If you’re heading on a multi-generational trip, or are just travelling as a larger group, it might make more sense to book a villa over a traditional hotel stay.
Perennial favourites for this kind of holiday include Greece, Spain and Italy – but where do you get the most bang for your buck?
According to a new analysis from Holidu, which looked at 30 of Europe’s most popular villa destinations, the answer can be found in France.
To compile the Villa Value Index, the holiday rental platform looked at the average guest rating scores for every villa in a destination, the median nightly price for the whole villa, and the daytime high temperature across August and September.
Only those with more than 100 villas and 1,000 guest reviews were included, and the ranking was decided by the guest rating relative to the median nightly price.
The best-value villa destinations in Europe
After all that number crunching, Provence region in the southeast of France came out on top, thanks to an average guest rating of 8.9 out of 10, an average high of 30°C, and a median price of €151 per night.
Hot on Provence’s heels is another destination in France, this time in the southwest: The Dordogne.
Here, the average villa rating is 9.0 out of 10, but the median price is higher at €199 per night.
Third place takes us to Calabria, the region in southern Italy, where villas are rated 9.2 out of 10, and will set you back €221 a night.
It’s back to France for number four, which went to the island of Corsica, where you’ll find villas rated 9.1 out of 10 for a price of €234 per night.
Rounding out the top five is Spain’s Costa Blanca, which includes popular tourist spots Alicante and Benidorm, where villas are priced at €224 but have a slightly lower rating of 8.5 out of 10.
The top 10 best-value villa destinations on the continent
- Provence, France
- Dordogne, France
- Calabria, Italy
- Corsica, France
- Costa Blanca, Spain
- Tenerife, Spain
- Peloponnese, Greece
- Lanzarote, Spain
- Sicily, Italy
- Madeira, Portugal
According to Holidu, several popular destinations failed to make the top 30, including the Amalfi Coast, where villas cost four times more than similarly-rated spots in Provence with a median price of €655 a night.