How much does a trip to Papua New Guinea cost? Daily budget and prices

Papua New Guinea is expensive for what you get. Security, imported goods and small-plane flights push prices up, and most visitors buy packages from lodges or operators rather than paying nightly rates. The table below is per person per day, sharing a room at mid-range and comfort.

Backpacker travel is the cheapest tier on paper but the hardest to arrange: village guesthouses and mission houses usually need a local contact, and transport means PMVs (minibuses) and banana boats with a guide. If you have no contacts, plan on mid-range costs from day one.

Food splits into two worlds. A kai bar lunch of rice, stew and chicken costs K10–25, while a main course in a Port Moresby hotel runs K60–120 and a beer K12–20. If you eat where your lodge sends you, food is a small share of the day; if you eat in hotels, it is not.

Rooms follow the same pattern. Mid-range hotels in Port Moresby cost about K600–1,000 per night. Outside the towns, all-inclusive lodges bundle room, meals, guiding and often internal flights, which is why their per-day cost looks high but covers more.

Two big extras sit outside the daily budget. A Kokoda Track trek of 8–10 days with a licensed operator costs roughly A$4,500–7,000 from Australia including flights (check), and Goroka or Mount Hagen Show entry for foreigners is about K100–300 per day (check).

Domestic flights are a fixed cost of any PNG trip. A one-way sector with a bag runs about K900 (check), and there are no practical road links between the main regions, so you fly or you do not go. Charter legs to remote lodges add K1,000 or more per person.

On the ground, PMVs are cheap but slow and not always available where you want them. Most travellers at mid-range and above hire a driver and guide, which is the transport line in the table above. Agree the day rate, fuel and waiting time before you set off.

The kina is a cash economy outside a handful of hotels and shops in the main towns. ATMs exist in main towns only, so carry enough cash for rural stays and keep it out of sight. Cards work at larger hotels and some town shops; do not count on them anywhere else.

Villages and landowners charge customary fees for visits, photos and use of land. These are normal, not a scam, but agree the amount in advance through your guide so nobody is surprised at the end of a visit. Build a small cash float for this into your daily extras.

The biggest saving is joining a group departure rather than booking private guiding, which cuts the driver, guide and vehicle cost per person. The second is eating where locals eat: kai bars and market food instead of hotel restaurants.

Book domestic flights early and keep the itinerary to two regions. Every extra hop adds a flight, a transfer and often a charter. If you are weighing whether the trip is worth the money at all, the safety and access picture matters as much as the price.