Singapore is now the most expensive Asian city for a night out

Singapore is now the most expensive Asian city for a night out, pushing even Tokyo to the second place, according to TripAdvisor’s index. A night out in Singapore costs US $374.94 (a room for two at a four-star hotel, a round-trip taxi ride of about 3.2 kilometers each way, cocktails for two at a five-star hotel bar and dinner for two with a bottle of house wine)  while it costs US $349.62 in Tokyo. This also makes Singapore 10th most expensive city in the world. London is the most expensive city according to the index and a night out in London costs US $518.01 for a night out for two! It looks like falling Euro did not shake Europe’s domination on the top 10 most expensive cities; seven cities in the top 10 are from Europe.

Although Singapore is a very expensive destination for tourists, South East Asia still hosts most number of cities in the 10 least expensive list. Hanoi, the capital city of Vietnam, for example is the least expensive city, with a cost of US $141.12. Bangkok is the third most affordable city (US $161.90), Kuala Lumpur is the fifth (US $194.43) and Jakarta is the eighth least expensive destination (US$204.59).

Singapore Marina Bay Sands Hotel and Casino - Source : Wikipedia

According to the study, hotel room prices are the single most important factor determining the affordability of the destination city and savings on this cost item will have a big impact of the finances of the travel.
TripAdvisor’s spokesperson Jean Ow-Yeong said that TripIndex helps travelers see where they would get more value for their money.

“Interestingly, once on the ground, European cities such as Budapest and Warsaw turn out to be as affordable as some Asian cities, while Singapore and Sydney are in the ranks of London, Paris and New York as some of the most expensive cities”, she said[1].

Least expensive cities for 2012
Rank	Country	City	Hotel	Return taxi trip	Cocktails	Dinner for 2	A night out Total
1	Vietnam	Hanoi	$85.31	$4.95	$22.56	$28.71	$141.53
2	China	Beijing	$106.31	$1.71	$23.63	$27.41	$159.06
3	Thailand	Bangkok	$81.13	$2.03	$9.45	$69.30	$161.91
4	Hungary	Budapest	$104.51	$9.83	$35.34	$43.32	$193.00
5	Malaysia	Kuala Lumpur	$113.52	$3.67	$19.68	$57.55	$194.42
6	Poland	Warsaw	$109.34	$12.32	$12.32	$65.51	$199.49
7	Taiwan	Taipei	$141.76	$3.70	$26.36	$31.81	$203.63
8	Indonesia	Jakarta	$124.24	$1.92	$20.00	$58.43	$204.59
9	Bulgaria	Sofia	$116.29	$5.23	$40.86	$46.73	$209.11
10	Tunisia	Tunis	$151.18	$5.23	$9.97	$50.27	$216.65

Most expensive cities for 2012
Rank	Country	City	Hotel	Return taxi trip	Cocktails	Dinner for 2	A night out Total
1	UK	London	$361.64	$34.69	$39.07	$82.61	$518.01
2	Norway	Oslo	$219.94	$52.19	$47.19	$245.03	$564.35
3	Switzerland	Zurich	$292.00	$37.76	$27.03	$129.03	$485.82
4	France	Paris	$306.71	$15.06	$57.44	$101.55	$480.76
5	Sweden	Stockholm	$218.73	$47.16	$34.95	$171.53	$472.37
6	USA	New York	$341.63	$15.00	$32.00	$67.87	$456.50
7	Russia	Moscow	$245.96	$14.26	$43.40	$125.45	$429.07
8	Denmark	Copenhagen	$227.15	$21.61	$40.35	$137.73	$426.84
9	Australia	Sydney	$172.99	$19.62	$43.22	$156.17	$392.00
10	Singapore	Singapore	$233.14	$6.58	$34.40	$100.81	$374.93

Although Singapore is the most expensive city to visit in the region, there are some ways to beat the average prices: you can choose to stay in a budget hotel or you can even skip staying in a Singapore hotel when you visit Singapore! You can for example stay in Johor Bahru (Malaysia) which is basically right next to Singapore and take a taxi trip to Singapore.

[1] – Kuala Lumpur amongst least expensive cities for a night out