Travel

If you’re in the middle of planning your summer holidays or a weekend break abroad, you might want to bypass Zurich as it has just become the world’s most expensive city, according to a new survey.

The Irish Times reports that Zurich has topped Tokyo and become the world’s most expensive city, as surging currencies continue to push up the cost of living in countries like Switzerland and Australia.

Another thing that’s making Zurich so pricy? For years it has been seen as a safe haven for investors who want to move their funds out of Eurozone nations – this increase of money has cause the cost of living to skyrocket.

The Worldwide Cost of Living survey, carried out by the Economist Intelligence Unit, ranked Zurich number one. So where else should be avoid?

Apparently five Australian cities made it into the top 20. Sydney and Melbourne ranked in at number 7 and number 8. So much for moving to Australia to try and save money, hmm?

“Exchange rates have been the greatest influence for the Australian cost of living, with the Australian dollar seeing its value to the US dollar double in a decade,” said Jon Copestake, the editor of the survey.

Vancouver in Canada is the most expensive city in North America and it ranked 37^th in the entire world, overtaking cities such as Lost Angeles, New York and Shanghai.

The survey of 130 cities compared more than 400 individual prices across areas such as food, clothing, rent and transport.

So where should we be holidaying if we want to save some money? According to the survey, three of the cheapest cities in the world are New Delhi and Mumbai in India and Karachi in Pakistan.

Who wants to book the flights?