Europe’s cheapest city for holidays: where to take a city break and come home with money

If you don’t have much money but still want to go on holiday, find out that Athens is the cheapest city in Europe for a city break.

It has been ranked as the cheapest location on the continent for a city break, ahead of traditional budget Eastern European destinations. According to recent analysis cited by The Guardian, prices in the Greek capital have fallen by 15% since 2021. This comes at a time when all travel prices have risen since the pandemic.

So for two nights’ hotel accommodation for a couple, meals, tickets to attractions and local transport fares came to £207, compared with £218 in second-placed Lisbon.

Cheapest city in Europe: Athens

So both cities beat out eastern destinations usually renowned for their low prices, such as Krakow in Poland (£219), Riga in Latvia (£220) and Budapest in Hungary (£221).

In Athens and Lisbon you can enjoy sunny autumn weather as well as low prices. So low prices in Athens include £38.96 for a dinner for two with wine, £89 for two nights’ accommodation in a three-star hotel and £7.79 for a 48-hour public transport pass.

Alternatively, Sunny Beach in Bulgaria and Marmaris in Turkey are the cheapest of 16 popular European resorts for a summer holiday.

Romanians travel, but in moderation. After the easing of restrictions, more than 37% of Romanians cut their holiday budgets this year, while more than a quarter did not go on holiday at all.

According to a survey conducted by CEC Bank in partnership with the bank comparator FinZoom.ro, 26.6% have no plans to go on holiday, while 38.5% hope to go on holiday with a budget below 3000 lei per family. As for the amounts allocated, about 38.5% have a budget for holidays under 3000 lei for the whole family, and of these, almost 11% want to go on holiday with less than 1000 lei.