German motor club ADAC provides a ranking of Europe's summer getaways by cost. This year, Poland is the best value

As the weather warms up, hard-working Europeans start staring out their office windows and dreaming of a nice long summer break. But where to go?

For budget-conscious beachgoers, the prices at classic vacation destinations like Turkey, southern France and the Croatian coast are becoming more and more forbidding. With sunbathing season on the way, Germany's largest motor club has some surprising alternative suggestions.

In a report released on Thursday, the club compared prices in 10 popular European destinations to see which offered the best get-away value. The most expensive country for a beachside vacation was France. The cheapest? Germany's neighbor Poland, followed by Greece, Portugal, Spain and Turkey. Germany came in a respectable sixth, ranked "average" in terms of its vacation value.

To create the ranking, ADAC took the prices of 48 typical vacation purchases — including ice cream cones, Internet access, sunscreen, French fries and swim trunks — and compared them across the countries. ADAC argues that it's the little things that often get overlooked in the vacation planning. "The little extras that really make your vacation are hard or impossible to plan for in advance and can take a big bite out of your wallet," the report's authors wrote.

An eastern location doesn't guarentee low prices. ADAC rated the former Yugoslav republic of Croatia seventh, cheaper than Italy but still more expensive than Germany. Denmark and France were deemed the most pricey vacation spots — the average cost of ADAC's vacation extras in the land of Champagne and frites was €402.24. "Even discount prices [in France] are above the European average," ADAC reported. The high prices in the French town of Arcachon, just west of Bordeaux, made it the survey's most expensive beach getaway.

To the authors' surprise, Turkey — last year's winner — fell all the way to fifth place. Higher prices for food and drink were to blame for the drop.

This year's winner, Poland, was deemed a great bargain — with a few caveats. "In small towns in the countryside the infrastructure isn't comparable to classic European vacation destinations," ADAC's report reads. "In terms of family-friendliness Poland looks pretty grim." Still, the average price of ADAC'S vacation products there was €261.06, €50 less than next door in Germany.

ADAC's top pick for values? The small Polish beach town of Ustka. Mid-range hotel rooms there can be had for between €30 and €40 per night, according to tourism official Janusz Kryszkiewicz, and it's just 250 kilometers from the German border. "We've got lots of restaurants and pubs, some pretty nice places to stay and a big beach," Kryszkiewicz told SPIEGEL ONLINE. "Yeah, I guess you could say we're a pretty good place for foreign visitors."