Travel Departures: Highs and lows

CYPRUS is the most expensive destination for dining out, a holiday cost-of-living survey carried out by the travel agency chain Thomas Cook shows. A three-course meal in Cyprus is likely to cost pounds 10 per person, compared with pounds 4.65 in Turkey or pounds 7 in Tunisia. While Turkey and Tunisia may be cheap for meals, they are the most expensive for car hire: seven days in Turkey costs pounds 320 and pounds 310.55 in Tunisia; cheapest for car hire are Malta, at pounds 60.35 for a week, and Florida ( pounds 93.75).

Norway is the most expensive European country for unleaded petrol, at 74.2p per litre, compared with an average UK price of 54.3p, the latest survey by the Automobile Association shows. Also expensive are Sweden (71.7p), Italy (70.4p), the Netherlands (67.5p) and Portugal (62.6p). The cheapest country to fill up with unleaded is Turkey, at 39.2p per litre, followed by Luxembourg (43.7p), Spain (53.8p), Britain and Switzerland (55.5p).

The most expensive countries for diesel are Switzerland (57.4p per litre) and Italy (56.4p); the cheapest are Turkey (24.7p) and Greece 29.1p.