If you are a budget traveler definitely these European countries are not in your bucket list. Iceland has now officially become Europe’s most expensive country, beating Switzerland, Denmark and Norway.Budget Indian Travelers it has come to light that average consumer prices in Iceland are higher than any other country on the continent. As per official data, in the year 2018, the consumer prices here in Iceland were 56 per cent higher (on an average) than the rest of Europe. This contributed in labeling Iceland the most expensive country in the whole of Europe.

Apparently, it is not just the climate that will freeze you but also the restaurant bills that will give you chilling vibes in Iceland! If you look at the menu at any restaurant here, you’ll find that a normal plain cheese pizza costs around 2400 Icelandic Krona, which is nearly 17 Euros or INR 1322. For a glass of wine, you’ll have to pay around 10 Euros while a pint of beer costs about 7 Euros.

Iceland is a sparsely populated country, with a population of around 355000. The economy of this place largely depends on imported goods, which also leads to such high taxes on alcohol. Thus, that costly beer pint.

Konrad Gudjonsson from the Iceland Chamber of Commerce said that Iceland is a small country and it is quite problematic to get the same economies of scale as you have with companies in countries that are 100 times larger. This explains Iceland’s sky-touching prices on goods and services. Then, regulation also plays an important part in the steep prices. High custom barriers are imposed on even the basics such as raw eggs or unpasteurised milk.

Iceland is followed by Switzerland and other countries in the ranking. Here is a snippet of the overall rankings.

5 most expensive European countries:



1) Iceland

2) Switzerland

3) Norway

4) Denmark

5) Ireland

5 most inexpensive European countries:



1) Romania

2) Bosnia and Herzegovina

3) Bulgaria

4) North Macedonia

5) Turkey