With the cost of beer going up and up in the UK, holidaymakers are enjoying a pint for around a pound on holiday in Europe and the taste isn’t bad either.
The British Beer & Pub Association recently found that on average a pint will set you back £4.07 in the UK - and £4.84 in London - which the Office of National Statistics has found is a yearly rise of nearly 12 per cent. However, finder.com puts the cost of the average pint in London at £5.90 and anyone who has been to the theatre recently will know the cost can be higher still.
Perhaps surprisingly to some, the UK does not have the highest average price for a pint in Europe - with research by The Drinks Business last year giving that unwanted honour to Norway, where a pint will set you back £7.55.
But while the cost of going to Europe will probably set you back more than you could save on the drinks - unless you are planning a long stay or a lot of beers - a cheaper price can ease the financial burden of going on holiday.
Here are the places to go to in Europe for a cheap drink
Although we one day hope they will again welcome tourists, Belarus and Ukraine are perhaps not the best holiday options in 2023 despite their cheap drink options.
Vouchers.co.uk looked into Numbeo’s Cost of Living database to find the top ten cheapest pints in Europe in August last year and put the two countries at first and second respectively.
Research found a pint will cost an average of 71p in Belarus and 90p in Ukraine.
However, a better option might be Azerbaijan, another Eastern European nation where you can buy a pint for less than £1 with the average beer being just 91p. Moldova and Albania were not far behind at £1.05 and £1.07 respectively.
Andrea Knowles, personal finance expert from Vouchers.co.uk said: “The price of everything seems to keep going up and up, and this includes your favourite tipple – and this seems to be the case whether you are visiting your local pub or looking for a refreshment whilst on holiday.
“Whilst not all of these locations will be top of the list for holidaymakers this year, our analysis does well to show overall where holidaymakers can get the most bang for their buck when it comes to beer prices around the continent”.
Hungary, Poland, Romania and Bulgaria are good options too
For more conventional holiday hotspots around Europe there is good beer to be had for a great price in Hungary, Poland, Romania and Bulgaria - all countries that are on the end of plenty of flights from the UK on a daily basis.
TikTok influencer Simply Katie has travelled Europe in search of the cheapest beer and found Hungarian capital Budapest can offer a pint for £1.21. The city is set to host the World Athletics Championships next month but is actually the most expensive in the country for the price of beer, according to vouchers.co.uk. The website found a drink will cost only £0.87 in Szeged if you are prepared to travel further into Hungary.
“There are so many sights to see and you have to visit the thermal baths,” Katie said in the video.
Budapest - a great choice for a beer— (Getty Images/iStockphoto)
Simply Katie found Romanian capital Bucharest was a good option - with a pint going for just £1.48. She also found over in Poland that £2 is all it takes for a good beer in Krakow, while further digging can find that a beer can be bought for £1.49 in the historic city of Lublin.
Another TikTok user Staceyistired commented: “No joke I went to Krakow two years ago and spent £60 in 3 days, we did all the museums.”
"Who doesn’t love a £1 pint?" Simply Katie wrote with the accompanying video last month.
Previous Euro travellers have also found Sofia in Bulgaria to be a good option with a Kozel beer on tap for the equivalent of around £2.
Birds flying over Krakow’s city centre— (Getty Images/iStockphoto)
Here is the full top ten according to the vouchers.co.uk list
1. Belarus (£0.71)
2. Ukraine (£0.90)
3. Azerbaijan (£0.91)
4. Moldova (£1.05)
5. Albania (£1.07)
6. North Macedonia (£1.24)
7. Kosovo [Disputed Territory] (£1.28)
8. Bosnia And Herzegovina (£1.29)
9. Bulgaria (£1.31)
10. Hungary (£1.31)
