Edinburgh ranked third most expensive destination for European city break
Lille and Strasbourg best value for money in western Europe
Edinburgh has been ranked the third most expensive European city break destination.
The Scottish capital was found to be less costly than only Oslo and Copenhagen in the report by Post Office Travel Money.
Meanwhile, Lille and Strasbourg have been named the best-value city-break destinations in western Europe.
The French cities were found to have the lowest prices for a dozen tourist expenses such as accommodation, meals, public transport and attraction entrance fees.
This was because of prices such as £140 for a two-night stay in three-star accommodation for two adults in Lille, and free entrance to a top tourist heritage attraction in Strasbourg.
The report noted that both destinations can be reached by train from the UK.
Eurostar operates direct services between London and Lille, from where Strasbourg can be reached by taking a connecting service.
Laura Plunkett, head of travel money at Post Office, said: “The low prices we found in Lille and Strasbourg make them compelling choices for British holidaymakers who want to take a short break in Europe but prefer the idea of surface rather than air travel this year.
“There are excellent direct Eurostar options to Lille, Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam, while several other cities can be reached by a combination of Eurostar and high-speed local services.
“Interestingly, our research found that Lille and Strasbourg are now less expensive than past champions Athens and Lisbon.”
The study, which analysed 50 cities across Europe, found that five locations in the east of the continent are cheapest overall for UK holidaymakers.
Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, was ranked in first place, followed by Bucharest, Romania; Tirana, Albania; Belgrade, Serbia; and Trencin, Slovakia.
At the other end of the scale, Oslo in Norway was the most expensive, ahead of Copenhagen in Denmark and Edinburgh.
The analysis does not take into account the cost of travel to reach the destinations.
The report found that costs for tourist items have risen by more than a fifth in seven of the 38 cities also surveyed last year, largely driven by higher prices for hotel stays as demand outstrips supply.
They consisted of Gdansk and Warsaw, Poland; Helsinki, Finland; Lisbon and Porto, Portugal; Ljubljana, Slovenia; and Prague, Czech Republic.
Conversely, seven destinations saw year-on-year price falls.
They were the Italian cities of Florence, Rome and Venice, plus Lille and Nice, France; Salzburg, Austria; and Stockholm, Sweden.
Ms Plunkett said: “Despite concerns about rising prices abroad, there are many European cities offering great value for money.
“Sterling has remained fairly strong but, in these challenging times, it will pay holidaymakers to do their homework before booking to see where their pounds are likely to stretch furthest, even for short breaks.”