How much do you spend on a city break/long weekend abroad?

[doistayordoigo]

Have just been costing up a 3 night break in Seville for October, we haven't done a non-UK city break before, and I'm curious about how much people usually spend on a trip like this? Stupidly I thought it wouldn't be that expensive, but unless I'm missing something it will end up costing as much as a longer holiday! What tips and tricks am I missing, and what do you usually spend on this type of break?

Well it’s going to be similar to a week holiday if your flying, as your still taking a return flight, still hiring car or taxi or public transport. So the only difference is per night accommodation

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and city accommodation in hotels is likely to be more expensive than a resort ….we are going to Seville for 3 nights….. the accommodation is £300 for a hotel with breakfast for the 2 of us

I never do 3 days. Seems pointless. But tend to go with £100 per person per day.

Flights have gone up a lot since Covid closed everything so that is probably why things are more expensive than you remember.

We are going for a 3 night break to Dubrovnik at the end of June. The cost for flights, apartment and transfers for 4 adults is just over £1,500. That is for a 3 bedroomed apartment because our adult DC prefer not to share a room. For a 2 bedroomed apartment the total would have been about £1250 so about £315 each.

Four nights in Istanbul was £1100 for flights, hotel and transfers for two.

That is compared to 3 nights in Rome in 2018 which was £550 for four people!

I usually start with flights. Compare the cheapest dates to go. Usually coming back on a Monday is cheaper than a Sunday for example. I then look on Booking.com to find accommodation. You can filter by area, number of bedrooms, beds etc.

If we're looking at hotels I will check the package deals just in case.

I'm currently in Budapest. The flight was very cheap and the accommodation averagely priced but we have spent more than I expected just getting around, eating out etc. It's rarely as cheap as you think.

European city breaks have shot up in price recently. It doesn't seem that long ago that you could get a reasonable hotel room or air bnb aparment for well under £100 a night, now you would be scraping the barrel if there was anything at all especially in popular tourist towns.

I think 3-4 nights accomodation for a city break is often the same as a week's accommodation for a longer "beach" type holiday. And the travel costs are also the same, regardless of length of stay.

If you're going to closer Europe, driving/train can often be cheaper. We've got some good deals on Eurostar to Brussels and Amsterdam (but out of school holidays).

We've just had 5 nights in Dubrovnik. It was a couple of hundred cheaper to book as a package with Jet2 than it was to pull it all together myself with the same hotel.

Yep. Exactly the same here. We also did Jet2.

We got cheap flights with easyJet to Tenerife but then splurged on a lovely AI hotel for 3 nights. 1K all in for both of us, didn't spend a penny when we got there. Then did 3 nights in Palma, flight and hotel £400 each but then spent about £300 on food and drink...so ended up very expensive

We've just done 4 nights there with Jet2 ...about £900. Spent about £900 while there.

We usually take the train as can't be arsed with getting to the airport and having to spend part of the weekend waiting around in queues, and faffing with luggage, liquids, etc. Trains can be expensive but for us they're much less hassle. Also you arrive in the city centre rather than at the airport, another bonus.

We do our research and look for free museums or exhibitions to check out.

I've just pushed book on a three night break to Dubrovnik in October. We had to go BA from Gatwick to get the flight times we needed and are staying in a 5 star hotel but just on a B&B basis. It's costing about £1600 including an airport hotel at Gatwick the night before and meet and greet parking.

This is just for me and DH btw. DS will have gone to uni and dd will be away with school. Can't wait!

We're going to Mallorca the week after next (just DH and I)...the quieter bit on the east coast. Jet2.

3 nights, but flying out at 6am on Friday and flight back 10pm Monday so 4 full days. 4* All Inclusive and we've spent about £1100. That's including booking our seats, travel to and from the airport, travel insurance etc.

For me it's the cost of food. We did hotel city breaks and DD and I need regular small meals so we can't eat hugely at the hotel breakfast and then stay fine until dinner.

We did Prague and that was ok for dinner, we just returned from Bruges and even the restaurants outside the main tourist squares were expensive.

I think £100/person is an average if you don't drink alcohol.

When DD and I did Amsterdam we would just pop into a supermarket, get a baguette and cheese/salami plus some fruit/yoghurt and had a picnic in the park for lunch. Just bring some cuterly with you if you have hold luggage.

It seems I've been assuming everyone else is going on cheap breaks when actually your prices are in the same ballpark as mine, which is reassuring at least 🙂

@Kitkat1523 Do you mind if I ask where you're staying, as that is lower than the hotel I've found at the moment.

Unfortunately Jet2 don't fly to Seville from our nearest airport, so it will need to be Ryanair, but the flight times mean we'll either need airport parking or a hotel the night before. Would consider the train for other trips, but not sure how easy it would be to get to Seville.

We tend to book cheaper hotels with good reviews as we are out and about so much on city breaks but that can still be £150 per night in a big European city. So with flights it averages around £750 for 3 nights for 2 people before you add in transfers, food etc.

Obviously it’s more expensive at certain times of the year & the earlier you book the better. We had a 4 night break in Valencia in February half term that was very reasonable (just over £500 for flights and hotel but had to pay for airport parking too) & eating and drinking there was very cheap too.

I’m stunned at some of these prices. We love to travel and do lots of city breaks. We’ve never paid anything like some of the prices suggested on this thread. Flights are usually well under £100 return each and either a hotel or apartment is never more than maybe £75 per night.

Our next trip is to Bologna in Italy. Flights were £32 return each with Ryanair. I know they got a bad reputation, but I’ve flown with them loads and never had an issue. Budapest is next on my list and I’ve found flights for about £40 return each.

@StripyZebras Do you not need to add bags to the flight costs though? Ryanair when I looked didn't even include a 10k hand luggage bag? Plus getting to the airport, etc

I've done them within a variety of budgets. Obviously depend where you go as many European destinations are cheaper than if you'd stayed within the uk but equally somewhere like paris will be much more

I tend to have a budget in my head if around £100 return for europe flights (except peak times/greek islands) and I never ever pay for a seat nor for luggage if <5 nights away.

Airport parking £30 if in advance w discount code

Hotels/airbnbs often similar cost these days but for Seville in 2022 I paid £130 for 3 nights accommodation in an Airbnb. I paid £171 for 3 nights in Salzburg in 2023 and £122 for Ljubljana the same year so there's a rough estimate. This is per person for a 1 bed appt.

If I'm doing a package I tend to do BA holidays- the cheapest I ever got was £164 for flights, hotel and 4* hotel with breakfast over a weekend for 2 nights in stockholm- it was fantastic. I've heard good things about jet2 too.

Obviously spending money also depends where you go. Seville for food is fantastic and good value. I'm not a massive drinker but do like sangria / an aperol. We got Ubers to and from the airport for about €10 each each way so it's not bad. Main cost comes from sightseeing- cathedral tower, cordoba visit etc can add up but probs no more than about €50 total.

We are going Croatia end of this month….I paid £90 each return flights ….Ryanair ….that included a backpack and cabin suitcase and allocated seating…..i book flights as soon as Ryanair or easyJet release their sale flights …..they send out an email …. I knew I wanted to go on holiday end of June but wasn’t too fussed where and Zadar had cheap flights so we went with that…. We often fly out from one airport and back to another as we live between 2 airports….depending on flight times and prices …..sometimes the difference in price is huge…..I’ve flown Ryanair loads and never ( touch wood) had an issue with them….you get what you pay

For 3 days you don’t really need a bag, and seville is one of the warmest parts of Spain, October will have highs of 26 and lows of 14 so just wear your heaviest clothes to the flight.

Triana is cheaper than staying in the old town of Seville. We usually stay in an apartment as we prefer it and you can generally get places for £70/90 a night in a central area.

I wouldn’t bother paying a premium for hotel breakfast. You can pick up a coffee and a tomato/jamon toast for 3/4 euros.

Seville is the foodie capital of Spain! You’ll have a great time.

Ps….. we get the bus or the train to the airport ….. we live 30 miles from one airport and 15 miles from another

And no, we book the very basic flight package that is just a rucksack. It's totally fine for a weekend and we got it down to a fine art post covid when baggage services at Heathrow were a nightmare and we didn't want to risk it.

No problem with getting the train to the airport generally but the Seville flights are early morning so before the trains ate running. I really don't think I could manage with just a rucksack though...