four days in London — $1,500
An island itinerary at just over half the London bill.

What a museum ticket costs

Across 664 museum stops in the itineraries, the median paid entry is $15, and 13% of museum stops are free. The gap between countries is wide: a median ticket in Sweden runs $25 against Vietnam's $2.

Median paid museum entry by country, countries with at least 8 museum stops
CountryMuseum stopsMedian paid entry
Vietnam20$2
Thailand12$5
Bolivia13$5
India18$5
Portugal11$7
Malaysia14$7
Poland16$8
Croatia9$10
Egypt17$10
Romania8$12
Spain24$14
Greece26$14
France14$15
China13$15
Belgium9$15
United Kingdom11$15
Japan12$18
Italy27$18
Germany14$19
Switzerland20$20
Austria16$22
Netherlands25$25
United States61$25
Sweden10$25

Paid entries only; free museum stops (85 of 664) are excluded from the medians and reported separately. Countries with at least 8 museum stops.

What local dishes cost

The food guides price 1,795 local dishes across 61 countries. A typical dish in India runs $2.00; in Switzerland it's $22.00.

What iconic dishes cost, from the food guides
Iconic dishCountryTypical price
Bánh MìVietnam$2.00
Pastel de NataPortugal$2.00
KosharyEgypt$2.50
Tacos al PastorMexico$3.00
GyrosGreece$4.50
Tonkotsu RamenJapan$11.50
Pizza NapoletanaItaly$12.50
Texas BBQ BrisketUnited States$26.50
Median dish price, all 61 countries
Median dish price by country, countries with at least 10 priced dishes
CountryDishes pricedMedian price
India106$2.00
Sri Lanka28$2.00
Egypt28$2.50
Kenya10$2.50
Tanzania10$2.50
Vietnam20$2.50
Cambodia18$3.00
China74$3.20
Maldives18$3.20
Indonesia43$3.50
Thailand42$3.50
Taiwan10$3.50
Mexico16$3.80
Ecuador10$3.80
Malaysia26$3.80
Bolivia10$4.20
Kyrgyzstan10$4.20
Morocco18$4.20
Jordan10$4.50
Laos10$4.50
Philippines28$4.50
Uzbekistan10$4.50
Kazakhstan10$5.00
Oman10$5.00
North Macedonia10$5.20
Netherlands30$5.50
Peru10$5.50
Saudi Arabia10$5.50
Singapore15$5.50
Dominica10$6.20
Australia12$6.20
Russia10$6.20
Albania19$6.50
Spain68$6.50
Namibia14$6.50
Georgia10$6.80
Germany37$7.00
Ethiopia14$7.00
Poland18$7.00
Argentina25$7.50
Hungary15$7.50
New Zealand14$7.50
Romania10$7.50
Austria31$8.00
South Korea16$8.50
Greece56$9.50
Canada16$9.50
Chile11$9.50
France32$9.80
Italy75$11.00
Portugal53$11.50
United States293$11.50
Japan37$11.50
United Kingdom58$12.00
Croatia10$12.50
Norway10$13.00
Iceland24$13.20
Ireland15$14.00
Belgium18$14.20
Faroe Islands10$21.50
Switzerland38$22.00

Dishes from single-country trips only, countries with at least 10 priced dishes.

Where the money goes

Across all 238 trips, accommodation takes the biggest share of the on-the-ground budget, and getting around town takes the smallest.

Median share of the trip budget by expense category
CategoryMedian share of budget
Accommodation41%
Food25%
Activities21%
Local transport9%

Median share of each category across all trips. Medians are computed per category, so the four numbers do not sum to exactly 100.

Methodology

  • Corpus: 238 itineraries generated by MonkeyEatingMango's planner (of 240 total; 2 lacked a budget range), covering 75 countries. Snapshot date: 2026-08-07.
  • Trip cost = the midpoint of each itinerary's modeled budget range, in USD. Cost per day = trip cost divided by trip length. Medians throughout; no averages.
  • Airfare is excluded from every itinerary's budget, so all figures are on-the-ground costs. The model anchors budgets to destination cost-of-living data and covers stays, food, activities, and local transport for the itinerary's traveler count. 225 of 238 itineraries are for two travelers, and 225 are mid-range tier, so headline numbers describe a mid-range trip for two.
  • Country medians use single-country trips with at least 3 itineraries. Duration rows need at least 5.
  • Museum entry: every itinerary activity typed as a museum (664 stops), using the activity's modeled entry cost. Free stops are counted separately and excluded from medians. Countries need at least 8 museum stops.
  • Dish prices: every priced dish in the food guides of single-country trips (1,795 dishes), using the midpoint of each dish's price range. Countries need at least 10 priced dishes.
  • Budget shares: each trip's expense breakdown (accommodation, food, activities, local transport) as a share of its own total; medians per category.
  • These are modeled estimates. They are not booked prices, not surveyed spending, and not independently verified.

How to cite

“According to AI travel planner MonkeyEatingMango's Trip Cost Index, an analysis of 238 AI-generated itineraries…” with a link to monkeyeatingmango.com/blog/analysis/travel-cost-index/. Please keep the “AI-generated estimates” framing — these are not traveler surveys. Data and charts are licensed CC BY 4.0: free to republish with attribution.

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