How much does a trip to Timor-Leste cost? Daily budget and prices

Timor-Leste is not a cheap country in the way its neighbours are. Almost everything beyond rice, fish and vegetables is imported, so a Dili café coffee at US$2–3 and a beer at US$2–4 sit close to Western prices while a local plate stays at US$2–5. The gap between styles comes mostly from your bed and your transport, not your food.

The figures below are per person per day, 2026 estimate, sharing a room at mid-range and comfort. Flights are not included. Outside Dili, accommodation is basic and the choice narrows fast, so the mid-range band often means a good Dili hotel rather than a lodge in the districts.

Two lines dominate a Timor-Leste budget: the car and driver, and the dive trip. A driver day at US$80–150 is the only way to reach many places at your own pace, and splitting it between two or three travellers changes the maths of the whole trip. A two-dive trip runs US$100–150, which is why diving days push a mid-range budget toward the top of its band.

Day to day, Dili is manageable. A taxi across town is US$3–5, a coffee US$2–3, a local meal US$2–5. Microlets, the minibuses that serve Dili and some district routes, cost a fraction of a taxi but run on their own schedule.

Timor-Leste uses the US dollar, with small local centavo coins for change. Bring small notes: a US$100 bill is hard to break outside a Dili hotel, and district shops and market stalls may not have change at all.

ATMs are few and can be empty, so treat them as a top-up, not a plan. Cards work in few hotels and dive shops and may carry a surcharge. Carry most of your budget in cash, split across two places, and keep a reserve you do not touch until the last days. This is the single decision that most changes how a Timor-Leste trip goes.

Dili takes the largest share of most budgets: hotels, restaurants, dive shops and the drivers who wait for you. A day out east toward Tutuala or west toward Maliana adds a driver day plus a simple guesthouse, and removes the restaurant spending you would have had in the capital.

If your budget is tight, the trade is straightforward: fewer driver days, more microlets and shared rides, and stay in Dili longer rather than moving every second night. If your budget is comfortable, spend it on transport and diving — those are the two things you cannot do cheaply here, and they are what the country is for.

Prices in this guide are 2026 estimates and can move with fuel and shipping costs. Anything imported — cheese, wine, imported beer, electronics — is priced well above what you would pay in Bali or Darwin. Anything local is not.

Budget a buffer. Flights to Dili are few and expensive, and a missed connection or a changed driver plan can add a night in a Dili hotel at short notice. If you are combining Timor-Leste with Indonesia or Australia, price the flight first: it is often the largest single cost of the whole trip.

Start with the tier that matches how you actually travel, then adjust for the two variables that matter: how many driver days you want, and whether you dive. A backpacker using microlets and eating local can hold US$40–60 a day. Add one driver day a week and you are in the mid-range band. Add diving and a private driver and you are at US$250+.

For the rest of the planning — when to go, what to see, how to move between districts — use the links below.