Americans are spending more than ever to get away. Some 45% say they’re boosting their travel budgets this year, according to travel-insurance marketplace Squaremouth, and roughly one in four is doing it specifically to splurge on a premium or bucket-list trip.
Airfare isn’t helping. International fares out of the U.S. averaged about $1,100 in late April — up roughly 16% in a year — with domestic fares up about 24%, per Kayak data. If you’re flying regardless, here’s how to keep the airlines from picking your pocket.
That same insurer crunched more than 100,000 trips to find the most expensive places on the planet. The list reads like a billionaire’s vision board: Greenland, Antarctica, the Maldives, Bora Bora. Daily costs north of $1,000. One Antarctic trip averages $27,000-plus.
Here’s what 35 years of writing about money taught me. You’re almost never paying for the experience. You’re paying for the name, the airfare, and the resort markup.
For nearly every one of these dream trips, there’s a near-twin that delivers the same scenery and the same thrill for a sliver of the cost. Here are seven swaps.
Here’s where to go instead
1. Greenland → Alaska. Greenland tops Squaremouth’s expense index, with a daily trip cost around $1,171 and flights near $1,357. You’re paying through the nose for glaciers, icebergs, and Arctic light.
Alaska gives you all of it — glaciers, fjords, breaching whales, the northern lights — with no passport and no four-figure international airfare. Cruise the Inside Passage or drive the Kenai.
2. Antarctica → Patagonia. Antarctica is the single priciest trip Americans actually book, averaging $27,195 per person before you spend a dime on the ice itself, per Squaremouth. Expedition cruises don’t come cheap.
Patagonia delivers the same end-of-the-earth drama — glaciers, jagged peaks, guanacos, and Magellanic penguin colonies near the tip of South America. And you hike it instead of watching from a ship’s rail, for a fraction of the price.
3. Maldives → Belize. The Maldives runs about $1,249 a night for those overwater bungalows. Gorgeous? Sure. Sane? Not really.
Belize hands you overwater and beachfront stays for a fraction, plus the second-largest barrier reef on Earth for snorkeling and diving. Throw in jungle and Maya ruins. It’s English-speaking and a short flight from the U.S.
4. French Polynesia → the Cook Islands. Those famous Bora Bora overwater bungalows average around $1,382 a night, per Squaremouth, plus about $1,118 just to fly there.
Aitutaki, in the Cook Islands, has a lagoon that rivals Bora Bora’s — with overwater options for far less, far fewer crowds, and English spoken everywhere. Same turquoise. Much smaller bill.
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5. Switzerland → Slovenia. The Swiss Alps will run you about $602 a day, and roughly $48 for a basic restaurant meal, according to Squaremouth. The views are stunning. So is the check.
Slovenia’s Julian Alps, Lake Bled, and Triglav National Park deliver the same postcard peaks and glacier-fed lakes for a fraction of Swiss prices. Meals included. Bring an appetite.
6. British Virgin Islands → Puerto Rico. The BVI runs about $1,137 a night for hotels, per Squaremouth. You’re paying a heavy premium for beaches and island-hopping.
Puerto Rico needs no passport for U.S. travelers, and it stacks up Caribbean beaches, the El Yunque rainforest, and Old San Juan — one of several shockingly cheap vacation spots hiding in plain sight, with direct flights from the mainland.
7. Turks and Caicos → the Dominican Republic. Turks and Caicos hotels average a staggering $1,413 a night for that powdery Grace Bay sand, per Squaremouth. (Anguilla is even rougher at $1,684.)
The Dominican Republic offers the same Caribbean water and white sand — Punta Cana, Samaná — with all-inclusives that cost a fraction of what you’d hand over in Turks and Caicos.
The bottom line
The rich aren’t buying better water or whiter sand. They’re buying a name and a longer flight.
The smartest travel value usually isn’t where the influencers point you — sometimes it’s a $6 carload away on one of America’s best beaches.
Pick the swap, pocket the difference, and go twice.
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