# Countries you found to be surprising cheap & shockingly expensive? ( for tourism )



## Jonesy55 (Jul 30, 2004)

Probably cheap because they haven't invested in a new board to display drink prices since 1965.  I've not seen one of those for years!

The prices there are a bit cheaper than the average here, but we are closer to Dundee prices than to Central London prices for pub drinks.


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## Chrissib (Feb 9, 2008)

I travelled to NYC in April this year (fortunately with my family) and I found restaurants, and especially drinks extremely expensive. Often, a small beer (not a pint or 0.5 liters but a mere 0.35l or so) was around 8 Euros or more incl. tax and other bs. The other touristy stuff was also very expensive.

Then I was in Tokyo in June and that city in turn was very affordable to me contrary to all the stereotypes which don't seem to be true anymore.


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## Arkitexture (Feb 24, 2013)

Xusein said:


> I found Toronto pretty expensive when I visited last year, but their dollar has fallen a lot since then, it's probably cheap now.


There have been so many Americans in Toronto this past summer and fall, which makes sense with the exchange rates. Visitations by Americans are up 12% in July 2015 compared with July 2014.


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## Rev Stickleback (Jun 23, 2009)

Chrissib said:


> I travelled to NYC in April this year (fortunately with my family) and I found restaurants, and especially drinks extremely expensive. Often, a small beer (not a pint or 0.5 liters but a mere 0.35l or so) was around 8 Euros or more incl. tax and other bs.


and then you have to add on the tip on top...

New York is definitely an expensive city.



I remember being quite chocked at how much beer cost in Phnom Penh, when I was in Cambodia. One beer cost...$1*

That seemed shockingly expensive.


If that sounds puzzling, I'll add that I'd been in Siem Reap, near Angkor Wat, for a few days, and the beer there was 50 cents. 100% inflation on beer overnight.


* and yes, you pay in dollars. You just get change in Riel, so with R4000 to the dollar, you'd buy that $0.50c beer with a dollar, and get R2000 in change.


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## oliver999 (Aug 4, 2006)

drezdinski said:


> China is becoming quite expensive lately. Yesterday they asked me 50 Yuan for a cup of crummy coffee in a local cafe. That is around 7,5 Euros. Clothes are even worse. 90% of all offer is domestic no name brands, with prices in the hundreds. No wonder so many Chinese rush to Korea and Japan for shopping.


 
if you go to chinese famous travel place, the price will be incredibly expensive. the another expensive thing in china is apartment price. i just buy a 135 KM2 apartment at 20 storey(totally 25 storey), cost 2550 usd per square meter. and my city is just a small city, social average salary only 12000 usd. middle class salary 18000-50000 USD.


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## Chicagoago (Dec 2, 2005)

Chrissib said:


> I travelled to NYC in April this year (fortunately with my family) and I found restaurants, and especially drinks extremely expensive. Often, a small beer (not a pint or 0.5 liters but a mere 0.35l or so) was around 8 Euros or more incl. tax and other bs. The other touristy stuff was also very expensive. Then I was in Tokyo in June and that city in turn was very affordable to me contrary to all the stereotypes which don't seem to be true anymore.


That's extremely expensive for the USA. Tourist areas tend to be MUCH more expensive than what a local American would pay unless they make a lot and live in a high profile area. In most local places a pint of beer is around $3 to $5 or maybe $6-$7 for a very nice beer. It's always possible to find places with $1-$2 pints on certain nights or at very cheap bars.


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## 2co2co (Apr 8, 2008)

Chrissib said:


> Then I was in Tokyo in June and that city in turn was very affordable to me contrary to all the stereotypes which don't seem to be true anymore.


Yes, the result of 25 years of deflation.


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## BeepBeep (Sep 10, 2010)

Expensive: All of Scandinavia, Norway in particular.

UK, at least London.

Cheap: Germany, even in Munich, one of the most expensives cities in Germany, prices are quite reasonable. You can have a meal in a proper restaurant/beer hall for less than 15€, including a Pint. Berlin is even cheaper.

Korea - Eat and drink is pretty cheap, and so are taxis. Very reasonable prices on everything else.

Japan - I was surprised on how cheap Japan was, considering that I have always heard how expensive it was in the past. A little more expensive than Korea but still very reasonable prices. A meal in a proper restaurant for about 15€ in Tokyo, but if you are on a budget you can have a decent meal for 5/6€. Camera gear prices (and offer) are any photographers dream. Depending on manufacturer, prices can easily be 1/3 cheaper than in Europe.


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## Jonesy55 (Jul 30, 2004)

I was in Munich earlier this year and I didn't find it particularly cheap, it seemed about the same as I'm used to paying in the UK for most things. :dunno:


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## BeepBeep (Sep 10, 2010)

I found it very cheap compared to London. I would say eat and drink is almost half the price! (except fast food). Transport and accomodation also significantly cheaper. Anyway you can take a look here:

http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-livin...1=Munich&country2=United+Kingdom&city2=London

Don`t really know about the rest of the UK.


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## Jonesy55 (Jul 30, 2004)

Hmm, maybe it depends where you go and what you do. I spent all my time in central Munich which is maybe more expensive than outer parts. Accommodation that I paid was about the same as for a similar place in the UK, apart from London of course which is more expensive for that. Food in bierhalls, pubs, cheap restaurants etc was maybe a little cheaper than comparable UK places but not much in it, drinks about the same as non-London UK for a beer. 

Public transport around the city was quite cheap, but I took a taxi and that was more expensive than UK I thought, again maybe except London. The train from the airport to the city was a bit more than trains from Manchester or Birmingham airports to the city centres, but its true Munich airport is further away.

For museums like the Deutsches Museum the ticket was obviously more than the free entry to national museums in London but similar to other museums in the UK I think.

Overall I thought a weekend there was about the same as a weekend in most UK cities, but cheaper than London because of accommodation prices. :dunno:


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## BeepBeep (Sep 10, 2010)

Jonesy55 said:


> Hmm, maybe it depends where you go and what you do. I spent all my time in central Munich which is maybe more expensive than outer parts. Accommodation that I paid was about the same as for a similar place in the UK, apart from London of course which is more expensive for that. Food in bierhalls, pubs, cheap restaurants etc was maybe a little cheaper than comparable UK places but not much in it, drinks about the same as non-London UK for a beer.
> 
> Public transport around the city was quite cheap, but I took a taxi and that was more expensive than UK I thought, again maybe except London. The train from the airport to the city was a bit more than trains from Manchester or Birmingham airports to the city centres, but its true Munich airport is further away.
> 
> ...


I was in central Munich too. Food, drinks, nightlife, public transports and even accomodation is significantly cheaper than London. The (top by the way) Deutsches Museum costs 12€. The Tower of London 33€ (to which I sait to myself, **** the Tower of London). London costs easily the double for a tourist compared to Munich. Like I said, no idea about the rest of the UK, but London is way overpriced for what it offers. And Munich is way nicer than London. London is a giant tourist trap.


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## Jonesy55 (Jul 30, 2004)

Again, I think it depends what you do. The Tower of London might be €33, the British Museum is €0, the Tate Gallery is €0, the Science Museum is €0, the Natural History Museum is €0, the National Gallery is €0 etc. You can spend a lot, and there are some very overpriced tourist trap type places for sure, but you can avoid those fairly easily. Away from those tourist trap areas in the very centre you could also eat a decent meal with a beer for €15-20 in many places, though that would be mostly in more informal restaurants.

How much it costs is really a question like ' how long is a piece of string? ', the answer could be anything depending on your choices.


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## Chrissib (Feb 9, 2008)

Jonesy55 said:


> I was in Munich earlier this year and I didn't find it particularly cheap, it seemed about the same as I'm used to paying in the UK for most things. :dunno:


To be fair, Munich is the most affluent and expensive city in Germany. Prices in the rest of Germany are almost universally cheaper.


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## Ashok (Jul 17, 2004)

Oh yeah - beer (and alcohol in general) in Berlin was SOOOOOOOOOO cheap.  We found bottles of wine in Italy for 2 euros - that was crazy! First day in Italy, we filled our entire refrigerated with wine. In Montreal, if you want a decent bottle of wine, you are paying min. 10 euros.


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## gjergjkastrioti (Oct 10, 2007)

Albania is very cheap for Tourism , adventures in Nature , seaside or mountains , and touring of Museums and Cultural sites ... Hotels and restaurants costs are very cheap .


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## Jonesy55 (Jul 30, 2004)

Ashok said:


> Oh yeah - beer (and alcohol in general) in Berlin was SOOOOOOOOOO cheap.  We found bottles of wine in Italy for 2 euros - that was crazy! First day in Italy, we filled our entire refrigerated with wine. In Montreal, if you want a decent bottle of wine, you are paying min. 10 euros.


Yeah, in much of Southern Europe there is virtually no tax on wine so its very cheap, as cheap as orange juice or water for the cheapest stuff.

Beer in Germany is cheap in supermarkets, presumably again because of very low tax compared to here or places like Scandinavia, but in bars it doesn't seem particularly cheap to me. :dunno:


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## Jonesy55 (Jul 30, 2004)

Chrissib said:


> To be fair, Munich is the most affluent and expensive city in Germany. Prices in the rest of Germany are almost universally cheaper.


Yeah, the only other part of Germany I've been to over the past few years is Cologne and the Mosel valley which was a bit cheaper. At current exchange rates of £1=€1.40 that is going to make the UK more expensive, you'd have to get down to £1=€1.20 again to make it more similar I think, and even then London would still stand out as expensive for some things.


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## JoHaN 15 (Apr 11, 2008)

Cheaper than expected: Austria, Hungary and Polan (soooo cheap omg)

More expensive than expected: 
Slovakia
Turkey (middle income trap country like SA i guess)
Mozambique (they charge some hefty prices for a lower income country and we actually paid local prices since we used a guy to buy stuff for us)


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## Kadıkoylu (Jun 11, 2010)

everything in canary islands is extremely cheap.


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## Karate_Kev (Oct 1, 2002)

the petrol in Luxembourg is very very cheap


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## JustHorace (Dec 17, 2005)

Turkey, especially after haggling


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## Archiskyscraper (Sep 25, 2015)

drezdinski said:


> China is becoming quite expensive lately. Yesterday they asked me 50 Yuan for a cup of crummy coffee in a local cafe. That is around 7,5 Euros. Clothes are even worse. 90% of all offer is domestic no name brands, with prices in the hundreds. *No wonder so many Chinese rush to Korea and Japan for shopping.*


lol, whoever thinks China is expensive wouldn't survive one single week in Seoul or Tokyo


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## hellolazyness (Nov 20, 2004)

Ashok said:


> Expensive: UK!!! (REALLY, $20 Canadian for a freaking yogurt, fruit and bagel!!!!)


Welcome to the desert of the real.


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## Oaronuviss (Dec 11, 2002)

Surprisingly expensive (although not unaffordable): Costa Rica

Surprisingly cheap: Indiana, USA. (even with the crappy exchange on Canadian dollar).
A case of beer in Indiana was $14.99 USD, which is $19.88 CAD.

A discount case of beer in Ontario is $33.99CAD or $25.63 USD.

I know this is one example, and it's because of our provincial government, but food, commodities, and clothing is sooooooooooooooooooo much cheaper in the States.
(I live in a border city THANK THE GODS)


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## Marbur66 (Mar 1, 2009)

Oaronuviss said:


> I know this is one example, and it's because of our provincial government, but food, commodities, and clothing is sooooooooooooooooooo much cheaper in the States.
> (I live in a border city THANK THE GODS)


How often do you cross-border shop? And what are you allowed to bring back? I need to learn the rules since I'm planning to move to a border town myself.


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## Oaronuviss (Dec 11, 2002)

Marbur66 said:


> How often do you cross-border shop? And what are you allowed to bring back? I need to learn the rules since I'm planning to move to a border town myself.


I don't cross border shop nearly as much as I should... but here is a guideline to what's allowed:

http://travel.gc.ca/returning/customs/what-you-can-bring-home-to-canada#24hrs
(it says you're not really allowed anything before the 24 mark) but 85% of my trips were under 24 hours. Hell 80% of those were under 6 hours.

However, I've never ever ever had a problem exceeding the limits by a little or a lot.
And the majority of items can be items you 'already had' in the car... like if you want new shoes, go over in an old pair, throw them out when you get new ones, same as clothes, etc...
Canadian side has never pulled me in ever.


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## koolio (Jan 5, 2008)

I haven't been anywhere that I found surprisingly expensive. On the other hand, I found Hong Kong to be surprisingly cheap. Despite the fact that transit there is extremely good, it is simultaneously dirt cheap as well, especially the buses. In addition, taxi cabs are pretty cheap too. Also, even in touristy places, food prices are slightly cheaper than here in Canada. But if you trek outside of those places, you can buy a good, full meal for like $6 USD easily. In addition, museums and art galleries there are free on certain days of the week, so you can easily save on those expenses if you want to. 

On the other hand, housing is obviously extremely expensive there. But as far as tourists are concerned, you can find reasonably priced hostels or Airbnb accommodations, so you are generally not exposed to the insane real estate market there.


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## manon (Jan 8, 2011)

Suprisingly expensive : Brazil, Russia and Croatia
Suprisingly cheap : Bosnia, Montenegro and Georgia


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## Yellow Fever (Jan 3, 2008)

Moved to Urban Tourist forum.


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## PaulSzu (Jan 13, 2016)

manon said:


> Suprisingly expensive : Brazil, Russia and Croatia
> Suprisingly cheap : Bosnia, Montenegro and Georgia


I didn't think Russia was that expensive.

Suprisingly expensive : Singapore
Suprisingly cheap : Nepal, South Africa


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## dj4life (Oct 22, 2009)

It may sound a bit strange, but the country I found to be suprisingly cheaper is Norway. The prices in a grocery store did not surprise me a lot. Probably, this is due to the fact that the prices of some things are equal or even higher in Sweden.


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## mexico15 (Jan 21, 2009)

dj4life said:


> It may sound a bit strange, but the country I found to be suprisingly cheaper is Norway. The prices in a grocery store did not surprise me a lot. Probably, this is due to the fact that the prices of some things are equal or even higher in Sweden.


dude... you are from Sweden!... Norway is expensive for almost all the countries!


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## goocheslamb (Jul 31, 2014)

india is the cheapest country

most expensive, Switzerland


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## doogerz (May 6, 2003)

Quite Expensive: Australia
Surprisingly Cheap: New Zealand


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## Svartmetall (Aug 5, 2007)

^^ You thought NZ was cheap? I think NZ is quite expensive these days. Perhaps due to currency fluctuations it was for you, but for living there I think it's quite an expensive place. Australia is, of course also quite expensive. 

But both pale in comparison to Sweden...


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## Robi_damian (Jun 15, 2008)

Surprisingly cheap: Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Spain, Greece
Quite expensive: Israel, Finland, Italy

This is in relation to what I expected, not necessarily in absolute terms. Singapore is not really cheap, but after hearing how expensive it is all the time, I found stuff like food, transport and entrance to various attractions to be rather cheap.


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## Vintage812 (Feb 10, 2016)

Quite expensive: Japan, Australia
Surprisingly cheap: Russia
Because of falling of local currency travel in Russia is very favorable


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## k5villan (Mar 20, 2012)

haha im the opposite!

i thought japan was surprisingly cheap, i was eating like a king out there, was doing like a meal for 2 with a drink each for £15 with change, what i found with japan was that theres a huge amount of choice which leads to a huge amount of price range, i was doing a ramen meal one day for £10 and then the next day going to a michelin restaurant for a £120 4 course meal, i also thought that a big difference compared to the UK was nothing was done mass produced on the cheap, it was fresh and if say a cake in a bakery (of which there were really surprisingly loads) it was £2 for something, it was really high quality, i honestly think japan is the best eating ive ever done in the world

russia on the other hand, i went to st petersburg, it was more expensive than london, coffee shops and snacks and what have you were really expensive, drinking was about £6-7 a pint, meals were probably english prices

america food was english prices (£30-50 a meal for 2 in a decent place) but portions were huge, drinking was really expensive, canada the food was cheap but then they stung you with the tax + gratuity (absolute gear grinder in america / canada) china was weird cos of the tax (i think 100% on anything imported, 25p bottle of coke, £2 chocolate bar)


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## The Polwoman (Feb 21, 2016)

As a being from the Netherlands

*Surprisingly cheap*
Germany! I went to Berlin in 2014 and prices of things we bought there were very low even compared to Dutch mid-sized cities.

*Just cheap as expected*
Indonesia when I visited in the same year. Clothes at the price of a cheap light-blue-lit UK shop with the only exception of the most expensive malls. Now found a room for $120 a month somewhere, cheap, even with my heavily constrained budget.

*Expensive*
As expected: Sweden and Denmark in 2013 were not particularly cheap, though not much more expensive than the Netherlands except for beer.

But Norway (2015), paying a whopping €12 for a hamburger at a fast food chain is just... insane! :bleep:
Upside is that museums are either cheap or free there. It is not surprising however, Norway has the money to spend it.


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## Copperknickers (May 15, 2011)

Cheap - Germany. Unbelievably cheap compared to the UK (we went to Berlin, and Halle). 

Expensive - India. I thought that because it was a developing country things would be extremely cheap there, but that depends. Food, yes. Luxury items, not at all. Imported luxury items are worth their weight in gold (I foolishly ordered a Scotch whisky at a bar: back home in Scotland it would be about £2.40, in India it was nearly ten times that.)


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## Denim Tornado (Sep 27, 2010)

I found St Petersburg very affordable, even restaurants and bars on the main street Nevskiy avenue though I'm from Kazakhstan and our currency has significantly devaluated.


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## Manazir (May 13, 2009)

JOSEVICTOR3012 said:


> *Surprisingly cheap:* Mexico, *Germany*, Hungary.
> 
> *Shockingly expensive :* Brazil, Netherlands, Italy.


You are comparing Germany to which countries? Compared to other Western European countries, it is quite cheap. In fact, it is the 'cheapest' Western European country actually  Only Eastern European countries are cheaper


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## Manazir (May 13, 2009)

Okay I won't mention about *surprisingly or shockingly* cheap or expensive, since I always do my research on prices before travelling somewhere and already know what to expect, therefore I'll just note which ones were expensive, cheap, or normal for me 

Cheap: Poland, Hungary, Bosnia Herzegovina, Turkey 

Normal: Oman, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Spain, Croatia, Slovenia

Expensive: UAE, Norway, Switzerland, Netherlands, Austria, Denmark, Sweden


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## pellista (Oct 4, 2015)

What u guys think about argentina.? Dollar is 14.5 pesos.


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## mccarryj (Mar 22, 2016)

Belgrade! I think is cheapest town in Europe, with rich nightlife.


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## ReginaMills (Sep 17, 2015)

*Surprisingly cheap*

Pakistan is surprisingly cheap
Hotels and restaurants costs are very cheap .
Eat and drink is pretty cheap, and so are taxis.
A meal in a proper restaurant for about 15€ in Lahore, but if you are on a budget you can have a decent meal for 5/6€.
Grocery food prices are also incredibly cheap. Pakistan also has one of the cheapest retail fuel prices in the world.
In addition, museums and art galleries are free in certain parts of the country, so you can easily save on those expenses if you want to.
Shopping malls and markets are also cheap. Prices are nearly similar as in Malaysia.


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## adevahi (Nov 4, 2012)

Manazir said:


> You are comparing Germany to which countries? Compared to other Western European countries, it is quite cheap. In fact, it is the 'cheapest' Western European country actually  Only Eastern European countries are cheaper


Do you think Germany is cheaper than Spain and Portugal? I have never been in Germany but I doubt it so far...


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## soremi (Apr 24, 2016)

I was really suprise how Romania is cheap and Croatia expensive. Also food in Romania is much more delicious.


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## Manazir (May 13, 2009)

adevahi said:


> Do you think Germany is cheaper than Spain and Portugal? I have never been in Germany but I doubt it so far...


I've been to Spain but from a travelers point of view, Spain was indeed cheaper, though Barcelona not. But I wouldn't know how much it costs there to live for example, when you have to consider the rents. But overall I think Spain and Portugal are still bit cheaper than Germany


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## Manazir (May 13, 2009)

soremi said:


> I was really suprise how Romania is cheap and Croatia expensive. Also food in Romania is much more delicious.


Croatia lately got quite expensive unfortunately...it attracts a lot of tourists so yeah, naturally prices went up kinda


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## Gorky (Sep 8, 2010)

Manazir said:


> I've been to Spain but from a travelers point of view, Spain was indeed cheaper, though Barcelona not. But I wouldn't know how much it costs there to live for example, when you have to consider the rents. But overall I think Spain and Portugal are still bit cheaper than Germany


Not true...

I was in Frankfurt at Christmas and...my God..the supermarket...sushi restaurants....I found almost everything cheaper than in Portugal...


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## Jan999 (Jun 17, 2016)

I found Australia shockingly expensive, I did not expect that. South east asia I like because the food is so cheap but delicious


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## PhilipMorrell (Jul 27, 2016)

I guess it depends on where specifically you go to in these places. 
for e.g when I was in India, I found out that it could be the most expensive place on the planet and also the cheapest one depending on which mall or roadside stall I went to.


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## skyresident (Jun 24, 2014)

Sometimes countries that are economically behind could be more expensive than the better off countries, simply because of inflation and the tendency of Governments to print more currency notes.


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## Jacques DV (Aug 30, 2016)

Krakow in Poland definitely gives good value for money.
Malta was cheap for the drinks compared to Western Europe, the food costs the same.
Balaton area in Hungary is cheap, Budapest a bit more expensive but still way cheaper than cities in Western European countries.


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## Indiatourbycabs (Jun 27, 2016)

India is among the cheap list. You can easily have your day meal within $1.50 in every state. 
You will find low cost good hotels for staying easily in most of the areas. I think India is really very cheap country for travellers.
Thanks


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## Jacques DV (Aug 30, 2016)

How safe is India? I know it's a beautiful country but the country receives some bad press coverage once in a while....


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## Lisbongooner (Dec 20, 2015)

Although, I have not been, some friends of mine have, and say Bulgaria is nice, cheap, good value 4 money, and very peaceful, you'd also think "Bulgaria! ?! What's there in Bulgaria? " Turns out a lot supposedly, so seems like a nice place to go.


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