Europe's best value Christmas markets for Brits have £2 mulled wines

18 November 2023 , 05:30

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The Christmas market in Riga, Latvia

Looking for a good-value European Christmas market trip? Then yule need to be eager for Riga.

The Latvian capital has topped a list for the cheapest festive shopping breaks for the fifth consecutive year - but the unexpected result from the research is Stockholm snatching the runners-up spot.

Sweden’s elegant capital is normally regarded as a pricey destination but scored well in the 2023 Post Office Travel Money Christmas Markets Barometer thanks to low package costs.

The price tag of £506 for a two-night Riga break for two people – comprising return flights, B&B accommodation, airport-city centre transfers, two evening meals for two with wine, coffee and festive drinks and snacks at the Christmas market – is marginally lower than last year (down 1%) and almost 10% cheaper than Stockholm.

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Drone view of Krakow city at night decorated for Christmas (Getty Images)

Riga’s win is the result of low-cost flights and competitively priced accommodation rather than prices on the ground as it ranked only sixth cheapest for meals and drinks.

All the places you can fly to for less than a tenner including Italy and Spain

By comparison, historic Krakow (£756) is far cheaper for meals and drinks - mulled wine is just £2 a glass - for two days at £144 compared with £199 in Riga. However, flights are far more expensive this year, forcing up the tinsel towns barometer by nearly 16% and dropping the Polish favourite to eighth place from third in 2022.

Surprise second Stockholm was boosted by a 9.4% rise in sterling’s value against the Swedish krona, reducing the typically higher cost of meals and drink. Good hotel availability and a fall in flight prices also helped a 25%-plus year on year drop, the study showed.

Europe's best value Christmas markets for Brits have £2 mulled wines

Christmas stalls in the Old Town in Stockholm (Shutterstock / Oleksiy Mark)

With a total of almost £560, barometer costs in Zagreb are just 10p higher than Stockholm. Prices in the Croatian capital appear unaffected by the country’s change in currency from the kuna to the euro.

Festive favourite Prague (£640) moves up two places to fourth position thanks to a fall in the cost of flights and accommodation, down 21% on last year.

With an overall price fall of 13%, the Czech capital is one of six cities where barometer costs have dropped over the past year. Besides Riga, Stockholm and Prague, other cities to record price falls are Berlin (£768, -4.1%), Budapest (£713, -4.9%) and Tallinn (£663, -3.5%).

At the purse pounding end of the Santa season scale are Copenhagen (£902) and Vienna (£933), again the most expensive cities in the report, with winner Riga a whopping 46% cheaper than the Austrian capital.

Snow globes at a Europe Christmas market (Shutterstock / Kite_rin)

Laura Plunkett, Head of Travel Money at the Post Office, said: “It will always pay dividends to factor in all holiday costs before booking a trip abroad.

"As the research shows, a scarcity of pre-Christmas flights has resulted in higher travel costs to Krakow, usually one of the best-value cities in our pricing surveys, while good flight availability has reduced the cost of city breaks to Riga and Stockholm. However, low meal and drinks costs can also have a big impact on the overall price of a short break, and this explains why Zagreb, Prague and Budapest are cities to consider for holidaymakers planning a Christmas market break."