Is traveling on a small budget and spending the winter in the Caribbean an impossible equation? At least I have always considered the Caribbean an expensive travel destination, but despite that we decided to travel the Caribbean islands from November to February, as part of a longer stay on the other side of the Atlantic. The chosen destinations were the Dominican Republic, the British Virgin Islands, and Jamaica. In this post we summarize our tropical winter travel destinations in the Caribbean and break down the costs of the trip.
Base in the Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic was initially chosen primarily because of flight availability and price, but very soon it became clear that as a large country it is not only a really interesting travel destination in itself, but also an excellent base for traveling elsewhere in the Caribbean.
We arrived on the island on an affordable TUI holiday flight from Brussels (without a return ticket), for just under 300 euros per person (including checked bags and meals). There are no direct flights from Finland to the Dominican Republic, but package holidays to the Dominican Republic are offered at least by Tjäreborg. At a quick glance they also have a flight-only option, though it appears to be quite expensive. When planning a Caribbean trip, it’s worth checking connecting flights from Europe and seeing what TUI Fly has to offer (TUI flights do not appear e.g. on Skyscanner, so it’s worth searching directly on their website).
We traveled around the island three separate times during the winter and explored both city destinations and stunning beaches. Inter-city and inter-village travel was done independently by bus and minibus. Bus travel is easy and quite affordable in the Dominican Republic. You can read destination-specific posts about the Dominican Republic via the links below:
Bayahibe and Isla Saona
Surprisingly charming Santo Domingo
Jarabacoa waterfalls and Sosúa
Boca Chica, Las Terrenas and Samaná
Price level in the Dominican Republic
We really liked the Dominican Republic a lot, but the price level was higher than we expected. Although Hispaniola is in the Caribbean, it is a country of about 12 million people where wages are quite low and the majority of residents live very modestly on small incomes. On the other hand, the middle class lives quite comfortably, and about 5% belong to the wealthy category. The lowest-income people hardly shop in supermarkets or eat out, because many basic food items are at European price levels in the Dominican Republic, and many imported products are naturally very expensive. Alcohol is also surprisingly expensive — for example, you cannot buy beer from the store at the same price as in Finland. Local rum is naturally good, and the cheapest versions are reasonably priced. We paid 17–35 euros per night for accommodation, which were either our own apartments or hostel/hotel rooms. Depending on the place, accommodation can be significantly more expensive, and in the most popular tourist destinations you will certainly pay ten times that price for resorts and fine hotels.
Dog-sitting in the British Virgin Islands
Our second Caribbean destination was the British Virgin Islands, where we spent just over three weeks over Christmas and New Year during the high season. This British Overseas Territory would not normally have been on our list, as it is known as a tax haven and has a fairly high price level. However, we got a house-sitting (dog-sitting) placement on Virgin Gorda, which gave us free and quite luxurious accommodation, plus the opportunity to cook our own meals instead of eating out. Flights to the island were surprisingly expensive though (it would have been relatively cheap via Puerto Rico, but we did not have ESTA approval for the US).
Virgin Gorda is an absolutely stunning island, and we greatly enjoyed our time there. We explored different parts of the island by walking with Bruno, driving around, and partly by water. Read more about the British Virgin Islands and especially Virgin Gorda in the separate post:
Dog-sitting and amazing beaches on Virgin Gorda
Price level in the British Virgin Islands
As already mentioned, the British Virgin Islands (BVI) is definitely not a typical budget travel destination, and we certainly would not have gone there without the house-sitting placement. (If you are not familiar with house-sitting, it means free accommodation in exchange for taking care of pets.) On Virgin Gorda we had access not only to a beautiful apartment, but also a car, kayaks, snorkeling gear, and gym access, so the setting for this house-sit was excellent overall.
But yes, the BVI price level is insane! Starting with food: we practically never ate in restaurants on Virgin Gorda because the prices are very high. Perhaps you could get something relatively affordable from a very low-key kiosk-style place, but we happily cooked our own meals. We had planned to go to a nicer restaurant once for dinner, but the prices were so high that we decided to save restaurant dinners for another country.
Even grocery shopping on Virgin Gorda required careful choices, because almost nothing is produced or grown on the islands, so practically all food is imported. As a result, even basic groceries in supermarkets are really expensive — many times higher than in Finland. Think root vegetables and fruit costing several euros per kilo, a basic pack of pasta 5 euros, a pack of muesli 15 euros, a liter of yogurt 10 euros, a bag of bread 6 euros, etc. Luckily our favorite store often had big discounts — apparently their purchase batches are very large and products are still plentiful close to the expiration date. We bought a lot of yogurts with over 90% discounts, and sometimes cheeses, meats, and various vegetables were also heavily discounted.
One pleasant surprise in the BVI price level was the low entrance fees. All beaches are free, and entry to the absolutely stunning The Baths and Devil’s Bay nature park cost only three dollars. You can also reach the luxurious North Sound area — known for superyachts, celebrity visitors, and fancy resorts — using free boat shuttles. On the other hand, short ferry trips between the main islands are quite expensive; for example, round-trip from Virgin Gorda to Tortola costs 30 dollars.
Backpacking in Jamaica
Our last Caribbean destination was Jamaica at the turn of January and February, where we also flew round-trip from the Dominican Republic. This time we smartly left the big backpack behind and traveled for these two weeks with only carry-on luggage (which we should definitely have done for the Virgin Islands too). Our main areas in Jamaica were the Portland region in the northeast, the rest of the north coast, and the capital Kingston.
More about these destinations and backpacking in Jamaica in general is described in the post below:
Backpacking in Jamaica
Price level in Jamaica
For some reason we thought beforehand that Jamaica would be a relatively affordable travel destination, as it is a fairly large island with a lot of local food production, just like in the Dominican Republic. However, even in Jamaica a budget traveler has to be quite careful, because basically everything from accommodation to food is fairly expensive. With smart choices you can keep costs within some kind of limits, but this means compromising on the comfort of both accommodation and transport.
Our accommodation prices varied from 20 euros to 50 euros per night, with the most expensive being a nice private apartment and the cheapest a rather rundown Rastafari guesthouse. The easiest and most comfortable option for traveling between different parts of the island is the tourist buses of Knutsford Express or private taxis, but those who search can also find much cheaper local buses and shared “taxis”. As a curiosity related to the price level, SIM cards and mobile data were really affordable in Jamaica, and you could withdraw cash without a separate withdrawal fee at least from ScotiaBank ATMs.
Cost summary
Below is a list of all expenses for this almost three-month (82 days) Caribbean trip, first broken down by category and finally as a whole. All costs are for two people unless otherwise stated.
Flights
Brussels – Punta Cana (Dominican Republic): 591.98 €
Santo Domingo – Beef Island (BVI) – Santo Domingo: 883.96 €
Santo Domingo – Kingston (Jamaica) – Santo Domingo: 610.14 €
Santo Domingo – Bogotá (Colombia): 233.90 €
Flights to / within the Caribbean total: 2,319.98 € (2 people)
Other travel expenses
Long bus journeys in the Dominican Republic and Jamaica: 140.11 €
Ferries in the Virgin Islands: 57.70 €
Local buses: 10.75 €
Uber etc. taxi services: 105.73 €
Other travel expenses total: 314.30 €
Accommodation expenses
Dominican Republic 43 nights (of which 10 cat-sitting): 797.46 € (average 24.17 € per paid night)
British Virgin Islands (25 nights dog-sitting): 0 €
Jamaica 14 nights: 496.30 € (average 35.45 € per night)
Accommodation total: 1,293.76 € (82 nights, average for paid nights 27.53 €)
Restaurant expenses
As nomads who are constantly traveling, we generally spend significantly less on restaurants than vacationers, because we usually live in our own apartments and want to cook most meals ourselves for both health and cost reasons. Even in the Caribbean our restaurant expenses were quite reasonable, and in the Virgin Islands we ate in a restaurant only once — breakfast at a beach bar on the last day while waiting for our flight (you can walk from the beach restaurant to the small airport on Beef Island in a few minutes :D). The expenses below include drinks in addition to food.
Dominican Republic: 504.64 € (11.74 € per day)
BVI: 24.76 € (0.99 € per day)
Jamaica: 138.68 € (9.91 € per day)
Restaurants total: 668.08 € (8.15 € per day)
Grocery expenses
Grocery expenses include all food and drinks purchased from stores, from water to beer and the occasional bottle of wine or rum. Interestingly, the daily average was surprisingly similar across countries even though there is a big difference in food prices, especially between the Dominican Republic and the Virgin Islands. Apparently we buy more / better food and drinks when prices are lower, and settle for simpler meals where groceries are expensive.
Dominican Republic: 577.86 € (13.44 € per day)
BVI: 377.28 € (15.09 € per day)
Jamaica: 198.37 € (14.17 € per day)
Groceries total: 1,153.51 € (14.07 € per day)
Tours and entrance fees
We traveled mostly independently in the Caribbean countries, but in the Dominican Republic we joined two organized tours: a day trip to the incredibly beautiful Isla Saona and a whale-watching safari in Samaná Bay. Other expenses in this category are entrance fees to attractions (mainly the Bob Marley Museum in Jamaica, The Baths in BVI) and the entry fee to the British Virgin Islands.
Dominican Republic: 247.77 €
BVI: 25 €
Jamaica: 24 €
Tours and entrance fees total: 296.77 €
Other trip expenses
SIM cards and data: 35.90 € (no mobile data used in BVI)
Cash withdrawal fees: 8.42 €
Luggage storage in the Dominican Republic: 31.75 €
Other expenses total: 76.07 €
Total expenses
Total expenses for almost three months (82 days): 6,122.45 € i.e. 3,061.23 € per person (37.33 € per day per person)
In summary of this cost breakdown, the total price tag of over 6,000 euros (for the two of us) initially felt like quite a large sum after adding everything up. On the other hand, it covers almost three months, and the destination is the wonderful, tropical Caribbean. Compared to, for example, a Caribbean cruise including flights, this price is quite low, and the duration is indeed long. On the other hand, if we had chosen more islands or stayed longer on more expensive islands, the price tag of this trip would have been much higher. It is possible to travel the Caribbean on very different budgets, and perhaps our trip is an example of budget travel even though it included amazing destinations. Normally our nomad life is significantly cheaper (see for example the 2024 or 2023 cost summaries), and after moving from the Caribbean to the mainland in Colombia and Brazil, we have again spent considerably less money over the spring.
In addition to the travel expenses listed here, there were also insurance costs; while in the Caribbean and South America we have been using Genki travel insurance, which costs 144.60 € per month for the two of us. Genki is one of the international insurance options well suited for nomad life and long trips. You can read more about it and other similar long-term insurances in the post Best insurances for nomad life and long trips.
How do these Caribbean trip costs sound to you — would you have thought a three-month “holiday” in the Caribbean would cost more or less? Would you go backpacking independently in the Caribbean, or are you more interested in a cruise or a pre-packaged trip? Share your thoughts in the comments!
More photos from the Caribbean can be found on our FinnsAway Instagram and Facebook, and we also talk about traveling in the Caribbean and South America on our Elämää Nomadina podcast (in Finnish) — go listen to both the long episodes and the short Pikapodi mini-episodes!
Where to get travel insurance for a longer trip?
Over more than eight years of nomad life, we’ve searched for cost-effective and reliable solutions, especially for travelers’ health insurance.
In the article Nomad Travel Insurance: 3 +1 Easy Options, we present international insurance options suitable also for extended trips.