Every open lodging and transport decision across the trip, in one place — work through them here in a batch, or accept them stop by stop from the planner.
Chiang Mai
$22/ night
A well-reviewed guesthouse in the Old City moat area. Chiang Mai's lodging costs run 60–70% below Lisbon's, so this frees budget for the Kyoto splurge later without touching your buffer.
$41/ night
A serviced apartment with a kitchen and reliable co-working desk — the median choice for a 7-week stay at your pace.
$78/ night
A pool villa near Nimman. Chiang Mai is a low-cost stop, so splurging here has a small budget impact relative to splurging in Kyoto or Queenstown.
$680total
Seville → Chiang Mai has no direct routing worth considering by train or bus — flying with one stop in Doha or Istanbul is both the fastest and cheapest option on this leg by a wide margin.
Kyoto
$260/ night
A traditional ryokan with kaiseki dinners included. Kyoto is flagged as a bucket-list stop — this is the splurge opportunity in the trip worth funding from the Chiang Mai and Hoi An savings.
$110/ night
A machiya townhouse rental in Higashiyama — comfortable for a 6-week base without the ryokan's nightly rate.