It’s not really charming, most of the buildings are ugly dirt-covered cement, there’s graffiti all over the place but Athens is a hot spot for the young and more tourists who like its’ funky attitude, coffee shops and unique areas.

It’s also the cheapest location for a city break on the continent, ahead of traditional budget-friendly eastern European destinations, said a survey by Post Office Money Travel.

The review was of a dozen typical costs for United Kingdom visitors in 20 popular cities and found that prices in Athens have fallen 15 percent since 2021,  more people coming during the waning COVID-19 pandemic.

The bill for expenses including two nights’ hotel accommodation for a couple, meals, attraction tickets and local transport fares, came to the equivalent of $238.26, with Lisbon second at ($250.92) said the British newspaper The Guardian in a report.

That was a little better than other East European destinations known for being particularly inexpensive, including Krakow, Riga in Latvia and Budapest, Hungary now having an authoritarian government.

It was the first time in 15 years that the Post Office survey found cities in western Europe were cheaper than the usual favorites, Greece benefiting from what’s expected to be a record-breaker tourist year.

Nick Boden, the head of Post Office Travel Money, which accounts for a 25 percent of UK foreign exchange transactions, said: “Established favorites like Paris, Amsterdam and Venice may be top choices among the holidaymakers …  but they are also expensive places to visit, and people who are prepared to swap to a city with a lower cost of living can make their pounds stretch much further.”

He said that, “Athens and Lisbon are half the price and offer a sunny autumn climate as well as low prices. Our advice to holidaymakers is to do their homework and check prices before booking.”

A great meal for two in Athens came in at an average of the equivalent of $44.84 – including wine, preferably Greek, and $102.44 for a three-star hotel to boot as a further incentive.

More than two in five of those planning trips abroad will be taking a city break, according to Post Office Travel Money, making it the most popular type of overseas holiday for the fifth consecutive year,

Six of the cities analyzed are more than twice as expensive as Athens, led by Amsterdam as the most expensive and followed by Venice, Copenhagen, Dublin, Paris and Stockholm.