Budget travel doesn't have to mean hostel bunks and packet noodles. A cost comparison of 35 major cities by travelcostcalculator.org, pulled together by Matador Network, shows that in ten of the world's biggest urban centres you can cover a hotel, three meals and a day of sightseeing for under $80 — and in half of them, under $50.

Delhi, Cairo, Bangkok, Marrakech and Kuala Lumpur all tie at the bottom of the spend table at around $38 a day. In Delhi, that's built on $20 hotel rooms, $2 drinks and meals under $9, plus free entry to art galleries and film screenings at the India Habitat Centre. Bangkok works out similarly: temples and several museums — including the quirky Corrections Museum in a former prison — cost nothing, street food runs about $17 a day, and hotels average $41. In Cairo, the maths get even better unless you're set on the pyramids; a bus to Giza costs under a dollar, though a full guided tour adds roughly $40.

Istanbul comes in at $45 a day, with hotel rooms at just $22 and meals of simit and balik ekmek fish sandwiches keeping food under $6. That leaves room for the classic splurge: a session at a historic hammam, around $15 entry or $23 with a massage. Lima and Buenos Aires match each other at $50 a day, and both are easy sells for food lovers. In the Argentine capital, a steak-and-wine dinner rarely tops $20, the Museum of Fine Arts is free, and weekends bring the Feria de Mataderos market with gauchos and live tango. Lima's ceviche in beachside bodegas averages about $16 a day of eating, with historic churches and the presidential guard ceremony also free.

Beijing and Warsaw, both at $78, are the priciest on the list — still a bargain by global standards. Beijing offers $29-a-night rooms, $12 food days and free entry to Tiananmen Square and the National Museum, with the hutong lanes and the 798 art district costing nothing to wander. Warsaw is the only European city to make the cut, with $2 beers, free museum days (the Warsaw Rising Museum on Sundays, the National Museum on Tuesdays) and city beaches along the Vistula River in summer. Hotels there run just over $50 per person on a double-occupancy basis.

Why does this matter? Because the biggest barrier to travel is often the assumption that a city break means $200-plus a day. Swap Paris or New York for Marrakech or Kuala Lumpur and the same flight budget stretches into a week-long trip. Food-first travellers should look at Buenos Aires and Lima; culture-on-a-shoestring types, Delhi or Beijing; anyone chasing a warm-weather weekend, Warsaw or Istanbul. Check visa requirements before booking — Egypt, India and China all require them for many nationalities — and remember these are averages, so a pyramids tour or a day of fine dining will nudge the numbers up.