The 4th edition of The World’s Cheapest Destinations goes into production phase this week and will be out in January. Here’s a sneak peek at the front cover.

Lots of things have changed in the world since I released the first edition a decade ago, though not all that much since the 2009 edition. Most of the big price changes came about from currency fluctuations and a rising middle class in developing countries. Thailand, India, and Indonesia have a far larger percentage of people doing more than just getting by than they had even three years ago, but in India’s case prices haven’t budged much at the low end because of currency declines.

Prices have risen at the budget end in some countries (like Morocco and Thailand), but have stayed roughly the same for mid-range travelers on vacation. In others, major line items for backpackers have actually gone down because there are more hostels/guesthouses serving budget travelers and more buses plying the backpacker routes. Competition is usually a good thing, so that has opened up more good choices at a good price in Cambodia, Laos, Romania, Hungary, and Nicaragua.

Welcome Slovakia!

As far as in/out changes in the book, I replaced Turkey with Slovakia, removed Argentina, and gave Cambodia a full chapter instead of it being an “honorable mention.” Acting like a mutual fund portfolio manager, when the price gets too high relative to value, I have to get out. Turkey and Argentina are still good values for mid-range travelers, but they’re getting too pricey for long-term backpackers. Argentina’s fiscal house of cards could implode any month now though, so if that happens it’s 2001 all over again.

If you’d like to get some perspective on which countries are the cheapest places to travel in the world (and are worth visiting too), see this interview with me that Gadling published last week. Looking back, I visited eight of the countries in this 4th edition just in the last eight months. Whew!

Until Burma reaches a point of real reform and starts getting the promised foreign investment coming in, Cambodia will hold the crown as the best travel value in Southeast Asia. What you get for your money is unbelievable sometimes, yet you don’t have to go way off the beaten path to find the bargains.

In Cambodia you can travel in a manner that feels way above your budget. If you spend $30 on a room it’ll come with air-con, maid service, a great breakfast, TV, fridge, and maybe even a pool. If you spend $5 on a meal it’ll be in a pretty nice restaurant and probably include a beer or two. If you have to break down and take a tuk-tuk or taxi across town, that’ll set you back two or three dollars. So naturally, if you’re used to doing everything on a shoestring and want to keep that going, you can really make your budget last by hanging out here for a month.

Without the vast distances you have to navigate in Indonesia or even Vietnam, you can get to most anywhere you need to go the same day.

Here are some sample prices for Cambodia, from my mid-range family trip this past summer, from my notes, and from articles and blog posts I bookmarked before and after. Almost everything is priced in U.S. dollars here—even in the supermarkets—so you rarely use local currency.

Hotel & Hostel Prices in Cambodia

This country has gone from being critically underserved on lodging to being in the midst of a building boom, so there’s plenty to choose from in every price range. You have to negotiate on the spot to get a private room without paying the two-person rate: couples or friends traveling together get a better deal. A triple or family suite is generally just 1/3 more than a double at cheapie places, even less at nicer ones. Some hostels have free laundry, almost all have free Wi-Fi.

Hostel bed: $4 -$7, usually including Wi-Fi, sometimes breakfast
Cheap double room, fan-cooled, shared bath: $5 – $12
Cheap double room, air-con, private bath: $8 – $18
Mid-range room with hotel amenities, maid service, breakfast: $16 – $50
Deluxe room with elevator, bellhops, pool: $40 – $200

(There are very few hotels where guests pay more than $200 per night for a standard room. When I searched Siem Reap hotels on Trivago for two weeks from now I only found 8.)

Food & Drink in Cambodia

This is where you really get the full benefit of local pricing. As long as you eat what’s grown in the region and don’t need a daily fix of imported items, this is a place where you can eat out three meals a day and spend less than $5 if you go where the locals go. Step up to a nicer restaurant with waiters and you can still get a meal for a few bucks. Often our family of three would completely chow down on multiple courses in Siem Reap and I’d have a few beers, my daughter would get a fruit shake. The bill would come and it would be $11 or $12.

Street or market stall meal: 50 cents to $1.50
Basic restaurant main dish: $1 – $3
Nicest non-hotel restaurant in town, meal for two: $35 – $60 with a bottle of wine
Draft/bottle beer: 50 cents/75 cents – $1.50/$2
Soda or coffee: 50 cents – $1.50
Fruit shake: 50 cents – $1.50
Cocktail: $1 – $4

Transportation Prices

Siem Reap to Phnom Penh by boat: $35
Same route by bus: $6 – $13 (working A/C and Wi-Fi).
Bus from Phnom Penh to the beaches: $4 – $6
Taxi from Phnom Penh to the beaches: $50 – $60 (up to 4 people)
Bus to Saigon, Vietnam: $6 – $14
Bus to Thai border from Siem Reap: $9
Taxi to/from Thai border to Siem Reap: $30 – $48 (up to 4 people)
Flight to Vietnam: $100 – $300
Tuk-tuk ride: $1 – $2 local, $10 – $16 for the day
Taxi: $1 – $4 local, $15 – $50 for the day depending on distance, negotiations. (If there’s a meter, $1 per 2kms)
Motorcycle taxi – $6 – $9 around Ankor Wat for the day.
Motorbike rental (not allowed in Siem Reap): $6 – $25 per day, weekly rates are cheaper.
Bike rentals: $1 – $3 per day

Other Traveler Prices:

Angkor Wat region admission: $20 one day, $40 three days, $60 one week
One-hour massage: $5 – $8
One-hour four-hand massage: $10 – $15
Manicure/pedicure: $3 – $5
Laundry service: $1 – $2 per kilo
Local tours: $15 – $35 per person
Mobile phone Sim card: starts at $5
(Illegal) MP3 albums/movies: $1/$2

If you want to move to Cambodia to live for a while, you can’t buy property without partnering up with a local, but you can get a 99-year lease, which works for most people. International Living says you can rent a 2BR beach house in Sihanoukville for as little as $150 a month and get by there on $525 a month total in living expenses.

Related post with pics: What $50 a night gets you for a hotel in Southeast Asia

Angkor Wat has always been my one big regret. When I circled the globe three times in my younger days, there was always some good reason to avoid Cambodia. A coup going on, political asassinations, overpriced flights, potholes the size of cars on the one road from Bangkok…

So while we were in the neighborhood plenty—in Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam—we never crossed that border.

Many years later, I’ve recitified my main regret. I spent two and a half days exploring a couple dozen temples and sites in the Angkor Wat region, this time with the daughter along that didn’t even exist back then. So while she might not have been as jazzed as us about walking around ruins in the hot sun, I think she’ll realize how cool it was to be here later.

The World’s Greatest Historic Site

I don’t think I’m going out on a limb to say this is the greatest site of them all, the bucket list contender that makes Machu Picchu and even Petra seem small in comparison. Sure, Luxor undoubtedly was pretty impressive in its day and Teotihuacan certainly awed anyone who came trotting down that 2km entrance road. But the sheer vastness of Angkor dwarfs most others.

The main complex alone is inside a wall that stretches around 203 acres. That most famous part was built in the 12th century, but the whole Angkor complex was in building mode from the 800s to the 1400s. The entire complex was the biggest city of its day and at its peak probably covered a staggering 390 square miles, or 1,000 square kilometers. To put this in perspective, Tikal was probably between 100 and 150 square kilometers. Teotihuacan was around 36.

The main Angkor Wat temple is just the beginning, so trying to do it all in one day is going to be frantic and incomplete. If you do more than one day, you can get beyond just the main complex, Angkor Thom, and Bayom. Here’s a site with some good maps to give you an idea. Here’s a good story on some temples on the periphery of Angkor.

Some of the outlying ones are just as impressive, though don’t expect the crowds to let up. There were loads of tourists wherever we went, especially Asian ones that come in by the busload and follow the flag. In Ta Prohm we spent most of our time waiting for people to stop posing for photos in front of things to actually see them. At one spot there was a line 20 people deep for posing shots.

What It’s Going to Cost You

There’s still a monopoly on flights from Bangkok, so they’re an overpriced $200 one-way. We went overland for about $72 for the three of us: by A/C bus to the Thai border then a $48 taxi to Siem Reap.

A 3-day pass to all the Angkor Complex ruins is only $40, which is pretty good in international major site terms, and you can use it any three days over the course of a week. (A one-day pass is $20.) We hired a tuk-tuk driver through our hotel that was $14 for the whole day, coming and going on our own schedule. That worked out well and it was fun to see the walls of the temples as we buzzed along. The third day we left our daughter in the hotel and biked out to the main complex, getting there at about 7 am. This turned out to be a good time.

You’d have to be in pretty good shape to do a whole day on bikes though as the distances are quite far and the roads quite pitted in some places. Some times of the year, it rains each afternoon as well. If you’re on a budget, it might make sense to rent a bike one day ($2-$3) and then get a tuk-tuk or motobike driver (you can’t rent one) for the outlying temples.

Today I board a plane for Bangkok. I’ve been on a plane to Bangkok many times, but not since I had a child many years ago. Now it’ time for me to research the region for the 4th edition of my book and I’ve got a magazine assignment in Hanoi. So I’m taking my daughter and wife to Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam.

I try to write for both backpackers and “mid-range” travelers on this Cheapest Destinations Blog because good values are independent of budget levels. Some destinations are just a better deal all around. Including these three.

The first time I went though, I and my now-wife were true shoestring backpackers. Our budget was $15 a day for a year after flights and we stuck to it. We circled the globe two more times and raised the budget a bit, but we were still mostly staying in cheap guesthouses, cold mandi bucket showers and all. Sweating buckets under a mosquito net, the smell of burning coils in our nostrils.

This time it’s a family trip, so not only will I be looking at higher prices due to the passage of time and these countries’ growing prosperity, but also we’re willing to pay for more comfort. So instead of reporting on the grotty windowless room I got for ten bucks, I’ll be posting pictures of my $50 room with a fridge, A/C, and a pool outside. (If you ever want to see a kid in a cranky mood, vacation for weeks without staying in a place with a swimming pool.)

We’ll be embracing many things I would have avoided before: Bangkok’s crazy shopping malls, VIP seats at the movie theater, cheesy dance shows, a first class sleeping berth, nice taxis now and then. But I know they’ll be a great value, so stay tuned!

[Photo by Perceptive Travel blogger and former Bangkok resident Brian Spencer. Click on the pic for a fun Bangkok story.]

Remember, if you have drinkable running water in your house, that puts you ahead of the vast majority of children in Cambodia. So donate 10 or 20 bucks and you can really make a difference.

This is a raffle though so you can win some cool prizes that have been donated. My donating sponsor was Tifosi Optics, a company that makes great sunglasses I have used on too many trips to count. They are giving away your choice of frames with Fototech polarized lenses, like the ones below, appropriately named “Envy.”

If that’s not your thing though, there are trips, hotels, gift certificates, travel gear, and lots more. The organizers are even giving you a heads up on which prizes have the best odds of winning based on entries so far.

The deadline is December 21 though, so get on it!