Skip to content

Top Navigation

Travel + Leisure Travel + Leisure Travel + Leisure Travel + Leisure
  • Trip Inspiration
  • Plan Your Trip
  • World's Best
  • Destination of the Year
  • A-List Travel Advisors
  • Cruises
  • Travel Tips
  • News
  • Food + Drink
  • Travel Accessories
  • Check-In

Profile Menu

Your Profile

Your Profile

  • Join Now
  • Newsletters
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Give a Gift Subscription
  • Help
  • Logout
Login
Subscribe
Pin FB

Explore Travel + Leisure

Travel + Leisure Travel + Leisure Travel + Leisure Travel + Leisure
  • Explore

    Explore

    • World's Best

      The greatest islands, cities, hotels, cruise lines, airports, and more — as voted by you. Read More Next
    • The 50 Best Places to Travel in 2020

      Whether you're traveling solo or planning a family vacation, here are the 50 best places to visit in 2020. Read More Next
    • Let's Go Together Podcast

      Start listening to T+L's brand new podcast, Let's Go Together! Hosted by Kellee Edwards. Read More Next
  • Trip Inspiration

    Trip Inspiration

    • Trip Ideas
    • Weekend Getaways
    • Spring Travel
    • Summer Travel
    • Fall Travel
    • Winter Travel
    • Solo Travel
    • Romantic Getaways
    • Luxury Travel
    • Beach Vacations
    • Adventure Travel
    • Road Trips
    • Family Travel
    • National Parks
    • Holiday Travel
    • Travel Photography
    • Photo of the Day
    • Culture and Design
  • Plan Your Trip

    Plan Your Trip

    • Travel Guides
    • Flight Deals
    • Travel Deals
    • Ways to Save
    • Hotels + Resorts
    • Attractions
    • Amusement Parks
    • Disney Vacations
    • Festivals + Events
    • Airlines + Airports
    • Buses + Trains
    • Ground Transportation
  • World's Best

    World's Best

    • Top Hotels
    • Top Cities
    • Top Islands
    • Domestic Airlines
    • International Airlines
    • Tours
    • Safaris
    • All World's Best
  • Destination of the Year
  • A-List Travel Advisors
  • Cruises

    Cruises

    • Find A Cruise
    • Caribbean Cruises
    • River Cruises
    • European Cruises
    • All-Inclusive Cruises
    • Family Cruises
    • Alaskan Cruises
    • Disney Cruises
    • See All Cruise Vacations
  • Travel Tips

    Travel Tips

    • Travel Trends
    • Packing Tips
    • Points + Miles
    • Budgeting + Currency
    • Customs + Immigration
    • Responsible Travel
    • Travel Etiquette
    • Travel Warnings
    • Weather
    • Mobile Apps
    • See All Travel Tips
  • News

    News

    • Wellness
    • Celebrity Travel
    • Animals
    • Jobs
    • Offbeat
    • See All News
  • Food + Drink

    Food + Drink

    • Restaurants
    • Wine
    • Beer
    • Cocktails + Spirits
    • Bars + Clubs
    • Celebrity Chefs
    • Cooking + Entertaining
    • Food Fairs + Festivals
    • World's Best Restaurants
    • See All Food + Drink
  • Travel Accessories

    Travel Accessories

    • Travel Bags
    • Shoes
    • Travel Tech
    • Shopping
    • Style
    • Gift Guides
    • See All Travel Accessories
  • Check-In

Profile Menu

Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
Your Profile

Your Profile

  • Join Now
  • Newsletters
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Give a Gift Subscription
  • Help
  • Logout
Login
Sweepstakes

Follow Us

  1. Home
  2. Travel Tips
  3. Travel Budgeting + Currency
  4. What It Actually Costs to Take Those Once-in-a-lifetime Trips

What It Actually Costs to Take Those Once-in-a-lifetime Trips

By Melanie Lieberman
November 17, 2016
Skip gallery slides
Save Pin
Credit: Getty Images
Everyone who loves to travel has their own list of can’t-miss, once-in-a-lifetime trips.

Whether they’re bucket-list worthy destinations like the whitewashed homes of Santorini over the turquoise Aegean or do-before-you-die expeditions like summiting Mount Everest, they are extraordinary experiences that promise to change your life.

According to the travel planning and booking site TripAdvisor, however, crossing these items off the bucket list can be an expensive venture.

A trip to the top of Everest, for example, routinely costs upwards of $45,000. There’s the price of alpine equipment and oxygen tanks, and the cost of hiring a Sherpa. Add in training, food, and flights to Nepal, and it’s easy to see how a two-month journey can get expensive quickly. And while the Himalayan peak is not be on TripAdvisor’s TripIndex, but it gives you an idea of how quickly these things can add up.

On average, the cost of the top 10 most popular life-changing adventures is about $5,000 for two travelers. By factoring in an upscale hotel stay, round-trip airfare, taxi rides, a day tour, and meals, TripAdvisor and research firm Kantar TNS were able to identify an approximate price tag for ever vacation.

“Those on a tighter budget can book a [trip to] Angkor Wat or the Grand Canyon for about $3,000,” said TripAdvisor’s senior director of communications Brooke Ferencsik.

Fortunately, these “once-in-a-lifetime” trips, for many visitors, are really just that: a one-time cost, for a transformative, unforgettable experience you can carry with you until your savings account recovers.
Start Slideshow

1 of 10

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

10. Visiting Angkor Wat in Cambodia

Credit: Getty Images

The most affordable trip on the Experiences of a Lifetime TripIndex is a weeklong journey for two to the Cambodian “City of Temples.” Even with a day trip to the 12th-century UNESCO World Heritage Site, a four-star hotel stay, and meals, travelers can spend as little as $2,971. That’s thanks largely to the county’s affordable food and accommodations.

1 of 10

Advertisement
Advertisement

2 of 10

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

9. Admiring the Grand Canyon in Arizona

Credit: Michele Falzone/Getty Images

Outdoorsman Aron Ralston (the inspiration for the film 127 Hours) says a trip to the Grand Canyon in his adolescence made him fall in love with the National Parks. A weeklong trip for two to watch the sun rise over the rim may also be considered a “value” for some travelers, especially those based in the U.S. Expect to spend $3,003.

2 of 10

3 of 10

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

8. Walk Along the Great Wall of China

Credit: Michael Levine-Clark/Flickr (cc by 2.0)

While you can save big on meals in Beijing, it’s the round-trip airfare that will really get you. A round-trip flight will cost, on average, $1,020 per person. Add in the tour ate and hotel room costs, and this bucket-list experience will cost upwards of $3,990.

3 of 10

Advertisement

4 of 10

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

7. Check Out the Taj Mahal in India

Credit: Prasit Chansareekorn Follow/Getty Images

It can easily cost a couple $4,330 to fly to Agra and to admire the Taj Mahal’s masterful Mughal and beautifully manicured grounds. Fortunately, the white-marble mausoleum now boasts free Wi-Fi.

4 of 10

5 of 10

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

6. Go on a Safari in South Africa

Credit: Franz Marc Frei/Getty Images

Safaris have long had a reputation for being expensive, and TripAdvisor only confirmed this fact. Couples will spend more than $4,332 on a South African safari—especially if you consider that many trips to the African continent last closer to two weeks than one.

5 of 10

6 of 10

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

5. Hang Out in the Galápagos in Ecuador

Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto

Six hundred miles off the shores of Ecuador lie the Galápagos Islands. TripAdvisor expects pairs to drop $4,616 to hang out with blue-footed boobies, the planet’s only marine iguanas, and extremely rare tortoises.

6 of 10

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

7 of 10

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

4. Dive Into the Great Barrier Reef in Australia

Credit: Fairfax Media/Getty Images

If you want to see one of the world’ most fragile ecosystems before it’s irreparably changed, allocate $1,634 for round-trip airfare, per person, and $376 for a tour. The grand total for a week on Australia’s famed coast will cost over $5,598.

7 of 10

8 of 10

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

3. Watch the Northern Lights in Iceland

Credit: Felix Odell

Unless you score a crazy flight deal (we’ve seen flights for as little as $99 one-way) you could drop $1,093 on round-trip airfare from the United States to Iceland. Your grand total could be $5,877, thanks largely to pricey hotels and expensive taxis.

8 of 10

9 of 10

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

2. Trek the Inca Trail in Peru

Credit: Getty Images

A pilgrimage to Machu Picchu isn’t a small commitment: after all, you’re on your way to find the Lost City of the Incas. Each person in the party will pay $899 for access to the Incan citadel, totaling $5,890 for two over the course of a week.

9 of 10

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

10 of 10

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

1. Seeing the Sun Set Over Santorini in Greece

Credit: Getty Images/Robert Harding World Imagery

According to TripAdvisor, your dream trip to Heaven on Earth could be the most expensive trip-of-a-lifetime you take, thanks to round-trip airfare costing $2,500 per person. Fortunately, you don’t have to spend a thing on the activity, if you don’t want to. Just find a nice viewpoint and watch the sun transform the white-and-blue island with its brilliant glow.

10 of 10

Replay gallery

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook

Up Next

By Melanie Lieberman

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook
Trending Videos
Advertisement
Skip slide summaries

Everything in This Slideshow

Advertisement

View All

1 of 10 10. Visiting Angkor Wat in Cambodia
2 of 10 9. Admiring the Grand Canyon in Arizona
3 of 10 8. Walk Along the Great Wall of China
4 of 10 7. Check Out the Taj Mahal in India
5 of 10 6. Go on a Safari in South Africa
6 of 10 5. Hang Out in the Galápagos in Ecuador
7 of 10 4. Dive Into the Great Barrier Reef in Australia
8 of 10 3. Watch the Northern Lights in Iceland
9 of 10 2. Trek the Inca Trail in Peru
10 of 10 1. Seeing the Sun Set Over Santorini in Greece

Share options

Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message
Travel + Leisure Travel + Leisure

Magazines & More

Learn More

  • Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise
  • Content Licensing this link opens in a new tab
  • Sitemap
  • Travel Guide Sitemap

Connect

Follow Us
Subscribe to Our Newsletters
Other Meredith Sites

Other Meredith Sites

  • 4 Your Health this link opens in a new tab
  • Allrecipes this link opens in a new tab
  • All People Quilt this link opens in a new tab
  • Better Homes & Gardens this link opens in a new tab
  • Bizrate Insights this link opens in a new tab
  • Bizrate Surveys this link opens in a new tab
  • Cooking Light this link opens in a new tab
  • Daily Paws this link opens in a new tab
  • EatingWell this link opens in a new tab
  • Eat This, Not That this link opens in a new tab
  • Entertainment Weekly this link opens in a new tab
  • Food & Wine this link opens in a new tab
  • Health this link opens in a new tab
  • Hello Giggles this link opens in a new tab
  • Instyle this link opens in a new tab
  • Martha Stewart this link opens in a new tab
  • Midwest Living this link opens in a new tab
  • More this link opens in a new tab
  • MyRecipes this link opens in a new tab
  • MyWedding this link opens in a new tab
  • My Food and Family this link opens in a new tab
  • MyLife this link opens in a new tab
  • Parenting this link opens in a new tab
  • Parents this link opens in a new tab
  • People this link opens in a new tab
  • People en Español this link opens in a new tab
  • Rachael Ray Magazine this link opens in a new tab
  • Real Simple this link opens in a new tab
  • Ser Padres this link opens in a new tab
  • Shape this link opens in a new tab
  • Siempre Mujer this link opens in a new tab
  • Southern Living this link opens in a new tab
  • SwearBy this link opens in a new tab
Travel + Leisure is part of the Travel + Leisure Group. Copyright 2021 Meredith Corporation. Travel + Leisure is a registered trademark of Meredith Corporation Travel + Leisure Group All Rights Reserved, registered in the United States and other countries. Travel + Leisure may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice. Privacy Policythis link opens in a new tab Terms of Servicethis link opens in a new tab Ad Choicesthis link opens in a new tab California Do Not Sellthis link opens a modal window Web Accessibilitythis link opens in a new tab
© Copyright . All rights reserved. Printed from https://www.travelandleisure.com

View image

What It Actually Costs to Take Those Once-in-a-lifetime Trips
this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines.