FAQ Part V – Costs

How much does it cost to do a tour around Asia ? Obviously this very much depends on your lifestyle and the places you want to see. Here I provide my own estimations of total cost for a four month trip.

Flight
Mine is with Singapore Airlines, price is 1236 Euros. You can find cheaper but quite often it is more expensive to arrive at a destination and leave from another one (Hanoi and Kuala in my case) than buying a simple return ticket. To Bangkok, flights can be as cheap as 600 Euros, but other destinations in Southeast Asia are more expensive (second best: Kuala and Singapore).


If you are travelling for more than two month, it is wise booking with a good company as I did, just to be on the safe side.


You also need to consider ‘internal flights’ to travel from one country to another – for instance there’s no other way to go to Myanmar. I did not book any but will certainly do at a later stage. There are many low-cost companies with uneven safety records. I intend to take one return flight to Myanmar (approx. 70 Euros) and probably a couple of other internal flights – say 100 Euros.


Total expense: Estimated 1400 Euros

Daily expense
The whole area is cheap. Malaysia, Thailand appears to be the most expensive as opposed to Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos, but prices do not fluctuate much. According to most books, 25 dollars a day is sufficient in a backpacking mode. On my side, I will for 30 Euros a day but if I spend less, fair enough.
Total expense: 30*120= 3600 Euros

Medical issues
Total price to do my vaccination was around 75 Euros; to do my medical kit I spent roughly 150 Euros (but started with nothing).
Total expense: 250 Euros

Visas
Price may strongly differ. For Vietnam it is 70 Euros, other countries are apparently around 20-30 Euros, except Thailand and Malaysia for which no visa is required.
Total expense: estimated 150 Euros

Other expenses
I already had my bag and appropriate shoes. However, I had to pay for mosquito repellent, sleeping bag, etc., a total of roughly 50 Euros.
Total cost: estimated 50 Euros

Final cost
In total I expect to spend a total of roughly 5,500 Euros everything included – that’s an absolute maximum. Once I'm back I'll see whether I managed to do less as I think I will.

This may sound relatively cheap for a four month trip – but keep enough money on your bank account to find a new job afterwards.