Is USD1000 enough for 10 days in UK?
 

Hi everyone!

I'm new to this forum. I already bought tickets to London during May. I haven't gotten accommodation booked yet but I'm considering AirBnB as that might be the most affordable. Is USD1000 enough for 10 days in the UK? So about USD100 per day, including accommodation, food and maybe some sightseeing. I might watch a play and that would probably cost the most. Shopping is not a must, maybe just USD20 per day, I'm not too sure.

Out of that 10 days, I might spend a few days in Paris too. I will take the train to Paris but I'm not sure the cost yet.

Let me know if this budget is doable. Thanks!

No in my opinion
Have you done any investigation of costs in London? Its not that hard to do (google)
Transport (tube & train to Paris)?
Food?
Accommodation?

Edit
Usually for a hotel you do not get much cheaper than http://www.travelodge.co.uk/
But will not be in prime locations (=more transport costs)

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/england/money-costs
£100=USD $140 or £72=USD $100 [http://www.xe.com/currencyconverter/...rom=USD&To=GBP]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Mac_Index (is reasonably accurate for a tourist)
http://bigmacindex.org/

Beer is expensive!

Accommodation in London is very expensive. Even if you stay out in the suburbs where it's cheaper, it's still expensive. Think I paid140 pounds a night for a pretty ordinary Renaissance at Heathrow. Don't know how much people are letting AirBnBs go for there, but definitely have a look.

Food is reasonable enough, public transportation isn't cheap but not budget busting. Just somewhere to sleep depending on your acceptable standards that's concerning.

Paris is much cheaper in the suburbs than London. Assume your budget for getting to Paris is outside your $100 a day? The Eurostar chunnel train also isn't cheap, could be better off with the likes of Ryanair or EasyJet.

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

Two suggestions for the OP:

1. If you are credit worthy, apply immediately for the Chase/IHG credit card, and earn the 60,000-point bonus after completing the minimum spend. Then monitor the FT/IHG forum to see when IHG's new "PointBreaks" list comes out. (Should be the last week of April.) If you are lucky, some London-area IHG properties will be on the list, and you can book PointBreaks nights at just 5,000 points/night. (The current list had just one such property, at Luton Airport, which isn't all that close to London. The next list might or might not be better.) If you can get all or most of your ten nights' accommodations for nothing, your $1,000 USD will go much farther. ;)

2. Megabus offers London-Paris service. The trip can take 8 hours, but I've seen some fares in March for just 20 GBP. So consider taking Megabus if you want to go to Paris. But if your return air ticket is out of London, then you will have to pay for LON-PAR roundtrip transportation.

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

And welcome to FT!

If the travel is at the end of May then it could also be a bit more expensive due the Chelsea Garden Show and other events put on around this time.

I have a ticket on the Eurostar from Paris to Ashford in mid-May it cost 54 Euro - but you need to book these tickets very early otherwise the price can double.

$100/day sounds a bit light to me, but check an index like this one

Welcome to FT!

$1,000 is indeed a tight budget even with the recent slide in the pound to the US dollar. Depending on the exchange $1,000 will work out to around £700.

I'm sure a hostel could be had for around £35-45 per night. Hotels will be considerably more. The further out of the City the cheaper it will be (generally) but then there's the transport cost (see below).

Whilst the museums are free entry, seeing a show in the West End will start at around £50.

Buying a Oyster card is a must but there is the travel cost with either the Tube or bus.

If accommodation does not take up most the budget food will. I would factor in a bare minimum of £20 per day. One could visit local grocery stores (Sainsbury's, Tesco etc.) at the end of the day and buy discount labelled food.

All in all, 700 quid for 10 days in London nevermind a side trip is very tight and not realistic unless the trip is done on bare bones minimum. A lot will depend on the cost of accommodation. Realistically, I would plan on £1,000 or roughly $1,400 and that will also be a 'just depends' budget.

H

I wouldn't have any problem with it - definitely budget but perfectly doable.

£35-£45 for a hostel is way overpriced; £10-£20 is a more normal range (or slightly more for a YHA).
Booked in advance, £40 a night would get you a (possibly non-central) Easyhotel, Travelodge or Ibis hotel. (Try laterooms.com to get a quick idea).

June might be better, as more University Rooms become available (see Universityrooms.com, currently showing ~£40/night for New Cross Gate in May; add £33 for the weekly travelcard, or a bit more if staying further out)

I've also never paid £50 to see a show - including at the National Theatre and Royal Opera House. Try tkts.co.uk or Lastminute.com. If you are flexible, I would expect to get something for ~£25.

Even in central London, you can easily find an evening meal for £10, or breakfast for £3-£5 (e.g; Wetherspoons, Wright's bar, etc.)

The best non-member YHA hostel price I found in London for a random date in May was $32.22. Member prices are a bit better - ~10%?. The YHA hostels are rated, and the highest rated London one had a low price of $44.83.

This would be a dorm bed with linen, and probably a light breakfast. Showers. Probably kitchen privileges.

You don't mention your age, but if you are more senior they can have a bit of sympathy and give you a bottom bunk.

It took me a while to figure this out, but grocery stores in central London are located in the basements of many of the big department stores.

Romelle

Thanks all of you for the warm welcome and the great advice! I'm so lucky I found out this forum. You guys really give very valuable information. I guess I will have to see how much I can save...maybe if I really save up I can get USD1500 by the time I travel. Perhaps that's more doable. A friend who visits London frequently said it costs 30 to 80 pounds per day minus accommodation and minus shopping.

I'm sure there are college kids who backpack across Europe with less. I found some places on AirBnB for USD40 per night...the longer I stay, the cheaper it gets. So that leaves about USD60 per day for transport and food which I think is okay? I did Google but what I found online is more of a rough estimate so I still need to figure out details.

I do appreciate all your input though!

For some reason, I was thinking it was $1000 for a week, which is relatively easy. $1000 for 10 days is definitely more challenging - it wouldn't leave much of a budget for tourist activities, although there are plenty of good, free, things to do.

You can currently book the EasyHotel in Croydon for <£23 /night for 10 nights in May.
For less than £40 / night you can get the EasyHotel Old Street, or Travelodges in Croydon, London City Airport, Ilford, Kingston, Wembley, etc. or Ibis budgets in Barking or London City Airport. To get good prices, these generally need booking non-refundable rooms in advance.

Presumably, at that price, AirBnB are only offering shared facilities - but I know that's not so important to everybody. Having access to cooking facilities would definitely help with the budget.
Exact location can be important. Not only are there some places that you probably wouldn't want to stay, but transport may be annoyingly slow.

I wouldn't normally recommend Croydon, but it has some advantages for a really tight budget. There are plenty of shops and cheap food close to hand, and pretty quick 24-hour access to central London.

Travelcard / contactless prices vary from £35 - £65 a week, depending on which zones you need, and are valid on pretty much all normal public transport options. (Bus, underground, tram, train).

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

How is the OP planning to access cash during the trip? If by ATM card, now would be the time to investigate things like a card's foreign-exchange fees, fees for making a withdrawal from a foreign ATM, reimbursement -- if any -- for fees charged by the foreign ATM, etc.

If most spending is going to be done by a credit or debit card, one should again investigate whether the card charges a foreign-exchange fee.

What plays do you want to see? Many will cost more than $100 USD for one performance. But you can probably find some in the 5-10 pound range. I'd say $100 USD/day will be a stretch even staying in a hostel dorm, never mind seeing plays and shopping at $20/day.

That doesn't seem like nearly enough to me, even on a tight budget. If you can maybe find some free accomodations for a couple nights maybe.