how much does it cost to go to UK for a week, from the US?

[brianmanahan]

cuz i am thinking about doing it next year, provided it doesnt break the bank

 

[AznAnarchy99]

Well it depends. Where in the US are you? That will drastically change the cost of your flight.

Also where are you trying to go in the UK? London?

It is currently 1.63 USD to GBP right now. I spent a few days there without breaking the bank. The most expensive thing would be your Oyster pass (The cost for the Tube). Everything is pretty far away. Think of an LA sprawl.

Other than that, food costs are about $8-10 GBP normal places. Fancy would hit you higher. Beer is about 3-4 GBP.

Most museums are free if that is your thing.

 

[brianmanahan]

in the midwest (ohio). i assume thats more expensive than if you live in a place where they dont have to layover

definitely would want 2 or 3 days in/around london, but would also want to spend time elsewhere. have traced back many of my ancestors to different places in the UK, and in looking at the places they came from found interesting stuff to visit.

and museums are definitely my thing! visiting museums, historical artifacts and taking pics would probably be the majority of my time there.

 

[mikeford]

A week is not enough, we have gone 4 times, twice for a week, twice for 10 days. Many museums in the UK are HUGE, figure a day easy at Victoria and Albert, British museum, portrait gallery, tower of London.

Airfare is the cheap part, hotels a bit pricey depending mostly on location, tube pass not essential but if you need it you need it.

Friend of mine did it on the cheap, staying in youth hostels etc, almost bumming around.

Easy to find you costs as you will want reservations in all the places you plan to stay.

We are thinking about going again, still haven't seen all we want to see, and some we want to see again, plus at this point I know London about as well as many locals if not better since I wandered all over, not a daily route always the same.

 

[DigDog]

we live in poverty, here.

which means, if you want to go cheapo, you can, but you will live in a dump.

inversely, if you want to stay in a place that is "nice", you'll be gouged.


also, london sucks donkey balls, its wet, smells, a veritable ghetto. if your idea of fun is being on a bus, wet, sandwiched between two polish moms yelling in polish at their children and a bunch of wannabe jamaicans listening to drum n bass on the speakers of their phones, london is paradise.

but as soon as you start to eye a "bed and breakfast" (with hot OR cold water, not both at teh same time) then the prices go up.

having lived a long time in teh states and well aware of the standards of living there, i'd say you would be horrified at what we call "cozy" here.

my advice - pick a better holiday location. you really would't enjoy london anyway without someone guiding you.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

I stayed in a hostel and it wasn't bad at all. It was right next to the MI6 building actually. I agree that a week is not enough but I feel that about every place. It took me 3 months to really get the feel of Rome but that's not in the budget of most people. The flight is gonna be about 1k-1200 depending on when you wanna go. You can do it and you can do it cheap but I'd save up a decent budget and work with that.

1200 for flight
$30-50 a day for a hostel
Depending on if you're a foodie or not you can do 30-100 pounds a day for food. Some hostels will have a kitchen and let you cook.
Oyster card varies - https://www.tfl.gov.uk/travel-information/visiting-london/visitor-oyster-card

I'd save about 2 grand not counting the flight if it was me.

 

[John Connor]

If you go check out 18 Abbey RD. I wanted to go for the Olympics, but never made it.

 

[Skyclad1uhm1]

London is much more expensive than other areas of the UK. If you go to the Greater Manchester area you'll need a lot less cash than when you are staying in London. The conversion rate got better for you since the current market in the UK took a hit from the Scottish referendum. The effects from that will get less after the referendum if the Scots decide to stay, or more if they do leave the UK.

If you have family there still (even very distant) you could try contacting them. If you can even crash for a few days at their place it would free up a bit more budget again for the rest of your stay.

 

[Craig234]

I like London, other than getting around and the expense.

 

[mikeymikec]

If you need somewhere cheap to stay, while you can very likely do worse than a Travel Lodge, I don't intend to find out how much worse. On both occasions I stayed at one (they're a chain of places to stay, each occasion was at a different branch), the windows have anti-suicide-restrictions on them (so only a tiny bit of airflow), and no aircon (the UK is quite mild most of the time, but a shoebox room with one window and no airflow is not fun).

On the most recent occasion I stayed at one, the extractor fan in the bathroom didn't work so the air from the bathroom made the rest of the apartment more humid. I mentioned it to the receptionist, and she said "yes, none of the extractor fans work; they weren't fixed even during renovation of all the rooms".

I'd stay at a Travel Lodge if there really was no other choice, but there usually is. The only thing I'll say for them is that the beds are comfortable.

 

[WelshBloke]

If you need somewhere cheap to stay, while you can very likely do worse than a Travel Lodge...

It's Travelodge.

Which is enough reason to not stay there.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

Wife and I are going in December for 2.5-3 weeks. We think it'll cost us ~US$15-20K. This includes air travel (from major US city), hotel accommodations, in-country travel, excursions and food and shopping.

 

[brianmanahan]

Wife and I are going in December for 2.5-3 weeks. We think it'll cost us ~US$15-20K. This includes air travel (from major US city), hotel accommodations, in-country travel, excursions and food and shopping.

dang thats crazy, i would have to keep it under 3$k for sure

 

[Tweak155]

Wife and I are going in December for 2.5-3 weeks. We think it'll cost us ~US$15-20K. This includes air travel (from major US city), hotel accommodations, in-country travel, excursions and food and shopping.

Have you ever been?

 

[Rakehellion]

$1000 for the ticket.

Your best bet is to room for free with a European lover.

 

[aaksheytalwar]

A middle class vacation in London is likely to set you back 400-500 pounds per day apart from airfare.

Won't matter if there are two people instead, one person makes everything more expensive, apart from airfare.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Wife and I are going in December for 2.5-3 weeks. We think it'll cost us ~US$15-20K. This includes air travel (from major US city), hotel accommodations, in-country travel, excursions and food and shopping.

How are you spending $15-$20K? We're going to Germany and Austria for 2 full weeks and we think the total will be around $7.5K and that includes getting gouged in Munich for two nights of Oktoberfest. If we added a week that would probably bring the total to $10K or a little north.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

dang thats crazy, i would have to keep it under 3$k for sure

Depends on how well you want to live it up while you're there. I've not spent a week in London but I have spent significant time in Paris and I believe you could do a week in Paris (6 nights, 7 days) for between $3K and $4K. For Paris:

Airfare: 1200 (you can find cheaper if you time it right)
Hotel: 1200 (you can definitely go cheaper)
Meals: 650 (that's $93/day and again, you can definitely go cheaper)
4 day Paris pass: 230
Subway/bus: 50 (that would give you 30 bus/subway tickets bought via three carnets)

So, roughly $3300.

 

[Exterous]

Would it be convenient to get to any of the larger airports in different states like Pittsburgh or Detroit? For some random dates it looks like that could save you $300-500 in airfare. If you want to fly out from Ohio I think a lot of the $1k suggestions here are overly conservative, esp now that United and I think US have decreased their presence there. Looks like $1300 is more likely, increasing to around $1500 the closer you get to peak travel times (ie: summer) If you can get to Boston, DC or ORD easily then you have some other interesting options like flying to London with a stop over in Istanbul for $1,000 RT or a a 1-7 day stop over in Iceland for $950 RT or a quick stop over in Dublin on your way to London for $1,000 RT

I think around $15 for lunch and $25-30 for dinner would be a good ballpark unless you spend all your time in London. For breakfast we would usually just go to a grocery store and get a bakery item, banana and drink for about $5

If you are going out and about you may want to think about renting a car for the non-London part of your stay. Take the tube back to one of the airports and pick up your car there. They all tend to be on the outside of the city (except LCY) so you will avoid the city traffic that way. An automatic will cost more but we got one because I didn't want to deal with driving on the wrong side of the road AND using my left hand to shift.

For london itself you might want to look at the Premier Inn County Hall. There are cheaper places to stay but this one is right across the river from the Parliament\Big Ben and relatively easy walking distance to the major attractions. They are usually in the $160-250 range per night which is pretty darn good for downtown London

Depending on dates, where you choose to stay and what you choose to eat I think $3k is doable but much less than that might be a stretch

Wife and I are going in December for 2.5-3 weeks. We think it'll cost us ~US$15-20K. This includes air travel (from major US city), hotel accommodations, in-country travel, excursions and food and shopping.

Good lord - our two week trip there cost waaaay less than that

 

[justoh]

250

 

[brianmanahan]

Would it be convenient to get to any of the larger airports in different states like Pittsburgh or Detroit? For some random dates it looks like that could save you $300-500 in airfare.

hey thanks! yeah i could probably get someone to drive me to either of those places, theyre only 2.5 or 3 hours away

 

[Muse]

we live in poverty, here.

which means, if you want to go cheapo, you can, but you will live in a dump.

inversely, if you want to stay in a place that is "nice", you'll be gouged.


also, london sucks donkey balls, its wet, smells, a veritable ghetto. if your idea of fun is being on a bus, wet, sandwiched between two polish moms yelling in polish at their children and a bunch of wannabe jamaicans listening to drum n bass on the speakers of their phones, london is paradise.

but as soon as you start to eye a "bed and breakfast" (with hot OR cold water, not both at teh same time) then the prices go up.

having lived a long time in teh states and well aware of the standards of living there, i'd say you would be horrified at what we call "cozy" here.

my advice - pick a better holiday location. you really would't enjoy london anyway without someone guiding you.

OMG, I don't even have my passport yet! I have a first cousin who's married to a guy who was a professor at Oxford, they have a house, I suppose I could stay with them, they are sweet folks. I'm not made out of money... I think living in a dump would be depressing. That description of a bus ride, well, that's not appealing. I don't even ride the buses around here. If I did, it wouldn't bother me as much as it first did. The first times I rode a bus the ambiance just plain grossed me out.

 

[Exterous]

hey thanks! yeah i could probably get someone to drive me to either of those places, theyre only 2.5 or 3 hours away

You're welcome. You might want to check out this site:
http://matrix.itasoftware.com/
It lets you select 'Nearby' airports up to 2000 miles away for departure and arrival so you can see what your price options are for either specific dates or a calendar of options

 

[brianmanahan]

one thing i suppose i could do is start with a shorter london-only trip - british airways has deals occasionally for flights to london + 4 days of hotel for around $1000 or $1100

 

[purbeast0]

vacations are the last place i want to be budget conscious.