The Cheapest Countries for Travel

May 22, 2009— -- The latest resident of the recession-era bargain bin: a private island in Fiji. Paul De Domenico, a former food industry executive who'd been asking $35 million for his 800-acre slice of paradise, is lowering his price by nearly 20%.

"The good old days are over," says De Domenico, 74. "I'm at the age now where I'm trying to liquidate some assets."

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Fortunately for the rest of us, a trip to Fiji can be had without making such a pricey commitment, thanks to a sagging local currency. Though roundtrip airfare will set you back about $1,600, the greenback gained 40% on the Fiji dollar over the past year--which means that once you get there, everything is on sale at a deep discount.

Fiji is just one of many places that's suddenly more affordable to American travelers.

Top on our list is Hungary, buoyed both by airfares in the $590 range and a currency that the dollar has gained 30% on over the past year. Sweden, our second-ranked country, offers nearly identical currency perks. The dollar has gained a full 50% on Poland's zloty, meaning that $100 can now get you a $150 hotel room in Warsaw.

On top of the dollar's increased value, Americans will find tremendous deals on rooms as hotels around the world try to entice reluctant visitors.

"Middle-range hotels have definitely been lowering rates," says Michelle Finkelstein, vice president of sales at Our Personal Guest, a San Francisco-based travel agency. "A lot of high-end hotels haven't lowered their rates because it's hard to get them back up. So they've been throwing in free nights and other perks."

To figure out which countries are cheapest to visit in this recession, we looked at all the non-North American currencies against which the U.S. dollar has gained 15% or more over the past year. We then ranked these 28 countries by the dollar's value in local currency, and by airfare. We based the latter on prices from Kayak.com for a roundtrip coach flight from a New York-area airport to each country's capital, departing on Friday, June 12 and returning Sunday, June 21. Ties in the overall rankings were broken by lowest airfare.