8 European cities that offer spectacular value for money
- Gurdeep Loyal
Published: October 22, 2026 at 11:32 AM
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Make your holiday spending work harder in these eight European cities where great food comes with surprisingly good value
A memorable European city break doesn’t have to come with an eye-watering price tag. From sunny Porto and medieval Kraków to Galway, Liège and Sheffield, these character-packed cities deliver brilliant food and culture while making your money go that little bit further.
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For more travel inspiration, check out our guide to the best European city breaks and the best foodie city breaks to visit by train.
8 European cities that offer spectacular value for money
Dijon, France
Dijon has long held a reputation as a French culinary destination that offers up serious foodie credentials on a sensible budget. Situated in the heart of the Burgundy region, its striking medieval architecture and elegant mansions make it a picturesque gateway to wine country.
Dijon’s central market, Les Halles Centrales, is abundantly filled with specialities like époisses cheese, jambon persillé, cheesy gougères and cassis jams, spirits and syrups, and the city is awash with top-notch boulangeries like Boulangerie Buffon known for its organic butter croissants and dark country loaves. For lunch L’AbenFant is a contemporary French restaurant, centred on terroir-focused cooking inspired by traditional family recipes. Dishes worth trying include the pâté en croûte with pork, fig and hazelnuts, the oeuf parfait and the Bresse chicken stuffed with jerusalem artichoke and mustard.
Pourquoi Pas? is one of Dijon’s best value bistros with delicious dishes like puff-pastry montgolfière of snails and fresh mushrooms; 12-hour pork tenderloin; and douceur Dijonnaise for dessert, which combines vanilla-cassis, speculoos crumble, pain-d'épices spices and Dijon nonnette gingerbread.
Don’t miss a visit to La Moutarderie Fallot, the famous family mustard maker, whose boutique has a mustard tasting bar where you can discover exclusive varieties like the blackcurrant mustard, walnut mustard and even a cep mushroom with smoked tea mustard. Get more inspiration for a trip to France with our guide to the best French food trips.
Kraków, Poland
The medieval city of Kraków is one of Central Europe’s most charming getaways, with an atmosphere that blends rich Polish history with a young, creative culinary scene that is awash with cellar bars, bakeries, markets and ambitious yet budget-friendly restaurants.
Nat Bistro is a tiny neighbourhood natural wine bar in Kazimierz with a menu of modern Polish classics that puts seasonality and local sourcing at its heart. The signature dish is a smoked-trout pierogi made with trout from a family fish farm near Ojców National Park, and the Piękny Jaś is a hearty dish of Polish beans with sage butter and pistachios.
For comfort food crafted with culinary excellence head to Bufet KRK – order homemade kaszanka sausage with caramelised onion, guanciale and marjoram, and follow with a traditional Polish choux-and-custard karpatka cake with local raspberries for dessert. For more excellent baking, Zaczyn is one of the most exciting bakeries in the city, known for its jagodzianka yeast bun with streusel and blueberries. The Saturday Stary Kleparz market is a great place to sample twaróg (local curd cheese) and naturally fermented cucumber known as ogórki kiszone.
For a nightcap, check out Mercy Brown Cocktails Jazz & Burlesque, an unmarked speakeasy that makes its own cocktail infusions with craft ingredients.
Porto, Portugal
Famous for its tiled facades and steep hillsides that fall directly into the Douro river, Porto is famous for offering exceptional value because its culinary identity is rooted in working-class traditions rather than expensive fine dining.
Start your day at the historic Padaria Ribeiro bakery, which has been operating since 1878, and specialises in traditional bakes like empada de vitela pies and tarte de amêndoa with crunchy toasted almonds. Gruta is a great spot for dinner – a contemporary restaurant blending Portuguese seafood with Brazilian culinary influences. Signature dishes include Portuguese Atlantic fish moqueca, carabineiro prawn rice with lime aïoli, or scallops and radishes with a dashi and cupuaçu sauce. Porto is also awash with food markets offering affordable local delicacies to try as you explore, like Bolhão Market which has local smoked sausages and Serra da Estrela cheese, and Mercado Municipal de Matosinhos where you can sample sardines cooked over coal.
The best value fine-dining in Porto is at Apego Restaurante, centred on inventive, seasonal and ingredient-driven tasting menus that showcase local suppliers. For after dinner cocktails, head to Torto whose playful cocktails include a Wu-Miso Punch with tequila and fino sherry, and a Sesame Street with bourbon, sesame and Honduran coffee. See our full guide to the best restaurants in Porto for more, plus our round-up of the best Portuguese food trips to explore the country further.
Cádiz, Spain
Few serious foodie destinations offer better value for those on a modest budget than the ancient port city of Cádiz. As well as its historic buildings, Atlantic beaches and striking watchtowers like the Torre Tavira, its culinary scene heroes the local area's great natural larder.
Begin your day with homemade pastries at Dulcena Pasteleria in the historic centre, known for its Tarta de la Abuela layered chocolate cake and the Iberian orange and almond cake. Next head to Mercado Central de Abastos de Cádiz whose stall holders offer up a taste of fruit and vegetables from Cádiz province, meat and charcuterie from the Sierra de Cádiz and fish from the Bay of Cádiz.
Contraseña is a high-end contemporary restaurant that offers great value with a clásico tasting menu at €35, that includes dishes like tortillita de camarones shrimp fritters, Estuary sea bream with cockle sauce and torrija toast with thyme ice cream. The popular tapas bar La Candela offers up creative Andalusian cuisine that blends traditional local ingredients with contemporary techniques. Ajoblanco cold almond soup is served with marinated salmon, tempura squid come with a sesame sauce, and the homemade cheesecake is prized for its extra creamy texture.
Don’t visit Cádiz without checking out one of the traditional sherry bars dotted all over the city – like Taberna La Manzanilla where the wines are drawn straight from the barrels behind the bar. Start with a very dry manzanilla, then move through fino, amontillado, palo cortado and oloroso, accompanied with Santoña anchovies, jamón ibérico and pajarete cheese from the Sierra de Cádiz. See our guide to the best Spanish food trips for more inspiration and our picks of the best Spanish hotels to make a memorable stay.
Nuremberg, Germany
The historic city of Nuremberg in Bavaria, renowned for its striking medieval architecture, towering castle and preserved old town walls, is also something of a culinary hotspot that offers great value for the savvy traveller.
The Nürnberger Hauptmarkt has an abundance of regional ingredients to discover like Franconian horseradish, local asparagus, preserves, local bread, sausages and cheeses – transforming at Christmas time into one of the most famous festive markets in all of Germany.
Fränk'ness is a modern Franconian restaurant in the heart of Nuremberg that’s a great spot for lunch. The menu reinterprets regional cuisine and ingredients with contemporary techniques using a stone oven. Think dry-aged pork entrecôte with lemon mayonnaise and horseradish, braised veal cheeks with herb jus, and a signature burger made with beef from local butcher Freyberger, Franconian hard cheese, bacon and truffle mayonnaise.
Zum Flößla is a traditional Franconian restaurant, known for classic regional cooking in a cozy, rustic setting. The signature is a schäufele mit kloß – bone-in pork shoulder slowly roasted until tender, with a crisp rind, gravy and a Franconian potato dumpling. For traditional Nuremberg rostbratwürste grilled over an open beechwood fire head to the popular Bratwursthäusle whose sausages are known for their rich, smoky flavour, served up with freshly poured Tucher beer.
And for a cozy nightcap check out EULE Speakeasy Bar, whose inventive cocktails use techniques such as fat washing and fusion-inspired flavour combinations.
Sheffield, England
Sheffield’s ever burgeoning culinary scene has flourished through its independent neighbourhood restaurants, markets and breweries, rather than luxury hotel expense-account dining, making it a great foodie getaway for those watching their pennies.
Lovely Rita's Bakehouse is the best place to start a day exploring the city – a vegan bakery and café based at Stag Work with unique bakes like the Bang Bang Cauliflower Long Boy Danish and a twice-baked Snickers croissant. Bench is a neighbourhood bar and restaurant in the Nether Edge area, serving up seasonal bistro-style British-inspired small plates, cocktails, natural wine and beer. Signature dishes include Sheffield sourdough and whipped-yeasted butter, Curing Rebels charcuterie, and slow-roasted free-range Swaledale chicken with shallots and vin jaune sauce. For live fire cooking, head to Six and a Half known for its intimate chef-led dining experience – vegetables blistered over flames, meat and fish given smoke and char, and dishes built around whichever produce is best in season that day.
The Moor Market is well worth a visit, with more than 90 vendors selling everything from live crab and local cheeses to Caribbean ingredients and Nepalese thalis. And when it comes to cocktails the best place in Sheffield to be is Public, a tiny bar occupying a former Victorian public toilet beneath Sheffield Town Hall, with boundary pushing drinks favouring local spirits makers and collaborators. Check out our guide to the best restaurants in Sheffield for more.
Liège, Belgium
The compact and characterful Belgium city of Liège has a unique culinary identity of its own, blending centuries-old food traditions with a bold, contemporary dining scene – and that’s kinder on your wallet than the more popular Brussels, Antwerp and Ghent.
The contemporary bistro-brasserie Origines Restaurant offers Michelin-pedigree cooking without the price tag, specialising in dishes like grey shrimp croquettes, beef cheek ravioli and local trout ceviche. For something more traditional head to La Cuisine de Yannick, where country cooking has a focus on homemade sauces and slow-cooked dishes, including carbonade of pork and Liège’s famous boulets à la liégeoise meatballs.
The La Batte Market – one of Europe’s oldest – is the beating heart of the city come Sundays, specialising in local delicacies like Walloon cheeses, Belgian charcuterie and a sticky apple, pear and prune jam known as sirop de Liège. And no trip to the city is complete without sampling Liège waffles, which are richer, denser and chewier than those in the rest of Belgium. Made with a yeasted brioche-like dough, they are encrusted in sugar pearls that caramelise against the hot irons as they griddle. Try them at beloved local bakery Une Gaufrette Saperlipopette, whose Liège waffles made with artisan ingredients are well worth queueing for.
Galway, Ireland
The vibrant harbour city of Galway on Ireland's west coast is known for its brightly coloured shopfronts and bustling city centre filled with the sounds of traditional Irish music. It’s a brilliant budget-friendly culinary destination thanks to the exceptional produce within its vicinity and its informal artistic spirit which filters through into its buzzy culinary scene.
The Saturday St Nicholas' Market is a great place to sample farmhouse cheeses and Coolfin organic sourdoughs, alongside excellent falafel, curries and crêpes. Popular brunch spot Dela is a farm-to-table restaurant and coffee roastery in Galway's Westend, with a seed to feed philosophy emphasising produce grown on its own farm. Try the Dela Fry with Hickey sausages and flat cap mushrooms, the buttermilk pancake stack with berry compote, and brunch cocktails including a flat white martini.
Farm-to-table restaurant Kai Restaurant is a must visit, with a menu that combines Western Irish ingredients with flavour influences from Mexico, India, Spain and the Mediterranean. Inventive dishes to try include the Inis Mór crab, kohlrabi and roe; scallop ceviche, salsa macha, grapefruit and ponzu; and the re-imagined Galway-style take on a Georgian khachapuri. And for exceptional natural, organic and biodynamic wines, check out Daróg Wine Bar, whose kitchen serves up delicacies like kingfish crudo, local oysters, seasonal vegetable plates, Irish cheeses and cured meats.
Check out our guide to the best Irish holidays for more inspiration.
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Gurdeep Loyal
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