Finally I’ve taken together how much we spent during our four month trip through South-East Asia and China. As you can read about here on the blog we tried to keep our budget down with the occasional splurge when we felt like it. We most often stayed at budget hostels and guesthouse (see further here) and travelled with local transportation as much as possible but money was never an obstacle when it came to activities that we really wanted to do.
Before we flew out to Asia we basically bought three things. These three things are not calculated into the average spending per day below. These three things were (note – all numbers are in USD):
| Flight tickets | $3,354 |
| Vaccinations | $800 |
| Chinese Visa | $200 |
| Total | $4,354 |
The flights that we booked beforehand were Reykjavík-London-Bangkok-Hong Kong-Beijing-London-Reykjavík – in that order. We bought all our tickets through a company called airtreks and were very happy with their services.
I think that we had all possible vaccinations available – or at least those that were recommended by the tourist clinic in Zurich. The vaccination cost might be a bit higher, at least this is what we can remember for sure.
For the most of the trip we used debit cards to get money from ATMs so it was fairly easy to see what we spent in each country. I just had to look up the dates, when we crossed the borders and voila!
| Country | Days stayed | Total spent in country | Spent per day | per person per day |
| Thailand | 42 | $2,449 | $58 | $29 |
| Cambodia | 10 | $503 | $50 | $25 |
| Vietnam | 25 | $2,212 | $89 | $44 |
| Laos | 7 | $591 | $84 | $42 |
| Hong Kong | 4 | $251 | $63 | $31 |
| China | 22 | $1.548 | $70 | $35 |
| Total | 110 | $7.554 | $69 | $34 |
As you can see we spent on average $69 per day including everything except the three things mentioned at the top. Cambodia seems to be the cheapest country according to our experience and Vietnam the most expensive one. To be fair to Vietnam we did spend over $400 on clothes in Hoi An and if I subtract those $400 the average spending goes down to about $72 a day. We also did a few expensive things in Laos like the elephant ride that pushes the spending in Laos up a bit.
In total we spent close to $12,000 on the trip or about $1,500 per person per month, which is definitely on the low side. At least what we got out of the trip is worth so much much more!
Of course we did everything as a couple and people travelling alone can expect to pay a bit more for accommodation and food but maybe not that much more.
In the end I would just like to encourage anyone thinking about taking such a trip to just to go for it – it’s easier and less expensive than people think!
If you have any comments or questions, don’t hesitate to post them below.
Without paying rent you would still spend about $1,500 per person per month in almost any country–that’s amazing! I think we spent about the same when we traveled through Central America.
Hi, did you two stay at hostel/guesthouse or more of middle-class rooms? I’m trying to guestimate how much it’d cost me to spend 3 months in SE Asia. I’m currently targeting $30/day by myself and not sure if that’d be enough. I def. plan to visit Halong Bay, Angkor Wat, Krabi Beach, Elephant Ride – u know, usual tourisy events.
Thanks!
Hi, we stayed mostly at really cheap hostels. It is a bit cheaper to travel with someone so I would think that $30 is a bit ambitious. It will be really interesting to know how it goes.
[...] How much does it cost to backpack in Asia? May 2010 3 comments 5 [...]
Is it included transport fee and visa as well? just estimated figure
Anyway I’m looking for backpackers from Malaysia to travel with me. Got some information regarding VISA from http://www.evisaasia.com/visa-requirement/tourist-visa-requirements-for-malaysia-citizens/ and now looking for partners. so we can assist each other all way long.