Best-value European breaks for Brits revealed: Krakow in Poland is the cheapest city for a getaway and Amsterdam is the most expensive (with London not far behind)
- Athens has regained its place as the cheapest city in Western Europe, overtaking Lisbon
- Moscow is one of seven cities where the cost of city break items - such as food and drink - have fallen
- The high price of accommodation in Amsterdam accounts for the 27 per cent increase in its overall cost
Krakow has emerged as the cheapest European city for a bargain break for Brits this spring.
That’s according to Post Office Travel Money, which surveys the price of 12 typical city break items annually – including food and drink, accommodation and must-see attractions – across 36 European cities to produce a ‘City Costs Barometer’.
Eastern Europe continues to dominate the list of best-value capitals for UK tourists, taking the top seven places. London comes 25th on the list, with Amsterdam offering the very worst value for money.
Kraking times: Krakow has emerged as the cheapest European city for a bargain break for Brits this spring
London is the 25th most expensive city in Post Office Travel Money's 2018 barometer
At £165 for 12 typical city break items, Krakow has taken the top spot in the City Costs Barometer for the first time.
Prices in Poland’s second city are less than a third of those in Amsterdam (£535).
The high cost of accommodation in Amsterdam - £365 for two nights, up over £100 on 2017 – accounts for the 27 per cent increase in its barometer total.
However, prices for meals, drinks and other items are lower than in long-time rivals Paris and Venice.
Although prices are almost 19 per cent higher than a year ago, Vilnius (£166) is a close runner-up to Krakow.
Another Baltic capital, third-placed Riga (£172), continues to offer by far the cheapest accommodation at £62 for two nights. By comparison, prices in the third Baltic capital, Tallinn (15th, £252), are up by over 20 per cent for the second year running, making the city 53 per cent more expensive than Vilnius.
Elsewhere in Eastern Europe Warsaw (4th, £181), Budapest (5th, £184) and Prague (7th, £200) remain cities where thrifty tourists will get more for their money, even though sterling has slipped in value by between 1.2 and 7.7 per cent against their currencies since last spring.
The highest new top 10 entrant is Moscow (£200), which has moved up 10 places to sixth in the table after a 9.6 per cent fall in prices. The weak Russian ruble, low living costs and competitively priced accommodation account for Moscow’s strong performance.
The high cost of accommodation in Amsterdam - £365 for two nights, up over £100 on 2017 – accounts for the 27 per cent increase in its barometer total
It is one of seven cities where barometer costs have fallen over the past year.
The biggest fall, of 15.3 per cent, is recorded in Stockholm (£387), which has moved six places up the table to 29th. This price fall has been boosted by a 4.6 per cent year-on-year rise in sterling’s value against the kronor. Along with Oslo (35th, £510) the most expensive Nordic city of five surveyed, Reykjavik (34th, £510) has also seen a sizeable fall of 7.7 per cent.
Another city to register a fall (2.1 per cent) is Lille (£209), which has moved four places up the barometer table into 10th place. The three other French cities surveyed also performed well. Strasbourg (13th, £235) and Nice (14th, £246) are in the top half of the table while the long-established city break favourite Paris (23rd, £320) is over £200 cheaper than Amsterdam.
Athens (8th, £200) has regained its place as the cheapest city in Western Europe, overtaking Lisbon (9th, £209), where prices have risen 29 per cent.
Meals in the Greek capital (£37.11 for a meal for two with wine) are significantly cheaper than in any of the other cities surveyed.
By comparison, overall barometer prices are over twice as high in the two most expensive Eurozone cities surveyed – Venice (32nd, £423) and Amsterdam (36th, £535).
Just outside the top 10, Valletta (11th, £212) is looking like good value for visitors attracted by its status as this year’s European Capital of Culture. Meals, drinks and other tourist costs in the Maltese capital are fifth cheapest in the survey, although accommodation costs are higher than in the top 10 cities.
Prices in London (£351), meanwhile, have dropped by 5.8 per cent since last spring, according to the research. They have also fallen 2.4 per cent in Belfast (21st, £315), which remains cheaper for a city break than neighbouring Dublin (31st, £388) – although the differential is mainly the result of high hotel prices in the Irish capital. In 20th place, Edinburgh (£291) emerges as the cheapest of the three UK cities surveyed.
Post Office Travel Money conducts a survey of costs in European cities every year
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Krakow is beautiful. So much history around this a...
by Robert 136