Of course, it’s a commonly known fact that money alone won’t make you happy. But then again, life teaches us that feeling depressed while sitting in a spa at a luxury hotel, drinking champagne and waiting for your 5pm massage, is a trifle more exciting than feeling depressed sitting in a lousy hostel and waiting for the shower queue to die down.
While you may already know how to find a hotel that fits your budget, we can show you how to get fancy without taking a chunk out of your wallet. We compared average prices per night in 5-star hotels across Europe and discovered that some cities offer five stars for the price of three.
Top 10 cities for affordable luxury
| 1. Warsaw, Poland | £84 |
| 2. Thessaloniki, Greece | £87 |
| 3. Bucharest, Romania | £98 |
| 4. Athens, Greece | £104 |
| 5. Lisbon, Portugal | £113 |
| 6. Budapest, Hungary | £114 |
| 7. Brussels, Belgium | £122 |
| 8. Prague, Czech Republic | £138 |
| 9. Berlin, Germany | £145 |
| 10. Madrid, Spain | £154 |
10 most expensive cities for five star luxury
If money is no object, why not try one of Europe’s most expensive 5-star hotels:
| 1. London, United Kingdom | £321 |
| 2. Florence, Italy | £320 |
| 3. Paris, France | £307 |
| 4. Milan, Italy | £304 |
| 5. Nice, France | £253 |
| 6. Rome, Italy | £247 |
| 7. Munich, Germany | £247 |
| 8. Edinburgh, United Kingdom | £211 |
| 9. Amsterdam, Holland | £209 |
| 10. Copenhagen, Denmark | £191 |
To put it in perspective, for the price of one night in an average 5-star hotel in London you can stay almost three nights in a similar hotel in Warsaw. Are you convinced? Would you change the destination of your vacation to make the most of your travel budget?
*Our research is based on KAYAK hotel searches in 2013/14 for EU cities with more than 300,000 citizens and a minimum of 10 hotels with five-star ratings. Prices quoted are per room, per night and were correct at the time of collation on 22nd August 2014. Currency conversion is based on UK£1 to US$1.66.
Image source: Escapio Hotels, www.flickr.com, images licensed under Creative Commons CC BY-SA 4.0
