It may boast an impressive collection of free museums and galleries, but London remains the most expensive cultural capital in Europe, according to a new study looking at the entry cost of major attractions across the continent.

The Cost of Culture report, by Post Office Travel Money, compares the price of ballet, opera and concert tickets together with entry to each city’s top museum, art gallery and heritage attraction.

Warsaw, where museum entry costs £2.82 and a top classical music concert just £19.12, was revealed as the cheapest city overall, with prices less than a third of those in Vienna, Amsterdam, Barcelona and Paris.

Unsurprisingly, the eastern cities of Budapest and Prague came out as the next two cheapest, with Budapest offering the cheapest ballet tickets, at £15.03.

While London is the only city in the report apart from Dublin to offer free entry to museums and art galleries, it was let down by sky-high ticket prices for ballet and opera. In London – even though prices have fallen by 20% overall since 2009 – an opera ticket still costs £117.50, around twice as much as in Vienna, Moscow or Berlin.

Paris was the second most expensive city overall, closely followed by Barcelona, which, at £135.31, has the most expensive opera tickets in Europe.