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Despite rising living costs and geopolitical disruptions, the desire to travel endures. Whether you’re dreaming of an international culinary adventure or finally checking off that long-delayed safari, a bucket-list trip doesn’t have to break the bank. Hidden gems around the world are still within reach. To help inspire your next journey, The Globe and Mail created an interactive tool that allows you to explore destinations at home and abroad and offers a general sense of what to do and what it might cost.
The Globe’s travel editors researched nearly 200 destinations around the world, along with signature experiences at each one. We looked for once-in-a-lifetime adventures, landscapes to take your breath away and brag-worthy culinary hot spots. Readers can use the trip‑planning assistant to begin mapping out a getaway or simply kick-start their wanderlust by browsing the full database using filters for country, activity and budget tier.
To classify each destination by overall travel cost, we estimated the average total for round‑trip economy flights and seven nights in a hotel for two people. Destinations were ranked by total cost and grouped into four tiers:
- Budget: under $3,000
- Mid‑range: $3,000 to $5,000
- Premium: $5,000 to $7,500
- Luxury: over $7,500
All prices are in Canadian dollars.
Flights, hotels and car rentals
Travel search engine Kayak provided The Globe with flight, hotel and car rental data, drawn from searches made on Kayak and its affiliated brands between Oct. 1, 2024, and Sept. 30, 2025, for travel between April 1, 2025, and March 31, 2026.
Flight prices reflect the average round-trip fares from any Canadian airport to either the main international airport in each destination’s country, or the closest airport to the destination itself. Fares are available by cabin class: economy, premium economy, business and first class. Where onward travel is required, the tool also includes daily car rental rates from the arrival airport, as well as approximate public‑transit travel times, sourced from Rome2Rio, a journey‑planning service.
Hotel pricing represents the average nightly cost of a standard double room, available in two categories: luxury properties (four stars and above) or all hotel classes combined. This data is not available for destinations where travellers typically stay on a cruise ship or at a campground.
Activities and meals
Costs for activities and experiences vary widely owing to seasonality, availability and local market conditions, making precise pricing difficult to pin down. As a result, Flight Centre Travel Group provided The Globe with estimated or starting costs only when its travel experts have firsthand experience or when a reliable, commonly referenced price point exists. For destinations where no dependable figure is available, Flight Centre instead outlines the key factors that typically influence cost – such as equipment, permits or required guides.
Similarly, food costs vary, shaped by local dining culture and traveller preferences. To provide a consistent point of comparison, Flight Centre supplied estimated dinner pricing per person, which tends to offer the most reliable benchmark across destinations.
Information on activity and meal costs is intended to give readers a general sense of scale rather than fixed or exact dollar amounts.
A note on pricing
All figures in this tool are for reference only and should not be considered as fixed. Real-world travel costs depend on many factors, including booking date, travel season, group size, local operators and the length and style of your stay.
This tool is designed to help readers explore what’s out there and what’s worth doing, rather than deliver a definitive budget. If you’re planning a multidestination or around‑the‑world trip, keep in mind that all information is organized on a per‑destination basis.
Wherever your travels take you, please make safety a priority. Consult the Government of Canada’s Travel Advice and Advisories before and during any trip abroad. It’s always a good idea to register your trip abroad with the Canadian government.