East beats west to land best value city break title

The 10 best European cities for a pound-stretching break are Vilnius, Lisbon, Lille, Krakow, Athens, Riga, Budapest, Bratislava, Prague and Warsaw

• Vilnius has regained its place as best value city in the annual City Costs Barometer, one of seven Eastern European ones in the top 10 (www.postoffice.co.uk/citycosts).
• Runner-up Lisbon is one of three Western European cities to reach the top five in the table as Lille leaps up to third place and Athens takes fifth position.
• Prices are down in 60% of cities, due to sterling’s strength compared with a year ago and accommodation falls.
• Closer to home, Cardiff is again cheapest of the four UK capital cities

Vilnius has regained its title as Europe’s cheapest value city, according to the Post Office Travel Money City Costs Barometer¹, which is published as new consumer research confirms that city breaks are again the top choice for British holidaymakers². Over two-in-five Britons planning a trip abroad say they will go on a city break.

The Lithuanian capital overtook last year’s winner, Lisbon, to rate as best value for the fourth time³and is one of seven Eastern European cities to dominate the top 10 of 37 surveyed for the 17^th annual cost comparison. It comes as Post Office, the UK’s largest foreign exchange provider, reports that sterling is stronger than a year ago against every European currency except the Polish zloty, helping to reduce the price of city breaks in many countries.

Despite registering a 4.8 per cent price increase, Vilnius was easily the cheapest in this year’s Post Office comparison⁴. At £237, the cost of 12 typical spending items – including a range of drinks, an evening meal for two with wine, two nights’ three-star weekend accommodation, sightseeing charges and city transport – was over 10 per cent lower than in runner-up Lisbon and less than half the price of 18 other cities including Amsterdam, the most expensive in the survey at £669.

A 26 per cent rise in the average cost of three-star accommodation in Lisbon - £152 for two nights now compared with £121 in June 2023 – accounts for the higher barometer cost of £264 in the Portuguese capital. However, prices for meals, drinks and other tourist commodities remain good value according to Post Office Travel Money and Lisbon is cheapest in Western Europe, one of three to reach the top five cities.

Conversely, a 30 per cent fall in the cost of accommodation from £186 to £131 has helped Lille leap seven places up the best value top 10 into third place. Less than one and a half hours from London on the Eurostar train, France’s fourth largest city saw an overall fall of 16.5 per cent to £278. Another Western European capital and past winner, Athens, took fifth place in the survey at £289.

Aside from Vilnius, the barometer research found that British tourists can also bag a city break bargain by choosing from six other Eastern European cities including Krakow (4^th, £279), Riga (6^th, £297) and Warsaw (10^th, £319). Boosted by sterling’s strength against the Hungarian forint, Budapest (£311) has moved one place up the top 10 to seventh place on the back of a six per cent fall in barometer costs, while price falls in Bratislava (£316, -5.7 per cent) and Prague (£318, -12.5 per cent) have helped them enter the top 10 in eight and ninth places. They displace Zagreb (£325, 11^th – prices down 1.7 per cent) and Porto (13^th, £361 – prices up 10.5 per cent) – although Post Office researchers noted that Portugal’s second city continues to offer low-priced meals and drinks.

Prices are down in 60 per cent of the 35 cities also surveyed a year ago (Oslo and Ljubljana are 2024 reintroductions) and a strengthening of the UK pound is a key factor in the falls found by Post Office researchers. Aside from Lille, barometer costs have also fallen by over 10 per cent in many traditional favourites⁵. These include Venice (33^rd, £582, prices down 15.4 per cent), (Paris (24^th, £515, down 15.1 per cent), and Madrid (19^th, £463, down 13.1 per cent).

Another important factor is the price of accommodation, the single biggest cost area for most city break tourists. After last year’s hefty increases, prices have fallen in 21 of the cities also surveyed last year⁶. Aside from the reduced prices noted in Lille, there were falls of over 20 per cent in Paris (24.9 per cent, £287 compared with £382 a year ago), Venice (21.9 per cent, down to £375 from £480) and Prague (21.4 per cent, down from £196 to £154 this year).

After allowing for accommodation charges, eating out is likely to be the next biggest cost for Britons on a short break and Post Office Travel Money again found wide variations in the price of a three-course meal for two across the 37 cities. These ranged from just £37 in Lisbon to over four times as much in Oslo (£150) and Copenhagen (147)⁷. At around £50, Athens also offers British tourists cheap meal deals, while Berlin’s lower average meal price of £63 has helped the city to register an overall price fall since last year of 11.7 per cent (21^st, £489).

Laura Plunkett, Head of Travel Money at Post Office, which accounts for one-in-four UK foreign exchange transactions, said: “It’s important to remember that the cost of meals and drinks need to be added to the spending budget as city break holidays rarely include these items. Over the course of two or three days, these can make a big difference to holiday costs and the low prices we found for meals and drinks in Lisbon and Athens make these cities strong contenders for a bargain break.”

“More generally, it's a win/win situation for British holidaymakers this year because prices are down in many of the European cities we surveyed, thanks to the strength of sterling and some welcome falls in accommodation charges. However, prices vary significantly across Europe, so it will make sense to do some holiday homework before booking a capital break.”

Closer to home, Cardiff (£409, 16^th) again rates as best value of the four UK capitals, over a third (35 per cent) cheaper than Belfast (£629, 36^th), the most expensive this year. In 35^thplace with a barometer total of £602, Edinburgh is almost as pricey. Both cities saw year-on-year prices rises of around 12 per cent. Conversely, prices have fallen back by 6.5 per cent in London to £524, thanks to lower accommodation charges, helping the city to rise to 25^th place.

For the first time Belfast has emerged from the survey as more expensive than neighbouring Dublin and the Irish capital is picked as a good choice for culture vultures by Post Office Travel Money. Cultural sightseeing remains one of the key ingredients of a city break and Dublin emerges from this year’s survey as the city with the lowest price tag. This is because entry to its leading museum and gallery are free, while the charge for its top heritage attraction, Kilmainham Gaol, is just £7.07. By comparison, entry to Vienna’s cultural attractions costs over eight times as much at £57.38.

The Post Office is the UK’s leading foreign currency provider, offering over 60 currencies for pre-order at 7,000 Post Office branches or online at www.postoffice.co.uk/travel-money for next day branch or home delivery. 3,600 larger Post Office branches stock the leading currencies and over 7,000 offer euros over the counter without pre-order. These can also be ordered online for same day ‘click and collect’ at selected branches, next day collection at any branch or home delivery.

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