Sydney is more expensive to visit than Paris, London, Rome, LA and Singapore.
*Please note, information validated as at April 2016 and may be subject to change.
Well that’s the finding of a grassroots and very pragmatic approach to assessing which cities in the world drain most of your holiday spending money.
In arriving at their most expensive and most affordable lists, company Hoppa used a benchmarking index of vacation ‘essentials’ comparing the costs of a three-kilometre taxi ride, an average hotel and a meal, a pint of beer, a cup of coffee and an average wine.
When the numbers were crunched, Sydney emerged as a global pocket-burner.
The average cost of a coffee is always a good barometer to check the accuracy of these kinds of studies. The Hoppa report puts Sydney coffees at USD2.80 which converts to $3.64. For lovers of useless trivia, the latest Gilkatho Cappuccino Index, which rates average coffee prices around Australia, put Sydney at $3.35 per cup so it’s fairly close. (Incidentally, the most expensive coffee in Australia on that study is the Gold Coast at $3.95).
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All in all, Dubai was deemed to be the place your credit card will suffer most as you will see in the breakdown below.
The cheapest cities for tourists list also made very interesting reading.
Budapest shone through as the major city offering most value for money.
Surprisingly, tourism heavyweights Barcelona, Prague and Berlin also made the highly affordable list.
Here’s how the most and least expensive cities stacked up in ascending order.
Most expensive cities (in USD)
19. Shanghai ($186.18)
- Taxi: ($2.16)
- Hotel: ($107.21)
- Meal: ($30.96)
- Pint of beer: ($7.21)
- Cup of coffee: ($5.08)
- Bottle of wine: ($21.98)
18. Moscow ($188.37)
- Taxi: ($5.07)
- Hotel: ($141.18)
- Meal: ($36.36)
- Pint of beer: ($3.64)
- Cup of coffee: ($3.51)
- Bottle of wine: ($7.99)
17. Paphos (Greece) ($191.59)
- Taxi: ($10.09)
- Hotel: ($127.04)
- Meal: ($44.05)
- Pint of beer: ($3.50)
- Cup of coffee: ($3.50)
- Bottle of wine: ($7.50)
16. Malta ($197.19)
- Taxi: ($10.80)
- Hotel: ($123.19)
- Meal: ($54.29)
- Pint of beer: ($3.02)
- Cup of coffee: ($2.03)
- Bottle of wine: ($7.67)
15. Los Angeles ($198.13)
- Taxi: ($8.03)
- Hotel: ($129.48)
- Meal: ($54.84)
- Pint of beer: ($5.31)
- Cup of coffee: ($2.84)
- Bottle of wine: ($12.32)
14. Punta Cana (Dominican Republic) ($199.38)
- Taxi: ($9.63)
- Hotel: ($155.64)
- Meal: ($40.95)
- Pint of beer: ($1.90)
- Cup of coffee: ($1.54)
- Bottle of wine: ($8.42)
13. Rome ($217)
- Taxi: ($10.84)
- Hotel: ($178.38)
- Meal: ($32.58)
- Pint of beer: ($6.05)
- Cup of coffee: ($1.38)
- Bottle of wine: ($7.06)
12. Paris ($218.77)
- Taxi: ($11.61)
- Hotel: ($200.27)
- Meal: ($54.29)
- Pint of beer: ($8.46)
- Cup of coffee: ($4.42)
- Bottle of wine: ($8.07)
11. Dublin ($222.72)
- Taxi: ($14.63)
- Hotel: ($146.40)
- Meal: ($65.14)
- Pint of beer: ($5.96)
- Cup of coffee: ($3.24)
- Bottle of wine: ($13.12)
10. Lima, Peru ($226.65)
- Taxi: ($4.81)
- Hotel: ($199.32)
- Meal: ($22.45)
- Pint of beer: ($1.43)
- Cup of coffee: ($2.72)
- Bottle of wine: ($9.98)
9. Cancun, Mexico ($246.46)
- Taxi: ($5.88)
- Hotel: £($151.35)
- Meal: ($32.29)
- Pint of beer: ($3.35)
- Cup of coffee: ($2.35)
- Bottle of wine: ($6.48)
8. Caracas, Venezuela ($246.46)
- Taxi: ($2.91)
- Hotel: ($135.50)
- Meal: ($41.62)
- Pint of beer: ($1.44)
- Cup of coffee: ($3.89)
- Bottle of wine: ($5.53)
7. Singapore ($262.26)
- Taxi: ($4.89)
- Hotel: ($182.43)
- Meal: ($41.56)
- Pint of beer: ($8.07)
- Cup of coffee: ($4.28)
- Bottle of wine: ($24.23)
6. London ($273.15)
- Taxi: ($12.42)
- Hotel: ($181.15)
- Meal: ($71.32)
- Pint of beer: ($5.42)
- Cup of coffee: ($4.26)
- Bottle of wine: ($12.84)
5. Sydney ($289.63)
- Taxi: ($11.45)
- Hotel: ($242.39)
- Meal: ($56.16)
- Pint of beer: ($5.13)
- Cup of coffee: ($2.80)
- Bottle of wine: ($13.12)
4. Marrakesh, Morocco ($318.70)
- Taxi: ($2.41)
- Hotel: ($221.47)
- Meal: ($14.52)
- Pint of beer: ($4.28)
- Cup of coffee: ($1.73)
- Bottle of wine: ($10.07)
3. Botswana, Africa ($321.03)
- Taxi: ($1.04)
- Hotel: ($299.96)
- Meal: ($21.71)
- Pint of beer: ($1.80)
- Cup of coffee: ($1.90)
- Bottle of wine: ($8.07)
2. New York City ($366.29)
- Taxi: ($8.97)
- Hotel: ($283.53)
- Meal: ($78.35)
- Pint of beer: ($5.68)
- Cup of coffee:($3.79)
- Bottle of wine: ($16.12)
1. Dubai, United Arab Emirates ($397.84)
- Taxi: ($2.57)
- Hotel: ($306.39)
- Meal: ($39.99)
- Pint of beer: ($8.56)
- Cup of coffee: ($5.45)
- Bottle of wine: ($24.92)
The most affordable cities
19. Phuket, Thailand ($171.01)
- Taxi: ($1.99)
- Hotel: ($117.73)
- Meal: ($27.23)
- Pint of beer: ($2.54)
- Cup of coffee: ($2.73)
- Bottle of wine: ($18)
18. Sao Paulo ($168.15)
17. Barcelona ($159.45)
16. Toronto ($158.53)
15. Rio de Janeiro ($148.17)
14. Antalya, Turkey ($141.48)
13. Prague ($134.14)
11. Berlin ($114.83)
10. Kuala Lumpur ($114.83)
9. Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt ($111.44)
8. Corfu, Greece ($110.86)
7. Auckland ($103.16)
6. Faro, Portugal ($95.50)
5. Cape Town ($93.30)
4. Hanoi, Vietnam ($89.25)
3. Bangkok ($86.82)
2. Tenerife, Spain ($82.92)
1. Budapest, Hungary ($57.01)
- Taxi: ($6.57)
- Hotel: ($32.83)
- Meal: ($27.66)
- Pint of beer: ($1.57)
- Cup of coffee: ($1.77)
- Bottle of wine: ($5.04)
