WHAT better way to celebrate the festive season than with a European city break to take in Christmas markets?
You don’t need to spend a fortune, especially if you head to Latvian capital Riga.
GettyRiga, in Latvia, has the most affordable Christmas Markets[/caption]
It has been named the cheapest destination on Post Office Money’s Christmas Markets Barometer, comparing costs for festive getaways to 12 European cities.
According to the annual report, two nights’ B&B in Riga, and return direct flights, costs an average £307 for two people.
The report analysed prices of accommodation and travel as well as five festive essentials, including three-course meals, mulled wine and slices of cake or stollen, and a Riga break cost on average a total of £505.73.
Four pieces of cake, stollen or gingerbread in the city will set you back on average £12.48.
Making your way in and out of Riga is affordable, too, with return bus or train transfers between the city and airport for on average £5.35.
Perhaps surprisingly, Stockholm worked out as the second cheapest destination, total cost £559.50. Food and drinks in the Swedish capital are expensive, with a three-course meal for two, plus wine, on average £182.61.
But a 9.4 per cent rise in sterling’s value against the Swedish krona has made holidaying here more affordable for Brits.
Accommodation and travel costs were much cheaper than for most of the other cities, at around £339 for two nights’ B&B and flights or Eurostar.
Croatian capital Zagreb, Czechia capital Prague and Estonian capital Tallinn were the three next cheapest, with total costs at £559.60, £640.23 and £663.38 respectively.
The bill for a three-course meal with wine in Zagreb was significantly lower than in any of the other countries surveyed.
If it’s cheap booze you are after, Krakow in Poland had the lowest cost for mulled wine, with four glasses costing on average £8.27.
At the opposite end of the scale, four glasses of mulled wine in Denmark’s capital, Copenhagen, is on average £26.99, according to the report.
The city was shown to be the second most expensive destination of the 12 surveyed, beaten only by Austrian capital Vienna where total damage came to £932.61, in comparison to Copenhagen’s £901.62.
The latter did offer reasonable lodgings and flights, in comparison to other cities in the report, totalling £527 on average.
The biggest fall compared with last year’s Christmas Markets Barometer was in travel and accommodation, which is 21 per cent down on 2022, although varying flight availabilities to the different destinations at this time of year has also had an impact.