Below are some personal guidelines that we used for this trip based on our research on the internet:
1. We book hotels which accommodates families, i.e. 2 adults and a child (under 12) into a single room - averaging around £160/night. Most of our hotels are with the larger UK hotel chain, Premier Inn. They are not exactly budget in price but have fabulous locations! If you are a couple, you can go for their sister company which is Hub by Premier Inn, their rooms a slightly smaller hence slightly cheaper. We only got to know we cannot book them as we have a child, we are only limited to Premier Inn's family rooms which can accommodate 2 adults and 2 children.
2. Our daily food budget is £50/day/pax, i.e. £10 for breakfast and £20 for lunch and dinner respectively - this can include food, snacks, mineral water, fruits, etc - e.g. breakfast will cost around £7 for a sandwich + coffee (it's not cheap in the UK, averaging between £3 - £4) at Pret A Manger, around £9 if you go to bakeries like Gail's. On some mornings where we need to leave early, we settled with some bread / buns and fruits from Waitrose / M&S Simply food and made our own coffee in the hotel room. We find meals in London are slightly costlier but much more options compared to Glasgow / Portree / Ambleside / etc. Dinner (main meal only, excluding drinks) costs from £17 to £20+ depending on cuisine. Be aware that there are water options, most times the waiter/waitress will ask if you want still / sparkling, ask for tap if you want free water. We only got to know about this after getting the bill in our first restaurant with a charge of £5.50 for a bottle of still water. The most reasonable bottled still water is from Tesco Express at £3.90 for 12 x 500ml from Highland Spring.
3. Transportation depends on where you go. In London, buses are capped at £5.25/day, i.e. you will not get charged after your 3rd tap. Similarly for Tubes, these are capped at £8.90/day for Zone 1/2 (which in within the city). From Heathrow T2/3 to King's Cross via the Piccadilly line will cost £5.90/trip. Kids 11 and under can travel free on busses / trams / tube with 1 accompanying adult. If you are planning to visit Lake District and getting around via bus (we will write more in another post), you can consider getting the StageCoach's daily/weekly Megarider. We took the Group Northwest Gold 7 day Megarider for our family of 2 adults + 1 child which cost £70. A single bus ride costs only £3, depends one how much you take the bus :)
2. Lake District - Premier Inn Keswick - quite a new hotel and very near Keswick bus terminal and town centre.
3. Portree - Stonefield House - Exceptionally clean rooms! The host, Kirsteen is a very nice lady, cooks the best scrambled eggs we had in the entire trip! Do book early as they only have 3 rooms in this accommodation, they sell out very very fast especially from April onward. We booked ours 8 months in advance!
4. Glasgow - we had the luxury of staying with a relative. But you can also consider Premier Inn at Buchanan Galleries. Staying in Glasgow is cheaper compared to Edinburgh. During our travel, we worked out that taking day trips to Edinburgh via ScotRail (£25.25 for 2 adults + 1 child using FnF RailCard) is cheaper than staying in Edinburgh.
Below are some items which you can purchase as soon as you have your itinerary confirmed:
1. WB Studio Harry Potter - Please book this early as they are extremely popular. We will write more in another post.
2. SIM card - You can either get a physical SIM delivered to you or consider getting an eSIM. We had the O2 100GB 30 days SIM. To be frank, the network is superb in cities but it's totally horrendous in Lake District and Isle of Skye. Based on the other reviews we read, EE should provide the most coverage, try and get them if possible. Our relative is in GiffGaff which is equally terrible as they are riding on the O2 backbone.
3. Family and Friends RailCard - this one costs £30/year. You get 30% off trains tickets. e.g. London - Glasgow, London - Cambridge, etc. We use this extensively! Condition is, you must travel with 1 child (aged between 5-15 years) and can include up to 4 adults
Our 22 day itinerary:
| Date | No | Day | City | Event/Places | Breakfast | Lunch | Dinner |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23/04 | 1 | Wed | London | Harrods | Carlotta👍🏻 | Burger & Lobster | |
| 24/04 | 2 | Thu | London | Natural History Museum Science Museum |
Khan's of Kensington | Duck & Rice | |
| 25/04 | 3 | Fri | London | Big Ben Westminster Abbey Buckingham Palace Oxford/Regent St |
Gail's👍🏻 | Casa Do Frango | Sushisamba👍🏻 |
| 26/04 | 4 | Sat | Keswick | Train to Lake District | Hotel buffet | Casa Bella | Piri Fresco |
| 27/04 | 5 | Sun | Keswick | Catbells | Hotel buffet | Lingholm Kitchen | Star of Siam👍🏻 |
| 28/04 | 6 | Mon | Windermere Ambleside |
Windermere Bowness Beatrix Potter Castlerigg Stone |
Hotel buffet | Dodd's👍🏻 | Hotel |
| 29/04 | 7 | Tue | Buttermere | Buttermere Rydal Cave |
Hotel | The Kingfisher | Doi Intanon👍🏻 |
| 30/04 | 8 | Wed | Keswick | Keswick town | The Cornish Bakery | Little Saigon👍🏻 | Homecook |
| 01/05 | 9 | Thu | Fort William | Loch Lomond Balloch castle Luss Callander |
Homecook | The Waverley | Highland Cinema |
| 02/05 | 10 | Fri | Isle of Skye | Jacobite Train Glenfinnan viaduct Fort Augustus |
Hotel buffet | Richmond House👍🏻 | Claymore👍🏻 |
| 03/05 | 11 | Sat | Isle of Skye | Old Man of Storr Fairy Pools |
B&B breakfast | Pizza in the Skye👍🏻 | Tomita Sushi |
| 04/05 | 12 | Sun | Isle of Skye | Quiraing Fairy Glen |
B&B breakfast | Bakur | Claymore👍🏻 |
| 05/05 | 13 | Mon | Glasgow | Eilean Donon Castle Inverness |
B&B breakfast | Girvans | Homecook |
| 06/05 | 14 | Tue | Glasgow | Costco Glasgow City |
Homecook | Homecook | Homecook |
| 07/05 | 15 | Wed | Glasgow | Stirling Falkirk Wheel Kelpies |
Homecook | The Teahouse👍🏻 | Homecook |
| 08/05 | 16 | Thu | Edinburgh | Carlton Hill Royal Mile Edinburgh castle |
Homecook | Noodles Home👍🏻 | Kims mini meals |
| 09/05 | 17 | Fri | Edinburgh | Deans Village Edinburgh city |
Homecook | Maki & Ramen | Homecook |
| 10/05 | 18 | Sat | London | Train to London | Homecook | Dimsum Duck👍🏻 | |
| 11/05 | 19 | Sun | Cambridge | Fitzwilliam musem Punting |
Hot numbers Coffee | Mr Wang hotpot | Dishoom👍🏻 |
| 12/05 | 20 | Mon | London | Tower of London HMS Belfast |
Gail's | The Ivy👍🏻 | Din Tai Fung |
| 13/05 | 21 | Tue | London | WB Harry Potter studio | Pret A Manger | Backlot cafe | Fatt Pundit👍🏻 |
| 14/05 | 22 | Wed | London | British Museum | Victoria house Coffee👍🏻 | Circolo Popolare |
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