Which Country Is Cheapest for a Knee Replacement? An Honest Comparison

UK figures are LaingBuisson self-pay data (May 2025); Poland and Lithuania are the hospitals' own published prices; Turkey and India are ranges published by a medical-travel platform, not fixed quotes. The Lithuanian, Turkish and Indian figures were checked on 12 September 2026. Euro conversions at €1 = £0.86.

A word on exchange rates before you compare those two European figures. We convert euros at €1 = £0.86; the Lithuanian clinic's own sterling price implies a rate closer to £0.83. Compare in one currency, on one day, or the difference you're looking at is the currency, not the care.

Done properly: for a knee replacement Poland and Lithuania are effectively level — €8,620 against €8,840, a gap that disappears inside the exchange rate. For a hip replacement the gap is real: our partner hospital publishes €6,940 against €8,200 in Lithuania.

The bigger point stands: the significant difference is not between European countries, it's between Europe and the UK, where the same knee operation costs £11,195–£19,740.

The most common reason two quotes look thousands apart is that one of them excludes the implant.

You will see summary prices advertised as "surgery from £3,400 + implant" sitting alongside an all-inclusive figure of £6,835 for the same operation at the same clinic. Neither is dishonest — but only one is what you pay.

Ask every provider the same question: what is the total, including the implant, anaesthesia, the hospital stay and follow-up? Get it in writing, in one currency, with the exclusions listed.

Rehabilitation is where a knee replacement succeeds or fails, and packages handle it very differently.

• Better packages include a set course after discharge — our partner hospital includes up to seven outpatient sessions, and the Lithuanian price quoted above includes seven days of outpatient physiotherapy.
• Additional or upgraded physiotherapy is charged separately: roughly €120 a day for one-to-one outpatient sessions, or from about €220 a day for a residential rehabilitation stay.
• Some packages include nothing after you leave the ward.

Then count what the physiotherapy costs you indirectly: every day of outpatient rehab is a night of accommodation for you, and possibly for a companion. A package that looks £500 cheaper but includes no aftercare rarely is.

This is the factor price tables ignore, and for a UK patient it may matter more than £1,000 either way.

UK guidance advises avoiding long-haul flights for about three months after a hip or knee replacement; short flights are treated far more flexibly, and your surgeon decides. A two-hour flight from Poland, Lithuania or another nearby EU country is a very different proposition from a nine- or ten-hour flight from India or Thailand — which means either a long stay abroad or travelling within a period UK guidance treats with caution.

Read flying after a hip or knee replacement before you choose a destination by price alone.

Some clinics advertise that your surgery can effectively be free because you can reclaim the cost from your national health system under the EU Cross-Border Healthcare Directive.

That offer is real — for patients insured in an EU country. It does not apply to UK residents: since Brexit, the Directive route is closed except for treatment that started or was approved before 31 December 2020. The NHS route that remains, S2, covers only state hospitals and needs approval before you travel.

If you're in the UK, read the offer as "not for me". See can the NHS pay for surgery abroad?

Price the whole trip, not the operation:

Then compare the totals. In our experience the ranking changes once the last four lines are filled in.

On the headline number, India — by a wide margin. On the total cost of a safe trip for a UK patient, the picture is different, because of the long-haul flight, the length of stay it implies and the cost of a companion travelling with you.

Within Europe the prices are close enough that the deciding factors are what's included, how far you travel and how the aftercare is organised.

For the record, our partner hospital in Jelenia Góra, south-west Poland, is not the cheapest in the world, and not always the cheapest in Europe — on knees it is level with the Lithuanian price above, and on hips it is lower. It is about half the UK private price, two hours from London by air, EU-regulated, and diagnostics, the implant, three nights on the ward and up to seven physiotherapy sessions are in the published price. That is the trade-off we think makes sense for most UK patients. Yours may differ, and an honest comparison is the point of this page.

If Poland is on your shortlist, the detail is in knee replacement in Poland: prices and what is included.