Limerick has been named as the best city in Ireland for a low-cost staycation.
Whilst a far-flung trip might be the ideal holiday for some, the cost of living means that people are considering the price of a holiday more than ever. However, if people know where to go, a staycation in Ireland can offer just as much culture, greenery, and adventure for a budget-friendly price.
Looking into various cost-related metrics such as meal prices and entertainment expenses, as well as cultural and recreational amenities like museums, theatres, and green spaces, SumUp has revealed the best cities in Ireland for a low-cost staycation.
Top cities for a staycation in Ireland:
- Limerick
- Galway
- Cork
- Dublin
Limerick lands top spot as the best city in Ireland for a budget-friendly staycation, with a score of 16.84. With the cheapest coffee prices in Ireland, averaging at €2.82, and an incredible 25 museums to explore, Limerick offers visitors both an affordable and cultural experience.
Galway claims second place, with a score of 13.95. The city offers visitors the cheapest three-course meal for two, at €55.59, as well as a whopping 26 landmarks to visit and 438 hotels to choose from. Additionally, using crowd-sourced data, the ranking found that Galway came out on top as the safest staycation in Ireland with a safety score of 69 out of 100.
Cork places in third, scoring particularly well for their cheap food options, averaging at €12 for an individual meal and €3.09 for a cup of coffee. In last place is Dublin, despite the low score of 2.85, the city has the most nature to offer, with 43.54% of its land being classed as official green space.
Corin Camenisch, Product Marketing Lead, at SumUp said “With an increased focus on domestic travel, as well as the cost-of-living crisis still being prevalent, we wanted to highlight the most cost-effective cities for a staycation in Ireland.
Whilst the cities in our report are popular hotspots among tourists, we hope to shed insight on budget-friendly locations that can also provide memorable experiences that are rich in culture without breaking the bank. “
For more information, please visit: https://www.sumup.com/en-ie/business-guide/best-staycation-cities-in-ireland/
ENDS
About SumUp:
SumUp is a leading global financial technology company driven by the purpose of levelling the playing field for small businesses. Founded in 2012, SumUp is the financial partner for more than 4 million small merchants in over 36 markets worldwide, helping them start, run and grow their business. Through its Super App, SumUp provides merchants with a free business account and card, an online store, and an invoicing solution – as well as in-person and remote payments seamlessly integrated with SumUp’s card terminals and point-of-sale registers. SumUp is committed to leveraging its success to make the world a better place: it has pledged to donate 1% of its revenue to support environmental causes and advocates for various educational and entrepreneurial projects around the world. In 2022 SumUp was recognised as a Top Global Employer for the LGBTQ+ community by the Stonewall Workplace Equality Index. For more information, please visit https://www.sumup.com/en-ie/
Methodology:
This methodology evaluates the suitability of locations across Ireland for staycations, utilizing 19 factors including cost metrics, amenities, and safety scores. Data for these factors is normalized to a range of 0 to 1, with missing data receiving a score of 0. Each location is then assigned a total score out of 23, derived from the sum of normalized values. Factors like coffee price, cinema ticket cost, average taxi fare, and clothing expenses are weighted twice in the calculation. The rankings are based on these total scores, with European Union city pricing data collected in GBP and converted to Euros at a rate of 1 GBP to 1.17 EUR. All data is sourced from platforms like Numbeo, TripAdvisor, and Google Maps, with accuracy confirmed as of January 26, 2024. Factors are indexed such that high values generally receive low scores and vice versa, with exceptions like safety score, green space, and cultural amenities where high values receive high scores.
Additional data: Limerick
- Average cost of an inexpensive meal: €13.68
- Average cost of an expensive 3-course meal for 2: €59.86
- Average cost of a coffee: €2.82
- Average cost of a pint of domestic beer: €5.05
- Average cost of a pint of imported beer: €4.49
- Average cost of a cinema ticket:€7.70
- Average taxi cost (5km journey): €9.13
- Safety score /100: 59.95
- Green space: 23.74%
- Number of museums per 100,000 people: 25.72
- Number of art galleries per 100,000 people: 8.57
- Number of theatres per 100,000 people: 3.42
- Number of landmarks per 100,000 people: 18.86
- Number of hotels per 100,000 people: 114.88
- Average WiFi speed (Mbps): 134.78
- Number of vintage stores per 100,000 people: 37.72
- Number of fashion designer stores per 100,000 people: 135.46
- Number of fashion accessory stores per 100,000: 168.04
- Average cost of clothing (combined price of a pair of levi jeans or equivalent and a dress): €67.38
