Fuel prices across European borders: where it pays to refuel
Checked on 2026-10-26
Drive from Spain into France and the price on the forecourt sign jumps by almost half a euro per litre within a few kilometres. Cross from Germany into Austria and petrol suddenly costs less. On a long European road trip, deciding on which side of the border you fill up can be worth a meal for the whole family. This article explains where those gaps come from, how big they were in the latest official EU figures, and how to use them without wasting time or fuel chasing a cheaper station.
Why the same litre costs different amounts
Crude oil and refining are priced on international markets, so the cost of a litre before taxes is broadly similar across the EU. What changes at the border is the tax: each country sets its own excise duty on petrol and diesel, and then adds VAT on top of the total. The European Commission’s Weekly Oil Bulletin makes this easy to see because it publishes two tables every week: consumer prices with taxes and the same prices without taxes. Subtract one from the other and you get the tax share per litre.
The table below uses the bulletin figures for 19 October 2026 (files dated 22 October 2026), converted from euros per 1,000 litres to euros per litre. These are national figures reported by each Member State, not the price at any particular station, and they change every week.
| Country | Euro-super 95, with taxes | Euro-super 95, before taxes | Diesel, with taxes | Diesel, before taxes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spain | €1.780 | €1.199 | €1.889 | €1.382 |
| Portugal | €2.099 | €1.122 | €2.175 | €1.335 |
| France | €2.229 | €1.167 | €2.346 | €1.347 |
| Italy | €2.016 | €0.979 | €2.244 | €1.167 |
| Slovenia | €1.751 | €0.995 | €1.893 | €1.199 |
| Austria | €1.817 | €0.967 | €2.132 | €1.301 |
| Germany | €2.179 | €1.169 | €2.266 | €1.412 |
| Luxembourg | €1.788 | €1.002 | €2.081 | €1.357 |
| Belgium | €1.989 | €1.043 | €2.351 | €1.342 |
| Netherlands | €2.391 | €1.128 | €2.456 | €1.472 |
| EU-27 weighted average | €1.991 | €1.097 | €2.139 | €1.334 |
Two things stand out. First, the pre-tax column is much flatter than the pump price. Spanish diesel was actually slightly dearer than French diesel before taxes (€1.382 against €1.347), yet at the pump it was €0.46 cheaper, because taxes added about €0.51 per litre in Spain and about €1.00 in France. Italy had the lowest pre-tax petrol in the table and still ended up above the EU average once taxes were added. Second, in this week’s figures diesel cost more than petrol in every country listed, so the old habit of assuming diesel is the cheap option no longer holds everywhere.
Classic border pairs and what a full tank saves
A simple way to put the gap into perspective is the cost difference for a 60-litre fill, a typical tank for a family car (a motorhome often carries more, which makes the gap bigger). All figures come from the table above; real station prices on either side can be higher or lower than the national figure.
- Spain vs France. Diesel: 2.346 − 1.889 = €0.457 per litre, so 60 × 0.457 = about €27 per tank. Petrol: 2.229 − 1.780 = €0.449, about €27 as well. If you are leaving Spain, fill up before the border; if you are entering it, arrive with a low (but safe) tank.
- Spain vs Portugal. Diesel: 2.175 − 1.889 = €0.286, about €17 per tank. Petrol: €0.319, about €19.
- Luxembourg vs its neighbours. Diesel in Luxembourg was €0.265 cheaper than in France (about €16 per tank), €0.270 cheaper than in Belgium (about €16) and €0.185 cheaper than in Germany (about €11). For petrol the gap with Germany was larger: 2.179 − 1.788 = €0.391, about €23 per tank.
- Austria vs Germany and Italy. Petrol in Austria was €0.362 cheaper than in Germany (about €22 per tank) and €0.199 cheaper than in Italy (about €12). For diesel the gaps shrink to €0.134 against Germany (about €8) and €0.112 against Italy (about €7).
- Slovenia vs Italy. Diesel: 2.244 − 1.893 = €0.351, about €21 per tank. Petrol: €0.265, about €16.
Switzerland is not an EU Member State and is not covered by the Weekly Oil Bulletin, so we do not quote a figure for it here. If your route crosses it, compare prices locally.
Motorway stations versus a short exit
National averages hide large differences between individual stations. The German Market Transparency Unit for Fuels (MTS-K), part of the Bundeskartellamt, states plainly that fuel prices at motorway stations are on average significantly higher. Stations in Germany must report every price change for Super E5, Super E10 and diesel within five minutes, and the data reach drivers through licensed apps, websites and navigation devices. The practical lesson applies well beyond Germany: before you stop at a motorway service area, check what a station a couple of kilometres off the next exit charges.
Use the official price sites
Several countries publish station-level prices on official portals. They are free and they are the most reliable place to check before a border crossing:
- Spain: the Geoportal de Gasolineras, run by the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge.
- France: prix-carburants.gouv.fr lets you search by town or postcode and by fuel type, and has an itinerary search: enter a departure and an arrival and it lists stations along the way for up to four fuels.
- Italy: Osservaprezzi Carburanti, the ministry’s official fuel price search.
- Germany: no single government front end; the MTS-K passes its data to licensed consumer services listed on the Bundeskartellamt website.
- Austria: the E-Control Spritpreisrechner. Austrian stations may only raise prices at 12:00 noon, and price cuts must show up in the calculator within 30 minutes. Any increase of the day therefore comes at midday.
Do not detour too far for a cheaper litre
A cheaper station only pays if the saving beats the fuel you burn reaching it. The arithmetic is short:
- A detour of 10 km out and 10 km back is 20 km. At 7 l/100 km that is 1.4 litres; at €2.10 per litre it costs about €2.90. A motorhome using 11 l/100 km burns 2.2 litres, about €4.60.
- A station €0.10 per litre cheaper saves €5 on 50 litres. The car comes out roughly €2 ahead; the motorhome barely breaks even, and neither counts the time lost.
- A border gap of €0.40 per litre is a different story: on 50 litres it saves about €20, which easily justifies a short detour or a planned stop just before the border.
The rule of thumb: the gap per litre multiplied by the litres you will actually put in must be clearly larger than the detour in kilometres multiplied by your consumption per kilometre and the fuel price. Also make sure you never run the tank so low that you are forced to fill up at the most expensive station on the route.
Sources
- European Commission — Weekly Oil Bulletin (prices with and without taxes, 19 October 2026, files dated 22 October 2026)
- Bundeskartellamt — Markttransparenzstelle für Kraftstoffe
- E-Control — Spritpreisrechner, questions and answers
- Government of France — Prix des carburants
- Ministerio para la Transición Ecológica y el Reto Demográfico — Geoportal de Gasolineras
- Italian Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy — Osservaprezzi Carburanti
How Optitrips helps
Optitrips shows fuel prices along your route, from the official feeds in Spain, France and Italy and from HERE Fuel Prices in other countries, and points out cheaper stations on the way. It uses your current tank level to tell you where you actually need to refuel and estimates what you save. For motorhomes and vans it also plans AdBlue range and cost (AdBlue prices are only available in Spain for now), and it adds real toll costs and splits long trips into days with stops. It is an Android app, currently in closed beta. Join the beta