Travel Tip 133
How to estimate the cost of travel?
For my last trip to Colombia I had to estimate costs for three weeks of hotels, restaurants and tours - in Colombian pesos.
My top tips for figuring out how much your trip will cost.
Lots of people are still in the early stages of planning their 2026 travel and while I hope you’ll consider Peru, I know that not everybody is sold on international travel this year. (If you are thinking about Peru, please download my travel guide app!)
Lots of our travel decisions are based on cost.
It’s just a fact that our travel budgets have to contend with everything else we spend money on and it’s not as essential as groceries and a roof over our heads – even for me. (Though, if I’m invited to stay somewhere like Las Qolqas that both feeds me and puts a roof over my head, travel actually saves me money).
I wasn’t even in DC for 24 hours before price shock set in and I wished I was back in Peru.
Can travel cost the same as living at home?
If you live somewhere very expensive, like Seattle, Los Angeles, New York, Paris or Singapore, traveling somewhere cheaper might bring down your weekly grocery bill. If you do a home swap or housesitting, you might not have to spend any money on hotels. Still, for most of us, travel is expensive and we have to weigh not only how much we can put in a travel budget but also exactly what we’re willing to spend that budget on.
How to lower the cost of your next trip?
If your 2026 travel budget is less than your 2025 budget, the most obvious choice is to go somewhere less expensive. You might (or might not) find cheaper flights than last year. Start by looking for a destination with cheaper hotels, restaurants and activities.
How to calculate costs in a different currency?
This takes some time, but if you’re working on a tight budget, it’s absolutely doing the research. I always use the free calculator Xe.com (not sponsored) because it’s easy and as accurate as anything else I’ve tried. Just choose the currency you’re trying to understand in the first box and then your currency in the second box. For example, a meal in a nice restaurant in Lima or Cusco, with a drink, can cost about s/50 Peruvian soles. Above, you can see that’s equivalent to $14.87 US dollars. For most travelers from North America or Europe, going out to eat anywhere in South America will be less expensive than at home, especially since a tip is usually 10%.
How to find out what things cost?
It’s not always easy to figure out how much things will cost before you arrive, especially if you’re dealing with a different currency and don’t want to book everything ahead of time. Top tip: Unless it’s something that sells out like Machu Picchu, you’re usually better off booking when you arrive and paying the company directly, rather than through a platform that will charge a commission.
A generic Holiday Inn is much more expensive in New York than either of the two luxury hotels below - in Peru.
How to estimate hotel prices?
My favorite tool for checking hotel prices is Booking – but not necessarily to actually book the hotel. Set the currency to dollars or whatever your home currency is and look at the range of prices on Booking but if you want to reserve a room, search for the hotel online and see if you can book directly. Many hotels will give you the same price or less, because they don’t have to pay the booking platform’s commission. The advantage to platforms like Booking is that it includes hotels, not just private homes like AirBnb, and you can pick the currency.
How to estimate restaurant prices?
This is a bit harder, because few countries have tools like Yelp, but I find that Google Maps and social media help. Do a quick Google Maps search for the destination and pick a couple restaurants that look good. Sometimes the photos in Google Maps will include a menu with prices – but always check the date of the photo because menus from 2015 are usually so outdated as to be worthless. Check if they have an Instagram or Facebook profile, which usually lists current prices. Check the prices with Xe.com to see how they compares.
50 Brazilian “reais” is currently worth $9.30 US dollars, so any tour for 100 reais is less than $20.
How to estimate tour prices?
The best way is to find some tour companies based in the destination you want to visit and use Xe again to compare what that cost is in your currency. If you see a company or a tour you’re really interested in, email them and ask if they could offer a discount off their listed price if you pay in cash when you arrive to check in at their office.
Be aware, there are lots of tour resellers out there – which all charge a commission. Using platforms like GetYourGuide, Viator, TripAdvisor and all the others will usually get you either higher prices, or a lower quality, or both. These platforms charge tour companies around 30%, which means either the company has to add that to the price, or cut their cost by lowering quality. (That’s why I don’t do affiliate marketing for any of them, though they offer me money all the time). You can use them to estimate prices, since you can set the platform to show prices in any currency, but I don’t recommend reserving on these sites. Always book directly with the tour company, both to get a better deal and to ensure you have contact with the company if you need to modify your reservation.
The bottom line on calculating travel costs:
Do your research before you buy flights but then check again a couple weeks before the trip. Inflation can change quickly and if you’re traveling somewhere with a different currency the exchange rate could change even if inflation didn’t change at all where you live. The more research you do, the fewer unexpected costs you’ll face.
This is the luxury 18th century mansion that I referenced above as less expensive than the NYC Holiday Inn.
New Blog: Casa Clara
You know I travel a lot – and I review a lot of hotels. That’s why when I’m home in Cusco, I just want to sleep in my own bed. I made an exception for Casa Clara, a boutique hotel on Cusco’s Plazoleta Nazarenas. Click on the link above to see why I think it’s exceptional.
