Where to find the cheapest beer in Europe on your summer holiday
Holidaymakers looking for value for money this summer should travel to Bulgaria for the most affordable beer in Europe, new research has found.
The best place to buy beer is in Sunny Beach, Bulgaria, where tourists have to pay just £1.01 for a 330ml bottle, according to research from the Post Office. It found that the Algarve region in Portugal ranked second, where a beer cost just £1.02. Spain’s Costa del Sol took third place at £2.18.
Stockholm in Sweden was the most expensive for beer, at £6.69, followed by Paris in France at £5.59. The average price of a pint of lager in Britain costs £4.09.
However, wine drinkers face different odds, with Portugal taking first place for the best value. A 175ml glass of house wine cost just £1.31. That was followed by Bulgaria at £1.94 and Costa del Sol at £2.39. Stockholm was the most expensive again, at £9.32. That was followed by Copenhagen in Denmark, at £8.94.
In Britain, the average price for a glass of wine was £4.10, rising 3pc since the start of the year.
Nick Boden, of the Post Office, said: “Bulgaria and Portugal are consistently cheaper for these items, with prices at least three times as high in most other countries.
“However, there is some good news for British holidaymakers because the pound is stronger than a year ago against most European currencies – exceptions being the Czech koruna, Swiss franc and Norwegian krone.
“Although, the cost of living varies from one country to another so holidaymakers can always expect places like Portugal, Spain and Eastern Europe to be cheaper than Scandinavia, whatever the exchange rate.”
This year Bulgaria toppled Turkey as the cheapest holiday destination for the first time since 2014.
The cheapest place to visit was Sunny Beach in Bulgaria, followed by Marmaris in Turkey. They cost £85.63 and £86.07 respectively on the Post Office’s “beach barometer”, which measures the affordability of 12 holiday staples such as meals, drinks and sunscreen.
Tourists face a sharp rise in costs this year compared with the last restriction-free summer in 2019.
Surging travel insurance premiums and Covid tests have forced holiday budgets higher, while strike action and flight cancellations have caused major disruptions at British airports.
