The cities of Budapest, Vilnius and Warsaw just placed first in the Post Office Travel Money’ annual City Costs Barometer which presents the most cost-effective cities for British travelers. Meanwhile, New York, Boston and Copenhagen are the most expensive destinations for UK tourists.
The barometer analyzes the cost of twelve items – cup of coffee, bottle of beer, cola, glass of wine, three course evening meal, bus/train transfer from airport to city centre, 48-hour travel card, sightseeing bus tour, entrance to a top tourist/heritage attraction, entrance to a top museum, entrance to a top art gallery, two night’s three-star city centre accommodation. Prices for these items were provided by National and Regional Tourist Offices of participating countries, while those for Edinburgh, London and Paris were found out after an online search. Also, the two-night accommodation fees were taken from Hotels.com (March 1, 2013) and took in consideration prices for two adults traveling 26-28 April, sharing a double/twin room in a three-star hotel/guesthouse within one mile of the city centre.
Hungary’s capital, Budapest, overtake Riga (which places first last year) and became the cheapest destination for Briton travelers with £134.76 average cost. Vilnius, Warsaw, Riga and Lisbon completed the top 5 cost-effective destinations for UK tourists.
Another key finding of this research is that Lisbon is best value in the eurozone with under half the price of Amsterdam or Rome. Dubrovnik is the lowest-priced three-star accommodation destinations for UK travelers, while Prague offers the cheapest meals and drinks.
From the looks of it, Eastern Europe provides UK travelers the best destinations at the most affordable prices this year.