Post Office Travel Money's annual Winter Sun Holiday Costs Barometer has crowned Cape Town the cheapest place for UK travellers to chase the sun this winter. The South African city has topped the survey repeatedly, and prices there have actually fallen 9.7% since March. A three-course dinner for two with a bottle of house wine comes in at £39.26 — compare that with £119.26 in Scarborough, Tobago, the most expensive resort surveyed.
The barometer compares the cost of typical holiday purchases — an evening meal, drinks, sun lotion and insect repellent — across 24 destinations. Flights and hotels are not included, so it's a handy read on what you'll spend once you've landed.
Mombasa in Kenya (£42.78 for that same dinner-and-wine combo) and Tokyo (£48.50) took second and third overall. Interestingly, this year's study mixed short-haul and long-haul spots for the first time, but only included destinations reachable without a Middle East connection — a nod to current flight-routing realities for UK travellers.
Asia performs strongly in the overall rankings, with four of the top ten cheapest: Penang in Malaysia, Phuket in Thailand, Colombo in Sri Lanka and Tokyo. If you'd rather stay closer to home, the best-value European options were the Algarve in Portugal, Spain's Costa del Sol and Tenerife in the Canaries.
The takeaway from Post Office Travel Money's Laura Plunkett is simple: prices for everyday holiday staples vary hugely, especially in the Caribbean and Europe, so a bit of pre-booking price research can shave real money off a winter break. Given the gap between Cape Town and Tobago on identical purchases is roughly £80 a dinner, it's advice worth taking.
Who should care? Anyone booking a sunshine escape between November and March. Long-haul spots like South Africa, Kenya and Malaysia may cost more to reach than the Canaries, but low on-the-ground prices can offset that, particularly for trips of a week or more where meals, drinks and extras add up fast.
