The best-value city breaks in Europe this autumn

The schools are back, the latest round of exhibitions has begun, the concert season is kicking off and the opera houses are throwing open their doors. Europe’s cities are coming to life now that the summer heat has subsided, and the parks and avenues are resplendent in their autumn colours. In short, it’s a wonderful time to head off for a long weekend to Paris, Venice, Amsterdam or Rome. But which should you choose, and how much will it cost you?

Doing a little research will pay huge dividends – not only to be sure you get the best possible value by picking the right city at the right time, but also to make the most of this autumn’s cultural events, whether you feel more drawn to Berlin’s clubbing festival, the huge surrealism exhibition in Paris, or the 750th anniversary celebrations in Amsterdam.

To help you make the most of your travels this autumn, our experts selected their highlights and I have done a snapshot survey of costs. This offers some mixed news. The general rise in the price of summer holidays, hotels and flying has filtered through to city breaks and there is no doubt that prices are up across the board. But you can still find some excellent value, even in the most popular destinations. In fact, for half of the 12 cities I surveyed, I had no trouble finding a two-night holiday for less than £200 per person, including flights and a stay in a good three-star hotel.

Our table summarises the results for 12 destinations, on two different dates, this autumn – the middle weekends in October and November. Compared with a similar survey I did two years ago, prices are considerably higher in October and marginally higher in November.

In some destinations, the rise for October was particularly stark – notably for breaks to Barcelona (up from £211 in 2022 to £294 this year), Brussels (up from £237 to £314), Madrid (£294 to £393) and Seville (£217 to £418), with higher airfares making the biggest difference to the overall cost. The price difference is probably slightly exaggerated – in 2022, I checked prices more than two weeks ahead of the departure date, when they probably would have been lower. Yet, the upward trend is clear.

There are still plenty of destinations offering exceptionally good value, however. As in 2022, Nice topped the affordability charts. And among the surprises is Venice, which is looking particularly attractive as a place for a short break this autumn. Note, though, that you will have to navigate high incidental prices once you get there – see below for details.

Predictably, and across the board, November prices were significantly lower than October. This is not only because October, with its warmer weather and lighter evenings, is high season for both hotels and flights, but because, in this instance, the shorter lead time for bookings almost certainly had an impact – I was searching for prices less than six weeks in advance, rather than 10 weeks for the November dates.

No doubt as a result of this, in October only one destination – Nice – came in at less than £200. And only five more cost below £300. In November, by contrast, half of the cities hit the sub-£200 mark, and the total cost for all but Amsterdam was below £300.

As in 2022, Paris and Amsterdam were far and away the most expensive cities to visit in both months, though I was pleasantly surprised to find that the cost for Paris in November, at £283, was down from £302 in 2022.

Our methodology

The difference between these results and “average” prices quoted by most surveys is that they are real costs based on what could actually be booked on the dates concerned. And I was careful to try to make them genuinely comparable city-by-city by setting clear parameters. So, for example, while for the outbound flight I picked the lowest fare available at any time that day (generally they were in the mornings), all fares quoted for the return journey were for departures after 4pm. That’s because most people on a two-night break want enough time to enjoy their last day. In many cases, it would have been cheaper to take a morning flight on a Sunday, but it wouldn’t have made for much of a break.

To make the accommodation costs as comparable as possible, I used Booking.com and narrowed my choice down to a three-star hotel in the city centre. I also picked the one with the lowest price but with a customer review score of at least 8.5/10. It would have been easy to lower the cost by staying a bit further from the city centre and/or accepting a hotel with less favourable reviews, but I would rather pay a little more for a nicer place to stay in a decent location.

You might also be able to reduce the price by booking an apartment or Airbnb – not only is the headline price likely to be lower, but you could save by cooking your own food.

Prices quoted in our survey are the rate per person, based on two people sharing the hotel room. So, to get the total cost for a couple, you need to double the overall prices. As a guide, single travellers would need to double the cost given for the hotel and then add the airfare – though you might well be able to find single rooms a bit more cheaply than the rate for single occupancy of a double.

Best-value cities

Nice, Prague and Venice

As in 2022, the best-value weekend break this autumn is Nice: a two-night break in mid-October at £199 per person (up from £167 in 2022). That’s 20 per cent cheaper than its nearest rival, Prague, and 30 per cent less than the next cheapest, Venice and Lisbon.

The French seaside city also offered the second-lowest overall rate in November – at £143. This time it was beaten by Prague, which, at £140, came out as the best value. But Nice’s mild autumn weather, its great art museums and its wonderful mix of Provençal and Italian restaurants might prove more tempting than the grey skies and more robust cuisine of central Europe.

As already mentioned, the big surprise was the affordability of Venice. Given the concerns about overtourism, you might think that high demand would push prices ever higher. And it is true that costs on the ground are among the most expensive. But, while hotels there are marginally more expensive than two years ago, airfares came out much cheaper in both October and November. It seems the huge choice of departures from the UK is keeping fares down.

The most expensive cities

Seville, Paris and Amsterdam

In October, the highest prices by a long way were for weekend breaks in Seville, Paris and Amsterdam. All three cities were more than twice as expensive as a comparable holiday in Nice.

The most expensive of all, a break in Amsterdam, was three times the price of going to Nice and more than £100 more costly than any other destination in our survey. Madrid, Rome and Brussels were also pricey.

High hotel prices were mostly to blame for this, though in the case of Seville, flights were very expensive. The same cities also topped the price table in November, with Amsterdam this time out in front at £387 – more than £100 more expensive than its nearest rival, Paris, and more than two-and-a-half times as much as Prague or Nice. Again, high hotel costs were mostly to blame.

Choosing flights

To be consistent, all the comparisons in this exercise were based on the cheapest available flights from London. Depending on where you are based, it may be less pricey to fly from a regional airport. However, fares might not be so competitive. For example, for my November dates, the cheapest flight from Manchester to Rome was £109 return, compared with £73 from Stansted, and the cheapest Barcelona flights were £67 compared with £43 from Stansted – all those fares were with Ryanair.

Costs on the ground

As well as your hotel and the cost of getting there, which are normally unavoidable expenses, eating out, sightseeing and public transport will also be significant drains on your budget, though the amount will vary widely according to your pleasures and predilections.

The Post Office Travel Money’s city-break cost barometer, published last May, gives some insight into these (see a selection in our table). Totalling up the typical cost of a meal for two with wine, a two-day travel card and entry into a top museum, this time it is Venice that comes out as the most expensive city to visit, at £144.37 (though you could knock £31 off that by exploring on foot instead of using the water buses). Paris and Amsterdam (which had the highest cost for eating out) were hard on its heels. Noticeable bargains were Lisbon, which was astonishingly good value at £56.14 and Seville at £65.10 – though the latter total assumes you will be walking rather than using public transport.

What’s new in our top city destinations

Our destination experts share their highlights for the upcoming season.

Paris

A blockbuster exhibition has just opened at the Centre Pompidou celebrating the centenary of Surrealism, which “officially” began in 1924 with the publication of  André Breton’s Manifesto. It celebrates some of the forerunners of the movement, including Lewis Carroll, as well as the big names from its heyday including Dalí, Magritte, Max Ernst and Leonora Carrington (until January 13).

For more, see our expert guide to Paris.

Nick Trend

Seville

If you love getting a glimpse into seldom-seen spaces, then Open House Sevilla is right up your camino. Now in its third year, the three-day event (November 15-17) gives you access to normally off-limits historical and modern buildings – medieval towers, courtyard houses and innovative edifices.

For more, see our expert guide to Seville.

Fiona Flores-Watson

Amsterdam

It has been 750 years since the people who lived beside “the Aemstelle Dam” first got special privileges from the counts of Holland, and the city is starting anniversary celebrations early. A whole year’s worth of festivities kicks off with a big concert on October 27.

For more, see our expert guide to Amsterdam.

Rodney Bolt

Lisbon

A cluster of exciting bars is opening this September in the recently arrived Locke de Santa Joana in Lisbon. Housed in a 17th-century convent, the bars include a listening bar, the Kissaten, where whiskey comes curated by Dave Broom of London-based Spiritland, set in the ancient library.

For more, see our expert guide to Lisbon.

Mary Lussiana

Rome

New luxury hotels have been popping up in Rome almost monthly over the past two years, but Palazzo Talìa is the one you’ll want to book that flight for this autumn. Designed by Call Me By Your Name filmmaker Luca Guadagnino’s interior design studio, this 25-room boutique retreat set in a painstakingly renovated 16th-century palazzo is ready for its close-up.

For more, see our expert guide to Rome.

Rebecca Winke

Prague

Between October 10-13, the Signal Festival will transform not only Prague’s Old Town but also – for the first time – Prague Castle into an open-air gallery of light and digital art. The festival theme for 2024 is “Ecosystems II: Quest”, and installations will range from light design and visual and digital art, to AI and conceptual art.

For more, see our expert guide to Prague.

Paul Sullivan

Berlin

Berlin’s annual Tag der Clubkultur – day of club culture – actually takes place over a few days, and aims to make the diversity of the city’s famous club and nightlife scene more visible. Running between October 3-10 this year, the motto is “beyond tomorrow: remaining hopeful in chaos” – the 40 participating clubs will offer an array of dance events, concerts and exhibitions.

For more, see our expert guide to Berlin.

Paul Sullivan

Madrid

A collective cheer went up in the Spanish capital when Pedro Almodóvar won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival for The Room Next Door. See how the director has portrayed his beloved city over the past four decades at the Centro de Cultura Contemporánea Condeduque, where the exhibition Madrid, chica Almodóvar, with screenings of his movies, runs until October 19.

For more, see our expert guide to Madrid.

Annie Bennett

Barcelona

Barcelona’s seafront is teeming with sailing fans this autumn, as the America’s Cup enters the final stages of the four-yearly regatta. From now until October 27 you can visit some of the team bases at the Port Vell, or watch the races on huge screens set up along the seafront.

For more, see our expert guide to Barcelona.

Sally Davies

Venice

There’s no end of ballyhoo about Venice’s sprawling arts/architecture Biennale when it opens in spring. Less publicised is the fact that the show runs until late November, making autumn a perfect time to enjoy it without the crowds. For 2024, contemporary art is on offer, in the glorious historic Arsenale and the charming national pavilions of the Giardini.

For more, see our expert guide to Venice.

Anne Hanley

Nice

There is good news for lovers of Modern Art with the reopening of the Matisse Museum – which holds the greatest single collection of his art. A special exhibition, Miro Matisse. Beyond Images, continues.

For more, see our expert guide to Nice.

Nick Trend

Brussels

The Elliott Erwitt retrospective, now showing at the Grand Place in Brussels until January 5 2025, features more than 200 iconic shots from the photographer’s long and varied career. The exhibition showcases his black-and-white and colour work and illustrates his knack for finding humour in the every day – as well as photographs of luminaries such as Marilyn Monroe and Ernesto “Che” Guevara.

For more, see our expert guide to Brussels.

Paul Sullivan