Sarajevo has been named Europe’s best-value city for 2026, with the cost of a fixed basket of travel and sightseeing items coming in at £248.27, according to the Post Office City Costs Barometer. The survey puts the Bosnian capital ahead of Bucharest and Tirana, while Lille emerged as the best-value destination in Western Europe.
The ranking matters because it lands as many travellers face high flight prices and awkward geopolitical conditions, pushing some holidaymakers to look harder at short breaks that can be done by rail. The barometer compares the cost of two nights’ three-star weekend accommodation, a three-course meal for two with a bottle of house wine, coffee, beer, Coca Cola, a glass of wine, return airport transfers, a 48-hour travel card, a sightseeing bus tour, a top heritage attraction, a top museum and a top art gallery.
Sarajevo’s meal price helped give the city its edge. A three-course dinner for two with wine cost £63.14 in the survey, a figure that still left it comfortably ahead of the rest of the field on overall value. Bucharest came second and Tirana third, while Oslo was the most expensive city in Europe at £734 for the surveyed items. Copenhagen followed as the second most expensive at £671.
Laura Plunkett said the low prices found in Lille and Strasbourg make them compelling choices for British holidaymakers who want a short break in Europe but prefer surface travel this year. She said there are excellent direct Eurostar options to Lille, Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam, with other cities reachable through a mix of Eurostar and high-speed local services. She also said Lille and Strasbourg are now cheaper than past champions Athens and Lisbon.
That shift is not happening everywhere. Accommodation prices rose sharply in Lisbon, Prague, Warsaw and Porto because of strong tourist demand, while they eased slightly in Stockholm, Venice and Rome. Stockholm saw the biggest fall of all, with accommodation prices down by 25 per cent. For travellers weighing up where to go next, the message from the 2026 survey is clear: the cheapest trip is not always the farthest one, and some of Europe’s best value is now found on rail routes that start much closer to home.
