Travel

Expensive hotels, bargain culture: How pricey is Dublin as a European citybreak destination?

City Costs Barometer finds that a city in western Europe is the cheapest destination for the first time in 15 years of its analysis

Destination Dublin: the city has some of the most expensive hotel rooms in Europe. Photograph: iStock/Getty
Destination Dublin: the city has some of the most expensive hotel rooms in Europe. Photograph: iStock/Getty
Mon Sept 05 2022 - 12:10

Dublin has been ranked as one of Europe’s most expensive citybreak destinations, with prices that make it at least twice as expensive as the cheapest destinations.

Standout high prices include some of the dearest hotel rooms in Europe, which, at €337.50 for two nights in a three-star hotel for a couple, are ahead of those in Venice, Copenhagen and Paris, and second only to those in Amsterdam, where prices have more than doubled since last year, jumping to €467 from €229.50 in 2021.

Dublin also has some of the most expensive alcohol, with a glass of house wine typically costing €7.75 in a cafe or bar; Copenhagen is the only city to charge more, at €10.50, among the destinations surveyed by Post Office Travel Money, which handles a quarter of consumer foreign-exchange transactions in the UK. It analysed a dozen typical tourist costs for UK visitors to 20 popular cities.

Overall, according to its City Costs Barometer, the bill for a two-night break in Dublin, including €88 for an evening meal for two with wine and €16 for a 48-hour public-transport pass, comes to €506, up by 21 per cent since 2021 and by 32 per cent since 2020. This makes it the fourth most expensive European citybreak destination, and one of six that are more than twice as expensive as Athens. The others are Stockholm (€488), Paris (€490), Copenhagen (€528.50), Venice (€530) and Amsterdam (€687.50).

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But Dublin fares exceptionally well culturally. The city offers the best value in Europe in this category, according to the survey, because visits to its leading museum and gallery are free. By contrast, culture is most costly in Dubrovnik, in Croatia, where visits to a museum, gallery and heritage site cost about €66.

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The City Costs Barometer finds that Athens, where prices have fallen by 15 per cent since 2021, is the cheapest location for a European citybreak this year. The bill for a weekend in the Greek capital comes to €240, compared with €253 in the runner-up, Lisbon. Both cities are ahead of eastern European destinations typically renowned for low prices, such as Cracow, in Poland (€254), Riga, in Latvia (€255), and Budapest, in Hungary (€256).

Standout low prices in Athens include €45 for an evening meal for two with wine, €103 for two nights’ accommodation in a three-star hotel, and €9 for a 48-hour public-transport pass.

Lisbon’s second-place ranking — a citybreak in the Portuguese capital typically costs €252.50 — comes despite a 21 per cent increase in prices since last year, fuelled, as elsewhere, by big increases in accommodation charges as demand surpasses prepandemic levels following the relaxation of travel restrictions.

Post Office Travel Money says it’s the first time in 15 years of running its analysis that a city in western Europe has been found to be the cheapest. Nick Boden, its head, says: “Established favourites like Paris, Amsterdam and Venice may be top choices among the holidaymakers we surveyed, but they are also expensive places to visit ... Athens and Lisbon are half the price and offer a sunny autumn climate as well as low prices. Our advice to holidaymakers is to do their homework and check prices before booking.”

The City Costs Barometer sourced its accommodation prices from Hotels.com and Bookings.com in late August, based on an average of the 10 cheapest available three-star city-centre accommodations for two adults sharing a double or twin en-suite room between September 30th and October 2nd, 2022. Other prices were supplied by national or regional tourist offices, except for Barcelona, Florence, Madrid, Paris, Rome and Venice, which were researched online. — Guardian, with additional reporting