City Costs Barometer: the best value city breaks

Your essential city cost snapshot

Every year, Post Office Travel Money compares the costs of short breaks in different cities across Europe for people from the UK. 

In 2025, we’ve compared 12 common tourist costs in 38 cities to create our annual City Costs Barometer. It shows which cities around the world are the cheapest or most expensive for items such as accommodation, meals, drinks, city transport and attractions for two people. 

The cheapest city this year is Riga in Latvia. In fact, seven of the top 10 cheapest cities are in Eastern Europe: Vilnius (2nd), Warsaw (3rd), Podgorica (4th), Gdansk (7th), Krakow (8th) and Zagreb (10th).  

You can read the key findings here or download the full City Costs Barometer for all the details.

Best value city breaks 2025: key findings

• Riga in Latvia is the cheapest place to go for a city break this year. Its total cost was a little under £253 
• Vilnius in Lithuania is second cheapest at £254, but hotel prices there have gone up 
• Two new cities made the top 10 this year: Podgorica (in Montenegro) and Gdansk (in Poland) 
• Lisbon and Porto in Portugal are the cheapest places to visit in Western Europe 
• Poland has three cities in the top 10: Warsaw, Krakow and Gdansk 
• Prices have gone down in half of the 36 cities we also looked at in 2024 
• The biggest drops in price were in Helsinki (-20.2%), Porto (-15.5%), Riga (-15%), Warsaw (-13.2%) and Amsterdam (-12.9%) 
• Oslo in Norway and Copenhagen in Denmark are the most expensive places to visit 
• Accommodation is still the biggest cost and varies a lot depending on the city 

Top 10 cheapest city breaks in 2025

These are the 10 cheapest places to visit in Europe for a short holiday, according to our barometer.  

The 10 most expensive European cities

These are the 10 cities we found it costs the most to visit. 

Accommodation costs

Accommodation is the biggest cost in most city breaks. These are the five cheapest and five priciest places for two people to stay for two nights in a three-star hotel. 

Lowest-priced accommodation 

Highest-priced accommodation

Eating out

Eating out can be another big cost when you’re away. Here’s what a three-course meal for two people with a bottle of house wine costs in the cheaper and more expensive cities. 

Cheapest meals

Most expensive meals

Our guide to planning a European city break on a budget offers tips on how to make savings when you go.

Travel money: buy before your fly

If you’re going on a trip, it’s usually cheaper to get your travel money before you reach the airport. With Post Office, you can:  

• Buy currency online 
• Order it at a participating local branch  
• Use click and collect and pick it up in any branch 
• Get next-day home delivery 
• Load money onto a prepaid travel money card, which is secure and easy to manage 
• Use our free travel app to order currency or order, top up and manage and travel money cards  

Check the exchange rate so you get more holiday money for your pound before you go.  

Don’t forget your travel insurance 

Having a UK Global Health Insurance Card (Ghic) is helpful for healthcare in Europe, but it doesn’t cover everything. You still need travel insurance to protect you if things go wrong, like if your trip gets cancelled or your bags go missing. 

Find out why it’s risky to travel without insurance. 

Always check the latest travel advice

Before you go away, check the latest Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office foreign travel advice. It tells you if it’s safe to travel and what you need to know about your destination. If you travel against this advice, your travel insurance might not cover you.