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Budapest tops a list of cheap city break destinations compiled by holiday rental website HouseTrip.com.
Travellers can pay as little as £139 per person for a two-night break in the Hungarian capital including average flight prices from London, holiday expenses and the cost of a centrally-located, one-bedroom apartment starting at £28 a night.
Croatia comes out as one of the most expensive destinations, with a city break to Split or Dubrovnik costing on average £286 and £327 respectively.
Flights are cheapest to Brussels and Amsterdam, at £69 each for a return from London. For internal transport on metros and trams, Istanbul, leads the way, where a one-way ticket costs 63p.
The findings follow HouseTrip examining European destinations from the UK and breaking down costs into typical spend items a traveller would need when planning a weekend getaway, such as accommodation, return flights, museum tickets, grocery shopping, travel on public transport and restaurant meals.
Barcelona (£150), Nice (£162) and Paris (£165) come in at around half the cost of a break in Dubrovnik, according to the study.
Istanbul offers cheap accommodation, but is costly due to high prices on alcohol and flights. Lisbon is also highly affected by flight costs. The Portuguese capital offers cheap accommodation, dining and supermarket shopping, but loses out once travellers need to pay for air tickets.
HouseTrip founder Arnaud Bertrand said: “Holidaymakers sometimes don’t take into account all the expenses involved when choosing a holiday destination, instead they tend to focus on one particular element that they perceive to be a bargain, such as the low cost of living in a location, or the currency exchange and they base their holiday around that.
“You may think that flight bargain is too good to be true – and it just might be once you land and find yourself facing massive costs.”