Travel budget for the United States: prices noted item by item

For two, allow around $230 to $375 a day on a road trip in the West and $445 to $585 a day in New York to sleep and eat, petrol and parks pass included in the West: this is not the full cost of the trip, since the flight, car hire, city transport, sightseeing, taxes and tips come on top. These ranges are calculated from prices noted on 1 October 2026; the calculation is further down. Two items account for most of the gap: accommodation, which can triple from one city to another, and the national parks, where the rate for foreign visitors changed in 2026.

The cost of a trip to the United States: the table, item by item

All prices are in US dollars, at the time of writing this article, in October 2026. Hotel prices are for one room and two adults. Check each rate again on the official website before you leave.

Item	Price noted	Source and date
Night in New York (Manhattan)	$243 to $401 in November, $309 to $666 in May	Booking, noted on 01/10/2026
Night in Las Vegas (Strip)	$58 to $335 on weekdays in November, $65 to $395 in May, $127 to $345 on a November weekend	Booking, noted on 01/10/2026
Night in Moab, at the gates of Arches National Park	$86 to $127 in November, $104 to $271 in May	Booking, noted on 01/10/2026
Resort fees in Las Vegas	Up to $55 a night before tax in the big hotels on the Strip, on top of the room	Venetian and Wynn websites, 01/10/2026
ESTA	$40.62 per person since 16/10/2026	Federal Register, notice of 01/10/2026
Entry to a national park (Grand Canyon, Zion)	$35 per vehicle, valid for 7 days	nps.gov, 01/10/2026
Non-resident surcharge in eleven parks	$100 per person aged 16 and over	nps.gov, 01/10/2026
America the Beautiful annual pass, non-resident	$250	nps.gov, 01/10/2026
Regular petrol, national average	$4.465 a gallon, or $1.18 a litre	eia.gov, week of 28/09/2026
Restaurant meal	$15 to $25 at lunchtime, $25 to $50 in the evening, excluding drinks, plus an 18 to 20% tip	Noted in 2026 *
Sales tax in New York	8.875%, added at the till	nyc.gov, 01/10/2026
Theme park (Disneyland, Universal)	$100 to $200 per day and per person	Noted in 2026 *
Camping in a national park	$16 to $35 a night in most cases	Noted in 2026 *

* Prices noted in 2026 while preparing our itineraries, not checked again one by one for this article.

Accommodation: the item that makes the budget

The prices were noted on 1 October 2026 on Booking: the first ten results for each city, for three weeknights, from Tuesday to Friday, from 10 to 13 November 2026 then from 11 to 14 May 2027. No summer dates were checked, and the tool does not say whether local taxes are included. This is not the whole market, it is an order of magnitude.

• New York: the median night goes from $345 in November to $414 in May.
• Las Vegas: $115 for the median night in November, $105 in May, with the lowest starting price of all those noted, $58. On the weekend of 13 to 15 November, the median rises to $200, and one and the same hotel goes from $58 to $201 a night.
• Moab, the gateway town to Arches and Canyonlands National Parks: $105 for the median night in November, $192 in May. One and the same hotel there goes from $100 to $223.

Watch out: in Las Vegas, resort fees, up to $55 a night before tax in the big hotels on the Strip, are added to the displayed price. Everywhere, check the total, taxes included, before you pay.

National parks: the $250 pass has become unavoidable

Since 1 January 2026, non-residents pay more than US residents. The America the Beautiful annual pass costs $250 for a non-resident, against $80 for a resident. And in eleven of the most visited parks, each non-resident aged 16 and over pays $100 on top of the ordinary entrance fee, unless they enter with the pass.

The eleven parks concerned: Acadia, Bryce Canyon, Everglades, Glacier, Grand Canyon, Grand Teton, Rocky Mountain, Sequoia and Kings Canyon, Yellowstone, Yosemite and Zion.

The calculation for two adults in a car:

• One park on the list, without the pass: $35 entry + 2 × $100 = $235.
• Two parks on the list, without the pass: 2 × $235 = $470.
• With the pass: $250 for the year, entry fees and surcharges included for the vehicle and its passengers.

The pass therefore pays for itself from the second park on the list, including for a solo traveller (2 × $135 = $270). It exists in a digital version on recreation.gov. Outside these eleven parks, entry remains at the ordinary rate: $30 per vehicle for seven days at Joshua Tree or in Death Valley.

Watch out: many guides still show the pass at $80. That price is reserved for residents, with US identification as proof.

ESTA, petrol, meals: the other expenses to plan for

• ESTA: $81.24 for two since 16 October 2026. The procedure is in our ESTA guide.
• Petrol: $4.465 a gallon as a national average, but $6.189 in California. With the average consumption of new vehicles in the United States, 27.2 miles per gallon (8.65 litres per 100 km), 1,000 miles (1,610 km) cost $164: 1,000 ÷ 27.2 × 4.465.
• Meals: $15 to $25 at lunchtime, $25 to $50 in the evening excluding drinks, up to $60 in New York and San Francisco *. Prices are displayed before tax and service. In New York, a dinner displayed at $60 comes to $76 or $77: $5.33 of sales tax, then $10.80 to $12 of tip.

Car hire and flight: no figure here

The price of car hire and that of a transatlantic flight vary too much, depending on the season and the booking date, to be given a figure here from a reliable source. Two lines are worth watching: the drop-off fee, when the car is returned in another city, and parking, $40 to $70 a night in Chicago *.

Daily budget in the United States: the calculation for two people

Road trip in the West, night in a park gateway town:

Item	Low	High
Night (Moab median, November then May)	$105	$192
Meals for two: $15 to $25 at lunchtime, $30 to $50 in the evening per person in the West *	$90	$150
Petrol, for 100 miles in the day	$16	$16
Parks pass, $250 spread over 14 days	$18	$18
Total per day	$229	$376

That is $3,200 to $5,300 for two for two weeks, excluding flight, car, taxes and tips. The 100 miles a day are an assumption.

In New York, without a car: a median night of $345 to $414 and $100 to $170 of meals for two, that is $445 to $584 a day, excluding transport, sightseeing, taxes and tips.

A cheap trip to the United States: the levers that count

• Sleep in Las Vegas on weekdays: in the prices noted, the median night there goes from $115 on weekdays to $200 at the weekend.
• Aim for the shoulder season in the gateway towns: Moab costs almost half as much in November as in May. Check the season in when to go to the United States.
• Camp in the parks: $16 to $35 a night *, against $86 at least at a hotel in Moab.
• Do your food shopping before entering a park: places to eat there are few and expensive, $20 to $35 a meal *.
• Fill up before California: a gallon there costs $1.72 more than the national average.

So, what budget should you plan for a trip to the United States?

For two weeks for two in the West, plan $3,200 to $5,300 on the spot, plus the flight, the car, taxes, tips and the ESTA. New York costs markedly more per day: if the budget is tight, cut the number of nights there rather than the parks.

We do not sell a ready-made two- or three-week tour: our travel books each cover one region, such as the Greater Southwest in 12 days or New York in 9 days. To choose yours, start with what to see in the United States or with the United States page.