What a hotel costs in Europe's capitals: budget, best value and luxury
Three hotels in each of 29 capitals, on the same dates. Where luxury is cheap, where even budget is not, and the trade-offs.
By Carlos de Ory · Updated October 24, 2026 · 6 min read
We pick three hotels in every city we cover. Here they are for 29 European capitals, side by side. The cheapest budget room is €29 in Riga. The most expensive luxury room is €910 in Amsterdam.
All prices are reference prices seen on Booking.com for a two-night stay from 10 to 12 November 2026, two adults, one room, shown per night. Prices move every day, so check today's price for your own dates before you book.
Across the 29 capitals, the median price is about €92 for budget, €144 for best value and €353 for luxury.
Where luxury is cheap
Old Royal Post is the standout. Its five-star pick scores 9.6 from 2,457 reviews and costs €104. That is less than the budget pick in London, Paris, Stockholm, Bern, Reykjavík, Brussels, Bratislava, Valletta, Amsterdam and Oslo. Riga (€108), Warsaw (€147), Bratislava (€159) and Zagreb (€162) follow. In Zagreb and Bratislava, the gap between best value and luxury is small, so the upgrade costs little.
Where everything is expensive
London is the most expensive capital at the budget and best value levels: €287 and €456. Paris and Stockholm are close behind. In Stockholm the spread is narrow. Budget is €231 and luxury is €371, so if you are paying that much anyway, the step up is relatively small.
The biggest jumps
In some capitals the luxury pick costs many times the budget one. In Rome it is about 16 times: €40 against €652. Vienna, Amsterdam, Bucharest and Budapest all have a gap of seven to nine times. In these cities, the best value pick is where most travellers should look first.
The trade-offs in the table
One budget pick costs more than best value. In Reykjavík, the budget pick is €173 and best value is €137. On these dates, best value is the cheaper choice there.
Budget is not always central. In Madrid, the budget pick is in Vallecas La Gavia, and in Vienna it is in Döbling. You save money and spend time on transport.
Riga's best value pick is new. Its listing says it opened in December 2025, so its 469 reviews cover less than a year.
How to use this list
Treat it as a shortlist, not a booking order. Open the city page to see the other two hotels we picked there, then check the price for your own dates. Read the most recent reviews, look at the map and compare the total price with taxes. You can read the full method on how we choose hotels.
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