LONDON, U.K. – 15 August 2017: Nottingham offers the best value UK city break over the August bank holiday weekend, while Oxford is revealed as the most expensive destination, edging past London for the first time.

This news was revealed as TripAdvisor, the travel site that helps you find the latest reviews and lowest prices, announced its annual cost comparison study, TripIndex UK Cities.

TripIndex UK Cities compares the cost of a three-night break over the August bank holiday weekend in the 20 most popular UK cities[i], taking into account typical costs for two people. These include; a four-star hotel for three nights, a visit to four attractions, lunch each day, a taxi to and from dinner each day, plus the cost of dinner itself[ii].

The study found that a three night (four day) trip for two in Nottingham will set you back an average of £681, almost two thirds less than the price of a break to the UK’s most expensive destination which is Oxford. An average weekend break in Oxford comes in at a wallet-busting average of £1,156 – that’s almost £345 per day.

“For Brits planning a UK break over the upcoming bank holiday weekend, whether that’s to one of the cheaper or more expensive destinations, using TripAdvisor to compare prices on over 200 sites in an instant will ensure they can bag the lowest price. For example, the site is currently showing highly rated Oxford hotels, Remont Oxford Hotel and Jurys Inn Oxford, both available over the August bank holiday weekend, are bookable at £125 and £130 per night respectively – almost £100 less than the city’s average hotel price,” commented TripAdvisor spokesperson, Hayley Coleman.

Oxford out prices London for a weekend break

For the first time in the five consecutive years that Oxford has been featured in the TripIndex UK Cities study, the city has surpassed London in the cost of a weekend break.

While it may initially seem a surprise to see Oxford beating London in the price stakes, the city has actually been steadily rising up the ranks for some time – in 2013 Oxford was sixth, fourth in 2014, dropping to eleventh in 2015, then jumping to second in 2016 and finally reaching the top spot in 2017.

The cost of a weekend break in London has decreased 5% against last year whereas the price of a weekend in Oxford has increased by 10% – the construction of a £440m retail, food and leisure development in Oxford this year one of the possible contributions to the change in price.

Oxford priciest overall but cheapest for things to do

When looking at the breakdown of individual items that make up the cost of a weekend break, London comes out as the most expensive destination for lunch, a taxi journey and dinner. However, in Oxford the cost of a hotel is what brings up the total price. At £221 per night versus London’s £191, it’s the most expensive destination for an overnight stay. That said, while Oxford is the most expensive for a hotel stay and a weekend break overall, it is actually the cheapest of all 20 destinations when it comes to things to do, as the five most highly rated attractions on TripAdvisor are all free[iii].

Nottingham climbs six places to be crowned best value

Nottingham has flip flopped from seventh to eighth cheapest for the past four instalments of TripIndex UK cities but this year jumps six places to be named cheapest destination for the August bank holiday weekend, followed by Leeds.

Average hotel prices in Nottingham have dropped by £25 per night since 2016 down to £91 this year. While Nottingham is the cheapest destination overall however, it’s Sheffield which has the cheapest hotel rates, with an average per night cost coming in at £79.

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For more information, please contact Hayley Coleman / 020 3194 2150 / hcoleman@tripadvisor.com

Notes to editors:

TripIndex at a glance

From the least expensive to the most expensive (green and red indicate least and most expensive destinations for each item respectively):

Cheapest:

Most expensive:

Methodology

The TripIndex Cities 2017 destination list is comprised of the 20 most searched for UK cities by TripAdvisor users over the past 12 months.

TripIndex Cities prices out the daily cost for the following items in each destination, multiplied by four to represent the cost of a four-day city break for two people (hotel prices are multiplied by three to demonstrate three nights). Within each establishment selected for the study and where the item was available, the prices of the following were identified by web searches and by telephoning the establishment and asking for prices of:

• Lunch:             Meal and soft drink (burger and chips)
• Dinner:             Starter, main meal and bottle of wine to share (salad, steak and chips)
• Taxi:                 Return taxi journey of two miles each way
• Attraction:        Cost of visiting an attraction each day
• Hotel:               Accommodation in a 4-4.5-star hotel

Lunch for two: Prices specify the average cost of a burger and chips with a cola for two. Five restaurants with mid-range prices were contacted via telephone and/web searches were conducted to establish prices in each city.

Dinner for two: Prices specify the average cost of a two-course meal (starter - salad and main – steak and chips) for two people with a bottle of house (or cheapest available) white wine. Five restaurants with mid-range prices were contacted via telephone and/web searches were conducted to establish prices in each city.

Return taxi journey: Prices specify the approximate cost of two taxi journeys of two miles each (representing an evening’s return transportation). Data was taken from local authorities and recognised taxi companies in the area. Taxi companies were identified using web search and contacted via telephone in each city.

Attractions for two: Prices specify the average cost of visiting the top five best rated attractions on TripAdvisor, multiplied by two to represent the cost for two people. Attractions were best rated on TripAdvisor as of 27^th July 2017.

Hotel room rates: Room rates specify the average cost of one night’s stay in 4 and 4.5 star hotels in each destination between 25th August 2017 – 30th September 2017, aggregated from booking partners, including online travel agencies and direct hotel suppliers.

Research was conducted by TripAdvisor and prices were collected through telephone and web search.  Prices were collected between 1^st June 2017 and 7^th July 2017.