Estimated total
Assumptions used
| Item | London | Elsewhere in the UK |
|---|
About these numbers
Typical costs come from the fall 2026 prices in our money guide and where to stay pages. Where those give a range, we use the middle of it: a mid-range London room at about £240 a night for two, for example, and about £145 elsewhere. A day's spending then lands in or near the money guide's daily budgets: about £100–150 per person in London and £70–100 elsewhere on a budget, £250–400 and £150–220 mid-range. The Comfort level assumes an upscale hotel, between mid-range and full luxury. Hotel rates are for one room shared by two people; the calculator adds a room for every two travelers.
UK prices already include 20% VAT, so nothing is added at the register. Food figures include the 10–12.5% service charge that many restaurants put on the bill. London transport is the £8.90 daily Tube and bus cap for Zones 1–2, plus taxis at the higher levels. Outside London the area you pick changes the visitor levy and the heritage pass: for Scotland we add Edinburgh's 5% levy, while the Welsh levy starts only in April 2027. Castle visits use about £26 per adult at the gate, the middle of the £15–37 the big sites charge (about £15 in Wales, where Caernarfon is £14.90), against the English Heritage, Historic Environment Scotland or Cadw pass at its two-adult price for each pair of travelers. Family passes can be cheaper if you travel with children.
The car line is our estimate for a small car with basic cover and some parking, since hire prices swing hard by season; enter your own quote if you have one. Fuel uses the price you enter and about 39 US mpg (6 liters per 100 km), typical of the small cars you'll hire there. Road signs and speed limits are already in miles. Not included: the ETA fee, travel insurance, excess (deductible) cover, one-way drop fees, London's £18 Congestion Charge, shopping, and big-ticket extras such as a West End premium seat or a sleeper train. See driving in the UK, getting around and castles and heritage passes.
Save money
Most of London's great museums are free, so the cheapest way to cut a London budget is to spend more time in them. Pay in pounds on a card with no foreign transaction fee, buy a railcard (£35 a year, a third off most fares) and book long-distance trains early, make lunch your big meal or grab a supermarket meal deal, and hire the car only for the days you leave the cities.