Are prices rising.

Where does RS say this? And what were the prices in 2019? Hard to imagine there hasn't been inflation given the state of the world. Just trying to understand where you got this and what the rec from before the pandemic was...

My question when I read your post was if that was supposed to per person/double occupancy or was it for a solo traveler? The lodging costs for a solo traveler would eat up a large chunk of the per day listed above, while per person double occupancy would leave more wiggle room for other items.

In addition, it is important to think about what makes a vacation special for you. Some people view a key part of their vacation as a food experience/eating out and they are going to need significantly more funds in the budget for that as opposed to the "grab a sandwich" crowd.

Others would not think of going to London without seeing a West End Show (I am one of them). They don't exactly give away those tickets. Opposite that are those who can be happy as can be wandering the many free museums. Most people are probably somewhere in the middle.

I think two people traveling together with moderate tastes could do fine on that budget. One person traveling solo may scramble a bit.

To reply to Jojo Rabbit,
The information I have is from Rick Steves Best of England 2nd edition, 2018. Page 28, average daily expenses per person. I’m sure prices have gone up since then. I’m just trying to get a bit of information on whether prices in England have risen as steeply as they have in the states.
Thanks for your concern.

My reply to Carol.
You are quite right , those amounts I quoted were per person and your remarks about costs, etc is helpful.
Thank you for your reply.B

$200 a day would have been very frugal for London even in 2018. Once you’re past the hostel stage, lodging is just expensive everywhere in London. The big sights, like the Tower of London and Westminster Abbey aren’t cheap either. The free museums do help as well as the possibility of getting discounted theatre tickets.

I’m just trying to get a bit of information on whether prices in England have risen as steeply as they have in the states.

That is a different question than what you posted, and per all news reports, yes, prices are rising as fast in London as in the US, so assume that the information from a 2018 guidebook is significantly out of date on this.

I just returned from Germany and Austria, and was pleasantly surprised to find such reasonable prices for food and lodging, and in some cases, things were more reasonable than at home, as the US has had such jumps in living costs.

$160 US dollars is only £128.12 in today's currency conversion. $200 is £160.14. I personally think that's really tight for England/London during 2022 high season. Yes, 2018 guidebook prices are out of date. Consider that while many London museums are free, Westminster Abbey adult tickets are £25 pp (£50 per couple), and Tower tickets are nearly £30 pp ( £60 per couple) so per day expenses depend on what you want to see, how you want to eat, and how many amenities you want in an accommodation.

Inflation is approaching 10% pa, so yes, prices are rising rapidly. Since 2018, many of the Europeans that were the backbone of the hospitality sector have returned home due to Brexit and Covid.

There are shortages of some products in the supermarkets such as cooking oil due to the war in Ukraine, where most of this comes from. Heating costs have more than doubled for the same reason.

I don’t see that an average spend figure is particularly helpful, as people have very different travelling styles, depending on what and where you eat (supermarket /make your own meals or high end dining out), are you just walking past Buckingham Palace etc or paying to go inside etc? Whatever, 2018 prices are considerably out of date!

Entry charges to many attractions have gone up a lot since lockdown. Petrol prices have gone up rapidly this year ( average price about 168p a litre and for diesel 181p a litre at the moment, and are unlikely to go down much). This has a knock on effect on everything. Food prices are rising in the supermarket and again this will inpact of prices in restaurants, etc.

As Jennifer has pointed out, people have a variety of travelling styles so it's really difficult to provide a ballpark figure for average costs but I understand why guides try to provide one. London is an expensive city but eating out can be relatively cheap if you choose the right place. Ethnic restaurants, street food and some major chains can be very reasonable. Lodging is always going to be expensive whereas public transport (other than Black Cabs) can be very good value and efficient.

Prices are rising throughout the UK although I can't speak specifically for lodging in London. $200 per day for lodging, meals, entertainment and transport seems quite tight to me.

I never bother with budgets, I travel solo, do everything I want to do, use my credit card and sort it out later. I was in London in April and can say that the average pub meal with an ale or cider was around £20, a meal with salad and a cocktail at an upscale restaurant in Soho £50. One night I was too exhausted to venture into a pub and ended up having Burger King—which I don’t eat at home so was a bit of a novelty—complete meal was £13. I had an excellent seat for Hamilton £125, visited a mix of free museums and also paid for special exhibits at the V&A, and then Tower of London, Hampton Court, and a guided tour of Parliament, all around £30 each. I stayed in South Kensington and chose a very nice hotel with a spacious room at $250 per night…it was worth it. The other hotel I have stayed at twice before in Bayswater would have been $200. It all depends on your travel style and what is important to you.

I never bother with budgets

I like your style, christa. That is how we travel, too. I know how expensive London is vs, say Budapest, and I know about how much we will spend per person from past travel, so I spend as I go and the final tally of cost on the trip that I don't even bother to look at is whatever it is. Splurging on a nicer hotel room in London is usually worth it given how cramped the budget rooms are.

Demand for European travel has risen drastically. Hotels and Airlines are reporting near pre-Covid levels for the summmer.

With that demand, and a current inflation rate of 9%, the UK will be more expensive than what you are reading in an old RS guidebook.

I'm in the UK now and was last here in January. Hotel prices are definitely rising. Restaurant prices have also gone up. I've even seen some obvious price rises in the supermarket.

Periscope—I stayed at Baileys Hotel, just across from the Gloucester Rd station. I had fond memories of it from my very first solo trip in 2011 and nothing has changed. The other hotel I like is The Caesar on Queen’s Gardens, a lovely quiet residential street in Bayswater, 10 minute walk to Paddington.

"Baileys Hotel, just across from the Gloucester Rd station"

"I stayed there in 2008, I liked the location and the bar and the staff, but my room was pitifully small - guess I'm going to have to up my game next spring. Thanks."

We had a similar experience at Bailey's in 2019. We first started in a room that was further back and it was an acceptable size but had no window. After a few days there my partner insisted that we get a room with a window over the road. Of course it was a more interesting view but everything about the room seemed "squeezed". The window was huge and of course conducted outside noise. It made the room rather cold in the fall as well. Even the towel heating rack was half the size of the rack in the no-window room towards the back. I would have been more content with our first room. There was much about the hotel and it's personnel to recommend it and the location was really useful for us.

My first stay at Baileys I don't recall the type of room I chose, but it was quite spacious and the bathroom was ridiculously enormous, though I did not have a view to the street, seemed to look on an inner service courtyard. On my recent stay I chose a Deluxe Double that was a bit bigger than the first stay, spacious bathroom with separate tub and shower stall, and on the top floor with a view to Gloucester Rd. The windows were double-pane so it was quiet.

with a view to Gloucester Rd. The windows were double-pane so it was quiet.

We didn't have a double on the top floor but we did have the Gloucester Rd view from a single room on the 2nd floor. I recall the window was so large and heavy that I had trouble lifting it to open it a crack at one point. It was a cool drizzly October so that may be why it seemed so cool near the window. It might not have seemed as noisy to others as my hearing is really sensitive. That room was so much more cramped than the same-priced room we first had by the courtyard.