- Kraków, Poland named the best European city for backpackers, pairing the highest-rated hostels of any ranked city with affordable dorm beds.
- Porto, Portugal, and Warsaw, Poland, ranked second and third, both offering a great selection of dorm hostels
- Barcelona, Spain, comes last of the 30 cities ranked, weighed down by dorm beds averaging £57.33 a night.
A new study has identified the best European cities for backpackers for 2027, with Kraków in Poland named the most appealing destination for budget travellers.
The research, conducted by Pens.com, analysed 30 European cities across four key factors: dorm-bed prices, hostel ratings, hostel availability and prices for 1 to 7 August 2027, relative to visitor numbers, and summer temperatures, to find the most backpacker-friendly destinations.
Kraków, Poland ranked the best European city for backpackers in 2027, achieving the highest overall score with 92 out of 100. Kraków stands out with an exceptionally high review-weighted rating of 8.33 out of 10, the highest of any ranked city, while a median dorm bed costs just £17.42 a night. The city offers a great average summer temperature for travellers of 20.3°C.
Porto, Portugal, ranked second-best with an overall score of 90 out of 100. The Portuguese city offers the most dorm hostels relative to visitor numbers of any city studied, at 47.8 per 100,000 weekly international arrivals. It also has a great average summer temperature of 21.1°C, alongside a median dorm price of £27.83 a night.
Warsaw, Poland, rounded out the top three with a score of 73 out of 100. The capital of Poland offers the most affordable dorm beds of any city in the top ten at just £15.33 a night and a great average summer temperature of 19.9°C, its hostel ratings are 7.68 out of 10.
Prague in the Czech Republic follows in fourth with an overall score of 71 out of 100, offering strong hostel ratings of 8.09 out of 10 with mid-range dorm prices of £26.00 and summer temperatures averaging 21.4°C.
Bruges in Belgium completed the top five with a score of 67 out of 100. Bruges has some of the highest hostel ratings in the study at 8.28 out of 10.
Top five cities for backpackers in Europe
| Rank | City & country | Score (out of 100) | Median dorm price (£) | Hostel rating (out of 10) | Dorm hostels per 100k arrivals | Average summer temp (°C) |
| 1 | Kraków, Poland | 92.01 | £17.42 | 8.33 | 35.86 | 20.34 |
| 2 | Porto, Portugal | 89.77 | £27.83 | 8.21 | 47.84 | 21.09 |
| 3 | Warsaw, Poland | 73.08 | £15.33 | 7.68 | 26.00 | 19.87 |
| 4 | Prague, Czech Republic | 71.38 | £26.00 | 8.09 | 18.03 | 21.39 |
| 5 | Bruges, Belgium | 67.14 | £34.00 | 8.28 | 10.40 | 19.61 |
On the other end of the scale, Barcelona in Spain was ranked the least suitable of the 30 ranked cities for backpackers, with a score of 32 out of 100. The Spanish city has some of the most expensive dorm beds in the study at £57.33 a night, and an average summer temperature of 26.8°C.
Paris in France ranked second worst with a score of 32 out of 100. Despite a reasonable median dorm price of £36.92 a night, the French capital has the fewest dorm hostels for its visitor numbers of any city, at just 1.56 per 100,000 weekly arrivals, along with the lowest hostel rating in the study at 7.12 out of 10.
Nice in France follows with a score of 32 out of 100. The city offers some of the most expensive dorm beds in the entire study at £64.00 a night, some 4.4 times the price in the cheapest city, and summer temperatures averaging 26.8°C.
Milan in Italy ranked fourth worst with a score of 34 out of 100, its offers affordable dorm prices of £35.17, but it has a low hostel rating of 7.51 out of 10 and a hot summer temperature averaging 27.7°C.
Rome in Italy completed the bottom five with 36 out of 100. Despite well-rated hostels at 8.21 out of 10, the Italian capital is dragged down by expensive dorm beds at £48.42 a night, very few hostels for its visitor numbers at 1.78 per 100,000 arrivals, and a hot average summer of 28.5°C.
Bottom five cities for backpackers in Europe
| Rank | City & country | Score (out of 100) | Median dorm price (£) | Hostel rating (out of 10) | Dorm hostels per 100k arrivals | Average summer temp (°C) |
| 30 | Barcelona, Spain | 31.71 | £57.33 | 7.83 | 9.43 | 26.76 |
| 29 | Paris, France | 31.84 | £36.92 | 7.12 | 1.56 | 23.34 |
| 28 | Nice, France | 32.36 | £64.00 | 7.95 | 12.00 | 26.78 |
| 27 | Milan, Italy | 33.93 | £35.17 | 7.51 | 9.51 | 27.73 |
| 26 | Rome, Italy | 35.67 | £48.42 | 8.21 | 1.78 | 28.52 |
A spokesperson from Pens.com commented on the findings:
“Kraków stands out because it does everything well rather than relying on one selling point. Its hostels are the best rated of any city ranked, its dorm beds are among the cheapest, and its summers are close to ideal, which is exactly the balance a backpacker on a budget is after.
“Price is where trips are won or lost. The gap between the cheapest and most expensive cities is huge, with a dorm bed in Nice costing more than four times one in Warsaw or Istanbul, so a little research before booking can stretch a travel budget a long way. What stands out in the data is how strongly Eastern European cities dominate the top of the ranking.
“It is also worth looking past the famous names. Some of the most visited capitals score poorly here once you weigh up cost and how many hostels are available for the number of visitors, so smaller cities can offer a smoother and cheaper trip.”
ENDS
If using this story, please credit and link to Pens.com – https://www.pens.com.
Methodology
The study analysed 30 European cities to find the best destinations for backpackers, based on four equally weighted factors:
- Review-weighted rating of hostels available to book for 1 to 7 August 2027, sourced from Booking.com
- Median price per person per night for a dormitory bed for 1 to 7 August 2027 in GBP, sourced from Booking.com
- Number of dorm-selling hostels available for 1 to 7 August 2027 per 100,000 weekly international arrivals, sourced from Booking.com and thesavvybackpacker.com
- Difference from an ideal average temperature of 20.5°C across June to August 2026, sourced from open-meteo.com
Each factor was scored from 0 to 10, where 0 represents the worst value in the data and 10 the best. Negative indicators, such as price and the difference from the ideal temperature, were inverted so that lower values scored higher. The four scores were then combined with equal weighting and scaled to produce an overall index out of 100.
Only hostels selling a shared dormitory bed for the week were counted, since a per-person dorm price is the relevant measure for backpackers and Booking.com’s “hostels” category also lists many private-room-only properties. A city was ranked only if it had at least five dorm-selling hostels available for the week. On that basis five cities were set aside: Munich, Venice and Frankfurt, with three to four dorm hostels each, Dubrovnik with two, and Heraklion, which had no bookable hostels for the week. A social-media popularity measure used in earlier research was not included, as reliable public data is no longer available.
Complete rankings of European cities for backpackers
| Rank | City & country | Score (out of 100) | Median dorm price (£) | Hostel rating (out of 10) | Dorm hostels per 100k arrivals | Average summer temp (°C) |
| 1 | Kraków, Poland | 92.01 | £17.42 | 8.33 | 35.86 | 20.34 |
| 2 | Porto, Portugal | 89.77 | £27.83 | 8.21 | 47.84 | 21.09 |
| 3 | Warsaw, Poland | 73.08 | £15.33 | 7.68 | 26.00 | 19.87 |
| 4 | Prague, Czech Republic | 71.38 | £26.00 | 8.09 | 18.03 | 21.39 |
| 5 | Bruges, Belgium | 67.14 | £34.00 | 8.28 | 10.40 | 19.61 |
| 6 | Berlin, Germany | 65.33 | £21.17 | 7.63 | 16.51 | 20.39 |
| 7 | Seville, Spain | 63.48 | £22.00 | 8.27 | 26.00 | 28.50 |
| 8 | Budapest, Hungary | 63.05 | £35.83 | 8.31 | 20.80 | 25.05 |
| 9 | Madrid, Spain | 62.77 | £20.50 | 7.78 | 39.93 | 28.00 |
| 10 | Brussels, Belgium | 61.86 | £30.50 | 7.98 | 6.05 | 20.78 |
| 11 | Tallinn, Estonia | 61.82 | £20.33 | 7.99 | 11.70 | 16.87 |
| 12 | Athens, Greece | 59.78 | £21.83 | 8.31 | 16.80 | 28.32 |
| 13 | Lisbon, Portugal | 59.59 | £28.00 | 7.99 | 11.51 | 23.41 |
| 14 | Stockholm, Sweden | 59.31 | £29.83 | 7.84 | 19.26 | 17.40 |
| 15 | Vienna, Austria | 59.26 | £23.17 | 8.07 | 5.71 | 23.96 |
| 16 | Lyon, France | 58.00 | £23.17 | 7.94 | 16.25 | 25.63 |
| 17 | Amsterdam, Netherlands | 56.37 | £40.50 | 8.03 | 8.18 | 19.21 |
| 18 | Istanbul, Turkey | 54.45 | £14.67 | 7.79 | 3.90 | 24.82 |
| 19 | London, United Kingdom | 52.52 | £28.83 | 7.57 | 4.29 | 21.02 |
| 20 | Copenhagen, Denmark | 52.43 | £34.17 | 7.83 | 8.13 | 18.02 |
| 21 | Dublin, Ireland | 50.11 | £33.08 | 7.77 | 9.46 | 17.13 |
| 22 | Hamburg, Germany | 48.01 | £28.83 | 7.35 | 9.10 | 19.00 |
| 23 | Edinburgh, Scotland | 43.74 | £60.25 | 8.20 | 13.42 | 15.62 |
| 24 | Florence, Italy | 43.67 | £29.00 | 7.90 | 5.10 | 27.43 |
| 25 | Reykjavik, Iceland | 36.80 | £58.67 | 8.20 | 23.40 | 10.48 |
| 26 | Rome, Italy | 35.67 | £48.42 | 8.21 | 1.78 | 28.52 |
| 27 | Milan, Italy | 33.93 | £35.17 | 7.51 | 9.51 | 27.73 |
| 28 | Nice, France | 32.36 | £64.00 | 7.95 | 12.00 | 26.78 |
| 29 | Paris, France | 31.84 | £36.92 | 7.12 | 1.56 | 23.34 |
| 30 | Barcelona, Spain | 31.71 | £57.33 | 7.83 | 9.43 | 26.76 |
Cities set aside under the minimum-base rule
These cities had too few dorm-selling hostels available for the week to rank fairly, so they were set aside rather than dropped without note. Figures are shown for transparency.
| City & country | Dorm-selling hostels | Median dorm price (£) | Hostel rating (out of 10) |
| Munich, Germany | four | £21.50 | 8.02 |
| Venice, Italy | four | £33.83 | 8.63 |
| Frankfurt, Germany | three | £40.33 | 8.27 |
| Dubrovnik, Croatia | two | £49.75 | 6.27 |
| Heraklion, Greece | none | n/a | n/a |
Full dataset available on request.
Sources
Booking.com – https://www.booking.com/
Open-meteo.com – https://open-meteo.com/
The Savvy Backpacker – https://thesavvybackpacker.com/most-visited-cities-in-europe/
