Half-term and Valentine's weekend cause huge price hike

Flights to Verona and also to ski destinations are up to 700 per cent more expensive on the first weekend of half-term

The arrival of Valentine’s Day weekend coinciding with the start of February half-term has led to a perfect storm of price hikes, with some flights costing more than 700 per cent of the fare the weekend after.

The 12 most expensive destinations for Valentine's weekend are: Verona (Italy), Marseille (France) Grenoble (France), Turin (Italy), Venice (Italy), Geneva (Switzerland), Milan (Italy), Lyon (France), Marrakech (Morocco), Chambery (France), Carcassonne (France), Salzburg (Austria).

Research done for Telegraph Travel by hotel comparison site Trivago also found that rates increased for the Valentine’s Day weekend, with Venice,Rome and Amsterdam seeing the biggest hikes (23, 16 and 13 per cent respectively), compared to prices for the following weekend.

The average cost of a night in a hotel in Venice costs £103 for the weekend of February 19-21, but £127 for Valentine’s.The anomaly of Barcelona's results are down to the city hosting the Mobile World Congress on February 22. Trivago also looked at the search interest for 20 destinations, 10 in the UK, 10 in Europe, for the weekends and found that all 20 were experiencing more traffic for the Valentine’s weekend.

As far as UK hotel prices for the weekends, the biggest spike was for Cardiff, with a Valentine’s weekend room costing more than double the week after. However, this is most likely down to Wales playing Scotland at the Millennium Stadium in the Six Nations on the Saturday.