Seeing the Northern Lights is the best value experience of a lifetime for Brits, according to the inaugural TripIndex Experiences of a Lifetime, a cost comparison study by travel planning and booking site, TripAdvisor. While admiring the Aurora Borealis comes out as the cheapest experience of a lifetime for Brits, the study also revealed that travellers planning ahead can save up to 82% on tours and hotels making pricier experiences of a lifetime much more affordable.

TripIndex Experiences of a Lifetime, conducted in partnership with independent research firm Kantar TNS, outlines the cost per day for two people to take a trip to experience ten of the world’s most popular once in a lifetime experiences, taking into account the cost of a return flight, return airport transfer, a stay in a four-star hotel, dinner and a day tour of the experience of a lifetime.

The study found that the average price for an experience of a lifetime trip for two across 10 of the most popular choices, is £2,324, with flight prices impacting the total cost significantly from destination to destination. Seeing the Northern Lights in Reykjavik has the lowest cost experience for Brits with a trip costing £1,459 for two per day, inclusive of the flight, airport transfer and tour. Diving the Great Barrier Reef in Cairns comes out as the most expensive for Brits at £4,550.

“For Brits wishing to book a trip of a lifetime in 2017, the TripIndex Experiences of a Lifetime study shows that the Northern Lights and Santorini sunset experiences offer the best value. However, the pricier experiences don’t have to be off limits. As our research of booking rates on TripAdvisor shows, it’s possible to dramatically reduce the overall cost of a trip with highly rated hotels and tours available to book for up to 82% less than the destination average price,” commented TripAdvisor spokesperson, Hayley Coleman.

Key findings

• It’s cheapest for British travellers to fly to Reykjavik to see the Northern Lights but it’s worth bearing in mind that this destination is actually the most expensive place to eat dinner and to get a taxi to and from the airport

• While Angkor Wat in Cambodia is the third most expensive experience for Brits to fly to, Siem Reap is the cheapest destination to eat dinner and for a taxi to and from the airport

• When flight prices are excluded, the lowest cost experiences of a lifetime for Brits are visiting Angkor Wat (£360), going on Safari in South Africa (£418) and visiting the Galapagos Islands (£544). In contrast, seeing the Northern Lights (£854), visiting the Taj Mahal (£927) and trekking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu have the highest cost (£1,637)

TripIndex Experiences of a Lifetime at a glance

From the least expensive to the most expensive (green and orange indicate least and most expensive destinations for each item respectively):

Make savings when booking an experience of a lifetime trip

Planning on booking an experience of a lifetime trip? These highly rated hotels and tours on TripAdvisor are bookable for up to 82% less than the average TripIndex Experiences of a Lifetime price.

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Notes to editors:

Methodology

The TripIndex Experiences of a Lifetime experiences list is comprised of 10 of the most popular experiences of a lifetime. Most popular experiences of a lifetime were determined based on internal editorial research.

TripIndex Experiences of a Lifetime prices out the cost for the following items in each destination, multiplied by two (where applicable) to represent the daily cost inclusive of return flights and airport transfers for two people.

• Return flight: Round trip flight from main airport(s) serving destination, for travel between 1/9/16 – 31/1/17

• Airport transfer: Return taxi between destination airport and city centre

• Dinner: Starter, main meal and bottle of local beer

• Hotel: Accommodation in a 4-4.5-star hotel

• Tour: Average cost of bookable day tours for each experience of a lifetime

Research was conducted by Kantar TNS in collaboration with TripAdvisor and prices were collected through telephone and web search as well as from TripAdvisor hotel, tour and fight price data.  Prices in each market (except for hotel) were taken in local currencies between August 2016 and October 2016. Prices in each market for hotel were taken in USD. Currency conversion rates were taken from Oanda.com on 4^thOctober 2016.

Return flights: Prices specify the average cost of a return flight from the main origin destination airport(s) to each experience of a lifetime destination. Pricing displayed is for travel dates between 1 September 2016 to 31 January 2017 based on searches made between 1 August 2016 to 20 October 2016. Weighted average prices were determined using impressions for each itinerary and fare quoted by the respective provider. Origin airports and destination airports list available upon request. Source: TripAdvisor.

Airport transfer: Prices specify the average cost of a return taxi journey between destination airport and a city centre location in each destination city. This includes other transport modes if required (e.g. Santa Cruz ferry + taxi for Galapagos Islands). Source: local website (e.g. taxi company, airport, tourist information).

Dinner: Prices specify the average cost for one person of a starter course/entree, main meal, plus beer at a 4-5-'bubble' rated restaurant on TripAdvisor. Source: Restaurants were randomly selected from TripAdvisor, filtered by 4-5 bubble rating. Prices were obtained from menus on restaurant websites by Kantar TNS. Prices were collected from a minimum of 5 restaurants per destination.  Data collected August to September 2016.

Dinner meal items include:

• Starter course/entree: Prices recorded for two typical local dishes per restaurant (actual dishes vary by destination).

• Main course: Prices recorded for two typical local dishes per restaurant (actual dishes vary by destination).

• Beer: Price recorded for one typical beer brand in each destination (price of bottled water used instead of beer for Agra, as beer prices not widely listed).

Hotel: Room rates specify the average cost of one night’s stay in 4 and 4.5 star hotels in each destination. Pricing displayed is for travel dates between 1 September 2016 to 31 January 2017 based on searches made between 1 August 2016 to 20 October 2016, aggregated from booking partners, including online travel agencies and direct hotel suppliers. Source: TripAdvisor.

Tour: Prices specify the average cost for one person of a day tour of each of the experiences of a lifetime. Relevant tours were filtered to bookable tours from Viator. Only tours categorised as a “Day Trip”, “Full-day tour”, “Half-day tour” and “Private Day Trip” were included. Tours were selected if they were listed within the destination ‘locationid’ and included a mention of the experience of a lifetime in their product text. E.g.  Tours in the Reykjavik locationid with the mention of “Northern Lights” in their product text were selected for the ‘See the Northern Lights’ experience of a lifetime. Source: TripAdvisor.