Getting Started

    WHEN TO GO
    COSTS & MONEY
    TRAVELLING RESPONSIBLY
    READING UP
    INTERNET RESOURCES

Here’s a handy slogan to remember while you’re planning your trip: travel in Britain is a breeze. Granted, it may not be totally effortless, but it’s easy compared with many parts of the world. In this compact landscape you’re never far from the next town, the next pub, the next national park or the next impressive castle on your hit list of highlights.

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WHEN TO GO

Any visitor to Britain will soon understand the locals’ obsession with the weather. Extremes of hot or cold are rare, but variability is a given. The key word is changeable: the weather can be bad one minute, great the next. It wouldn’t be unusual in April, for example, for the morning to be warm enough for T-shirts, lunchtime to be cloudy, the afternoon see a downpour and drop in temperature, and the day polished off by an overnight dump of snow.

For more weather facts and figures, see Climate Charts, Click here.

Despite apparent randomness, there is a seasonal pattern. Temperatures are higher in summer (June to August), and there’s normally more sunshine, though July and August, along with the winter months, are often the rainiest months of the year. Conversely, winter (November to February) may enjoy fantastic clear spells between bouts of rain or snow, while spring (March to May) or autumn (September to October) can often produce the finest weather of the year. There are also north–south variations: southern England might be chilly, while northern Scotland enjoys a heatwave. Or vice versa. Be prepared for anything and you won’t get a surprise.

With all that in mind, May to September is undoubtedly the best period to travel in Britain. July and August are busiest (it’s school holiday time), especially in coastal towns, national parks, and historic cities like Oxford, Edinburgh and York. In April and October you take a chance on the weather but avoid the crowds, although some hotels and attractions close from mid-October to Easter, and tourist offices have limited hours.

Overall, the least hospitable months for visitors are November to February. It’s cold in the south, very cold in the north, and daylight is short. In Scotland, north Wales and the hills of northern England, roads can sometimes be closed by snow. Reaching the islands off the Scottish mainland (and occasionally other parts of Britain) can also be a problem as high winds disrupt ferry services.

For winter visits, London and the big cities are an exception – they’re busy all the time, with such a lot to see that the weather is immaterial. Besides, you’re almost as likely to have a damp day in June as you are in January…

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COSTS & MONEY

If you’re a global traveller, whatever your budget you’ll know that Britain is expensive compared with many other countries. But don’t let that put you off. If funds are tight you’ll still have a great trip with some forward planning, a bit of shopping around and a modicum of common sense. A lot of stuff is cheap or good value, and some is completely free. The following gives some guidelines; for more details see the Directory and Transport chapters.

For midrange travellers, basic hotels cost around £50 to £120 for a double room, except in London, where doubles in midrange hotels start at around £80, and around £150 in London gets you something pretty decent for the night, although you could easily spend more. When it comes to eating, a decent three-course meal with wine in a smart restaurant will set you back about £25 to £35 per person. In London this jumps to about £60, although if you choose carefully you can still get a great meal (with a glass or two of wine) for around £30. Of course, you can go wild at somewhere outrageously posh or trendy, and not get much change from £150.

Backpackers on a tight budget need £36 a day for bare survival in London, with dorm beds from £18, basic sustenance £12, and transport around £6 unless you prefer to hoof it.

HOW MUCH?

See also the Lonely Planet Index, inside front cover.

B&B £25 per person

CD £12

The Guardian (newspaper) 80p

Restaurant meal £25 per person

Large latte £2.30

Whatever your bracket, extras in London might include clubbing (£6 to £12, up to £25 at weekends), a pint in a pub (£2.80 to £3.50) or admission to museums and galleries (£10 to £20 a day, though many places don’t charge).

Out of London, costs drop; shoestringers need around £30 per day for hostels and food. Midrangers will be fine on £60 to £85 per day, allowing £25 to £35 per person for B&B accommodation, £12 to £18 for lunch, snacks and drinks, £15 to £25 for an evening meal. Admission fees are the same for everyone – work on around £10 per day for general admission costs.

Travel costs depend on transport choice. Trains can cost anything from £10 to £50 per 100 miles, depending when you buy your ticket. Long-distance buses (called coaches in Britain) cost about half the train fare for an equivalent journey. Car drivers should allow £12 per 100 miles for fuel, plus around £5 per day for parking. Rental costs £25 to £60 per day, depending on model and duration.

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TRAVELLING RESPONSIBLY

Britons share their compact and increasingly crowded island with around 33 million cars, vans, buses and lorries – that’s more than one vehicle for every two people. Traffic congestion and carbon emissions are serious problems that are only now beginning to be tackled head-on.

In the past, the government’s response to overcrowded roads has been to build more of them; today, politicians have been forced to look at other approaches. While London has its congestion charge, Sustrans (www.sustrans.org.uk) – a group focused on sustainable transport – is busy creating a national network of cycle routes; and Worcester, Peterborough and Darlington have been chosen as showcase sustainable transport towns, with government-funded projects to promote cycling, walking and public transport as realistic alternatives to car use.

COSTS FOR KIDS

Taking your children into museums and historic sites can be absolutely free, half-price, or just a bit cheaper than the adult cost, so we’ve detailed kids’ rates (as well as adult prices) throughout this book. At camp sites and self-catering hostels, children usually pay about 50% to 75% of the adult rate. At hotels, children aged between two and 12 years old usually get 50% to 75% discount. Kids under two usually stay free of charge, while over-12s (or over-16s at some places) attract the full rate, on the assumption that growing children need a bed and will probably eat as much as their parents.

Although a car can be useful in some parts of the country, notably the Scottish Highlands, if you don’t want to contribute to – or get caught up in – British gridlock, then think about using public transport rather than hiring a car. And think twice before taking a domestic flight within Britain – remember it’s a relatively small geographical area. Taking the London to Edinburgh route as an example, if you add on travel time from the city centre to the airport (one hour in London, 15 minutes in Edinburgh), and check-in time (say one hour, minimum) to the flight time (one hour), then the 4½-hour train journey actually looks pretty good (and you don’t have to queue for check-in and security, either).

DON’T LEAVE HOME WITHOUT…

Travel in Britain is not like crossing the Sahara or exploring the Amazon. Anything can be bought as you go. Our advice is to take only what you absolutely need, which may include the following:

  • rain jacket
  • comfortable shoes
  • small day-pack (for carrying that rain jacket when the sun shines)
  • a taste for beer that isn’t icy cold
  • listening skills and a sense of humour

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READING UP

There’s nothing like a good book to set the mood for your own trip. The choice of books about Britain can be daunting, so here’s a list of our favourites to add an extra dimension to your planning or help you penetrate that famous British reserve a little while you’re on the road.

TOP 10

MUST-SEE MOVIES

Predeparture planning is no chore if it includes a trip to the cinema or a night on the sofa with a DVD. Our parameters for a ‘British’ film? Anything about Britain. Anything that gives a taste of history, scenery or peculiar cultural traits. For more info on some of these and other titles, Click here.

  1. Brief Encounter (1945) Director: David Lean
  2. Whisky Galore (1949) Director: Alexander Mackendrick
  3. Under Milk Wood (1972) Director: Andrew Sinclair
  4. Educating Rita (1983) Director: Lewis Gilbert
  5. My Beautiful Laundrette (1985) Director: Stephen Frears
  6. Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) Director: Mike Newell
  7. Trainspotting (1996) Director: Danny Boyle
  8. Bend It Like Beckham (2002) Director: Gurinder Chadha
  9. Atonement (2007) Director: Joe Wright
  10. Hot Fuzz (2007) Director: Edgar Wright

RAVE READS

Travel broadens the mind. Especially if you read before you go. For a taste of life in Britain through the ages, try a few of these novels – from past classics to contemporary milestones. For more details on some of these (and other great books), Click here.

  1. Oliver Twist (1837) Charles Dickens
  2. Wuthering Heights (1847) Emily Brontë
  3. Tess of the D’Urbervilles (1891) Thomas Hardy
  4. The Rainbow (1915) DH Lawrence
  5. How Green Was My Valley (1939) Richard Llewellyn
  6. Greenvoe (1972) George Mackay Brown
  7. Behind the Scenes at the Museum (1995) Kate Atkinson
  8. Last Orders (1996) Graham Swift
  9. White Teeth (2000) Zadie Smith
  10. The Falls (2003) Ian Rankin

TOP OF THE POPS

British popular music is probably the most popular in the world. Britain has produced hundreds of internationally famous bands and artists from the Beatles and the Rolling Stones to the Kaiser Chiefs and the Arctic Monkeys. Here’s a lucky dip of typically British chart-topping pop and rock from 1960 onward.

  1. You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me by Dusty Springfield (1966)
  2. Honky Tonk Women by the Rolling Stones (1969)
  3. Won’t Get Fooled Again by The Who (1971)
  4. Anarchy in the UK by the Sex Pistols (1976)
  5. Love Will Tear Us Apart by Joy Division (1980)
  6. House of Fun by Madness (1982)
  7. Wonderwall by Oasis (1995)
  8. Wannabe by the Spice Girls (1996)
  9. If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next by the Manic Street Preachers (2000)
  10. The Dark of the Matinee by Franz Ferdinand (2004)

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INTERNET RESOURCES

The internet is a wonderful planning tool for travellers, and there are millions of sites about Britain. Before plunging into the cybermaze, try these for starters:

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