Thailand

Thailand is the easy heart of Southeast Asia — a warm, welcoming country of glittering temples, palm-fringed islands, misty northern hills and some of the best street food on the planet, all at prices that stretch a budget for weeks. Bangkok, the frenetic capital, is the gateway: a steamy, thrilling sprawl of gold-spired temples, canal markets, rooftop bars and food carts on every corner, where the ancient and the ultra-modern collide. Cheap, chaotic and utterly seductive.

What things cost: Thailand is wonderfully cheap — a plate of superb street food costs a euro or two, a long taxi not much more, and rooms span backpacker-cheap to affordable luxury. Bangkok's malls and rooftop bars can run to Western prices, but you never have to. When a zone below says 'low', that means very low indeed.