Even if you’ve done everything right by booking your accommodation and transport well in advance, one thing that can really make the cost of your holiday creep up is all that eating and drinking.
But a holiday isn’t a holiday without a cheeky croissant from a viral bakery or a mid-afternoon aperol, is it? Handily, travel booking platform Omio has done some digging on the European cities where eating out won’t leave you bankrupt. They studied the average cost of a meal, a cappuccino, and local and imported beer to create their ranking – and there are some really, really budget-friendly places on the list.
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Topping it for affordability is Prishtina in Kosovo, where a meal costs an average of £4.18, a local beer is just £1.67 and a cappuccino is a measly £1.02. In fact, it was only beaten in one of these categories – local beer in Minsk, Belarus costs just 94p – but each country in the top 10 offers a meal for less than £10.
At the other end of the scale, Oslo ranked as the most expensive city for food and drink in Europe. A meal averages £20.30, a local beer £8.83 and a cappuccino £3.70 – quite the contrast, eh? Vaduz, Reykjavik, Copenhagen and Bern round out the top five most expensive cities for dining. Read on for all the cities at the top and bottom ends of the spectrum.
These are the cheapest cities for eating and drinking
- Prishtina, Kosovo
- Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Skopje, North Macedonia
- Chișinău, Moldova
- Minsk, Belarus
- Podgorica, Montenegro
- Prague, Czechia
- Budapest, Hungary
- Sofia, Bulgaria
- Tirana, Albania
These are the most expensive cities for eating and drinking
- Oslo, Norway
- Vaduz, Liechtenstein
- Reykjavik, Iceland
- Copenhagen, Denmark
- Bern, Switzerland
- Monaco
- Dublin, Ireland
- Helsinki, Finland
- Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Luxembourg City, Luxembourg
If you’re after some more cheap and cheerful travel inspiration, have a look at our roundup of Europe’s most budget-friendly cities for 2025, which includes pricing info on drinks and accommodation. Oh, and here’s our latest list of the world’s best cities for food – many of which ranked highly thanks to their affordability.
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