In a world where London boasts about a ‘pie and a pint’ offer for £17 (which, if you ask us, is most definitely not an offer), it’s hard to believe that Manchester could ever be considered more expensive. But according to the research team at Money.co.uk, it actually is – at least, for tourists heading to Mancunia on a city break.
Ranking as the fourth most expensive city break in Europe, the Rainy City beat London by two spots – with only Edinburgh, Prague and Dublin out-pricing us. And there was us thinking it was dead cheap Up North.
Claiming its place at number four thanks to costly Airbnb prices, Manchester scored pretty poorly for value for money compared to some of its cheaper counterparts (such as Amsterdam and Oslo), with the price for the average Airbnb, top-rated attractions and even the city’s cheapest meals tallying up at some of the highest across Europe. Researchers found the cheapest meal on average to be around £11 per head, while attractions totalled a whopping £25 per person and Airbnb’s were around £164 per night on average – pretty steep compared to London’s results.
The notoriously expensive capital had an average of just £145 per night for an Airbnb, with its cheapest meal tallying at an average of just £8.32 per head. In contrast, its top-rated attractions were much more expensive than Manchester’s (£29.90 per person), with bus fares also costing £1 more than Manchester’s – despite having its own city-run network, Transport for London.
Dublin ranked as the most expensive city for tourists overall, with the average Airbnb totalling an extortionate £252, and the cheapest meal costing £11.65 per head. That’s before you even factor in how much a pint would cost you around Temple Bar.
Here’s the top 12 in full:
- Dublin
- Prague
- Edinburgh
- Manchester
- Zurich
- London
- Amsterdam
- Copenhagen
- Oslo
- Geneva
- Seville
- Bristol
Money.co.uk said of the research: “City breaks can come with a hefty price tag, so our personal finance experts have analysed various data points to discover which European cities you can visit on a budget. Our experts accounted for typical city break activities such as for the cost of an Airbnb for a night, a glass of wine, visiting the top-rated tourist attraction, the cheapest meal at the top-rated restaurant, and a 24-hour transport pass as part of the analysis.”