If you’re looking to bag a cheap city break this year, head to Eastern Europe.
New research by the Post Office shows that eight of the ten cheapest cities for 2013 are in Eastern Europe, with Budapest (above) leading the list of cheap capitals.
The Hungarian capital takes top spot thanks to low prices combined with sterling’s stability against the forint, with both factors seeing it power past past-winners Riga and Prague to lead the list.
The Post Office’s City Costs Barometer takes into account 12 typical city break items – including meals, drinks, two nights’ accommodation, sightseeing and transport costs – and tots them up to find the cheapest destination. The research looks into 25 top cities that Brits visit.
The Hungarian ‘basket’ came in at just £134.76 in the study, making prices less than a third of those in Europe’s most expensive cities – Stockholm (£420.36) and Copenhagen (£440.45).
And along with Prague, Budapest is also the only city where the holiday pound is worth more than a year ago because sterling has risen 3.1 per cent year-on-year against the Hungarian forint and 2.9 per cent against the Czech koruna.
Lithuania’s capital Vilnius (£140.99), tipped as a city to watch in the recent Post Office Holiday Money Report, is runner-up, ahead of Warsaw (£151.69) and Riga (£155.34).
Andrew Brown of Post Office Travel Money said: “Rising prices in most of the cities we surveyed, combined with the falling value of sterling, make it more important than ever to check prices for key items like meals, drinks and sightseeing before booking as these are costs that most city break tourists cannot avoid.
“There are big price variations across Europe – not just in the eurozone. This means UK holidaymakers can make their pounds stretch further by choosing a cheaper capital like Lisbon or Budapest and it seems that many people are doing just that as Post Office sales of Hungarian forint have surged by 141 per cent in the year to date, compared with 2012.”
The full list and basket costs
| Budapest |
£134.76 |
| Vilnius |
£140.99 |
| Warsaw |
£151.69 |
| Riga |
£155.34 |
| Lisbon |
£166.43 |
| Dubrovnik |
£168.20 |
| Prague |
£168.34 |
| Tallinn |
£172.63 |
| Istanbul |
£211.87 |
| Belfast |
£218.00 |
| Edinburgh |
£228.25 |
| Berlin |
£230.30 |
| Vienna |
£237.19 |
| Dublin |
£270.36 |
| Barcelona |
£284.28 |
| Paris |
£300.53 |
| London |
£311.50 |
| Bruges |
£314.42 |
| Amsterdam |
£344.25 |
| Rome |
£350.43 |
| Chicago |
£352.98 |
| Stockholm |
£420.36 |
| Copenhagen |
£440.45 |
| Boston |
£459.56 |
| New York |
£541.23 |
