Package holidays in Bulgaria cost 8.4% more in August this year than in August 2025, Eurostat figures show. That's more than double the EU average, where package holidays rose 3.2% — exactly in line with the bloc's overall inflation for the month.

Plane tickets in Bulgaria, though, got cheaper, dropping 2.5%. Across the EU the fall was much smaller, at just 0.4%.

Package holidays rose the most in Belgium, up 16.2%. Portugal followed with 14.3%, then Sweden with 12.8%, Lithuania with 12.3% and Romania with 11.9%.

Prices fell in only four countries. The steepest drop was in Estonia, down 21.1%. Spain followed with a 5.2% fall, then Italy with 4.8% and Ireland with 0.4%.

For plane tickets, prices fell in ten countries, including Bulgaria. The sharpest drop was in Slovakia, down 61.2%. Elsewhere the falls were smaller, ranging from 15.8% in Spain to 0.9% in Lithuania. Flights got more expensive in Greece, up 16.3% compared with August 2025, and in Ireland, up 14.4%.

Eurostat figures show prices for package holidays and plane tickets have swung up and down since the start of 2025. Airfares, though, have swung far more sharply. In April 2025, EU ticket prices were up 13.7% on the year, but just a month later they were down 3.2%. In 2026 prices fell 2.9% in January and 4.7% in April, before jumping 8.1% in May.

Package holiday prices rose 8.3% in January 2025 and 8% in February that year. Between June and October the rise slowed to roughly match overall inflation, before picking up pace again. In April this year prices actually fell 0.5% on the year, before turning upward again.