Most of the difference between fuel prices on two sides of a European border is tax, and it does not go away next week. In the European Commission’s bulletin for the week of 21 September 2026, the gap was more than 40 cents a litre at several crossings and over a euro at one. This guide lists the gap at 35 EU borders, for petrol and diesel separately, and works out when it is worth planning a tank around.
How these numbers were worked out
Every figure below comes from the Commission’s Weekly Oil Bulletin, which publishes one national average pump price with taxes per country every week: Euro-super 95 for petrol and automotive diesel. For each pair of neighbouring EU countries we subtracted one average from the other for the week of 21 September 2026, and again for the average of the 26 weeks from 30 March to 21 September, so that a single unusual week does not decide the answer. A gap is shown in euro cents per litre and names the cheaper side.
These are national averages. A station a kilometre from the border may price above its own country’s average, and motorway stations usually do, so treat the table as the size of the prize and check the station itself before you turn off.
The borders where the gap is 10 cents or more
| Border | Petrol 95, this week | Diesel, this week | 26-week average (petrol / diesel) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sweden / Denmark | Sweden, 104 ct | Sweden, 46 ct | Sweden, 82 ct / Sweden, 37 ct |
| Sweden / Finland | Sweden, 78 ct | Sweden, 46 ct | Sweden, 58 ct / Sweden, 43 ct |
| Bulgaria / Greece | Bulgaria, 53 ct | Bulgaria, 31 ct | Bulgaria, 53 ct / Bulgaria, 23 ct |
| Germany / Poland | Poland, 53 ct | Poland, 42 ct | Poland, 57 ct / Poland, 41 ct |
| Germany / Luxembourg | Luxembourg, 50 ct | Luxembourg, 34 ct | Luxembourg, 38 ct / Luxembourg, 24 ct |
| France / Spain | Spain, 29 ct | Spain, 46 ct | Spain, 44 ct / Spain, 41 ct |
| Germany / Czechia | Czechia, 46 ct | Czechia, 39 ct | Czechia, 41 ct / Czechia, 36 ct |
| Netherlands / Belgium | Belgium, 46 ct | Belgium, 19 ct | Belgium, 47 ct / Belgium, 18 ct |
| Italy / Slovenia | Slovenia, 44 ct | Slovenia, 31 ct | Slovenia, 29 ct / Slovenia, 28 ct |
| Germany / Austria | Austria, 42 ct | Austria, 22 ct | Austria, 34 ct / Austria, 14 ct |
| France / Luxembourg | Luxembourg, 37 ct | Luxembourg, 27 ct | Luxembourg, 30 ct / Luxembourg, 26 ct |
| Germany / Belgium | Belgium, 36 ct | Belgium, 7 ct | Belgium, 26 ct / Germany, 2 ct |
| Spain / Portugal | Spain, 18 ct | Spain, 29 ct | Spain, 35 ct / Spain, 26 ct |
| Austria / Slovakia | Slovakia, 7 ct | Slovakia, 29 ct | Slovakia, 6 ct / Slovakia, 23 ct |
| Austria / Hungary | Hungary, 17 ct | Hungary, 28 ct | Hungary, 13 ct / Hungary, 21 ct |
| Belgium / Luxembourg | Luxembourg, 14 ct | Luxembourg, 27 ct | Luxembourg, 12 ct / Luxembourg, 26 ct |
| Germany / Denmark | Germany, 27 ct | Germany, 10 ct | Germany, 27 ct / Germany, 12 ct |
| Austria / Slovenia | Slovenia, 22 ct | Slovenia, 26 ct | Slovenia, 16 ct / Slovenia, 19 ct |
| Belgium / France | Belgium, 23 ct | about the same | Belgium, 18 ct / about the same |
| Bulgaria / Romania | Bulgaria, 23 ct | Bulgaria, 18 ct | Bulgaria, 24 ct / Bulgaria, 19 ct |
| Poland / Lithuania | Poland, 13 ct | Poland, 22 ct | Poland, 22 ct / Poland, 28 ct |
| Italy / Austria | Austria, 22 ct | Austria, 4 ct | Austria, 13 ct / Austria, 9 ct |
| Austria / Czechia | Czechia, 4 ct | Czechia, 17 ct | Czechia, 7 ct / Czechia, 22 ct |
| Hungary / Romania | Hungary, 14 ct | Hungary, 14 ct | Hungary, 11 ct / Hungary, 13 ct |
| Germany / France | France, 13 ct | France, 7 ct | France, 8 ct / Germany, 2 ct |
| Germany / Netherlands | Germany, 10 ct | Germany, 12 ct | Germany, 21 ct / Germany, 20 ct |
| Czechia / Slovakia | Slovakia, 3 ct | Slovakia, 12 ct | about the same / Slovakia, 1 ct |
| France / Italy | Italy, 8 ct | Italy, 10 ct | Italy, 13 ct / Italy, 8 ct |
| Hungary / Slovakia | Hungary, 10 ct | about the same | Hungary, 7 ct / Slovakia, 2 ct |
At the other six borders we checked (Poland and Czechia; Poland and Slovakia; Hungary and Croatia; Slovenia and Croatia; Estonia and Latvia; Latvia and Lithuania), neither fuel differed by 10 cents a litre in the week of 21 September.
What the table shows
Germany is the expensive side of most of its borders. Petrol averaged €2.348 a litre there, against €1.820 in Poland, €1.849 in Luxembourg, €1.884 in Czechia and €1.925 in Austria: 53, 50, 46 and 42 cents cheaper across the line. The exceptions are the Netherlands and Denmark, where petrol cost more still.
Petrol and diesel do not follow each other. Countries tax the two fuels separately. Belgium was 36 cents cheaper than Germany for petrol but only 7 cents for diesel. Austria was barely cheaper than Czechia for petrol, 4 cents, but 17 cents dearer for diesel. Look up the fuel your car burns, not the headline one.
The widest gaps are in the north and the south-east. Petrol in Sweden averaged €1.579, against €2.618 in Denmark and €2.364 in Finland. Bulgaria was 53 cents cheaper than Greece for petrol, and Slovenia 44 cents cheaper than Italy.
Some gaps change with policy. Governments cut and restore fuel taxes, and the 26-week column shows it: the petrol gap between France and Spain averaged 44 cents over the six months but was 29 cents in the latest week. Czechia caps its pump prices from 1 to 31 October 2026 and Belgium sets a legal maximum; fuel price caps and tax cuts in Europe in 2026 lists every such measure.
When the detour pays
The saving is per litre, and the detour burns litres. A simple way to decide:
- Work out the prize. Litres you will buy × the gap. Fifty litres across a 40-cent gap is €20; across a 10-cent gap it is €5.
- Work out the cost of getting there. Extra kilometres × your consumption × the price. A 20 km round trip at 7 litres per 100 km uses 1.4 litres, about €3 at €2 a litre, before your time and any toll.
- Compare like with like. Only compare the same grade. Where one country sells E10 as its standard 95 and the other E5, the price board is not comparing the same fuel.
- Arrive with room in the tank. The saving only applies to what you buy, so the gap is worth most when you cross with the tank low and fill it on the cheaper side.
Rule of thumb: under 10 cents a litre, a detour rarely pays for a car. Above 30 cents, with a tank to fill and a station close to your route, it usually does.
To do the sum for your own car, use the border fill-up calculator: pick two countries, your litres and your extra distance, and it uses the latest weekly Commission figures.
Where to check before you go
Fuel prices in Europe this week shows the same Commission figures for all 27 countries, updated every week, with a two-year chart for each. The country pages explain what the names on the pumps mean and any national price rules, and why fuel costs different money across a border explains where the gap comes from. On the map, a station price shows only when an official feed or a driver has reported it, with its date.