Destination: USA
LONELY PLANET'S OFFICIAL GUIDEBOOK INFORMATION
Money & costs
The USA can be a very expensive place to visit or a relatively economical one - excluding the cost to get there - depending on when, how and where you go. Almost any budget can be accommodated.
To begin, it's hard to travel cheaper than $50 a day; a comfortable midrange budget is $120 to $200 a day; and if you have $250 or more a day to spend, you're sleeping and eating very well and throwing in plenty of entertainment and activities.
Whether you visit a major city and how long you stay there is a big factor in how much you'll spend. In a city, everything is at a premium - from cabs to drinks to lodging. The minimum for a good midrange hotel will be $100 to $150, while dinners might average $30 to $40 per person. Conversely, midrange lodgings in small towns and rural areas can drop to $60 and meals are much cheaper. Visit a popular national park on a high season weekend, though, and it can be as or even more expensive than Manhattan: with a captive audience, hotels and restaurants spike prices as much as they can.
If you want to travel on the cheap, plan on camping or staying in hostels, though costs for these are going up. Hostel beds generally run from $15 to $25, while campsites run from $10 to $20 or more, depending on the park and the season. You'll need to make your own food, too - though if you can stand it, fast food is about as cheap as buying groceries.
Then, there's transportation. Renting a compact car is a minimum of $40 a day, and if you upgrade your vehicle and get all the insurance, it could easily reach $60 to $80 a day. This doesn't include gas, which can add $10 to $20 a day, depending on driving distances.
HOW MUCH?
Movie ticket: $9-10
Single latte: $2.50-3
Gallon of milk: $3.20
Internet access per hr: $3-5
Bag of potato chips (16oz): $3.40
Lonely Planet recommends World Nomads Travel insurance
