Traveling to Eastern Europe is a good choice for holiday makers who want to save money. The countries that are out of Euro zone offer services at reasonable prices. The global economic crisis definitely affects people’s behavior when it comes to tourism. Numerous travelers afraid of expensive Euro destinations look more to the east for attractive yet affordable holiday destinations. According to the new
City Costs Barometer by Post Office Travel Services, Eastern or Central European cities, which are outside of the EURO zone, pose a unique bargain.
Budapest, Warsaw and Prague are ideal destination for e.g. UK tourists. The strengthening Euro makes trips to the Euro zone countries more expensive for UK citizens but it is quite different story for some of the above mentioned cities. Polish currency is 10 per cent cheaper for UK citizens than it was the year before. The pound also strengthened against the Turkish currency. Central and East European countries are even cheaper than the Scandinavian ones.Even thought the local services are mostly less expensive than in the UK or Western Europe, the Eastern European countries still offer unique experience that equals and sometimes overcomes the traditional Western attractions. Culture lovers thus should visit especially Warsaw, Tallinn and Budapest and enjoy the reasonable prices for theaters, galleries and concerts. The cheapest weekend accommodation is also at Warsaw. If you like eating out you should visit Budapest or Prague. The transfers between airport and city centre are cheapest on the other hand in Riga. The
cheapest European holiday destination for British tourists is Bulgaria, according to another survey by the Post Office. The other two best destinations in this category are
Turkey and Croatia. The most expensive destination, on the other hand is currently France. Some countries have improved their status over the last year. For example the prices in Portugal, Greece and Italy have dropped. The cheapest Euro zone destination is Spain.
