![\"This](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/0_iStock-fuel-price.jpg\")
This weekend is expected to bring travel chaos to Northern Ireland\u2019s roads<\/p>\nFrantic Friday \u2013 the last Friday before Christmas \u2013 is historically the busiest day on the roads during the festive period<\/p>\n
21:30, 17 Dec 2025Updated 10:06, 19 Dec 2025<\/p>\n
This weekend is expected to bring travel chaos to Northern Ireland\u2019s roads<\/p>\n
With this weekend expected to bring travel chaos to Northern Ireland\u2019s roads, drivers have been shown the most budget-friendly places to fill up their fuel tanks ahead of Christmas<\/a>.<\/p>\n Frantic Friday \u2013 the last Friday before Christmas \u2013 is historically the busiest day on the roads during the festive period, with motorists facing long queues and disruption as they visit family and friends, sort out last-minute shopping <\/a>or head off to office parties.<\/p>\n As motorists prepare for their seasonal journeys, the car insurance experts at CompareNI.com have looked at fuel prices in towns and cities across Northern Ireland<\/a>, ranking the cheapest locations to fill up.<\/p>\n READ MORE: The most prolific areas for vehicle crime in Northern Ireland revealed<\/a>READ MORE: How much Northern Ireland drivers have wasted on missed MOTs<\/a><\/p>\n The average price of petrol rose by 1.4p last month to hit 129.6p a litre \u2013 the highest it has been since April 2025. Diesel prices saw an even sharper climb, jumping by 3.6p to 138.1p, the most expensive since the start of March 2025.<\/p>\n This rise in prices at the pumps is an added blow to many household budgets that are already feeling the squeeze this festive season.<\/p>\n A recent survey by CompareNI.com<\/a> highlighted that over a third adults in Northern Ireland will struggle with the cost of Christmas this year, while a fifth will push themselves into debt to fund their spending.<\/p>\n But by planning ahead and using CompareNI\u2019s Petrol and Diesel Price Index, drivers can find out which locations offer the best value for money at the pumps and make savings on their fuel bills.<\/p>\n Topping the rankings as the cheapest town for petrol is Cookstown<\/a>, where the average price is 127.8p \u2013 1.6p lower than the current NI average of 129.4p.<\/p>\n Taking second place is Belfast <\/a>at 128.1p, closely followed by Ballymena<\/a> and Carrickfergus at 128.2p.<\/p>\n At the other end of the scale, the most expensive place to fill up with petrol is Magherafelt, where prices are 8.2p above average at 137.6p. This is followed by Banbridge and Newtownards<\/a>, with average prices of 130.9p.<\/p>\n For diesel drivers, Cookstown comes in cheapest at 3.8p below average at 133.5p. Dungannon<\/a> is a close second place at 133.9p, with Derry\/Londonderry<\/a> in third spot at 134.9p.<\/p>\n The most expensive prices for diesel can be found in Magherafelt at 141.9p, which is 4.6p above the current NI average of 137.3p. This is followed by Newry at 141.4p and Enniskillen<\/a> at 140.2p.<\/p>\n Ian Wilson. car insurance expert and Managing Director at CompareNI.com, said: \u201cAs households across Northern Ireland continue to grapple with rising food costs and soaring energy bills, any opportunity to save money can make a big difference, especially leading up to Christmas when financial strain can be even higher.<\/p>\n \u201cWith our roads becoming busier every day as people travel <\/a>home for the holidays, we\u2019ve compiled this useful list of the most cost-effective places to fill up your vehicle.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile it may be tempting to refuel at a motorway service area due to the convenience factor, drivers should be aware that they could be paying a significant mark-up compared to using supermarket or independent forecourts.<\/p>\n \u201cThat is why, if drivers are preparing for a road trip to spend Christmas with loved ones, it pays to plan ahead and find out now which locations offer the best value for money at the pumps.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are also other small changes motorists can make to their driving habits that could help them save even more money on fuel. This includes making sure their tyres are correctly inflated, not carrying any more weight than is necessary in the vehicle and driving as economically as possible \u2013 climbing the gears quickly and watching the queues ahead to try and minimise stop-start braking.<\/p>\n \u201cEven these simple tweaks can add up over time and help drivers cut the cost of their fuel bills.\u201d<\/p>\n *Average fuel costs for each town are accurate as of December 11, 2025, using data sourced from the Consumer Council\u2019s fuel price checker.<\/p>\n For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage <\/strong>here<\/a> and sign up to our daily newsletter<\/a> here.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Frantic Friday \u2013 the last Friday before Christmas \u2013 is historically the busiest day on the roads during…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":642853,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[958,35745,80195,89729,80196,5116,84431,57729,81144,1230,82156,1144,246,183,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-642852","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-ballymena","9":"tag-christmas","10":"tag-co-derry","11":"tag-co-fermanagh","12":"tag-co-tyrone","13":"tag-cookstown","14":"tag-dungannon","15":"tag-enniskillen","16":"tag-in-the-know","17":"tag-motoring","18":"tag-newtownards","19":"tag-northern-ireland","20":"tag-shopping","21":"tag-travel","22":"tag-uk","23":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115748077261939747","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=642852"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642852\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/642853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=642852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=642852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=642852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}