Daily Budget
- Thread starter Paul
- Start date
amelia88
Active Member
Like others have said, it's pretty dependent on where you plan on going and probably the kind of tastes you have. If you're fine with eating street food for most meals and won't be buying expensive souvenirs, and also incorporate free activities into your schedule then I think you could get by on not very much at all for your budget. On the other hand, if you want to buy fancy souvenirs, dine in luxury restaurants and so forth then of course that's going to escalate your budget significantly.
Ritika Sharma
Member
It depends on you and the city or state where you are currently in or planning to visit.
tabby
Member
I agree with the others before me that it will really depend on your food preferences and willingness to try out local food. Anyway, in one of the websites I saw, they gave the following data on the cost of living in India: Price range can be as follows:
Meal, Inexpensive Restaurant - 75 to 200 Rs (Rupees)
Meal for 2 People, Mid-range, 3-course - 350 to 1,000 Rs
McMeal at McDo (or Equivalent - 150 to 300 Rs
Domestic Beer (0.5 liter draught) - 75 to 128 Rs
Imported Beer (0.33 liter bottle) - 100 to 210 Rs
Cappuccion (regular) - 50 to 115 Rs
Coke/Pepsi (.33 liter bottle) - 15 to 35 Rs
Water (.33 liter bottle) - 10 to 20 Rs
Pack of Cigarettes (Marlboro) - 100 to 220 Rs
Transportation
One-Way Ticket (Local Transport) - 10 to 25 Rs
Monthly Pass (Regular Price) - 300 to 1000 Rs
Taxi Start (Normal Tariff) - 21 to 80 Rs
Taxi 1 KM (Normal Tariff) - 10 to 20 Rs
Taxi 1 hr waiting (Normal Tariff) - 60 to 120 Rs
Meal, Inexpensive Restaurant - 75 to 200 Rs (Rupees)
Meal for 2 People, Mid-range, 3-course - 350 to 1,000 Rs
McMeal at McDo (or Equivalent - 150 to 300 Rs
Domestic Beer (0.5 liter draught) - 75 to 128 Rs
Imported Beer (0.33 liter bottle) - 100 to 210 Rs
Cappuccion (regular) - 50 to 115 Rs
Coke/Pepsi (.33 liter bottle) - 15 to 35 Rs
Water (.33 liter bottle) - 10 to 20 Rs
Pack of Cigarettes (Marlboro) - 100 to 220 Rs
Transportation
One-Way Ticket (Local Transport) - 10 to 25 Rs
Monthly Pass (Regular Price) - 300 to 1000 Rs
Taxi Start (Normal Tariff) - 21 to 80 Rs
Taxi 1 KM (Normal Tariff) - 10 to 20 Rs
Taxi 1 hr waiting (Normal Tariff) - 60 to 120 Rs
amelia88
Active Member
That's a great breakdown @tabby ! It definitely helps to have information like that, especially so you can convert it into your own currency and get an idea for what the equivalent will be in rupees. For instance, the price you gave for a meal at an inexpensive restaurant only works out to be around $3 US dollars at the upper end. That makes it budget friendly for me and seems significantly cheaper to what I would pay here in the US for that sort of thing!
GammaRay
Member
This is a hard question if you can't provide more information but from personal experience $5 a day in a developing country will be quite fine if you spend it on local food and a clean room. Tickets to certain sights are going to cost you more and if you eat out a lot in fancy restaurants then yeah you won't be able to stay in your budget. $10 a day is fine for me.
Off the cuff
New Member
Lots of great tips and useful information here. All I can add is that whatever budget you decide on, add 50% for emergency or splurge spending.
$5 per day is not enough in India. You wont find a room for that much money any where in India. $5 will buy you three meals of local food but thats about it really. You need atleast $25 a day to get a room and food per day as a bare minimum. It is a mis conception that things are cheap in developing countries, some things are but you get what you pay for.
GinaMax
Member
While $25 a day might get you a room and food for the day, you still nee transportation and then of course you will want money for entertainment. You may want a coffee, or a coke. You might want to buy presents for someone back home. You might have an emergency, I mean the list goes on. I usually budget a minimum of $50 a day. However, the more you spend the more you are going to experience, so just keep that in mind. Honestly, calculate what you spend on an average day at home. Then you can do all of the conversions to see what you need.
I think the answers here prove that a daily budget is different for everyone. Doing some research prior to traveling so you have an idea of what types of restaurants you might choose and the activities you want to do will give you the most solid idea of how much you'll need. Something else to remember is that not every day is the same. The last time my husband and I went on vacation, we had a day that cost us $500 (not including hotel) and the next day cost us $100 (not including hotel). Obviously, the more expensive day consisted of a very expensive activity and higher end dining. The cheaper day was a day we spent staying at the resort. Plan your itinerary and you'll know what to expect.
jnorth88
Active Member
Yeah, this is a tough one because it depends on how you want to live in India. When I was in Chennai, I spent money to have a very comfortable experience, and went from there through the rest of India in luxury. My girlfriend's sister and her fiance were far more happy to live closer to the locals, and did charity work at an orphanage. It was very surreal talking about our experiences over dinner, with us going on about little trips, and them telling of their own activities. The point is that you really need to decide what you are after. Even if you want a luxury experience, you can do a lot to save by being smart with your money.
tabby
Member
Thanks! I'm cheapskate, and when I travel the first thing that I actually research on are the prices of things. It helps me plan out and gives me a clearer budget idea. There are people who usually assume that visiting a foreign country is expensive. While that can be true, one also has to remember that that country has LOCALS who are not entirely at the 'elite class'. Thus, you can generally subsist on what locals enjoy.
Anyhow, also there was a friend of mine who once said that $100 dollars a day is more than enough when spent in the Asian region. Unfortunately, I haven't been to India - but this budget had been my guiding budget on my own travels to Cambodia, Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand, HK, Macau, and South Korea. So far, it has not failed me.
amelia88
Active Member
Yup! I'm only on a backpackers budget so it's either hostels or cheaper hotels for me right now! Maybe one day I will get to live in luxury when it comes to travel, but that's not for a while yet, I don't think!
I have been to Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and South Korea from your list and also found all of them very economically friendly. For a lot of those places I don't think I would have gone near $100 a day, but it's nice to budget around that just to be safe. And especially if you want to do any specific costly tours or activities.
jnorth88
Active Member
If you are a proficient rider, you could also rent a motorcycle for transport. That might save you some cash if you intend a lot of travel on your trip, but I wouldn't recommend it. I think the cheapest you can go without lucking out is $20-30 a day. If you have a travel partner, you can split some expenses and save a little more per person. But less then that and you will miss out on opportunities or need to be very clever.
knitmehere
Member
Like others have said, it largely depends on where you're exactly going. It's always good to budget out at least a couple hundred dollars per day, depending on what all you plan on doing while you're there.
amelia88
Active Member
I would be way too scared to ride a motorcycle in a lot of countries! I feel like for me personally a motorcycle would be dangerous - I just feel so exposed and vulnerable on them and especially so if I don't know the road rules or conditions. I'm sure it would cut down on transport costs in a lot of places but I usually prefer to just catch public transportation -- it usually still tends to be pretty reasonable and a lot of places have special deals for tourists which is always something I like to try and look into!
