How much did I spend traveling to Scotland during the most expensive time of the year?
Dear Jane,
Flat out, I spent as much on one week in Scotland as I did in three weeks in Japan. If you think Japan is out of reach, it’s really not. Find a way to get a discount on airfare, and you’re golden.
I set a budget of $1,500. Here are the real numbers for 5 nights in Scotland, having spent time in Edinburgh for the Festival Fringe and then traveled North:
Flights
I purchased my flights in May, after spending a few weeks watching for a direct flight to dip under $700. Most were in the $800-$1,200 range. There were one-stop options in the low $700s, but they ultimately wasted time with long overnight layovers in London or Paris.
While I was doing this, I learned about PointsYeah, which is a flight tracking tool that follows point prices.
I didn’t have enough points to purchase my flights outright, but I was able to subsidize my purchase with $100 worth of miles to choose my own seats. The difference between basic economy and choose-your-own-seat economy was a $200 fare hike, and I was certain that I’d be able to buy my seat selection for each leg for a combined $100 or less after my initial purchase. And I was right—it was $91.98.
Accommodations
August prices are no joke! I started booking in May, and inventory was limited, driving up prices.
Edinburgh
Edinburgh itself hosts the Edinburgh International Festival, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, International Book Festival, the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, and the Edinburgh Art Festival. That’s a lot of people presenting and performing in Edinburgh, and then you add the festival attendees. Space comes at a premium.
Two of the budget options are to stay in a hostel, of which Edinburgh has many, or stay in student housing, which a lot of the folks working the festivals do. Student housing looks to be a better deal if you’re traveling in a group.
I opted for a hostel, specifically Kick Ass Grassmarket, which had a pod room that emulated a capsule hotel in Japan. Most of the other hostels had exposed triple bunks, and that wasn’t for me. They were about £10-20 cheaper than my pod.
Greater Scotland
I also opted for a hostel in Inverness. It had exposed regular bunks, but the rooms were smaller, 4-8 people compared to Edinburgh’s 8-20 people.
You’ll see in my budget that I took a risk in booking three other hostels that didn’t offer free cancellation. 90% of each booking was refundable. I ended up canceling two of them because of transportation, and the one that was in Inverness did not have the same amenities that the one I stayed in ultimately did (like a locker for my stuff).
That third one, I had booked through Booking.com, where it said there was free cancellation. The three hostels are part of the same “chain,” a non-profit organization called Hostelling Scotland. Booking directly through them includes the warning about the 90% refund.
Scotland requires some serious research before making accommodation reservations, but there was the added pressure that all of these hostels had one or two beds available at any given moment.
Transportation
Not knowing more about public transportation in Scotland is where I went wrong with my planning, but there’s information I truly wouldn’t have learned before being there in person, so it is what it is.
To/From Airport
Normally, when I’m flying in and out of Newark, the Coach USA Airport Express Bus is the cheapest option, at $38.50 for a round trip. But right before I left, and right before I purchased my express bus tickets, NJ Transit announced a week of free travel to make up for the garbage service they’d had all summer, and my return fell during that free week.
The AirTrain that connects with NJ Transit’s rail service was not free, but they run several local bus lines through the airport, which do connect with the rail system. So I took the GO28 bus to the train and enjoyed a scenic ride through Newark, NJ. The train I caught from the bus was extremely delayed.
On the Edinburgh side, I used the BrightBus service. There are a number of bus services from Edinburgh Airport to the city center, and a tram line that runs from the airport to Leith. BrightBus is the cheapest and fastest. I purchased my tickets before I left, but you can purchase them in person also.
My confirmation email came with a PDF attachment that had my return ticket. There was an option to add my ticket to Google or Apple Wallet. When I did, I noticed the return wasn’t there, so I printed that just in case. However, when my ticket was scanned by the bus driver, his scanner printed my receipt, which had the return ticket on it.
Trains in Scotland
What you can’t see from the budget here is that ScotRail, Scotland railroad system is NJ Transit’s European cousin. They’re incredibly short staffed and cancel trains to make up for it, or say that they’re going to, and then don’t?
The train I booked to Inverness from Edinburgh was canceled, so I took a later train. ScotRail announced this by email, telling me that my “ticket is valid for the next available service to Inverness from Edinburgh and calling through Perth, provided you’re still within any relevant Operator and time conditions (e.g. Off-peak or Super Off-peak.)” I purchased an Advance Single, of which a limited number of these tickets are available on every train. Advanced Singles are super cheap (£20 vs. regular £60) fares that are non-refundable and cannot be exchanged.
It seemed to me that I should be able to get on any train, but I reached out to customer service to clarify this, and because they too are short staffed, I didn’t receive a response for over three weeks – when I was already in Inverness.
A similar thing happened to my return train from Nairn, a Victorian seaside town, about 20 minutes out from Inverness. The return trip was canceled, so I requested and received a refund, as I wasn’t planning to spend 8 hours in Nairn. On the day I was supposed to go, I noticed that there was a return train one minute later than the canceled train. I confirmed in person with a ticketing agent that that scheduled train existed.
I purchased new tickets to and from Nairn on the ScotRail mobile app (fatal error, see insurance section for details). Immediately after purchasing my tickets, I boarded the train, which was then canceled about 30 minutes later due to a regional power outage that canceled all trains to and from Inverness.
ScotRail began running a bus on this line but couldn’t guarantee me that they would be able to get me back to Inverness by train or bus. So, I opted not to go.
Buses in Scotland
There are two major bus companies to look at in Scotland, Stagecoach, and CityLink. I traveled between Inverness Bus Station and Urquhart Castle, round trip, for $13.50.
Stagecoach operates local and long distance services in many areas, and you’re likely to use their services if you’re traveling by bus. I found that their website isn’t helpful if you’re not a local.
You need to know the specifics of your origination point and your destination to be able to look up any information. Add to that that they don’t publish complete timetables on their website. The bus route and service options for a Sunday presented to me in person at the Inverness Bus Station were far greater than what the website had shown me when I was planning my trip.
CityLink connects different cities across the country. Like Stagecoach, you need to know where you’re going and the website is not that helpful. For instance, if you want to go to Urquhart Castle, you need to know that the name of the bus stop is “Strone Urquhart Castle” or you may accidentally find yourself in Urquhart, which is on the Moray Coast.
Activities
There are a lot of free things to do in Edinburgh. Thanks to state funding (though I hear this is being threatened), there are a number of free museums one can enjoy.
I visited the Scottish National Gallery, which was much smaller than I expected. I was able to walk through it in less than an hour.
Edinburgh has a number of public parks that are nice to enjoy, including Holyrood Park, which is home to the extinct volcano, Arthur’s Seat. It’s a great hike! I also visited Calton Hill, which is its own little walk with breathtaking views and some monuments.
Most of my activities budget was delegated for Fringe shows. I only went to three paid performances, partially because there were things I wanted to do in Edinburgh besides seeing performances, and partially because I only planned ahead for two of the performances I attended, and many of them sold out. The Fringe does offer free and half price tickets day of, on a performance by performance basis.
My unplanned expense was visiting Urquhart Castle on Loch Ness. Originally, my second day in Inverness hadn’t been planned out, and because of planning limitations, it was something I was going to figure out when I got to Scotland. My days ended up getting swapped because of the rail power outage.
Insurance
As always, I recommend purchasing travel insurance. For this trip, I bought a policy from Generali Global Assistance, and I have some insurance coverage through my Chase Sapphire Preferred (that’s an affiliate link). Generali Global Assistance had the best price for the coverage when I compared policies on Squarespace.
I thought I might have to use my insurance policy this time with the ScotRail issue, but ScotRail managed to reply and refund me within a week of my email to them where I said I was going to dispute the charge. With the power outage canceling the train after the ticket was scanned, the ScotRail app glitched and the only recourse provided to me for assistance was to call a customer service number that had a recording informing me that that line didn’t accept calls.
I may see if it’s possible to recoup the Booking.com “free cancellation” penalty.
Not included in my budget, but let’s talk about them.
Food
I spent $209.78 on food, and while I wasn’t spending extravagantly, there was definitely room to save more. Meat and potatoes, or other carbs, are easy to come by and are pretty cheap. Fruit and non-root vegetables are on fewer menus and cost more.
The most budget-friendly was Tesco’s Meal Deal fridge. This reminded me of when I was in Switzerland, where the cheapest food was from the grocery store’s to-go section. Tesco’s Meal Deal is a main, a snack, and a drink for £3.60. I noticed that not all mains are created equal, though. You can get three halves of a sandwich, a four-piece California Roll, or a handful of berries. Choose wisely!
Souvenirs
As always, I’m a carry-on traveler, so when I buy souvenirs, they’re small. I also like to send postcards to others as souvenirs. Here are my tips for Scotland:
If you’re into art, I noticed there’s a big push by small local souvenir shops (as opposed to conglomerate owned) to stock the work of local artists. This is true for fine art, jewelry, and fiber arts.
International postage stamps cost about $3.50 after exchange. That was rough.
Fudge is a popular consumable souvenir, as are Tunnock’s Scottish tea cakes. They’re decently, with a grain of salt there, priced in every single souvenir shop in Scotland, but you can get a better deal at the Duty Free in the Edinburgh Airport. A box of 6 tea cakes is about £7 at the souvenir shops, but you can get a box of 36 for £11 at the Duty Free. Now, it’s a giant box, and I guarantee you won’t have room for it. There are better fudge deals as well, but they didn’t stick in my mind as well as the tea cakes did.
Conclusion
For this trip, I had some bumps with planning, lack of information, and bad luck. But overall, this was a great introduction to Scotland that came in under budget during the high season.
<3 Katherine