I've read a lot about basing in London or Edinburgh and then making day trips, and it sounds like a wonderful plan...however it seems quite pricey to base in an expensive city. I am a student and really looking for budget prices, though I would not be able to handle an entire trip sharing a room in a hostel. Does anyone have tips on cities that would be good bases in England or Scotland for making day trips that wouldnt be too expensive? Thanks again, love all the advice I've found on these forums!
Posted by
Washington, DC, USA
571 posts
Katie, Can you give us a sense of which places you're considering visiting on day trips? Depending on what you plan to see, we might be able to suggest less expensive places to stay for some nights. Right now, not knowing anything about your trip except you might travel between London and Edinburgh, I can suggest spending a couple nights in York. Outside of London it is my favorite city (so far) in Britain and you can certainly find cheaper accommodations there. Great tourist sites and an active student nightlife too (or so and old guy like me has been told.) Best,
Matt
Posted by
OP
Trossingen
57 posts
Actually yes York was on our list. We'd like to see Stratford-upon-avon, perhaps Bath...honestly we're still educating ourselves about all the areas. We are interested in seeing castles and buildings, as well as some musicals. We've found a touring musical that will be in Southampton, Cardiff, and Wolverhampton so we'd like to end of in one of those places in order to see the show. We also recently started looking into the "Winnie the Pooh" forest, near Hartfield, as we're big Winnie the Pooh fans! As you can see we're still very much in the research and planning stage. Thanks :)
Posted by
Sydney
275 posts
York seems to be one of the more northerly places you mention. I think Oxford would be a good base, and more convenient for places like Bath and Southampton. Obviously it is a student town, so should have plenty of things aimed at students. I stayed at a youth hostel when I was there, I could not tell you about other accommodation. I got there by train then rented a car from there, so I do not have experience of using the trains from there for day trips, but I imagine it could be done.
Posted by
Charlotte, NC, USA
3428 posts
London can be expensive, but you can limit your expenses in many ways. Condsier renting a dorm room or apartment from a college (like the London School of Economics). Some of the room are as little as 60 GBP/night. You get a kitchenett (or kitchen priviledges) which will save you at least some money on meals; access to the laundry and the 'lounge' (read game room/TV room, etc.). Also, many museums there are FREE! You can get travel cards (paper ones from National Rail Train Stations) that also have 2 -for-1 deals attached (discounts on admission to places like St. Pauls, restaurants,etc.). If you plan well, you can purchase discounted rail tickets about 12 weeks in advance, too (Bath, for example, has very expensive 'walk up' ticket prices, but very reasonable, even cheap advance tickets). Or do the math and see if a BritRail pass would save you money (we like the flexibility). If you would like, I'll send you a copy of an article I wrote about basing in London and doing day trips by train- just send me a private message with your email.
Personally, I prefer Inverness for a base in Scotland. There are alot of great day trips from there, and the Tourist Information offce there is one of the best!