European holidays might be more expensive for Brits thanks to weaker pound - but driving is still cheaper as fuel prices fall

British travellers heading to the continent this summer might find their holidays a bit more expensive than a year ago when sterling was flying high - but one thing that should be cheaper is driving.

Brexit fears have seen the pound drop in 2016 from highs above €1.40 around new year to around €1.27 making the average eurozone holiday 10 per cent more expensive.

But the price of oil and petrol has fallen faster - meaning that UK drivers are better off in most countries on the continent, according to research.

Road to happiness: Falls in petrol prices have offset sterling's weakness to make driving cheaper across the continent than this time last year.

Road to happiness: Falls in petrol prices have offset sterling's weakness to make driving cheaper across the continent than this time last year.

A report by Post Office Travel Money found that the biggest annual reduction in the price of petrol is in non-euro Switzerland, down 20p per litre to 95p.

Seven other countries (see table right) also offer British holidaymakers less than £1 a litre for unleaded, including Spain (93p), Austria (84p) and Croatia (98p).

Filling up during a driving holiday in France will cost £1.05 per litre, which works out at £159 for every 1,000 miles (1,600 km) on the road.

COST PER LITRE (change from 2015 in brackets - Post Office Travel Money)

1. Andorra £0.82 (minus 7p)

2. Austria £0.84 (minus 9p)

3. Cyprus £0.86 (minus 14p)

4. Luxembourg £0.87 (minus 9p)

5. Spain £0.93 (minus 9p)

6. Switzerland £0.95 (minus 20p)

7. Slovenia £0.96 (minus 8p)

8. Croatia £0.98 (minus 9p)

9. Greece £1.04 (minus 18p)

10. Ireland £1.04 (minus 6p)

11. Germany £1.04 (minus 10p)

12. France £1.05 (minus 7p)

13. Belgium £1.07 (minus 11p)

14. UK £1.08 (minus 8p)

15. Sweden £1.12 (minus 1p)

16. Italy £1.17 (minus 13p)

17. Portugal £1.18 (minus 2p)

18. Denmark £1.23 (minus 7p)

19. Netherlands £1.26 (minus 8p)

20. Norway £1.32 (minus 14p)

The cheapest petrol and diesel out of the 20 countries included in the research was Andorra at 82p and 66p per litre respectively.

The impact on UK motorists of sterling dropping in value against the euro by about 6 per cent over the past 12 months has been mitigated by oil prices falling by around a third.

Andrew Brown of Post Office Travel Money said: 'The price falls in Europe come as a surprise, given last year's potent combination of cheap crude oil and the powerful pound.

'At best we expected fuel costs to be on par with last year's low pump prices, but further falls in the cost of crude mean UK motorists can bank on a big boost to their driving power.' 

The Scandinavian countries might be the most expensive for fuel, but even Norway which is the dearest at £1.32 has seen a fall of 14p.

Sterling has suffered in recent months from both uncertainty ahead of the EU referendum, and also worsening data on the UK economy.

Surveys across all sector this week suggested that economic growth had almost stalled, with a rate of 0.1-0.2 per cent expected for the second quarter, which goes through to the end of June.

However, British families with holidays booked for the summer might take solace in that the referendum is expected to reject Brexit - and that should see a boost for sterling, if not back to highs above €1.40, then at least to around €1.35.