The cheapest and most expensive cities for a good budget hotel
Same rules, same dates: the cheapest good private room in 30 cities, from €11 to €337 a night.
By Carlos de Ory · Updated October 24, 2026 · 6 min read
Our budget pick in each city is the cheapest good private room we can find: own bathroom, solid reviews, no dorms. Line those picks up side by side and the gap is huge. In Vientiane, that room costs €11 a night. In Nuremberg, it costs €337. Same rules, same dates, thirty times the price.
All prices are reference prices seen on Booking.com for a two-night stay from 10 to 12 November 2026, two adults, one room, shown per night. Prices move every day, so check today's price for your own dates before you book.
The 15 cheapest cities for a good budget hotel
| # | Hotel | City | Score (reviews) | Per night | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mixay Paradise Hotel | Vientiane, Laos | 8.2 (656) | €11 | See prices |
| 2 | Super Collection O Pashan-Sus Road Baner | Pune, India | 8.6 (105) | €11 | See prices |
| 3 | JB Residency Hotel & Banquets | Chandigarh, India | 9.2 (91) | €13 | See prices |
| 4 | Solo Grand City | Solo, Indonesia | 8.0 (67) | €13 | See prices |
| 5 | Otel Hotel Dalat | Dalat, Vietnam | 8.5 (64) | €14 | See prices |
| 6 | Vina Boutique Hotel | Hue, Vietnam | 8.7 (232) | €14 | See prices |
| 7 | Super Hotel O Bidhan Market Siliguri | Siliguri, India | 8.7 (54) | €14 | See prices |
| 8 | Evergreen Hotel Dambulla | Dambulla, Sri Lanka | 8.9 (465) | €14 | See prices |
| 9 | Hotel Belwood by Signature StayZ | New Delhi, India | 9.0 (85) | €14 | See prices |
| 10 | Canary Hotel | Hurghada, Egypt | 8.3 (569) | €15 | See prices |
| 11 | City View With Garden | Amritsar, India | 8.6 (416) | €16 | See prices |
| 12 | The Ryokan Semarang | Semarang, Indonesia | 8.3 (64) | €17 | See prices |
| 13 | Ariya inn Chiangrai | Chiang Rai, Thailand | 8.5 (224) | €17 | See prices |
| 14 | Amar Singh Palace by Signature Stayz | Agra, India | 8.0 (120) | €18 | See prices |
| 15 | Corsican Haveli | Jodhpur, India | 8.5 (344) | €18 | See prices |
All 15 are in Asia or Egypt, and India alone has seven: Super Collection O Pashan-Sus Road Baner, JB Residency Hotel & Banquets, Super Hotel O Bidhan Market Siliguri, Hotel Belwood by Signature StayZ, City View With Garden, Amar Singh Palace by Signature Stayz and Corsican Haveli. The average price across the 15 is about €15 a night.
The 15 most expensive cities for a good budget hotel
The expensive end is spread across Europe, North America and New Zealand. The United States has five cities, Germany two, Switzerland two. The average price here is about €282 a night, for the cheapest good room we could find.
What stands out
Cheap does not mean poorly rated
The cheapest list has an average score of 8.5, and the expensive list 8.6. You are not trading quality for price in the cheap cities. JB Residency Hotel & Banquets scores 9.2 at €13 and Hotel Belwood by Signature StayZ scores 9.0 at €14. Both are higher than any hotel on the expensive list.
But the cheap list has fewer reviews
This is the real trade-off. Six of the cheapest picks have fewer than 100 reviews: Siliguri (54), Dalat (64), Semarang (64), Solo (67), New Delhi (85) and Chandigarh (91). Pune has 105 and Agra 120. A 9.2 from 91 reviews is a much weaker signal than an 8.6 from 16,603, which is what Pod Times Square has. On the expensive list, the smallest review count is 229.
Location trade-offs
Some cheap picks sit away from the main sights. Hotel Belwood by Signature StayZ is in Aerocity, by the airport, which suits a short stopover more than a sightseeing stay. JB Residency Hotel & Banquets lists an address in Zirakpur. On the expensive side, harry's home München hotel & apartments is in Moosach, not the old town, and still costs €331.
The German surprise
Sorat Hotel Saxx Nürnberg tops the expensive list at €337, above London and New York. That is unusual for a city of its size, and it is a good example of why our dates matter. When demand spikes, even simple hotels can reach these prices. Check other dates before you rule the city out.
Mountain resorts
Three of the expensive cities are Alpine resorts: Hotel Saratz Pontresina Mountain Resort & Spa, Sunstar Hotel & SPA Grindelwald and Krumers Alpin. Our budget pick in each is a four-star, and it is still the cheapest good room we found there. If your budget is tight, these are places to visit on a day trip from a cheaper base.
How big is the gap?
- One night at Sorat Hotel Saxx Nürnberg costs about the same as 30 nights at Mixay Paradise Hotel.
- The budget pick in Pod Times Square, €244, would pay for about 14 nights at Corsican Haveli.
- The cheapest city on the expensive list, Krumers Alpin at €241, still costs more than 13 times the most expensive city on the cheap list.
Who each list is for
If your trip is flexible and you want your money to last, the cheap list shows where a good room is almost a non-issue. Pick by score and reviews, not by price. Favour the hotels with hundreds of reviews, like Mixay Paradise Hotel (656), Canary Hotel (569) or Evergreen Hotel Dambulla (465).
If you have to go to one of the expensive cities, plan early and look hard at your dates. Moving a trip by a week can matter more than any hotel choice. And remember that our budget pick is already the cheapest good room we found. Going cheaper usually means shared bathrooms, dorms or a long commute.
How to use this list
Treat it as a shortlist, not a booking order. Open the city page to see the other two hotels we picked there, then check the price for your own dates. Read the most recent reviews, look at the map and compare the total price with taxes. You can read the full method on how we choose hotels.
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