By comparison, hotel prices in Geneva, Switzerland, a famously expensive destination, cost £100 less than those in Barcelona, on average.
The Post Office also checked the price of typical holiday items like a small beer, cup of coffee, a 48-hour travel card and admission for the city’s top museum, art gallery and heritage tourist attractions to estimate a typical average holiday price. With these factors included, Geneva ended up slightly just £3 more expensive than Barcelona, at £644.22 compared to Barcelona’s £641.03. The only cities more expensive than Barcelona and Geneva were Edinburgh (£668.10), Copenhagen (£670.65), and Norway(£733.99).
Some other cities once known for cheap and cheerful getaways have also risen in price — the cost of a trip to Lisbon, for example, has risen by 22 per cent to £358, meaning the city has dropped from fifth place in last year’s barometer to number 16 of 50.
Sarajevo: the cheapest city break for 2026
At £248.29, the cost of a citybreak to Sarajevo, in Bosnia & Herzegovina was less than half the price of visiting Barcelona.
The average cost of two nights accommodation is just £157, a beer is around £2.50, while a sightseeing bus tour costs just £2.46. The weather is warm until late September, at around 18°C, and there are direct flights from London.
Where else is cheap for a city break?
The cheapest destinations were all in East or South East Europe. Bucharest, Tirana and Belgrade were the next-cheapest options after Sarajevo, all costing less than £266 for a weekend trip. Two French destinations made it into the top ten — Eurostar destination Lille was ranked seventh cheapest, at £289.33, and Strasbourg the ninth at £319.13.
Lille, along with six other cities saw a fall in price compared to last year’s data — Florence, Nice, Rome, Salzburg, Stockholm and Venice. That means that while some of those cities aren’t necessarily budget options, 2026 may be the year to visit them if they’re on your bucket list.
Of the UK cities included in the barometer, only Cardiff made it into the top 25 rankings, at position 21 and an overall average cost of £377.64. Belfast and London were ranked 33rd and 34th, Dublin at position 45, and Edinburgh at 48 of 50.
source https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/best-value-euro-city-a0aKJ5N89qRT