Capital costs: London is most expensive city break destination in the world

The TripIndex Cities cost comparison study, conducted by Ipsos Mori, the average cost of an evening out and overnight stay in a four-star hotel in the Capital is £311.80 – three times that of the world’s cheapest city break destination, Hanoi in Vietnam, and almost £40 more expensive than last year's most expensive city, Oslo.

France and New York were in second and third place respectively, while Europe retained the title of most expensive continent, with seven out of the top 10 most expensive destinations.

Expensive cities​

The TripIndex Cities study is based on the typical costs for two people to costs for two people to enjoy a pre-meal cocktail at a five-star hotel, a meal out, taxis, and an overnight stay for two in a four-star hotel in the months of June to August

Interestingly, London was not the most expensive city for any of these individual elements, but came out on top when the costs were combined.

Stockholm, for example, was the most expensive city for an evening meal, with the cost of an average evening meal for two with wine hitting £107.57, compared to an average of £77.01 in London.

New York was the most expensive city for hotel rooms, with one night in a four-start hotel costing an average of £218.16 compared to an average of £189.27 in London.

Cocktails cost most in Paris, with two cocktails setting punters back an eye-watering £30.98, compared to £23.40 in London.

Cost of a city​

Earlier this week, a separate study from GoEuro revealed that London is the fifth most expensive country in the world to buy a beer in a shop.

The study revealed that the cost of a 33cl beer in London is €2.13, compared to just €0.97 in Dublin. Only Oslo, Zurich, Tokyo and Tel Aviv were more expensive for beer.

Naren Shaam, chief executive and founder of GoEuro, said: “Beer is popular in every country in the world and it’s a staple ingredient of almost every holiday. In this sense it’s a great way of getting a feel for how expensive, or cheap, a city will be for travelers around the world.”

However, tourists do not seem to have been put off by London's expensive price tag. According to recent research from the Office of National Statistics​ ​visits to the Capital rose 9 per cent last year to nearly 16.8m.