Skift Take

Price often matches quality, with the more expensive northern European countries having more modes of transport traveling more frequently with cleaner and more modern stock.

Northern Europe may have some of the happiest countries in the world, but they’re also some of the most expensive places to travel by bus, train, and plane.

A new study from GoEuro looking at intra-country transportation costs shows countries such as Finland, Denmark, and Norway are among the most expensive places to travel across all three transportation modes.

Finland is the most expensive for flights, Denmark for trains, and the Netherlands for bus. Norway ranks in the top ten most expensive for buses and trains.

Data indicate Switzerland is pricey, ranking as the most expensive country on the price index and the second most expensive for flights and trains and fourth most expensive for bus.

Cheaper Travel

South Africa is one of the cheapest countries to travel in across the three modes, and ranks number one on the study’s overall transportation price index ranking for the countries with cheapest transportation costs. It’s also the cheapest country to travel by train, the fifth cheapest to go by bus, and the third cheapest to go by plane.

Eastern Europe stands out as a cheap place to travel as well, with seven countries in the region ranking in the top twenty cheapest places across all three modes.

The U.S. sits at 22 on the price ranking of all three modes, ranking higher than China, India and Germany but lower than France, Russia and the U.K., for example.

South America was not included in the study.

Countries With The Cheapest Transportation Costs

Rank Country
1 South Africa
2 Albania**^
3 Malaysia
3 Thailand
5 Ukraine
6 Turkey
7 Latvia^
8 Mexico**
9 Egypt
10 China

^Albania and Latvia were not ranked for flights
**Mexico and Albania were not ranked for trains

Source: GoEuro

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Tags: ground transportation

Photo credit: South African Airways jets sit on the tarmac at Johannesburg International Airport. Xevi V / Flickr

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