Warsaw tops list of best-value breaks this Spring

UK tourists planning city breaks in Europe this spring will find the best bargains by heading east, according to the Post Office Travel Money City Costs Barometer.  

At a time when sterling has fallen in value against virtually every European currency, Eastern European cities fill eight of the top 10 places in the barometer of costs for 35 cities.

Warsaw, one of 10 new cities surveyed for the eighth annual report, has emerged as the cheapest. At £113 for 12 typical city break items, including meals, drinks, two nights’ three-star weekend accommodation, sightseeing and transport costs, prices in the Polish capital are almost a third of those in Europe’s most expensive city, Stockholm (£325).

Despite registering a 15 per cent increase in costs, Vilnius (£115) in Lithuania, last year’s top city, is a close runner-up in the 2016 Post Office Travel Money survey, ahead of third-placed Budapest (£123). Latvian capital Riga (£132) is in fourth place while a second Polish city, Krakow (£133) has moved up to fifth position, thanks to an 8.5 per cent price fall.

A drop in the cost of hotel accommodation has helped Lisbon (£135) move two places up the barometer table into sixth position and makes the Portuguese capital the cheapest city in Western Europe – overtaking Athens (£149), which falls to 10th place.  By comparison, rising hotel prices account for a 28 per cent rise for Dublin (£306), making this the most expensive of 21 eurozone cities surveyed with a barometer total more than double the Lisbon cost.

Dublin is not the only city to show price increases – although its rise was the steepest.  UK visitors will find it more expensive this year in four-fifths of cities (excluding the 10 new introductions) and sterling’s slide in value is part of the reason for this.  Prices have risen 15.2 per cent in Barcelona (£280), 17.2 per cent in Vienna (£217) and 17.5 per cent in Venice (£283) – as well as by 21.6 per cent Tallinn (£160), the largest increase in Eastern Europe.

Andrew Brown of Post Office Travel Money said: “This year’s higher prices make it doubly important for holidaymakers to do their homework and check costs for meals, drinks and sightseeing before booking, as these are items that most city break tourists will be paying for.  Our research found wide variations in costs between cities and those people who are prepared to swap can make their pounds stretch further by choosing a cheaper capital like Warsaw in the east or Lisbon in the west.  Budget carefully and change enough cash before leaving home to cover likely costs – and remember there are better exchange rates for higher value Post Office branch or online transactions.”

Eighth-placed Prague remains best value for meals and drinks.  At just under £32 for a three-course evening meal for two with a bottle of wine plus individual drinks including coffee, beer, Coca-Cola and a glass of wine, the Czech capital easily rates as cheapest for these staples. By comparison, the Nordic cities of Reykjavik (£114) and Oslo (£118), both new additions to the Post Office report, will set visitors back almost four times as much.

Helsinki, another new introduction and the only Nordic city in the eurozone, was the cheapest of five ‘Scandinavian’ ones surveyed.  At just below £279, the Finnish capital was over 14 per cent cheaper than Stockholm.

Alongside Warsaw, Moscow emerges as best value among the 10 new cities surveyed.  The collapse of the Russian ruble since 2014 has significantly reduced prices for UK tourists since then and its barometer total of £146 has given Moscow a top 10 place in ninth position.

Completing this year’s top 10 is Dubrovnik (£137), where the low cost of hotel accommodation – £41 for two nights in a three-star hotel for two people – has taken the Croatian city to seventh place on the back of a 2.3 per cent year-on-year price fall.

In the UK Belfast again rates as cheapest of three cities surveyed, with a barometer total of £220 – £10 less than Edinburgh.  London prices are significantly higher at £300, but Post Office Travel Money recorded hefty year-on-year price rises for all three cities (Belfast: +11.2 per cent; Edinburgh: +9.1 per cent and London: +12.4 per cent).  This was primarily because of increased room rates in hotels.