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How much does it cost to travel to SOUTHEAST ASIA as a backpacker?
In recent years we have thoroughly explored this area of the world and we have always done so with a tight budget, although thoroughly enjoying each destination. After spending more than 9 months traveling through much of the countries, one of the questions we receive most is How much does it cost to travel to Southeast Asia?.
Whether you're planning a grand adventure lasting several months or a short vacation, this article will help you calculate your budget for Southeast Asia. all expenses to consider, both before and once at the destination.
Without a doubt, a budget for traveling to Southeast Asia, or any other destination, is going to be vary greatly depending on the type of traveler It depends on who you are and what your budget is. A trip through countries like Thailand, Laos, or Vietnam can be done for €20 per person per day by choosing very cheap accommodations, eating at restaurants or local street food stalls, and opting for the most economical transportation. But that same route can also be done spending €50, €100, or much more.
In this article we tell you How much does it cost to backpack in Southeast Asia?, that is, choosing the economic options.
Additional prior to the trip
Before starting your trip, there are certain expenses to consider, and I think it's important to include them in your budget because they can sometimes be high and many travelers don't plan for them.
Visas and Passport
In Southeast Asia, many countries offer free entry, but not all have the same conditions. For example, Thailand currently allows visa-free stays of up to 60 days for Spaniards, and 30 days for the Philippines. On the other hand, to enter Cambodia, you will have to pay $30.
In our case, spending several months traveling around the area, we ended up paying for several visas and extensions. The positive side is that All visas are very easy to obtain, either with a quick process on their website or by paying the money upon arrival in the country. Furthermore, there are increasingly more options, such as Vietnam, where you could only stay for 14 days without a visa, but they recently extended this to 45.
Visas for Spaniards in 2026
Always check the updated requirements on official websites or trusted ones like iVisa or embassies, as conditions may change.
- ThailandVisa-free for up to 30 days. Extensions can be made for an additional 30 days.
- Vietnam : Visa-free for up to 45 days.
- Indonesia: Visa on Arrival 30 days (30 days, €35), renewable for another 30 days.
- Cambodia: Visa on Arrival or eVisa (30 days, €35).
- Laos : Visa on Arrival or eVisa (30 days, €40).
- Malaysia: Visa-free for up to 90 days.
- Singapore: Visa-free for up to 90 days.
- Work shirts / service shirts: Visa-free for up to 30 days.
Travel insurance for Southeast Asia
Try to see it as an investment. You never know when you might have a motorcycle accident, food poisoning o contract a diseaseTraveling to Southeast Asia is safe, but these complications are relatively common, so it's a good idea to factor this into your Southeast Asia travel calculations.
We leave you a small table with the most recommended options, or you can read a specific article that we have prepared about it. best travel insurance for Southeast Asia.
| 🎒 Trips less than 3 months | Price |
|---|---|
| Iati Backpacker | Calculate |
| Heymondo Tranquility | Calculate |
| Heymondo Travel Top | Calculate |
| Chapka Cap Trip | Calculate |
| 🌍 Travels longer than 3 months | Price |
|---|---|
| Iati Backpacker | Calculate |
| Iati Great Travelers | Calculate |
| Chapka Cap Trotamundos | Calculate |
You can also take a look at this article: Best long-stay insurance for backpackers.
Vaccination and first aid kit
Especially if this is your first backpacking trip to Southeast Asia, we recommend going to an international vaccination center. The price of the service It depends on the country and the autonomous communityIn our case (Catalonia), the first visit costs €50 and includes some vaccinations; others you have to pay for separately. For several months traveling through Southeast Asia and Latin America, we were recommended to get hepatitis A and B, typhoid fever, yellow fever, tetanus, rabies, and Japanese encephalitis. In total, we spent €85 per person.
In this expense of your budget for Southeast Asia, you can add the things that you are missing in the kit. The ideal is to travel with one basic with a little bit of everything, but not much, because once there, if you have any problems, you can turn to your insurance and it will cover your medication, and if you need basic medicines, you can easily get them at supermarkets or pharmacies.
Commission-free card and other preparations
Regarding cards, it is very important to get a travel card if you don't have one yet (in fact, it's better to always carry two). payAs for sacar money (in many places they only accept cash). They are free accounts and the price of sending you one physical card to home is between 5-12€ It depends on the bank. The one we use most at the moment is TradeRepublic, you can read more about it in the comparison we have of best cards for traveling.
In other preparations we include purchases you have to make, such as a travel backpack If you don't have any or a universal adapterIf this is your first trip of this kind, you should factor this expense into your Southeast Asia travel budget. In our case, I don't have the details, but between one thing and another, we're sure to spend at least €150 per person.
Not sure what you'll need? You can blank that we carry in our backpack for Southeast Asia.
International flight
The price of the flight depends greatly on the season and your flexibility in choosing dates. The cheapest gateway is usually Kuala LumpurIt's easy to find flights for around €250 one way. You can also look into Singapore and Bangkok.
In many cases, even if you want to travel through other countries, it will be cheaper to fly to one of these 3 cities, visit it and book a flight with one of them. low-cost company to go to another destination, such as Air Asia or Lion Air.
Between round trip you can calculate on average about €500-700, even more so during the summer months. This means choosing the cheapest options, which can sometimes be less practical and involve long layovers.
✹ What to see in a stopover in Kuala Lumpur
✹ Complete itinerary through Singapore in 2 days
Additional during the trip to Southeast Asia
We start with the daily expensesIn our case, since we've always traveled for several months, we book accommodation as we go, but for a shorter trip, I would recommend booking accommodation and most transportation options so you can have more peace of mind and not have to think about it during the day.
Accommodations
It depends on the country you're in and the area. It's usually cheaper to stay in rural areas than in the capital. But generally speaking, you'll find basic accommodations. 5-6€ per bed in a shared room y Double rooms for €8-14 overnight.
We have stayed for less than €6 for a double room with a private bathroom in Vietnam, and in other places such as Perhentian Islands The cheapest we have found has been €20 with a shared bathroom, or €45 in Singapore. we usually compare prices en Booking.com y Agoda (which has many offers in Asia and is a reliable platform). If in any particular place we think it is very carWe either ask in person upon arrival or look up phone numbers on Google Maps to contact them directly. We do this in more remote areas where there is little variety in accommodations.
So yes, it will depend a little on which country you are in, but you can estimate that, except for Singapore, if you are looking for cheap accommodations You won't spend more than €7-8 per person per dayIf you are planning a trip to Southeast Asia on a tighter budget or want to live a different experience, you can take a look at the volunteer programs at Worldpackers.
Food and drink
This is the best area in the world to eat cheaply without sacrificing good food. local restaurants or street stalls You can eat for between €1 and €3 per plate and have fresh fruit smoothies for just over €1.
There are two things that can happencarYou'll need to stretch your budget considerably, have a good coffee, and some alcohol. In most Southeast Asian countries it's more caror have a beer instead of dinner and fairer caror go for a good coffee after eating, rather than the food itself.
For us, eating in Southeast Asia is an experience in itself. We enjoy trying everything and have never gotten sick! The countries with the best food are Thailand, Vietnam and MalaysiaIn other countries, like Indonesia, the local dishes can end up being very boring because there's less variety. But you can always treat yourself to more Western-style places where you can get a really good meal for €5-10.
A 'trick' to save is to always carry your reusable bottle, It is very easy to get water. Accommodations often have containers of drinking water for guests, or even restaurants offer free water for guests. In some countries, like Thailand, there are coin-operated refill machines that cost less than €0.05 per liter.
Internal transportation
Let's move on to another important expense to know how much it costs to travel to Southeast Asia, in this case it will depend a lot on two factors; your itinerary and speed. Wanting to travel to 4 countries in 1 month isn't the same as wanting to travel to 4 countries in XNUMX months. In the former case, you'll need quick and efficient options to avoid spending half the trip on a bus.
To move long distance You can opt for domestic flights or overnight buses. In some countries, like Vietnam or Thailand, there are also trains that cover long distances and even allow you to spend the night. For island destinations, you'll of course need ferries; again, some allow you to spend the night.
🚌 To investigate options, see prices and even book recommend 12GOAsiaIn many countries, the prices shown 12GOAsia They are the same or very similar to those you'll find by going to the station in person. ✈️ For flights, you can use buyers like SkyscannerMany flights won't cost you more than €30-40.
As for the short distances you can go in local buses, use apps like Grab or rent a motorbike (between €4 and €7 per day). Taking taxis through apps is cheap (€2-€5). But city buses are even more so, costing around €0.5. Although walking is obviously the cheapest option. It's a matter of judging by the situation.
Activities and tickets
One of the best things about traveling through Southeast Asia is that many activities are free or very cheap. Especially if you know how to ride a motorcycle, you can go to many places on your own, paying only for rental and gas. In our case, except for the activities that include going by boat, such as island hoppings, we usually try to do everything on your own because the expense is lower and, in my opinion, the experience is better.
Of course also It's totally worth it allocate part of your Southeast Asia budget to do different activities such as snorkeling tours, a surfing class, dive or take a cooking class.
Not in other parts of the world, but for Southeast Asia It is always much cheaper to book in personNo advance notice is required; most agencies work with groups overnight.
Prices for admission to tourist attractions and activities vary. Many tickets won't cost you more. from 1-3€, while others such as the Angkor complex go up to 35€, or some national parks and marine reserves cost around 10€. For the guided tour You can take a reference price between €12 and €25.
Other expenses to add to how much it costs to travel to Southeast Asia
In this last category of how much It is difficult to travel to Southeast Asia We include all the little things like these:
- Laundry room (1-2.5€/kilo).
- Purchase of hygiene products.
- Massages A must in Thailand and Indonesia! (€8/1 hour).
- Purchase of some landscape or sending postcards.
- Sims places to have internet (the most economical option)
- Commissions that ATMs charge in some countries.
We spent a total of €5 (€170/day) on all of these things over the course of 1,25 months. To keep our budget in check, These are some things we have doneAsk around at several laundromats to find a good price, buy a single SIM card and share the internet, and find out which ATMs don't charge (or charge lower) fees.
Now that we need more internet, in addition to share data to our computer to work remotely. We use Holafly Plans, For us, one of the best options that exist unlimited internet for Digital nomads in Southeast Asia.
Budget Southeast Asia for backpacking
Then, How much money do I need to backpack through Southeast Asia? In our case in In 5 months we spent €6.300 between the two (2022-2023). That would be necessary add the international flight y travel insuranceWe were also traveling through more countries and flew to Thailand from Egypt.
To leave you more references, in two months in Indonesia traveling Sulawesi y Lombok (2024) we spent €3190 between the two of us, also excluding international flights and travel insurance.
Finally, in a month and a half through southern Thailand and Malaysia (2024) we spent €2.100, in this case it was cheaper because we made fewer trips, we spent a lot of time in Bangkok, Koh Tao, Perhentian Islands and Kuala Lumpur.
In conclusion, our budget for traveling to Southeast Asia as backpackers is around €50 a day between the two of us excluding international flights and travel insurance.
So far all the expenses you have to consider to calculate How much does it cost to travel to Southeast Asia?We also have a more generic article on how much does a big trip cost in which we help you calculate your estimated budget.
We hope you find both of them super useful and that enjoy your adventure a lotIf you have any questions, please leave them in the comments. Thanks for reading!
