Dating costs in Europe: Which cities are cheapest and most expensive?
Do you think about money when planning a date? And does your financial situation affect whether you feel ready to start a relationship? Romance is not only about feelings. Dating also costs money. A coffee, a...
Do you think about money when planning a date? And does your financial situation affect whether you feel ready to start a relationship?
Romance is not only about feelings. Dating also costs money. A coffee, a drink or a dinner can put pressure on your wallet. And for some people, money may affect not only where they go on a date, but whether they want to start a relationship at all.
So, how much does dating cost across Europe? The answer varies widely from city to city according to the Mapping the World’s Prices 2026 report, published by Deutsche Bank Research Institute.
What is included in the Cheap Date Index?
The Cheap Date Index includes one bottle of wine, one pair of jeans, one dress, two coffees, one meal for two people in a mid-range restaurant, two cinema tickets, two one-way public transport tickets and a 5km taxi trip.
As the index includes a pair of jeans and a dress, clothing can account for a large share of the total cost. So, it may not reflect only the cost of the date itself.
The prices come from Numbeo, which is not an official data source. Its prices are crowdsourced from users.
Switzerland most expensive, Turkey cheapest
Among 28 European cities, two Swiss cities rank at the top. The cost of this date basket is €407 in Geneva, and Zurich closely follows at €400.
Istanbul is the cheapest city for a date, but the basket still costs €168. It also costs less than €200 in the Italian capital, Rome (€195).
The simple average across the 28 cities is €270. The figures reflect prices in mid-2026.
Dating is also quite expensive in the Nordic countries. Oslo and Copenhagen share third place at €323. Stockholm ranks sixth at €310, while Helsinki is eighth at €296.
The UK is more expensive than other major economies
Among Europe’s largest economies, London is the most expensive city at €317. Another British city, Birmingham, is also in the top 10 at €290.
Paris is close to the European average at €279. In Italy, the date basket costs €278 in Milan but just €195 in Rome, showing significant differences within countries.
The three German cities on the list are all below the European average and very close to each other. A date costs €260 in Munich and €254 in both Berlin and Frankfurt.
The two Spanish cities are also among the cheapest. The date basket costs €219 in Madrid and €213 in Barcelona.
Among other cities, the cost is €294 in Dublin, €290 in Edinburgh, €271 in Brussels, €263 in Amsterdam, €250 in Vienna, and €225 in Warsaw and Lisbon. It is €222 in Athens and €214 in Prague.
Europe at the top
Eight of the 10 most expensive cities are in Europe. Europe also has 14 of the top 20 and 20 of the top 30. Istanbul is the only European city among the 20 cheapest.
A cheap date costs €270 on average across the 28 European cities whereas it costs €195 in the other 41 cities.
Globally, Tel Aviv-Yafo ranks third at €365 and is the only non-European city in the top five.
New York ranks eighth (€308), Los Angeles 13th (€288) and San Francisco 14th (€281). Sydney (€270) is close to Amsterdam (€263), while Dubai (€243) is close to Berlin (€254). Singapore and Madrid both cost €219.
Tokyo (€161) and Seoul (€163) are cheaper than Istanbul (€168). Hong Kong (€196) is also close to Rome (€195).
When income is considered, the rankings reverse
The nominal prices alone tell only half the story. Zurich and Geneva have the most expensive cheap dates, but they also have the highest salaries. That means a date takes the smallest bite out of pay there: 5.6% of a monthly net salary in Zurich and 6.4% in Geneva.
Luxembourg (6.6%), Amsterdam (6.7%) and Frankfurt (7.2%) follow.
The picture reverses in southern and central Europe. A cheap date in Athens costs €222. This is just over half the price in Zurich. Yet it takes 19.6% of an average monthly net salary of €1,132, the highest share among the 28 European cities. Istanbul (16.7%), Lisbon (16.3%) and Budapest (15.6%) come next.
The salary figures are city-level estimates from Numbeo cited by Deutsche Bank. Still, they are broadly in line with the shares calculated using Eurostat’s annual net earnings for a single person without children earning the average wage. Eurostat figures are national averages, rather than city-level data.
Using Eurostat data, the share of the date cost would be 7.2 percentage points lower in Athens at 12.4%. In Lisbon, it would be 12.6%, rather than 16.3% using Numbeo’s salary estimate.
Examining the link between income and readiness for a relationship using US data, Johanna Peetz and Geoff MacDonald found that the financial well-being of young adults is linked with romantic desire, perceived readiness for relationships, and actual transitioning into intimate partnerships.
Chen-Hao Hsu and Henriette Engelhardt also found that temporary employment and unemployment negatively affected the probability of union formation for single women and men in Europe.
Another study found that temporary employment and unemployment negatively affected the probability of union formation for single women and men in Europe.
