A potential second trip in the near future- willfully tagging along!

I hate to be Debbie downer but I wonder how much of a budget trip you can take when you are paying for international airfare to be in Europe for four days. Can you take four days off work with the holiday to add to two weekends to have at least a little more time?

The UK isn’t really a budget destination to begin with. But with only 4 days, I would pick one city and stay there.

4 days is better than 0 days. Go for it! Maybe stay in Edinburgh and daytrip to Glasgow, or vice versa. I stayed here in Edinburgh https://www.motel-one.com/en/hotels/edinburgh/hotel-edinburgh-princes/

I think that if she loves London nowhere else is going to come close and with only 4 days I’d just go there.

You can do London relatively cheaply by staying in a Premier Inn outside of central areas but still with good transport connections. I’ve stayed at the Ealing branch for less than £100 a night and you’re close to the Elizabeth Line.

There are plenty of casual dining places where you can eat without breaking the bank, and a lot of great attractions are free.

I’d always choose September over October because you’re more likely to get better weather and it’s lighter.

Beth, you’re not a Debbie downer, it’s a very valid point. She is planning on incorporating a weekend I think. She told me last night that she was crunching numbers this weekend. I think she wants to go to the UK with her time, but will it square with what she can spend? She may find that a domestic trip is more acceptable, especially given we are going in May 2025. I think her chances of scoring a low airfare may be better for London this fall (not sure, but it just seems since it’s a bigger city/ airport) and I told her about the popular and affordable Premium Inns. It’ll be interesting to see what she comes up with. Thanks everyone for your thoughts!

You'll find that (apart from maybe Edinburgh) Premier Inns are well cheaper there than in London. Or indeed any of the other budget chains like Ibis.

For Holy Island either take Timberbush (£50- great value) or a taxi to and from Berwick. It just gets too complicated fitting it in around the bus from Berwick which runs maybe 3 days a week.

Edinburgh to either Berwick or Alnmouth by LNER or Trans Pennine- a quick high speed blast down the coast. Trans Pennine tend to be the cheaper and can have some amazingly good fares.

Go to Alnmouth for Alnwick. There are at least hourly buses from the station if you want or jump in a cab. From Alnwick there is even a bus up to Berwick or maybe Bamburgh- Arriva North East being the main company in the area. Also North Berwick for the seabirds.

I'd be tempted to fly into/out of EDI then straight on a train to Berwick or Alnmouth and use that for a base. There is a thread somewhere (quite recent) where several hotels in Alnmouth have been traced.

You can day trip to EDI in like manner from there by train.

October 14 may be just before our English School October half term- maybe a bit of a price spike?

I've concentrated here on Northumberland- but you could equally get off the plane and jump straight on a train or bus maybe for Pitlochry or Perth, Stirling etc, stay there then day trip into the Highlands. Again Perth or Stirling should be budget conscious for hotels. Dundee is often very budget friendly by the way, trains to Perth for the Highlands, trains to Aberdeen, buses to St Andrews and the Fife Coast. Express bus to Dundee straight from Edinburgh Airport.

I've just been looking at that Timberbush tour. Without a car you couldn't begin to put together Lindisfarne, Alnwick, Coldstream and Flodden Field in a day.

Sure that means it has to be pretty fast paced- but as an introduction I think it has much going for it- and a good discount both on Alnwick Castle and the Gardens as well. No discount on Lindisfarne though.

Within the time frame you will have I suspect you would have to choose between Castle and Garden at Alnwick. Mardee may well pitch in here with her blog assessment of the Castle from her visit last week. I'm not going to be so cheeky as to post it here but you'll find it on her profile.

Thanks for the information Stuart about that particular tour. I’ll pass it onto her. And I just found mardee’s travel blog! I had been wanting to read about her trip and didn’t realize she had it linked through her profile. I’m reading the London days now :)

Of the dates, early September would be my pick over October.

So we are heading back to London for a short stay for this impromptu trip. Scotland is still on our list of places in the UK to see, but this girl of mine needs to get back to “her happy place” she says. Thanks to everyone on this forum for this thread’s suggestions…it’s bookmarked for a later date for certain!