Compare Holiday Prices 2025 vs 2026: 93% of Top Destinations See Cost Spikes - New cozycozy data

Biggest domestic surge.

 Brighton is up 29%. A British seaside town now costs more per night than Crete, the Algarve and Nice. The staycation is no longer the budget option.

Fastest-rising destination overall. 

Budapest has risen faster than anywhere else in the ranking. It is still the cheapest European city break on the list, but the gap with Prague is now just £3 a night. The window is narrowing.

Most expensive destination. 

Ibiza was already the most expensive. This summer it has risen again, to £368 a night. A week there now costs roughly the same as five weeks in Istanbul.

Steepest domestic fall. 

The Cotswolds has dropped 22%. If you have been putting off that trip because of the price, this is the year to reconsider. Abroad, only Lisbon and Costa Brava are cheaper than last summer.

Widest price gap. 

The gap between the most and least expensive destination in the ranking is £291 per night. Istanbul at £78 against Ibiza at £368. Same summer, very different bill.

Prices are up in 28 of the 30 destinations tracked. The table below shows where the biggest changes happened.

Ibiza was already the most expensive destination in the ranking. This summer it has risen another 19.8%, to £368 a night. That is not a rounding error. Choosing Ibiza over Mykonos now costs an extra £672 over a week,  for two islands in the same sea, a short flight apart.

Budapest is the opposite story. Still the cheapest major European city break on the list, but rising faster than anywhere else in the dataset. The gap between Budapest and Prague, long the two great budget city breaks of Central Europe, is now just £3 a night. Travellers who have been meaning to go before it gets expensive should probably go this year.

Ibiza leads at £368 a night, but the story is not just about one island. From Mykonos to Mallorca, from the Amalfi Coast to Split, virtually every Mediterranean hotspot is more expensive than last summer. The Algarve and Nice are both up more than 10%. The whole tier is moving upward together, and the gap between these destinations and the rest of the ranking has rarely been wider.

Two international destinations are actually cheaper this summer than last: Lisbon and Costa Brava. Both are warm, both are worth visiting, and both cost less in 2026 than they did in 2025. At home, the Cotswolds has dropped from £395 to £307:  the steepest fall in the full dataset. Edinburgh is cheaper too, down 11%, despite one of its busiest summer calendars in years.

For travellers with flexibility on where they go, Istanbul remains the standout: £78 a night, less than a quarter of Ibiza's price, with one of the most extraordinary cities in the world to explore. Athens, Marrakech and Prague all stay under £120.

The data does not say stay home. It says the assumptions you had about which destinations are affordable may need updating. Comparing across destinations, dates and platforms before you commit is where the biggest savings are hiding this summer.

Average nightly accommodation rate · summer 2026 vs summer 2025 · Source: cozycozy.com · Accommodation only.

Methodology: cozycozy.com analysed 553,500 accommodation price observations across 30 destinations, comparing summer 2026 with summer 2025. Full dataset available on request.

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