Petrol prices in Europe in 2026: every country ranked

A litre of petrol in Europe costs anywhere from about €0.79 in Belarus to €2.79 in Norway, with a median of €1.89 ($2.11) across the 43 countries in our latest snapshot. The three most expensive places to fill up are Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands. Prices below come from GlobalPetrolPrices, retrieved 2026-10-13, and are converted to euros at today’s rate of €0.895 per US dollar.

Every European country, ranked

The table runs from the dearest pump to the cheapest. “Europe” here means the 43 countries of geographic Europe in the dataset, including microstates such as Monaco and San Marino. We leave out transcontinental countries (Russia €0.79, Turkey €1.54, Georgia €1.47, Armenia €1.56, Azerbaijan €0.61, Kazakhstan €0.64) because their prices are set by very different tax and subsidy regimes and would skew a European average. Prices are for standard unleaded (95 octane where that is the norm).

Why the north and west pay the most

Crude oil and wholesale petrol trade at much the same price across the continent; a refinery in Rotterdam does not charge an Oslo distributor more than a Warsaw one. What separates the pump prices is mostly tax. Every EU country levies an excise duty on each litre plus VAT on top of the whole price, including the duty, and the EU only sets a floor for the excise part. Countries are free to go far above it, and the richer ones, which also tend to use fuel taxes as climate policy, generally do.

The Nordic five (Norway, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Iceland) average €2.28 a litre, about 21% above the European median, and 3 of them sit in the ten most expensive countries. The Netherlands ranks #3 of 43, one of the highest placings for a large mainland market, reflecting fuel excise rates that are among the steepest in the EU. Sweden is worth finding in the table: it sits at #38, a reminder that national tax decisions, not latitude, set the order.

Central and eastern Europe is only somewhat cheaper. The 17 countries we group there (from Poland and the Baltics down through the Balkans) average €1.83, against €1.94 for the rest of western and southern Europe, a gap of 6%. Lower incomes cap how far governments can push fuel taxes before they become a political problem, but the two groups overlap: 3 of the 17 eastern countries charge more than the western average.

The big five economies

For most readers the comparison that matters is between the largest markets. In our snapshot the order runs France (€2.16), then Germany (€2.15), then the United Kingdom (€2.08), then Italy (€2.04) and finally Spain (€1.81). The UK prices fuel in pounds rather than euros, so part of its position moves with sterling; the euro-area countries in this group all share a currency, so their gaps are pure tax and distribution cost. A German driver pays $2.41 a litre, which is #10 of 43 on this list.

Road trip: where crossing a border saves money

Because tax stops at the border, neighbouring countries can differ sharply, and fuel tourism is a real habit in places like Luxembourg. These are the biggest per-litre gaps between countries that share a land border, with what you would save on a 40-litre fill by buying on the cheaper side.

At the other end, Poland and Slovakia are level, so there is nothing to gain by waiting. Two practical notes: motorway service stations charge noticeably more than town forecourts in most countries, and Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia and several Balkan states require a vignette or toll for motorway use, which can cancel out a small fuel saving.

Per gallon, for American visitors

Converted to US gallons, the European median works out to $7.98, compared with $4.65 at a US pump, so expect to pay roughly 1.7 times what you are used to. Even the cheapest country on the list, Belarus, comes to $3.36 a gallon, and the dearest, Norway, $11.80. Of the 43 European countries, 41 charge more than the world median of $1.55 a litre across all 170 countries in the dataset. Europe as a whole is one of the most expensive regions on earth to drive a petrol car, which is part of why the continent has embraced small engines, diesel in the past, and electric cars now.

For a country-by-country breakdown with full-tank costs and income comparisons, open any country from the world petrol price tracker. If you are weighing an electric car instead, see electricity prices in Europe, and for the wider picture of where fuel costs the most worldwide, read the most expensive gas in the world and why gas prices differ between countries.