I thought this might be a fun topic that I haven't seen done before. What are some of the cheapest places you have traveled to, whether its due to currency conversion, local rates, local economy etc. Some specific examples would be great.

My top 2 are Bulgaria and Buenos Aires:

Plovdiv, Bulgaria: A normal meal at a decent restaurant cost me like $2-3 USD. Bottles of vodka at a bar/club cost like $20 USD per bottle. Everything was super cheap there and the currency conversion helped.

Buenos Aires: I ate at a nice steak restaurant. I ordered their best steak + a bottle of wine which cost me $10 USD total. I paid the tab for 2 other people in my group, the total tab for everyone including me was $30, and everyone ate steaks and had drinks as well. I was blown away by how cheap everything was due to their currency collapse.

Everywhere else I've been (Mexico, Caribbean Europe, South America) the prices were pretty close to what I pay in the US, except for Bulgaria and Buenos Aires. Im sure Southeast Asia has some dirt cheap prices as well.

Anyone have any similar experiences in other parts of the world?

It's always so wild to me to see Buenos Aires as a cheap travel destination. When I lived in BA growing up the peso and dollar were basically 1 for 1, but things were more expensive in BA.

I guess Mexico is probably the cheapest place I've traveled.

Cambodia

Bali. We splurged on flights but had a villa with four staff, including driver for 10 days for ~3K. We paid about $100 for groceries and they asked for around day 7. And we ate really well. Everything was cheap there despite withdrawing 100's of thousand rupiahs when we went to ATM. It is still one of my top two vacations.

gggmann said:

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Cambodia

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This. Indonesia second.

Super poor part of the poorest state (Odisha) in India.

Fairview said:

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Super poor part of the poorest state (Odisha) in India.

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That's where the massive train crash happened. https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/02/asia/india-train-crash-odisha-intl/index.html

Iceland. But we got lucky. Their economy tanked right before we went. Everything was dirt cheap. I spent less than a quarter of what I'd budgeted/saved.

AggieOO said:

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Iceland. But we got lucky. Their economy tanked right before we went. Everything was dirt cheap. I spent less than a quarter of what I'd budgeted/saved.

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When was that

UglyScientist said:

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It's always so wild to me to see Buenos Aires as a cheap travel destination. When I lived in BA growing up the peso and dollar were basically 1 for 1, but things were more expensive in BA.

I guess Mexico is probably the cheapest place I've traveled.

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I've been to several cities in Mexico and none were that cheap. I go to Monterrey frequently and things cost basically the same there as the US.

gggmann said:

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Cambodia

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Any specific examples of how cheap Cambodia was for food or anything else?

Just got back from Cambodia. Street food is usually $1-2. Upscale is usually around $10.
Ton of euros there so some bars charge $2 per beer.

Siem Reap is a tourist trap and you will pay higher prices.

ea1060 said:

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UglyScientist said:

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It's always so wild to me to see Buenos Aires as a cheap travel destination. When I lived in BA growing up the peso and dollar were basically 1 for 1, but things were more expensive in BA.

I guess Mexico is probably the cheapest place I've traveled.

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I've been to several cities in Mexico and none were that cheap. I go to Monterrey frequently and things cost basically the same there as the US.

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I didn't find Mexico super cheap or anything, just cheaper than other places I've been. I haven't really traveled anywhere super cheap; I'm just cheap when I get there.

07ag said:

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AggieOO said:

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Iceland. But we got lucky. Their economy tanked right before we went. Everything was dirt cheap. I spent less than a quarter of what I'd budgeted/saved.

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When was that

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2008

Ive heard countries like Serbia, Bosnia, Poland are super cheap. Oh and beautiful women too

Can confirm. I spent 3 weeks in Poland for work. 2015 I think. We stayed in a smallish town, Jaroslaw. They provided breakfast every morning; good, European style. We would eat dinner and drink heavily every night as well. The total at the end was like $1700 for everything.

And there were lots of good looking women. More so in Krakow of course.

ea1060 said:

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gggmann said:

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Cambodia

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Any specific examples of how cheap Cambodia was for food or anything else?

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I lived in Cambodia for a year and rarely spent more than a couple of hundred dollars a month on food, nights out, etc.

Egypt was the cheapest place I've been.

kaleb_allison said:

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Egypt was the cheapest place I've been.

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Any specific examples of what was so cheap there, like average price of a meal or a beer?

Food is cheap, hotels in Cairo are mid-priced. Ubers are cheap. Everything starts out cheap in Egypt but everyone expects tips just for looking at you. Muslim country so beers/ alcohol are served under the table or at select areas for a higher price.

Prices are much better in Luxor.

Yea I spent about a month in Egypt, very cheap. I remember getting a haircut that normally would've cost about a buck fifty American, but I handed the barber a 200 pound bank note (roughly 20 us dollars at the time) and he looked at me like I was Bill Gates.

I also went to a beach resort for a day that was on the Med. Included scenery and a lunch buffet that seriously had the greatest spread of food I've ever seen when it comes to buffets. All for 30 dollars if I remember.

Early 2000's, I took the wife and then 12 year old son to Banff for a ski holiday during Thanksgiving week. Since Thanksgiving is a strictly American holiday, it was off season in Canada. This was also the early days of Priceline.com.

I placed bids for tickets on Canadair and got three roundtrip flights to Calgary for $200 each. Rented a Ford Expedition for $250/week.

Skied Sunshine Valley. Kid's lift tickets, I think, were around $17/day. Ours were mid 20's.

I was going to say that there have been a few times when Canada had a very attractive exchange rate. Maybe not the cheapest ever but I remember getting a 2 bedroom condo on the slopes at Whistler for like $120US.

malenurse said:

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Since Thanksgiving is a strictly American holiday, it was off season in Canada.

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Doesn't have an impact on what you wrote but the Canucks copied the Thanksgiving holiday and have it in October because they harvest earlier than in the US. Like the exact same traditions just carbon copied a month earlier. I don't know why but them copying that holiday has always annoyed me.

Seems like a wide band of what "cheap" is within this thread. Interesting destinations so far.

ea1060 said:

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kaleb_allison said:

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Egypt was the cheapest place I've been.

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Any specific examples of what was so cheap there, like average price of a meal or a beer?

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I spent 13 days and 14 nights there at the following hotels Le Meridien Pyramid (5 nights), Movenpick Elephantine Aswan (2 nights), Steigenberger Luxor (2 nights), and Hilton Mersa Alam (5 nights all inclusive). Private tours, drivers, in country flights, and many other meals were included in the cost and the total was $1695 per person. The only thing that was bad about Egypt was the expectation of tipping for everything, but tips from foreigners help people survive.

We had some amazing private tour guides and I'd tip them $50.00 and they told me that's what the average Egyptian made in a month when we went.

Afghanistan.

Free airfare. Complimentary dining. Bad shopping and tourism though.

kaleb_allison said:

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ea1060 said:

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kaleb_allison said:

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The only thing that was bad about Egypt was the expectation of tipping for everything, but tips from foreigners help people survive.

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How's that different than here where tipping is expected even at fast food drive throughs now? Sorry for a tangent but I'll gladly tip on a lower number over a higher expected percentage off a significantly increasing number for everything here.

Hincemm said:

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Afghanistan.

Free airfare. Complimentary dining. Bad shopping and tourism though.

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And crappy surf and turf every other Friday. Unlimited near beers too.

Vietnam. Holy balls that country is cheap. You could get three glasses of Bia Hoi for about 20,000 dong (yes, their currency is called dong). Which was about $1 at the time (summer 2019).

Buenos Aires last September

Changed is dollars for pesos at cambio and ate like kinds for a few days.

I remember getting this charcuterie board that would have been at lease $20 in US and it was the equivalent of $5 in pesos

Lunch for 5 with a lot of beer for $30 including tip

Top end steakhouse, huge spread, tons of alcohol for 5 and it was less than $100

How's Costa Rica on the cheapness scale? Wife and I are thinking of spending some time there over thanksgiving week

I live in Colombia and outside of Cartagena it can be pretty cheap. The peso has not been doing good for the last couple of years. It's not Argentina levels of devaluation but you can have a good time here for cheap.

We should edit this and say the trip has to be in last 5 years

The Milkman said:

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How's Costa Rica on the cheapness scale? Wife and I are thinking of spending some time there over thanksgiving week

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It's not very cheap at all.