Great What to Buy in Duty Free Hunt

anna_p_2

I always buy my YSL Touche Eclat from Larnaca airport in Cyprus. Until last year you could buy a pack of TWO for £21 (CY£18) or one for £14 (CY£12), a bargain considering that in England you would normally pay £21 for one.

However, this year I paid £31 (CY£27) for a pack of two - a shocking rise in one year! Maybe the price hike is related to Cyprus' recent entry to the EU? However, this is still cheaper than buying it from England.

I also find Larnaca airport is good for perfume - I bought Ralph Lauren's eau de parfum Romance in 100ml for about £33 two years ago (Boots sell the same one for £57). This has probably gone up in price as well but I am sure it is still cheaper than buying in the UK.

kkgree1

Just returned from 3 week honeymoon in the Far East. Duty Free at Heathrow OK but didn't see much savings on perfume, etc.

Best airport by far was Singapore. My now hubbie bought a Tag watch with a £700 saving on UK prices. Gordons Gin was £5 a litre & Bombay Sapphire was £8 a litre (can tell I'm a G&T girl!).
One thing I noticed as Singapore is main transit point for OZ is that you can't take any liquids at all into OZ at the moment in hand luggage (not even bought at Duty Free). They were even being strict at what you could take on London bound flights and wouldn't let you take on water.

legacym

I may be stating the obvious here but if you buy bottles etc. pack them -you cant take them through security as hand baggage in UK also at a lot of European airports

hilspars

Although I have mentioned this before, it is worth mentioning again. If you have any friends working at the airport they are now allowed to buy from almost every store just by showing their pass. The main exclusion is the World Duty Free shop, but you can still buy perfumes in the beauty stores.
If you know anyone working at Heathrow Airport, it is the staff sale this week in the Queens building with some mega bargains to be had.

lynndan16

We're flying from Heathrow to Mumbai via Vienna in October. Will we have to wait until we get to Vienna to buy duty free?

hilspars

You can still buy mostly everything apart from Cigarettes and spirits at Heathrow. If you want those you should wait until Vienna airport where you show your international boarding pass and can buy at duty free prices.

Shain

I often buy Clinique skin care products in the duty free shop as they're usually about 10-15% cheaper than the high street. HOWEVER, 3 caveats apply: 1) the range is quite limited, 2) there are no special offers of the type that Boots and the department stores have where you can buy 2 items and get a little goody bag with some great free stuff and 3) if you're going to North America wait and buy it when you get there because it's significantly cheaper even than duty free and you can often ask nicely and get a free lippy or some little samples, which the duty free shop don't seem to have.

sandy2_2

Just a reminder, a lot of antibiotics and medicines are available over the counter in Spanish Pharmacies. the prices are a lot cheaper than prescription medicine in UK

sandy2_2

just a reminder. You can buy antibiotics and most medicines over the counter in Spanish pharmacies. prices are generally lower than prescription medicine in UK

Big_Yellow_Taxi

brummybloke wrote: »

i always found it cheaper to buy things from the country i am going to for aftershaves, drink, ciggies.

Definitely agree with this! Italian drinks, eg Amaretto, Campari, amari (those bitter after dinner drinks you either love or hate) always cheaper in Italy - although Cologne airport good for these too. Also from German duty free, I recommend the wines from the Franken region. They come in Mateus Rose shaped bottles, but are generally deemed too tasty to be let out of the country - dry whites (look for the word "Trocken") & fruity Pinot Noir (Blauburgunder) are good value here.

Also got a litre of Bombay Sapphire for USD20 (ie 10 quid!) in Newark. Yummy!
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