Mission Trip Cost Calculator
How much does a mission trip cost?
A typical two-week mission trip costs about $3,290 per person, covering the program fee, flights, gear, travel insurance and day-to-day spending. Pick your home country below and see what your own route would cost as a mission trip, as backpacking, or as a Cross Exchange stay.
Currency conversion
Change the currency above the route and every figure converts from US dollars at rates published by Frankfurter on 2026-08-25. Rates move daily and this page rebuilds periodically, so read a converted figure as a rough equivalent rather than today's bank rate.
Figures round to the nearest ten dollars, or to the step that buys the same precision in your chosen currency. Each line item rounds first and the total is the sum of those rounded lines, so the columns add up as written. The sourced figures on this page are the exception: they convert at the rates above but never round, so each one stays the exact worth of what its source published.
Mission Trip
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Cross Exchange
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Backpacking
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Your Route
Mission Trip$0
- Program fee$0
- Accommodation$0Included in the program fee
- Meals$0Included in the program fee
- Transport$0Included in the program fee
- Miscellaneous$0
- Travel insurance$0Included in the program fee
- Total · 0 weeks$0
The mission organization chooses the destination(s), so opportunities involving the selected countries may not exist.
- Program fee$0
- Accommodation$0Included in the program fee
- Meals$0Included in the program fee
- Transport$0Included in the program fee
- Miscellaneous$0
- Travel insurance$0Included in the program fee
- Total · 0 weeks$0
The mission organization chooses the destination(s), so opportunities involving the selected countries may not exist.
Cross Exchange$0
- Program fee$0
- Accommodation$0Covered by your host
- Meals$0Covered by your host
- Transport$0
- Miscellaneous$0
- Travel insurance$0
- Total · 0 weeks$0
- Program fee$0
- Accommodation$0Covered by your host
- Meals$0Covered by your host
- Transport$0
- Miscellaneous$0
- Travel insurance$0
- Total · 0 weeks$0
Backpacking$0
- Program fee$0Not applicable
- Accommodation$0
- Meals$0
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- Total · 0 weeks$0
- Program fee$0Not applicable
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Edit the parameters
Ballpark planning figures, not quotes.
Change a figure and the estimate re-prices as you type. Changes last for this visit. A shared link always carries our published figures.
Nightly and daily rates
Backpacking accommodation and meals are priced by each country's cost-of-living tier, at hostel and budget-meal rates.
Shared figures
Where these figures come from
Every week on your route is seven nights and seven days. We charge seven nights of a bed, seven days of meals, and seven days of activities, and we do not add a day for the flight out or the flight home.
Nightly and daily rates
Tiers come from the World Bank's price level index, which compares what a basket of goods costs in each country against the United States. A country or territory with no index of its own — mostly small islands and dependencies — takes the median tier of its region instead, so treat those as a rougher guess than the rest.
Shared figures
| Figure | How we charge it |
|---|---|
| Gear and apparel | Once, whatever the trip length. |
| Activities and incidentals | Every day of the trip. |
| Bus, train, or ferry crossing | Only where two countries are connected overland. |
| Travel insurance | A share of the monthly rate for the length of the trip. A three-week trip is charged seven tenths of a month. |
What the mission trip column uses
A two-week church trip and a nine-month program are different products, so the mission trip column prices by duration band. Each band's figure comes from the published pricing in the table.
Short-term trip (under one month)
$875 per week
| Program | Published pricing |
|---|---|
| Praying Pelican Missions short-term trips | Praying Pelican Missions' published mission trip pricing for roughly week-long trips: 549-849 USD per person domestic, 799-1,099 USD Central America and the Caribbean, 1,799 USD Africa, 1,349-1,999 USD Europe, and 2,299 USD Holy Land, plus a 500 USD individual registration fee; airfare excluded |
| Adventures in Missions adult and sports trips | Adventures in Missions' published adult mission trip pricing: from 1,095 USD per person for a six-night trip including food, lodging, ministry expenses, and international health insurance; airfare excluded |
| Nations Outreach mission trip cost survey | Nations Outreach's published market survey: a typical short-term mission trip runs 500-1,250 USD per person per week, excluding airfare |
Mid-length program (one to six months)
$1,700 per month
| Program | Published pricing |
|---|---|
| YWAM Discipleship Training School (YWAM Ships Kona) | YWAM Ships Kona's published Discipleship Training Schools fees: 4,700 USD lecture phase plus an estimated 5,000-5,500 USD outreach phase over roughly six months; lecture-phase airfare excluded |
| YWAM Discipleship Training School (YWAM Wylie) | YWAM Wylie's published DTS cost page: 3,850 USD lecture phase plus 5,000-6,000 USD outreach phase including airfare, meals, and housing |
Long-term program (past six months)
$22,500 total
| Program | Published pricing |
|---|---|
| World Race | The World Race's published 2026 Expedition Route page: 22,500 USD total for the eleven-month program, including international flights, food, lodging, and travel and medical insurance |
Round-trip airfare
$1,200 total
Where a program's published fee excludes airfare, the mission trip column prices the same round trip between your home country and your first destination that the other two columns pay, from the flight fares above. The figure below is the fallback, used until you pick a home country. The published fee itself never changes.
| Program | Published pricing |
|---|---|
| Average international round-trip airfare from the United States | The Motley Fool's Average Cost of Airfare research page, citing FCM Consulting and Corporate Traveler: the average international economy round-trip ticket from the United States is 1,217 USD; mission-organization published airfare estimates bracket it (700-1,000 USD Latin America and the Caribbean, 1,400-2,200 USD East Africa) |
See Who Can Host You
Cross Exchange is cost-effective because of the shared service exchange. Your host provides room and board; you provide the helping hands their project needs, and no money changes hands. Sign up for free to see who is hosting along your route!
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