FANS of city breaks should head east to avoid being fleeced, a new survey has revealed.
Eastern European cities now make up nine of the top ten cheapest city break destinations according to Post Office Travel Money’s annual City Costs Barometer.
Emerging cities Vilnius in Lithuania and Belgrade in Serbia were found to offer the best bargain breaks for 2019 by far, in a study of 48 cities.
Porto was the only city in Western Europe to crack the top ten, coming in at sixth place.
Vilnius narrowly beat Belgrade to take top spot with a two-night holiday costing a total of £147.35 per person.
The cost, which covers 12 typical tourist items including a range of drinks, an evening meal for two with wine, two nights’ 3H weekend accommodation in October, sightseeing and city transport, was down 11.1 per cent year on year.
The last time Vilnius made the top spot was five years ago in 2014 when the value of Sterling was still soaring. Before the 2015 Brexit vote, Brits could enjoy a weekend in Vilnius for just £100, a whopping 33 per cent less than today.
Prices for the same 12 tourist items in runner-up city Belgrade are £151.57.
Elsewhere in Eastern Europe, Warsaw (£160) has risen to third place from fourth last year on the back of an 11.5 per cent fall in prices.
Costs are also down seven per cent in Moscow (£187, 9th) and 5.3 per cent in Prague (£190, 10th), enabling both cities to retain top ten places.
There are five new entrants to the ten best value cities, including Belgrade.
These include Bucharest (5th, £168), Porto (6th, £173) and Bratislava (8th, £182).
In all, three prices have dropped from last year by 4.1 per cent, 6.1 per cent and 10.1 per cent respectively.
The report also reveals the cities where prices have fallen the most.
The biggest falls were for traditional favourites including Venice, where prices plunged by more than 23 per cent, and Amsterdam, which is still the most expensive eurozone city surveyed, despite a 17 per cent fall in costs.
Closer to home, Cardiff has been included in the survey for the first time and proved to be the cheapest of the four UK capitals at £293, just pipping Edinburgh (£295) to the title.
London was the most expensive at £364, a year-on-year rise of 3.7 per cent.
Meanwhile, prices in Belfast fell marginally (-0.9 per cent) to £313 and remain significantly lower than in Dublin.
Although the gap has narrowed since last year, prices are almost 19 per cent lower in Belfast, more costly accommodation accounting for the higher total in Dublin.
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And stag dos take note — Europe’s cheapest city to grab a brew is Prague, by a long way.
At £1.26 for a 330ml bottle of local lager, the Czech Republic capital is almost ten times cheaper than the priciest city, Oslo in Norway, where a bottle of beer will set you back £11.08.
Other great options for a boozy weekend are Bratislava (£1.49) in second place and Porto (£1.75) and Lisbon (£1.75) in joint second place.
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