Which place is cheaper, Shangri-La or Surfers Paradise?
These are the overall average travel costs for the two destinations.
If you're trying to decide where to visit between Surfers Paradise or Shangri-La, this travel comparison, which includes costs, can help. The overall cost of travel is usually a consideration when deciding where to go next, and the cost comparison down below can help you decide based on the average prices from other travelers along with your own travel budget.
A tourist mecca, Surfers Paradise is one of the most popular travel destinations along Australia's famed Gold Coast. The beach stretches for miles and there is an endless supply of almost constant parties. You'll find high rise apartments lined up along the shore and plenty of shopping areas, restaurants, nightclubs, and bars. Travelers from around the world visit the area, and it's a right of passage for Australia's teens to vacation in or near Surfers Paradise. For many travelers, Surfers Paradise comes across as little more than a mass marketed, over commercialized, party destination, but for others it is a vacation dream. Prices are highly inflated so you have to keep your whits about you to avoid being ripped off. Surfers Paradise is a destination of extremes and it conjures up extreme emotions in many travelers, be it positive or negative.
The original Shangri-La existed in the fictional world of James Hilton's novel "The Lost Horizon." It was a hidden paradise, a place so beautiful that it couldn't possibly exist on earth. The Shangri-La that exists in Yunnan, China today was renamed from its former title Zhongdian in 2001 in order to associate the place with the mystical allure created in Hilton's novel. Visitors come to admire the traditional monasteries and temples set against a backdrop of mountain preserves and pristine lakes.
For some great organized tour ideas, see The Best Contiki Tours to Australia, The Best G Adventures Tours to Australia, The Best 2-Week Tours from Beijing, and The Best Family-Friendly Tours to China.
These are the overall average travel costs for the two destinations.
The average daily cost (per person) in Surfers Paradise is $104, while the average daily cost in Shangri-La is $46. These costs include accommodation (assuming double occupancy, so the traveler is sharing the room), food, transportation, and entertainment. While every person is different, these costs are an average of past travelers in each destination. What follows is a categorical breakdown of travel costs for Surfers Paradise and Shangri-La in more detail.
Looking for a hotel in Surfers Paradise or Shangri-La? Prices vary by location, date, season, and the level of luxury. See below for options and compare which is best for your budget and travel style.
Kayak helps you find the best prices for hotels, flights, and rental cars for destinations around the world. Compare prices for multiple destinations when planning your next trip.
Also for Surfers Paradise, here are a few examples of actual transportation services:
Some specific examples of transportation prices in Shangri-La:
Prices for flights to both Shangri-La and Surfers Paradise change regularly based on dates and travel demand. We suggest you find the best prices for your next trip on Kayak, because you can compare the cost of flights across multiple airlines for your prefered dates.
For Surfers Paradise, here are some samples of tours and activities related to meals and dining experiences:
Below are a few sample prices from actual travelers for Surfers Paradise's activities, tours, and tickets:
For Surfers Paradise, here are a few prices for actual activities, tours, and tickets provided by various companies:
Some specific costs of activities, tours, and entrance tickets for Shangri-La are as follows:
When we compare the travel costs of actual travelers between Surfers Paradise and Shangri-La, we can see that Surfers Paradise is more expensive. And not only is Shangri-La much less expensive, but it is actually a significantly cheaper destination. Since Surfers Paradise is in Pacific and Shangri-La is in Asia, this is one of the main reasons why the costs are so different, as different regions of the world tend to have overall different travel costs. So, traveling to Shangri-La would let you spend less money overall. Or, you could decide to spend more money in Shangri-La and be able to afford a more luxurious travel style by staying in nicer hotels, eating at more expensive restaurants, taking tours, and experiencing more activities. The same level of travel in Surfers Paradise would naturally cost you much more money, so you would probably want to keep your budget a little tighter in Surfers Paradise than you might in Shangri-La.
If you're trying to decide if either of these two destinations are within your price range, also see Is Surfers Paradise Expensive? and Is Shangri-La Expensive?.