The cheapest countries to visit in 2026

On the prices we track, the cheapest country to visit is Indonesia, where a Big Mac costs $2.38 and three meals at that level add up to about $7.14 a day. Taiwan and India are next. If you plan to drive, the picture shifts: adding a day of petrol makes Venezuela the cheapest road-trip destination, at $14.02 a day. At the other end, Switzerland costs 3.8 times as much as Indonesia for the same food.

How we built a traveller’s ranking from two prices

Most “cheapest places to travel” lists are opinion. This one is arithmetic, and that means being upfront about what it measures. We use two prices that are collected the same way everywhere:

• Meals. The price of a Big Mac from The Economist’s Big Mac Index (survey of July 1, 2026). A Big Mac is made to one recipe, but its price is driven mostly by local wages, rent and ingredients, which is why it tracks what cheap restaurant food costs in a country better than you might expect. We count 3 meals a day at that price.
• Driving. The pump price of petrol (gas) from GlobalPetrolPrices, retrieved October 13, 2026. A road-trip day is 200 km in a car using 7 litres per 100 km, so 14 litres.

That gives every country two numbers: a food day and a road-trip day (food plus fuel), both in US dollars. We compared the 54 countries that appear in both datasets. What is not here matters just as much: there are no hotel rates, flights, rents or tour prices in this ranking, because we don’t collect them and won’t guess. Nor does it account for visas, safety advice or how easy a country is to get to. Treat it as a guide to how far your money stretches once you have arrived.

The 15 cheapest countries to visit

Ranked by the cost of a food day. The road-trip column shows where each country lands once 14 litres of petrol are added. For context, the median food day across all 54 countries is $15.07, and in the United States it is $18.66.

8 of the 15 cheapest countries for food are also in the 15 cheapest for a road trip. The rest drop out because their fuel is priced well above their food, usually because of fuel taxes. One note on Europe: the Big Mac Index publishes a single euro-area price, so Germany is shown with that figure.

When food and fuel disagree

A country can be a bargain at the counter and painful at the pump, or the reverse. These are the biggest disagreements between the two rankings in our data:

• Hong Kong: #8 of 54 for food ($3.25 Big Mac) but #54 for fuel ($4.41 a litre). Eating is cheap; filling the tank is not.
• Ukraine: #9 of 54 for food ($3.34 Big Mac) but #42 for fuel ($2.02 a litre). Eating is cheap; filling the tank is not.
• Colombia: #51 of 54 for food ($8.00 Big Mac) but #19 for fuel ($1.31 a litre). Driving is cheap here; eating out is not.
• Jordan: #11 of 54 for food ($3.53 Big Mac) but #39 for fuel ($1.92 a litre). Eating is cheap; filling the tank is not.

Countries like Colombia hold pump prices down with subsidies or low fuel taxes, so a road trip there costs less than the food would suggest. In Hong Kong, Ukraine and Jordan, the burger is cheap relative to the pump, where fuel taxes or import costs keep petrol near or above world levels. The cheapest fuel of all is in Venezuela, at $0.035 a litre. Very cheap fuel tends to come with an unstable currency or rationing, so it says more about government policy than about the cost of a holiday. Our cheapest gas in the world guide explains why.

The most expensive places to visit

At the other end, a food day costs several times as much. These are the five priciest countries in our comparison:

• Switzerland: $9.04 per Big Mac, $27.12 for a food day, $62.95 with a day of driving.
• Uruguay: $8.94 per Big Mac, $26.82 for a food day, $58.40 with a day of driving.
• Norway: $8.05 per Big Mac, $24.15 for a food day, $67.80 with a day of driving.
• Colombia: $8.00 per Big Mac, $24.00 for a food day, $42.38 with a day of driving.
• Israel: $7.67 per Big Mac, $23.01 for a food day, $59.93 with a day of driving.

A food day in Switzerland costs $19.98 more than in Indonesia. Over a two-week trip that is $279.72 on food alone, before any difference in hotel prices. The median road-trip day across all 54 countries is $37.13.

Using this to plan a trip

Three practical points. First, the dollar figures move with exchange rates: a country gets cheaper for you when its currency weakens against yours, even if nothing changes locally. Second, a cheap Big Mac usually means cheap labour, which carries over to taxis, street food and guided tours, but not to imported goods. Electronics, branded clothing and fuel are priced closer to world levels everywhere. Third, the cheapest countries for visitors are often the most expensive for the people who live there. Our cheapest countries to live guide weighs prices against local incomes. For regional lists, see the cheapest countries in Asia, Europe and South America. Every burger price is on the Big Mac index page.