8 Great International Vacations You Can Afford

If you’re planning a trip abroad, you no doubt already have a few popular (and probably pricey) destinations in mind.

Beautiful woman taking photo with a digital tablet
(Image credit: Thinkstock)

If you’re planning a trip abroad, you no doubt already have a few popular (and probably pricey) destinations in mind. But what if you could take your dream vacation at a fraction of the cost? We’ve compiled a list of affordable alternatives to eight international vacation hot spots. Each offers similar tourist attractions as its better-known overseas counterpart, only on a much smaller budget.

In order to compare costs, we turned to Price of Travel, a Web site that tracks travel costs for more than 110 popular destinations around the world. Its 3-Star Traveler indexes calculate how much a visitor will likely spend per day on a midrange hotel room in a tourist area (based on double-occupancy), two taxi rides (assuming the fare is split between two riders), entry to one cultural attraction, three budget meals and three glasses of beer or wine. We also consulted with the travel experts at Hotwire and Tim Leffel, author of The World’s Cheapest Destinations, for help in selecting these alternative destinations.

Ryan Ermey
Former Associate Editor, Kiplinger's Personal Finance

Ryan joined Kiplinger in the fall of 2013. He wrote and fact-checked stories that appeared in Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine and on Kiplinger.com. He previously interned for the CBS Evening News investigative team and worked as a copy editor and features columnist at the GW Hatchet. He holds a BA in English and creative writing from George Washington University.