If you’ve always dreamed of going on a backpacking adventure in Asia and have decided that 2020 is finally the year to do it, you’ll definitely have some planning to do ahead of you. Good thing there are tools to help you.
The UK-based insurance group Alpha Travel has pulled together data from various cities around Asia to help you figure out which ones are the cheapest, and the ranking takes into consideration the average cost of a night in a hostel, two journeys on public transportation, three budget meals, one cultural attraction and three local beers.
Leading the list as the cheapest city in the continent is Hanoi, where you’ll spend as little as around US$18 a day. Another Vietnamese city, Ho Chi Minh City, comes in third place with an average daily expense of $19. Nearby Laos and Myanmar are also part of the top five - living in Vientiane for a day will cost you a little more than $18, while a day in Yangon is around $20. The same price of daily travel life in Nepal’s Pokhara, which closes off the top five.
At the other end of the spectrum, Tokyo leads the way as the most expensive city in Asia for backpackers, with daily expenses averaging out at around $75. Macau and Hong Kong will set you back of $67 and $62 respectively. The final two cities in the top five are Singapore and Seoul, where a day of travel expenses will cost you $56 for the former and $49 for the latter.
Read more: These are the best countries for adventure backpacking in the 2020s
Navigating the tool is also useful in case you don’t mind paying a little for, say, transport but are for example interested in getting the cheapest possible accommodation – in which case you should head off to Siem Reap in Cambodia, where it averages at $1.50.
If you’d like to know more about the map tool and the data behind it, you can check it out at the official website here.
