Cheaper fuel for holidays on continent, report says

UK tourists will pay less for fuel in every popular motoring destination in Europe this summer compared to last year, according to a new study.

Despite sterling slipping in value, the cost of both unleaded and diesel has fallen for a second successive year due to the drop in the price of oil, a report by Post Office Travel Money found.

The biggest annual reduction in the price of petrol is in Switzerland, down 20p per litre to 95p.

Seven other countries also offer British holidaymakers below £1 a litre for unleaded, including Spain (93p), Austria (84p) and Croatia (98p).

Filling up during a driving holiday in France will cost £1.05 per litre, which works out at £159 for every 1,000 miles (1,600 km) on the road.

The cheapest petrol and diesel out of the 20 countries included in the research was Andorra at 82p and 66p per litre respectively.

The impact on UK motorists of sterling dropping in value against the euro by about 6% over the past 12 months has been mitigated by oil prices falling by around a third.

Andrew Brown of Post Office Travel Money said: "The price falls in Europe come as a surprise, given last year's potent combination of cheap crude oil and the powerful pound.

"At best we expected fuel costs to be on par with last year's low pump prices, but further falls in the cost of crude mean UK motorists can bank on a big boost to their driving power."

:: This is the cost per litre of petrol for UK tourists in 20 European countries (change from 2015 in brackets) according to Post Office Travel Money:

1. Andorra £0.82 (minus 7p)

2. Austria £0.84 (minus 9p)

3. Cyprus £0.86 (minus 14p)

4. Luxembourg £0.87 (minus 9p)

5. Spain £0.93 (minus 9p)

6. Switzerland £0.95 (minus 20p)

7. Slovenia £0.96 (minus 8p)

8. Croatia £0.98 (minus 9p)

9. Greece £1.04 (minus 18p)

10. Ireland £1.04 (minus 6p)

11. Germany £1.04 (minus 10p)

12. France £1.05 (minus 7p)

13. Belgium £1.07 (minus 11p)

14. UK £1.08 (minus 8p)

15. Sweden £1.12 (minus 1p)

16. Italy £1.17 (minus 13p)

17. Portugal £1.18 (minus 2p)

18. Denmark £1.23 (minus 7p)

19. Netherlands £1.26 (minus 8p)

20. Norway £1.32 (minus 14p)