How this instrument works
Comparing how 'expensive' one beach destination is versus another is hard to do with a single official statistic, because there's no government price index built specifically for beach tourism. The Beach Price Index sidesteps that gap the same way The Economist's well-known Big Mac Index sidesteps a similar problem for currency comparisons: instead of trying to track a huge, complicated basket of goods, it picks a small, representative handful of things almost every beachgoer actually buys, and simply adds up their local prices.
This calculator uses six categories: sunscreen (a standard 200mL SPF30 bottle), bottled water, a beer, an ice cream, a beach lunch for one person including a drink and dessert, and a facility fee covering beach entrance plus a sunbed and umbrella rental. Add up local prices for all six and you get one number — the day's Beach Price Index — that's directly comparable across destinations, since every location is priced against the identical six-item list.
It's a deliberately simple index, not a comprehensive cost-of-living study — six items can't capture everything about a destination's expense, and prices for any one category can vary widely within the same beach town depending on exactly where you buy. Treat it as a quick, comparable snapshot for planning purposes, the same spirit the Big Mac Index is used in: not perfectly precise, but genuinely useful for a fast side-by-side comparison.
- Enter local prices for Sunscreen, Bottled water, Beer, and Ice cream at your destination.
- Enter Beach lunch for one — a typical meal including a drink and dessert.
- Enter the Facility fee — beach entrance plus sunbed and umbrella rental, where applicable.
- Read the Beach Price Index — the sum of all six local costs for that day.
- Repeat for a second destination using the same six categories to get a directly comparable pair of index numbers.
Worked example — a mid-range beach day
At one destination: $8 sunscreen, $1.50 water, $4 beer, $3 ice cream, $15 lunch, and a $20 facility fee sum to a Beach Price Index of $51.50 for the day — $8+$1.50+$4+$3+$15+$20 = $51.50.
A budget-friendly alternative destination might price the same six items at $5, $1, $2.50, $2, $8, and $10, for an index of $28.50 — nearly half the cost — while a premium resort beach could run $15, $3, $8, $6, $35, and $60 for an index of $127.00, over double the first example. Comparing the three index numbers side by side gives a fast sense of relative expense without needing a full cost-of-living study for each place.
Questions
Why these six specific items and not others?
They're chosen because nearly every beachgoer buys some version of each one regardless of destination — sun protection, drinking water, a casual drink, a treat, a meal, and access to the beach setup itself — making them a reasonably representative, easy-to-price basket. It mirrors the same logic behind The Economist's Big Mac Index: pick a small set of near-universal purchases rather than trying to price an entire local economy.
Is the Beach Price Index an official economic statistic?
No — it's an informal, simplified comparison tool, not a government-published price index like a Consumer Price Index. Treat it the same way you'd treat the Big Mac Index: a quick, genuinely useful way to compare relative costs across places, not a rigorous or comprehensive economic measurement.
What if a destination doesn't charge a facility fee for beach access?
Enter zero for that category — many public beaches have no entrance fee and no mandatory sunbed rental, in which case the index simply reflects the other five categories. The facility fee exists as a line item because plenty of resort-style and privately-managed beaches do charge one, and leaving it out entirely would understate their real daily cost.
How should I price 'a beach lunch for one' if meal prices vary a lot at one destination?
Use a realistic, typical meal — a casual sit-down or beachside-stand lunch including a drink and a dessert, not the cheapest possible snack or the most expensive restaurant on the boardwalk. Consistency matters more than precision here: pricing every destination's lunch category the same way (casual, with drink and dessert) keeps the comparison fair between places.
Can I use this to compare beaches within the same country, not just internationally?
Yes — the index works exactly the same way for comparing, say, a crowded resort beach against a quieter regional one within the same country, since it's just comparing six local prices against six local prices. It's equally useful for domestic trip planning as it is for comparing destinations across different currencies.