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

Noted as a very large and expensive city, Dubai sits on the southeastern coast of the Persian Gulf, which helps to make it a very popular destination for sun and beach lovers. Dubai is also popular for its numerous attractions.

Though Dubai is known for being on the more expensive side compared to similar cities, through the years more budget friendly dining and accommodation options have opened up, helping to make the city a friendlier place for the backpacker group. Another thing that is helping to make a visit to Dubai easy on the wallet is the Go Dubai Pass. This pass, like the others in this series, is designed to save you money on popular area attractions. But does it really save you that much money? We'll find out that and more below.

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It's actually not difficult to find “cheap” travel destinations in many corners of the globe. The real trick is to find cheap places that combine low prices with gorgeous scenery, great food, interesting cultures, and/or enough of a tourist infrastructure that makes them easy to visit.

The list below features the best cheap-destination recommendations from dozens of experienced travel bloggers, so you can be sure that these places are the real standouts. Some of the choices are favorites of many, while a few choices are obscure and surprising. At the very least, the list below should provide you with some ideas of places you might like to explore where value for money is a guarantee. Click to read more