With a shiny new diary to fill with plans, a freshly restocked bank of holiday days, and an ever-worsening vitamin D deficiency; I’m not ashamed to admit that a rather outrageous amount of my year so far has been spent Googling ‘cheap flights to literally anywhere that gets more sunshine than London‘. And apparently I am not alone.
According to new research from the travel experts over at hospitality group, Accor, UK searches for ‘cheap holidays’ have sky-rocketed to a whopping 680,000 in the past month. It seems as though Britain has come down with a rather severe case of the January blues. And one of the best ways to tackle them, I hear you ask? Booking a city break, of course.
Like me, Accor have also been spending their time scouring the internet for cheap flights, but unlike me, they were doing it for the greater good. They’ve analysed cities across Europe to determine which are the cheapest to fly to from London, and which are the cheapest once you actually get there. Topping the charts as the cheapest city to fly to from London is Milan. With fares starting at just £36.48, Milan is an utter bargain to fly to, and is also a pretty great connecting spot to reach other Italian cities that are perhaps a little more expensive to fly to from London.
Barcelona and Dublin came in at second and third place, with flights starting from £44.08. And for just £45.60, you can also get to the gorgeous cities of Rome or Cologne. The study also looked into the overall cheapest European city break, taking into account the costs of flights, hotels, and food whilst there. Nabbing the crown as the most affordable city break in Europe overall is Sofia. With an impressive ‘affordability score’ of 9.5 out of 10, the Bulgarian capital is filled to the brim with cultural treasures, and won’t break the bank. What more could you ask for?
The cheapest cities to fly to from London
The cheapest European city breaks
You can read Accor’s full study here.