The study incorporated numerous factors across a variety of areas including:
The average cost for a three-course meal for 2 people at a mid-range restaurant
The average price of a single, one-way flight
The average price of a hotel room for 2 people, per night
The average price of a bottle of wine
The average price of a cappuccino
The average price of a taxi (per 1 km)
All of these factors were seen as individual indicators or markers for how cheap a city would be. Each of these factors was marked with a score and then inputted into a weighted index to calculate the overall score. These cities are all on the current government aviation travel corridor exemption list and are updated in accordance with this.
Read on to find out where your next city break away should be!
Vilnius takes it all!
Vilnius, Lithuania, tops the list ahead of Prague and Krakow as the cheapest city break for Brits looking for a short, European trip to a country that’s safe on the government’s exemption list. Vilnius, Lithuania took the top spot for consistently being affordable across most of the pricing indicators. Prague and Krakow took 2nd and 3rd respectively.
Vilnius drew in first position with Copenhagen and Dublin for the cheapest average, one-way flight at £10. It came 2nd overall for the price for an average, medium-range hotel room for 2 adults, per night. 6th for overall for a three-course meal, for 2 people at a mid-range restaurant. For the average taxi price, it came 4th in the rankings. However, it did worse for the average price of a cappuccino (12th) and for the average price of a bottle of wine (19th).
The capital of Lithuania, Vilnius, has in recent years been in the news, due to it’s for it’s risky, but tongue-in-cheek tourism campaign from 2 years ago, which won more awards than criticism. The desired effect of bringing in tourists and raising awareness - worked. The campaign 1,100 media articles but more impressively, the campaign has directly attributed to an “11.97 percent increase in UK’s visitor numbers from the UK and a 37,74 percent increase in tourists from Germany”.
As the numbers grew - the critics followed. However, that’s not taken the unspoilt charm away from the city. Nor has it made it more expensive, the opposite in fact, as it comes as no surprise to us coming first in our study.
Top 5 cheapest average hotel rooms in Europe
Elsewhere in Europe, the Turkish capital, Istanbul, took the cheapest average hotel room priced at £34 per night.
Top 5 cheapest 3 course meals for two
Istanbul also took the cheapest average meal and lowest local transport cost when it came to average taxi price.
Top 5 cheapest taxi rides in Europe
However, other factors, notably the average price of a flight, pulled Istanbul further down the rankings.
Further west, Italian cities understandably took the top spot for the cheapest place for a cappuccino and a bottle of wine, in part due to the ubiquitous nature of the two goods in Italian culture and commerce. In Rome, you’ll find the cheapest cappuccino, priced at an affordable £1.14.
Top 5 cheapest cappuccinos in Europe
Whereas, just across the Tyrrhenian sea, in the capital city of Sicily, Palermo, you’ll find a reasonably priced bottle of wine is on average £3.63. The French cities of Bordeaux and Marseilles originally made the top 5. France was 2nd in 2019, just behind Italy in overall wine production. However, due to the recent changes in restrictions, the French cities were taken off the rankings, paving the way for the Portuguese cities of Lisbon and Porto to take 1st & 2nd place.
Top 5 cheapest bottles of wine
The full list of countries & overall rankings
Sources & methodology
Our study calculates the cheapest European city breaks, with countries that are currently on the British government’s aviation travel corridor exemption list. These cities are all continuously updated in accordance with this. So currently, our study compiles data from European cities that are within 4-5 hour’s flight time of the UK. However, this could change as and when there are changes to the government’s exemption list. The cities were also picked based on being the “most visited” cities (in terms of volume of tourists) & most popular (inc critics choices).
To calculate the cheapest city, the study looked at numerous factors across a variety of areas including:
The average cost for a three-course meal for 2 people at a mid-range restaurant
The average price of a single, one-way flight
The average price of a hotel room for 2 people, per night
The average price of a bottle of wine
The average price of a cappuccino
The average price of a taxi (per 1 km)
All of these factors were seen as individual indicators or markers for how cheap a city would be. Each of these factors was marked with a score and then inputted into a weighted index to calculate the overall score. These cities are all on the current government aviation travel corridor exemption list and are updated in accordance with this.
| Data points | Source Name |
|---|---|
| Average price for a three-course meal for 2 People at Mid-range Restaurant | Numbeo |
| Average cost of a single, one-way flight (avg across UK airports) | Skyscanner |
| Average price of a hotel room, for 2 adults, per night | Skyscanner |
| Average price of a bottle of wine | Numbeo |
| Average price of a cappuccino | Numbeo |
| Average price of a taxi (per 1 km) | Numbeo |
Other sources
https://go.euromonitor.com/rs/805-KOK-719/images/wpTop100Cities19.pdf
https://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/capitals_europe.htm
https://travel.usnews.com/rankings/best-europe-vacations/
