"Affordable" is the least useful word in travel writing. A trip to Marrakech and a trip to Reykjavik can both be called affordable by someone, and the difference between them is a factor of five.
So this page does the opposite: fifteen destinations, sorted into three budget tiers, each with the same four numbers broken out — return flight, bed per night, food per day and activities per day. Every figure is per person.
The Ground Rules
- All figures per person, in euros — the same currency every crooom destination guide uses
- Tiers 1 and 2: 5 days / 4 nights — the standard short trip
- Tier 3: 7 days / 6 nights — a 12-hour flight does not pay off in less
- Flights are return fares from Western Europe in shoulder season
- The low end means hostels or shared rooms and self-catering; the high end means a mid-range hotel room and restaurant meals
How These Numbers Were Built
Every figure below comes from the individual destination guide it links to, so the numbers on this page and the numbers on the city pages agree. Where a guide quotes a local currency, it has been converted at 2026 rates and rounded.
The ranges overlap at the tier boundaries, and deliberately so. A tier tells you where a destination realistically starts, not the only price it can ever have — Prague can be done for €290 or for €900, depending entirely on how you travel.
Under €500: Five Trips That Start Cheap
Five days, four nights, flight included, per person. These are the destinations where a careful traveller genuinely lands under €500 — not by suffering, but because beds and food simply cost less.
| Destination | Return flight | Bed / night | Food / day | Activities / day | 5-day total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marrakech | €90–170 | €22–45 | €12–22 | €8–15 | €280–520 |
| Prague | €60–110 | €25–45 | €18–28 | €8–15 | €290–500 |
| Istanbul | €120–200 | €28–50 | €15–25 | €8–15 | €345–575 |
| Lisbon | €70–150 | €35–60 | €20–32 | €8–15 | €350–625 |
| Cairo | €220–350 | €25–50 | €12–20 | €10–20 | €400–690 |
Marrakech — the cheapest real adventure from Europe
Three and a half hours from most of Europe and a completely different world on arrival: the souks, the Jemaa el-Fnaa at dusk, and riads with courtyards and plunge pools for the price of a mid-range hotel room in Lisbon. Food is the biggest saving — a full tagine dinner runs €6–10.
Where the money goes: the riad. Spending €45 instead of €22 a night is the single upgrade worth making here, because a good riad is half the reason to come.
Prague — the cheapest EU capital
The most affordable of the twelve European cities crooom covers, with the shortest and cheapest flights of the whole tier. A beer costs €1.50–2.50, a solid pub dinner €8–12, and the entire historic centre is walkable, so transport costs stay near zero.
Where the money goes: almost nowhere. Prague is the rare destination where the low and high ends of the range differ mostly by hotel choice, not by lifestyle.
Istanbul — the lowest daily cost in the tier
Once you land, Istanbul is the cheapest place on this page: €45–75 a day covers a comfortable mid-range trip. The flight is what keeps it out of the top spot. Public ferries across the Bosphorus cost under a euro and replace any paid cruise.
Where the money goes: the flight, at 35–40% of the total. Book eight weeks out and the whole trip drops meaningfully.
Lisbon — Western Europe on an Eastern European budget
The cheapest city in Western Europe, with the weather of Southern Europe. Pastel de nata for €1.20, a sit-down lunch for €10–14, and a 40-minute train to Sintra for under €5 return.
Where the money goes: accommodation has risen fastest of anything in this tier. Book two months out, or stay in Graça or Alcântara instead of Baixa.
Cairo — the cheapest daily rate, the priciest flight
€30–70 a day covers Cairo comfortably, which is remarkable for a city with the Pyramids of Giza and the Grand Egyptian Museum in it. The return flight is the whole reason it sits at the bottom of the tier rather than the top.
Where the money goes: the flight, plus guides and drivers — both genuinely worth paying for in Cairo, and both cheap by European standards.
€500–1,000: The Comfortable Middle
Same trip length — 5 days, 4 nights, flight included. This is where most European city breaks land once you want a hotel room to yourself and dinner out most nights.
| Destination | Return flight | Bed / night | Food / day | Activities / day | 5-day total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barcelona | €80–170 | €45–80 | €25–40 | €12–25 | €480–770 |
| Athens | €90–180 | €45–75 | €22–35 | €12–22 | €490–880 |
| Rome | €90–180 | €55–90 | €28–45 | €15–25 | €540–830 |
| Vienna | €100–190 | €55–90 | €28–45 | €12–22 | €550–840 |
| Amsterdam | €70–150 | €80–140 | €30–48 | €15–28 | €670–1,150 |
Barcelona — the best value in the tier
A beach, Gaudí, and a tapas culture where three plates and a drink still come in under €20. Barcelona sits at the bottom of this tier while offering more variety than anything above it, which is why it works so well for groups with different budgets.
The cost trap: Sagrada Família, Park Güell and Casa Batlló together run to €70–90. Pick two, not three.
Athens — widest range in the tier
Athens has the biggest gap between its low and high end of any destination here, because budget and mid-range Athens are genuinely different trips. Souvlaki for €4 and a rooftop dinner facing the Parthenon for €60 are both authentically Athens.
The cost saver: the combined archaeological ticket covers seven sites over five days for barely more than the Acropolis alone.
Rome — dense enough to skip transport entirely
Rome's sights are packed close enough that most visitors never buy a metro ticket. That removes an entire budget line, which offsets accommodation prices that run above Barcelona and Athens.
The cost trap: restaurants within sight of a major monument. Walk five minutes in any direction and the same meal drops 40%.
Vienna — premium city, public-sector prices
Vienna feels more expensive than it is. Public transport is cheap and excellent, museums are reasonably priced, and standing-room opera tickets start around €15. Accommodation is the only line that runs high.
The cost saver: the 72-hour transport ticket costs less than four single journeys per day would.
Amsterdam — the tier's ceiling
Amsterdam's daily costs are ordinary for Western Europe; its hotel rates are not. Accommodation alone is 45–55% of the budget, which pushes the upper end over €1,000 and makes it the clearest case on this page for a group apartment.
The cost saver: stay in Oost or Noord. Same city, 30–40% off the room, 12 minutes by tram or free ferry.
Over €1,000: Worth the Flight
Seven days, six nights, flight included. Long-haul trips are costed over a longer stay for a simple reason: a 12-hour flight does not pay off in four days on the ground.
| Destination | Return flight | Bed / night | Food / day | Activities / day | 7-day total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tokyo | €650–1,000 | €45–90 | €25–45 | €12–25 | €1,180–2,050 |
| New York | €400–700 | €110–190 | €45–70 | €25–45 | €1,350–2,500 |
| Reykjavik | €150–300 | €110–180 | €50–80 | €40–90 | €1,440–2,570 |
| Sydney | €900–1,500 | €70–130 | €35–60 | €20–40 | €1,700–2,980 |
| Maldives | €600–1,000 | €160–450 | €60–140 | €25–70 | €2,150–4,700 |
Tokyo — expensive to reach, cheap to be in
The flight is over half the budget; everything after it is a bargain. A world-class bowl of ramen costs €6–9, business hotels are clean and central at €50–80, and the metro is cheap. Tokyo is the best value in this tier by a distance.
The cost trap: buying a nationwide JR Pass for a Tokyo-only trip. It only pays for itself with long Shinkansen legs — if you are not leaving the city, skip it.
New York — the shortest long-haul, the priciest beds
Eight hours from London makes New York the easiest destination in this tier to reach, and Manhattan hotel rates make it one of the hardest to afford. The upside: the subway is cheap, walking is free, and the Staten Island Ferry gives you the Statue of Liberty for nothing.
The cost saver: stay in Brooklyn or Long Island City. Thirty per cent off the room, 15 minutes to Midtown.
Reykjavik — the shortest flight, the highest daily cost
The only destination in this tier where the flight is a minor line item. Everything else — food, drink, tours, car hire — runs at the highest rates on this page. Reykjavik is also where a group saves the most by self-catering and sharing a car.
The cost saver: buy alcohol at Keflavík duty-free on arrival, and swap the Blue Lagoon for the Sky Lagoon or a municipal geothermal pool at a fraction of the price.
Sydney — the flight is the trip
Around 24 hours in the air from Europe and €900–1,500 return. Once there, Sydney is cheaper than London: the beaches, the Bondi–Coogee coastal walk and the harbour ferries cost almost nothing. Realistically this is a 10–14 day trip, not a 7-day one.
The cost saver: the Opal card caps daily and weekly transport fares, and the Manly ferry is a full harbour cruise at commuter prices.
Maldives — the only tier where the resort is the budget
Accommodation is 60–75% of a Maldives budget, and the seaplane transfer to a remote resort can add €300–500 per person on its own. Local islands like Maafushi and Dhigurah cut the total by more than half.
The cost trap: full-board versus room-only. On a private resort island there is nowhere else to eat, so room-only rates are not the saving they appear to be.
Different Budgets in One Group?
Set a ceiling everyone can live with, then let the group swipe only on destinations that fit it. crooom only calls it a match when every single person has liked the same place — so nobody gets quietly outvoted into a trip they cannot afford.
Try the swipe demoSeven Ways to Move a Trip Down a Tier
These are the levers that actually change a total, ranked by how much they move it.
1. Share accommodation
The biggest lever by far. A four-person apartment typically costs 30–50% less per head than four hotel beds, and the saving grows with group size. In Amsterdam, Reykjavik and Sydney this alone can move a trip down a full tier.
2. Move your dates by two weeks
Shoulder season — the fortnight either side of peak — cuts flights and hotels by 25–40% while the weather barely changes. Late September in Athens is early September with a third off.
3. Fly midweek
Tuesday and Wednesday departures run 20–40% below Friday evening on most European routes. On long-haul the gap is smaller but still worth two nights of accommodation.
4. Sleep one neighbourhood out
Oost in Amsterdam, Brooklyn in New York, Graça in Lisbon, Trastevere's outer edge in Rome. Ten to fifteen extra minutes on public transport, 30–40% off the nightly rate.
5. Eat your big meal at lunch
Set lunch menus across Southern Europe cost half of the same dishes at dinner. In Paris the brasserie formule is €14–18; the identical plate is €30–38 in the evening.
6. Pick two paid sights, not five
Activities are where budgets quietly leak. Two well-chosen paid attractions and a lot of walking beats five rushed ones, and saves €60–120 per person over a week.
7. Book flights in the right window
Six to eight weeks ahead for short-haul, three to five months for long-haul. Earlier rarely helps; inside three weeks reliably costs more.
Budgeting as a Group
Group trips rarely fail because of the total. They fail because nobody said the number out loud early enough, and by the time it surfaces, flights are booked.
Say the Number First
Agree a per-person ceiling before anyone names a destination. "Under €600 all in" is something everyone can agree to without arguing against a friend's favourite city — and it quietly removes half the options before the debate even starts. Then pick only from what is left.
The second thing worth agreeing early is what the number includes. One person budgeting flights plus hotel and another budgeting everything including dinners is the most common source of friction on a group trip. Every total on this page includes flight, bed, food and activities — use the same definition and the conversation gets much shorter.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the cheapest country to travel to in 2026?
Measured by cost on the ground rather than airfare, Morocco, Egypt and Turkey are the cheapest in this comparison — €30–75 per person per day covers a comfortable mid-range trip in all three. Within the EU, Czechia is the cheapest at roughly €50–100 per day. The flight is what changes the ranking: Marrakech and Prague come out cheapest overall from Western Europe because the flight is short as well as cheap.
How much should I budget per day for travel?
As a planning figure: €40–80 per day in Morocco, Egypt, Turkey and Czechia; €80–130 in Southern and Central Europe; €120–200 in Amsterdam, London, Paris and New York; and €180–300 in Iceland and the Maldives. These cover accommodation, food, local transport and normal sightseeing — but not the flight.
Is it cheaper to travel in a group?
Yes, and the saving is almost entirely in accommodation. A four-person apartment or villa typically costs 30–50% less per person than four hotel beds, and the gap widens with group size. Food and transport barely change per head, and flights do not change at all — so the bigger the accommodation share of a destination's budget, the more a group saves. That effect is largest in Reykjavik, Amsterdam and Sydney.
When should I book flights to get the best price?
For short-haul European flights, six to eight weeks ahead is typically the cheapest window. For long-haul, three to five months ahead. Booking earlier than that rarely helps, and booking inside three weeks reliably costs more. Shifting departure from Friday to Tuesday or Wednesday saves 20–40% on most European routes.
Compare Prices for Your Shortlist
Check live flight and hotel prices for any destination on this page before you commit to a tier:
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