What's the most expensive country you've visited?

[Anonymous]

http://time.com/money/4716340/worlds-most-expensive-city-cost-of-living-car-ownership/

[Anonymous]

Norway! I live in central London where you can go to any off licence and buy a bottle of water and a candy bar for about 3 GBP. The exact same thing cost close to 13 GBP in Oslo. Blew my mind.

London is not at all expensive, you could buy a water and a candy bar out in zone 2 for much less. Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland - these places all seem normal to me but wow, Norway was just too much!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Switzerland, Hong Kong and Venice.

Hong Kong is very reasonable, especially food. Hotel is kind of expensive but no worse than NYC.

Agreed. Food is quite reasonable, the dim sums is fabulous and can be had inexpensively, plus there are scores of little hole in walls Chinese restaurants with great food that would put Chinatown to shame and for reasonable prices. Transportation around by the metro is quick and cheap.

We stayed on HK Island and didn't find our hotel overly expensive. I think we paid around $120 a night for a perfectly fine room in a Best Western type hotel.

HK is the most expensive place to live in the world, but definitely not to visit. Real estate is akin to the likes of Manhattan and people pay over 100% sales tax for cars. The food and public transportation cost, on the other hand, is a different story.

The most expensive place I visited was Geneva Switzerland during my business trips. Thank god for per diem allowances....

The per diem for Geneva is super high and necessary. My husband and I got lunch at a grocery store and it seemed like everyone who worked for the UN was there with us, spending $8 on baguette and cheese/meat instead of the ridiculously overpriced restaurant food. I guess that's how the locals survive...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Norway! I live in central London where you can go to any off licence and buy a bottle of water and a candy bar for about 3 GBP. The exact same thing cost close to 13 GBP in Oslo. Blew my mind.

London is not at all expensive, you could buy a water and a candy bar out in zone 2 for much less. Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland - these places all seem normal to me but wow, Norway was just too much!

This is why it’s so silly when Norwegians brag about their wealth and incomes. There’s no way their incomes, which are that high and are heavily taxed, make up for the insanely high cost of living. If you didn’t make at least 75k in Norway you’d starve and not be able to afford housing. I remember it was $200 for a late pizza and four beers at a university restaurant.

[Anonymous]

^^ except those taxes, pay for a very well furnished welfare state - so your rent is paid for, effectively.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^ except those taxes, pay for a very well furnished welfare state - so your rent is paid for, effectively.

No, it’s not. Norwegians have the highest personal debt levels in the world. That’s why all of the pro Scandinavian articles a few years ago were silly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^ except those taxes, pay for a very well furnished welfare state - so your rent is paid for, effectively.

LOL!!! Oh, honey. What you don't know about Norway could fill the North Sea.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^ except those taxes, pay for a very well furnished welfare state - so your rent is paid for, effectively.

The average household debt in Norway is 220% of total net disposable income.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Iceland
Switzerland
Denmark

Shrug. I have no interest in visiting there.

[Anonymous]

Switzerland.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had a bunk in a 6 bed dorm in a hostel in Reykjavik. $61 That was on a week-day that wasn't too busy. It can go higher.
The beers were $9 or $10 dollars.

WAs this recently? I assume most of us aren't hosteling at this point. Food, laundry, drinks, activities, etc were all expensive. (In some national parks you had to pay to use the toilet.) soup at geyser was about $25. My friend had a $50 hamburger at a dumpy restaurant.

You are right of course, but it was the only thing I felt I could afford for a 7 day stay there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Iceland
Switzerland
Denmark

Shrug. I have no interest in visiting there.

Good for u

[Anonymous]

Iceland was expensive. Kuwait seemed really pricey (over $10 for a latte at Starbucks).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^ except those taxes, pay for a very well furnished welfare state - so your rent is paid for, effectively.

No, it’s not. Norwegians have the highest personal debt levels in the world. That’s why all of the pro Scandinavian articles a few years ago were silly.

This. People who buy into the propaganda that Europeans have no financial stress and that the government covers all the medical, etc don’t have a clue. I keep hearing people say they want a healthcare system like Germany’s. No, no you don’t. Maybe you want one like the UK’s but Germany has a ludicrously high tax for medical and the coverage is so inadequate they have to buy private medical insurance on top of it.

[Anonymous]

Another vote for Switzerland (Geneva). As a traveling student, looking to eat on the cheap, I was dismayed to find that the lowest-priced “value meal” at Wendy’s was $16.00 - in 1995.