Budapest offers best value for city breaks

The Hungarian capital is proving to be a bit hit with Brits as prices have fallen once again to make it the best value destination for a city break – an award it’s scooped for the second year running.

Budapest topped the list for most affordable city destination in the Post Office Travel Money survey as a strong pound and low hotel prices helped Brits save an average of 11% compared to last year. To calculate which of the 25 leading cities offered the best affordability, the Post Office research considers the prices of 12 items that would likely be bought on a weekend city breaks. It was found that in the winning city, Budapest, it would less than £117 for two nights’ accommodation, an evening meal for two with wine, sightseeing and city transport.

East versus west- Eastern Europe has long offered budget breaks to Brits, in comparison to prices in the west. This was again represented in the research, with Vilnus, the capital of Lithuania, coming second at £118, followed by Warsaw (£132) and Prague (£136).

However, it was Copenhagen that saw the biggest drop in prices. Renowned for being an expensive city, it costs four times as much for a meal and drinks in the Danish capital than it would do in Prague, which also saw its prices fall. The price for the same items in Copenhagen was £306, but that’s a saving of almost 30% compared to last year. Prague’s prices fell by 17%, helping it to leap-frog Lisbon, Riga and Dubrovnik in the race for more affordable city break destination.

Andrew Brown of Post Office Travel Money said: “We found that a meal for two with wine in Prague cost £22, less than half the price charged in 17 other cities across Europe.”

Within the Eurozone, the Portuguese capital Lisbon offered travelling Brits the best value at £137 – a fraction of what you would pay in Amsterdam (£310) and Paris (£311). Any Brits looking to take advantage of low cost city breaks must remember to get the same value for money on other essentials, like travel insurance and flights.kd

Date Created: 01/04/2014