Serving as the capital of Spain, Madrid is an iconic city that invites visitors from around the globe for experiences dripping in culture. Madrid is also extremely important because of its food, historical accommodations, and lively attractions. Madrid offers a very reasonable climate, throughout the entire year, making it so that visitors can easily visit the city anytime they want without experiencing extreme temperatures in either direction.

Though Madrid already offers reasonable prices to both locals and visitors on pretty much everything, there is a way to make your money last even longer than you would expect. At least, that's what the company behind the new Go Madrid Pass says. But does the pass really save you money? We'll find that out and more, below.

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Nearly everyone who wants to visit Europe for the first time is determined to see at least a few different places on that trip. Many people make the mistake of thinking they can maximize what they see by going from one city to the next every day or two, but that is actually a better way of getting to know Europe's trains and train stations than it is of enjoying Europe.

Hopefully you have more than a week for your first visit, as even 10 days is far better than just the 7 since you are likely coming from a long way in the first place. The longer you have the better your trip and the more you'll get to see, but racing from place to place isn't as fun as you might assume. Below are 11 starter itineraries of about a week each. Choose the one that sounds most interesting to you, and build from there with your remaining time. Click to read more

Updated and re-ranked for 2020, the Australia and New Zealand Backpacker Index includes 6 cities that are generally the most popular for foreign visitors. The currencies of both countries weakened even more in 2018 against the US Dollar, and now they could be considered bargains compared to most famous European tourist cities.

Fortunately, both countries have a robust infrastructure for budget travelers, with more hostels (called ‘backpackers' usually) than almost anywhere else in the world. Self-catering will cut costs in both countries since even fast-food restaurants tend to be quite expensive. Camping or going with a group in a campervan is another good way of seeing a lot while spending less money. Click to read more

Now fully updated for 2020, the North American Backpacker Index is in its 10th year to rank the major tourist cities in the US and Canada from cheapest to most expensive. The currencies and inflation rates were pretty stable through 2019, so not much changed except for hostel prices in both countries. In some cases the rate at a great and central hostel has come down a bit, and in other cases it's gone up.

More than in most of the world, it's difficult to rank these cities in a meaningful way because food and drink costs are pretty similar in all of them. This list is meant to help backpackers and budget travelers, and those who are bargain hunters can find really great deals in all of these places, while mid-range tourists with more money than time will end up paying much higher prices. In fact, if we were to rank the cities by the prevailing prices at their better hostels, the rankings would be almost identical to the rankings including everything. Click to read more

Updated for 2020, the Africa and Middle East Backpacker Index once again shows that travel is quite inexpensive to many popular cities, but the most famous tourism cities in the Middle East are as expensive as more expensive parts of Europe. This region (except for Dubai) gets far less tourism than most of the rest of the world and that translates to a lack of budget hotels and hostels in many places, which helps keep prices a bit higher.

The other side of the story is that the lack of package and wholesale tourism means that those who do visit are generally getting far more intimate experiences. We wish we had more cities listed and we are open to suggestions and help to build this list up as time goes on. Click to read more

Serving as South Africa's main city for tourism, Cape Town is a coastal destination that offers visitors lots of things to do and see, both cultural and adventurous. The Cape Town Pass is a standard “city pass” that covers admission to all of the major area attractions for one flat price. Making it even better is the option to purchase one with travel included, which is a great idea since lots of attractions are quite a distance away from each other- much further than you would want to try to walk.

As of now, the most popular attraction is the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway. This attraction grants you outstanding views of the countryside, and of Cape Town itself. Luckily it's also included in the Cape Town Pass. The Cape Town Pass has added several new attractions including some really expensive ones near the end of 2019, so even though they also raised the prices a bit, it might be better value than before.

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South and Central America are sometimes forgotten by residents of the rest of the world, but savvy travelers continue to flock to this region for a great variety of reasons. In addition to the cultural and scenic highlights, the entire area is quite cheap by international standards, at least once you are here. Backpacking in South America can be very inexpensive and 3-star travel can be surprisingly affordable as well.

We have completed updated this list for 2020 and re-ranked each destination from cheapest to most expensive. Most currencies in the region were pretty stable in 2019 and inflation was very low in all but a couple of countries, so things remain great value for most travelers. Argentina continues to struggle with runaway inflation, but its currency keeps going down so it's actually a very good bargain as of 2020. Venezuela is out of control and probably better saved for a future when things are stable. Click to read more

Asia continues to provide many (if not most) of the world's great travel bargains. For the tenth year running, we at PriceOfTravel.com have ranked all of Asia's top tourist destinations from cheapest to most expensive, at least for those on lower budgets.

The 2020 list is fairly similar to the 2019 list because prices and currency valuations were mostly stable through the region. Southeast Asia continues to have some of the world's cheapest destinations, and even the most expensive places are generally quite a bit cheaper than Europe or North America's most expensive destinations. Click to read more

If you are planning a trip to Asia in May you'll have probably more great choices than in any other month of the year, but it's still important to plan carefully. The main cities in southeast Asia such as Bangkok and Saigon are extremely hot this time of year, and you might get some rainfall as well.

Fortunately May is a perfect weather month to visit Japan, China, or South Korea, so stringing together a bunch of those places is ideal if you've got the time. Parts of India are still nice, and we have some good island destinations listed below as well. Click to read more

Those looking for ideal destinations in Europe for the month of May have nearly endless choices. The May weather is warm enough to be nearly perfect in all but the most northern cities, and yet tourist crowds are still small since many people can't get away until June or later.

Even though it's “warm” in most of Europe in May, the only places warm enough for sunbathing are in the far south and the Mediterranean. Those looking for a hot-weather destination in May should be thinking about Asia or the Caribbean. Click to read more