Budget for Backpacking Southeast Asia: Daily, Weekly, and Monthly Costs by Country

This post is all about creating a budget for backpacking Southeast Asia and details a 6 month breakdown of travel costs by country.

Backpacking through Southeast Asia is truly an incredible trip to take. Whether you’re planning to spend 2 weeks, 1 month, or 6 months travelling through this part of the world, you are definitely in for the adventure of a lifetime! I’ve spent many long periods of time in Asia, most recently 6 months with only a 45L backpack. I’ve documented every dollar spent to share with you my budget for backpacking Southeast Asia.

Breaking it down over 8 countries and 6 months, this budget for backpacking Southeast Asia shares tips on how to maximize your money to travel long term.

Is it possible to travel on a budget?

Yes! There are many ways to extend your money so you can travel as long as possible. This post will cover multiple tips to travel with a limited budget! This budget breakdown covers 8 countries in Asia, some of which are more expensive. So, if you are only travelling in Southeast Asia, your money will certainly last longer.

Shared Accomodation:

To begin, I travelled as a couple which can help with accomodation costs. But, I’ve also travelled solo many times and I found accomodation for a single traveller to be rather similar to splitting costs with your partner or with a friend, specifically when staying in hostels. In private accomodations like hotels or guest houses, you might pay slightly more if you are travelling solo.

Money saving recommendation for solo travellers: Stay in a balance of hostels and private accomodations. In hostels you will meet fellow travellers that you can explore with, but when you need some space, book a private accomodation for a night or two. This will provide a good balance for your mental health and your budget.

Drinking:

Next, most of the time I opted for a non-alcoholic drink option. I certainly had a few drinks here and there, and enjoyed myself, but an alcoholic drink wasn’t my default at every meal. This cost can really add up and it saved me a significant amount of money.

Planning:

Another money saving tip is to plan! Plan ahead! You don’t need to plan the entire 6 month trip out but certainly try to plan about a month in advance. This will offer some great savings on accomodation, transportation and save you money on last minute premiums such as rushing a foreign visa fee.

Eliminate Fees:

Save money on foreign transaction fees and spend in different currencies with a Wise card. I first started using Wise in 2018 and it has been my favourite travel card ever since. It’s a free prepaid card in which you can open accounts in different currencies and transfer money into each account at incredibly affordable exchange rates. We used it mainly for taking out cash in different countries, eliminating the hefty fee my Canadian bank charges to exchange money.

Travel Points:

I saved a significant amount of money on the flight from Canada to Asia and back due to collecting travel points. There are so many people that dedicate their time to explaining how to utilize points effectively so I’ll refer you them – you can check out some helpful travel points articles here.

Keep Track of your Spending:

Lastly, it’s essential to keep track of your spending. Tracking expenses daily or weekly allows you to know when you need to cut back, or that you have a little extra money that can go towards another adventure. We used Google Sheets to keep track of our spending. You can find our Trip Budget Tracker in the Free Resource Library.

Budget Breakdown by Country

Below you will see a breakdown of spending in each country for one person. Keep in mind, the spending is also correlated with the amount of time spent in each country which varied based on our visa allowance. We had budgeted $15,000 CAD each for this trip and were happy to come in under budget. The flights section represents all flights taken during the trip, including the flight to and from Canada. We took a total of 29 flights. All costs in this report will be shared in Canadian dollars.

Note this breakdown does not account for the cost of travel insurance since the cost of this will vary by traveller. In addition, this budget accounts for the cost of a visa as a Canadian citizen, so this cost may differ depending on your citizenship. Please ensure you do your research in these two areas based on your country of origin and healthcare needs.

This came out to about $79 CAD per day, per person. Weekly costs total about $553 CAD per person, and monthly costs about $2,370 CAD. According to the current exchange rate, this is about $55 USD per day. Of course, each country will range in the cost per day so if you have a smaller budget, you can choose the countries where your budget will be manageable. The cost per day will also be impacted by the experiences you decide to participate in and you will have the choice to participate in more affordable experience options. Now, let’s get into cost per country.

Japan

The trip started with 9 incredible days in Japan. We explored Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka and Nara. Total country expenses for one person came out to $874.79 CAD. This is $97.20 CAD per day. We saved money in multiple areas but mainly, on activities and food. There are so many incredible things to see in Japan for free and when we did go to see something paid, the entry fees were very affordable.

Next, we found food in Japan to be extremely affordable. To begin, every accomodation we booked served breakfast. For lunch we would stop in at the infamous Japanese 7-Eleven or grab some quick street food for between $3-5 CAD. Lastly, dinner was usually $10 CAD or less. We still got to try some famous Japanese staples but we didn’t choose any high-end dining experiences so that saved us a lot of money on food.

Philippines

We spent a total of 12 days in the Philippines due to visa restrictions but we would have stayed longer if we could have! The nature in the Philippines is just incredible and the people are so kind. Total country expenses came out to $1040.50 CAD per person. This is $86.71 CAD per day.

There were a few reasons for the higher cost in this country. The main reason was due to the fact that we had limited time so we chose to fly between islands instead of taking the slower option of boat. In addition, we splurged to stay at a surf resort in Siargao which would be considered expensive on a backpacker budget. These are the things that worked for us due to our circumstances, but I guarantee you could travel this country for much less if you stuck to only a few close islands and had more time, you could definitely stretch your money out to $50 CAD per day.

Indonesia

The next country in our budget for backpacking Southeast Asia is Indonesia. We spent 27 days in Indonesia. Total amount spent in this country was $1585.46 CAD per person. This is about $58.72 per day, or $411.04 CAD per week.

Indonesia was when we took the chance to travel slower. We visited 3 islands over the course of 26 days: Bali, Nusa Ceningan and Nusa Lembongan. Travelling slower allows you to be more thoughtful with your spending because you have more time. In addition, it allows you to truly experience a place for longer than a few days which has multiple benefits including being beneficial to your impact on the environment. If your visa permits, I always advocate for slower travel. We saved the most money and had really wonderful experiences in the countries where we spent more time.

Malaysia

Next, we visited Malaysia for a total of 11 days. This is another country where we did a lot in a short period of time after our period of rest in Indonesia. The total amount spent was $795.22 CAD per person. This is about $72.30 CAD per day.

We spent 4 days in Penang, then took a bus to the Cameron Highlands for 3 days. Then we hopped on a bus to Kuala Lumpur to spend 7 days. While in Kuala Lumpur we took multiple days trips to locations such as Melaka and the Batu Caves.

Cambodia

Cambodia was the next country on our list. We visited for 17 days. This country has such an interesting history that was incredible to learn about. The total amount spent was $1123.35 CAD per person. This comes to $66.08 CAD per day.

We travelled around Cambodia a fair bit, starting in Phnom Penh for 2 days. Next we took the bus to Kampot to explore for 3 days, then back to Phnom Penh for 1 more day to catch a bus to Battambang where we stayed at an incredible Homestay for 3 days. Lastly, we took a bus up to Siem Reap to spend 6 days. We decided on the 3 day pass to Angkor Wat which gave us so much time to explore! But you could also do 1-2 days to save some money and still learn about the amazing history.

Vietnam

We spent almost a full month in Vietnam – 24 days total. This is also where we spent Christmas and New Year’s which was so much fun! Total spending in Vietnam came to $1435.99 CAD per person. This is $59.83 CAD per day and $418.81 CAD per week.

Similar to Indonesia, we travelled slower in Vietnam and still managed to travel the whole the length of the country visiting the most popular attractions and also some hidden gems. Our highest cost was the guided driving trip we did around Northern Vietnam but this trip covered all accommodation, transportation, food and drinks. It was also one of our favourite experiences so well worth it! There are many companies that offer a variety of options for different budgets. Our cost was slightly higher since we opted for private accomodation and drivers because we weren’t comfortable driving motorbikes on the technical roads.

Thailand

As we moved into the New Year, we headed to Thailand for 20 days. We travelled from the north to the south, taking in the culture and history, as well as, the beautiful beaches. The total amount spent was $1772.70 CAD per person. This is $88.64 CAD per day.

Since we were nearing the end of our trip and we were under budget, we decided to spend a little more in Thailand on purchasing gifts for friends and family, as well as, on experiences such as scuba diving. In addition, we rented a motorbike when in Koh Tao to make transportation around the island easier since we wanted to explore the entire island and not just stay in the main city centre.

India

The final country we visited on our trip was India. We spent 49 days in India which is 1 month and 19 days. Two weeks of this time was to attend a wedding so we saved some money while staying with family. To keep this budget accurate, I will remove those two weeks and share the cost of the 35 days we travelled the rest of the country. The total amount spent was $2466.21 CAD per person. This is $493.22 CAD per week and $70.46 CAD per day.

Again, since we travelled for over a month in this country we were able to save more money by travelling slower. We also spent more money in India on gifts compared to the other countries since we were heading back to Canada afterwards. We focused this trip mainly on northern India visiting Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Jaipur, Rishikesh, Agra and Delhi.

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This post was all about what to budget for backpacking Southeast Asia. Safe travels!