United Kingdom

Top destinations in United Kingdom

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For most English-speaking visitors to Europe the UK is the first, main, and sometimes only port of call. And to be fair, whether you are interested in scenery, nightlife, or history, there is plenty to keep you entertained.

The scenery in Britain is some of the most varied in the world, from Dover's hideous white cliffs, through the samey greenery of Kent and past the urban sprawl of London you might think your trip has been wasted. But there's good news! Once you get past the bleak ugly flatness of East Anglia things start to get interesting. There's some beautiful hills in the peak district, followed by moors and dales in Yorkshire. Finally you reach Scotland, and that's just fantastic - pretty towns sitting right under stunning mountains, rivers running through spectacular twisting lochs and down to the sea, where you have white sandy beaches, and ferries to the Western Isles, which are more of the same but better.

For nightlife, the UK has everything, from pubs and bars, through clubs, to cinemas, theatres and unpretentious casinos. Basically, if there's a way to meet people and entertain yourself, you can probably do it in Britain. And as an added bonus you can probably get drunk while you're there.

The history is in display in the streets as well as the museums, and in a language you can understand. For your convenience the history of lots of other countries has been appropriated over time and hidden in the British Museum. Want to see the remains of ancient Greece but can't be bothered flying to modern Greece? Have a look at Elgin's Marbles. Interested in the ancient Egyptians? Not much point in visiting Eygpt - the pyramids were all emptied and the best stuff shipped over. Even the Rosetta Stone. And that's just in London... Historic cities like Bath and York have street after street of nothing but period buildings, while the whole countryside is littered with amazing castles.

There is no point recommending the UK, because you're probably going there already, so just enjoy it.

Currency and money

The currency in the UK is Pounds Sterling (more commonly referred to as the pound or quid). One pound breaks down into 100 pence (or p). As a rule of thumb the exchange rates to the pound are approximately:

• 1.5 Euros
• 1.75 US Dollars
• 2.5 Canadian Dollars
• 2.5 Australian Dollars

As one of the world's leading currencies, Sterling is widely exchangeable at currency exchanges throughout the world. If you are visiting Scotland or Northern Ireland, see the notes in the separate sections.

Travellers Cheques:

As with the rest of Europe, travellers cheques are not as useful here as in North America. Large Hotels and stores may accept them in lieu of cash, but most places will simply direct you to a bank to cash them. Banks can charge fairly high commission for this, especially if you are converting into a different currency. It is generally cheaper (although less dependable) to get cash from a home debit or credit card using an ATM machine. Because Sterling is a common currency you should be able to use Sterling travellers cheques in other countries, but if you intend to visit several countries it is probably best to get them in Euros.

Credit and Debit cards:

Visa, Mastercard and American Express are accepted almost everywhere in the UK, as are Cirrus and Maestro debit cards. Diners Club, JCB and Discover cards are also occasionally accepted. The main issue for customers from outside Europe is likely to be Chip and PIN, which foreign cards are often not compatible with. In theory customers should be able to sign for their purchases if this is the case, but not all outlets will allow this. In any event signatures will be checked, and if the card must be used only by its owner. The high transaction costs for retailers means that there may be a minimum spend of around five pounds at smaller shops and in pubs, or occasionally a surcharge of around a pound for using a card. Be aware that if a machine retains your card you will probably not be able to get it returned to you - always try to travel with more than one card, and ideally some spare cash in case of emergency.

ATM Machines:

Britain probably has more ATMs per square mile than anywhere else in the world, They will pretty much all accept Visa, Mastercard and other cash networks such as Plus, Cirrus and Maestro, in addition to being part of the UK-based Link network. The vast majority of them are owned by banks and will not make charges additional to those being made by your card issuer, however machines in shops and pubs, and outdoor ones which are not owned by a bank, will make an additional charge, usually of between 1 and 3 pounds. They will tell you either on a notice attached to the machine, or on the screen during the transaction if they are going to do this.

Shop opening

Town-centre shops generally open from Monday to Saturday at 9-10 am, and close in the evenings at 5-6 pm. Most chain stores also open on Sunday from around 10-11 am until 3-4 pm. Many towns have a nominated late shopping day when most stores are open until around 8 pm. Small specialist shops may open shorter hours and often close for lunch.

Convenience stores (corner shops), newsagents and off-licences (liquor stores) usually open earlier (typically around 7am) and close later - usually 11pm in the case of off-licenses. They will be open shorter hours on Sundays.

Supermarkets tend to either keep similar hours to corner shops, or to stay open 24 hours. The exception to this is Sundays, when large stores in England and Wales may only open for six hours, usually from 10 am to 4 pm.

Banks and Post Offices are usually open from 9.30 am to 5 pm, Monday to Friday. Increasingly they are also open on Saturdays, typically mornings only, and occasionally also on a Sunday.

Crime and punishment

Police

There is essentially only one type of police force in UK. There are around 90 locally-based forces around the country in charge of more or less all areas of law enforcement. In an emergency they can be contacted by dialling 999 and asking for the police. For non-emergencies just go to the nearest police station or call the local number, which is in the phone book and is usually printed on the side of patrol cars.

Basic laws

The age of consent for sexual activity in the UK is 16 for both straight and gay sex. Where underage sex is reported, it can be treated as a serious offence even if both parties are under 16. If you have a duty of care to somebody (for example you are a teacher or youth group worker) it is illegal to have sexual contact with them until they are 18.

Drinking in public is allowed anywhere in the UK except in places where by-laws forbid it. A few large cities (including Manchester) and lots of smaller towns have by-laws forbidding drinking in the town centres. It is illegal to buy drinks from pubs and clubs and take them out, so you will need to get the alcohol from an off-license.

Drugs are illegal, though that doesn't appear to have much impact on their availability. Class A drugs, including cocaine and ecstacy as well heroin, are treated quite seriously - you can be jailed for up to seven years for possession (although something between a caution and deportation for small quantities seems more likely), and you can get life imprisonment for dealing. Cannabis is a class C drug - you can go to prison for possession, though possession of small amounts is not generally something the police will be interested in. People are still occasionally sent to prison for growing or dealing even fairly small quantities of cannabis, although it does not appear to be a high priority for police, and courts generally prefer substantial fines.

Arriving by air.

London Heathrow is one of the largest airports in the world, with flights from almost everywhere. This means it is quite often cheaper to arrive here and get an economy flight onward to the rest of Europe. To a lesser extent other airports such as Manchester can be pretty cheap arrival points.

If you are arriving from anywhere in Europe you are quite likely to find it cheapest to catch a flight with one of the no-frills airlines. In addition to the UK-based airlines mentioned in the section on public transport in the UK, most of the economy operators in Europe fly to at least one British destination, see the operators section for a more complete listing.

Arriving by train.

Eurostar run regular services to Waterloo International Station in London from Brussels Midi (2.5 hours, 9 times daily), Paris Nord (2 hours 45 minutes, 13 times daily), and Lille Europe. Thalys services connect at Brussels for Amsterdam, Germany and northern European destinations. Connect to the TGV network at Lille Europe for French and southern European destinations. Full details on the Eurostar website.

Arriving by ferry.

Ferries operate to many ports in the UK. The principal routes for passenger ferries from the continent are:

• Norse Merchant Ferries run from Dunkerque to Dover (Up to 10/day)
• Stena Line run Harwich to Hook of Holland
• Hull to Rotterdam
• Hull to Zeebrugge
• Dover to Calais
• Folkestone to Calais
• Portsmouth to Le Havre
• Porstmouth to Caen
• Portsmouth to Cherbourg
• Poole to Cherbourg
• Poole to St.Malo
• Plymouth to Roscoff
• Brittany Ferries run overnight from Plymouth to Santander once or twice weekly
• Portsmouth to Bilbao
• Harwich to Cuxhaven
• Harwich to Esjberg
• Newcastle to Kristiansand
• Newcastle to Gothenbourg
• DFDS run nightly services from Newcastle to Amsterdam
• Newhaven to Dieppe
• Superfast Ferries run overnight ferries from Rossyth near Edinburgh to Zeebrugge (3 times/week in the off-season)

To and from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland:

• Norse Merchant Ferries run Birkenhead (Liverpool) to Dublin and Belfast (7 nights per week and Tue to Sat daytime. 8 hours)
• Stena Line run Fishguard to Rosslare and Fleetwood to Larne
• Stena Line run from Stranraer in Scotland to Belfast
• Stena Line and Irish Ferries run from Holyhead to Dublin and Dun Laoghaire.
• P&O Irish Sea Ferries have routes from Troon (summer only) and Cairnryan in Scotland to Larne, and from Liverpool to Dublin
• Irish Ferries run from Pembroke to Rosslare
• Swansea to Cork

Arriving by coach.

Eurolines run coaches from destinations all over Europe to London and Edinburgh. The fares on these services are often not much cheaper than flying, although they are cheaper than the train. They are probably only worthwhile if you want to move too much luggage or are afraid to fly.

© Ben Stafford, 2006

Getting around by public transport

Domestic air travel

in the UK is only quicker than the train on the longest routes, such as London to Scotland. The growth of the budget market however means that air travel is sometimes cheaper than the equivalent journey by train. The first place to look is on the websites of the UK-based budget airlines. The main ones for domestic flights are Ryanair, BMI Baby, Flybe, Air Southwest and Easyjet.

Make sure you are making a fair comparison with the train fare before you book. Extra costs such as cost of getting to/from the airport (up to 15 pounds) and the "taxes" added to air fares can double or triple the price. Cheap air tickets are only available in advance, and advance train fares can be as little as 15 pounds single for the 400 miles from London to Edinburgh.

Coach travel.

going by coach has become more popular recently - new companies have come into the market and introduced extremely low fares. The service is also easier and faster within the UK than in some other countries. National Express run an extensive network of services around England and Wales, Scottish Citylink operate most routes in Scotland. If you book early enough, tickets on Megabus start at a pound for journeys between London and major student cities. All except Scottish Citylink need to be booked in advance. National Express do a Britxplorer rover ticket for visitors to the UK - see their website for details.

Train travel

Rail travel gets a bad press in the UK for being unreliable and expensive. Although unplanned journeys can be expensive, trains are usually on time and are rarely cancelled. On the occasions when things do go wrong, the rail companies usually manage to look after the passengers.

The National Rail network covers virtually all towns in Britain with well integrated frequent services. Railways in Northern Ireland are run separately and will be dealt with in the Northern Ireland section.

Here are some guidelines for getting a good deal on the railways in Great Britain:

• Britain is a good place to use rail passes - there are no supplements or advance booking required on any trains except sleepers, and the equivalent walk-on fares are pretty expensive. Interrail passes are available for European visitors, and the Britrail pass works like the Eurrail pass for visitors from the rest of the world. If you do not qualify for either of these, you can still get the All Line Rail Rover, and a selection of regional rovers (particularly the Freedom of Scotland pass). These are pretty good value if you intend to travel a lot within a week or fortnight, and are not well marketed - ask for what you want at any train station ticket office.
• A Young Persons Railcard is available for those with an ISIC Card or under 26. This will give a third off travel tickets and Rover Tickets and costs 20 pounds. You can save the cost of it on a single trip from London to Scotland.
• Plan your journey in advance, and find out the cost, using the National Rail website. This will link you to a relevant website to book tickets. Beware some will charge you a fee for using a credit card. It is often cheaper to buy tickets in advance from the internet although they can be booked at major stations as well.
• If you buy a cheap ticket in advance, it will only be valid on the specific trains they are booked for, so it's important not to miss the train.

The key routes in Britain are as follows:

• First Great Western runs the Great Western Mainline from London Paddington Station to Newquay (5-5.5 hours, 3 per day, change once), and Bath/Bristol (1.5-2 hours, 2 trains per hour).
• The West Coast Mainline (operated by Virgin Trains) runs from London Euston Station to Birmingham New Street (1.5 hours, 2 trains per hour), Holyhead (6-7 hours including ship to Dublin, 2 trains per day connect with sailings), Liverpool (2.5 hours, hourly), Manchester (2.5 hours, twice hourly) and Glasgow (4.5-5 hours 9 per day). An evening train runs to Edinburgh (5.5 hours). There is also an overnight seats and sleeper service to various cities run by First Scotrail.
• The East Coast Mainline (operated by GNER) runs from London Kings Cross Station to Leeds (2.5 hours, 1-2 trains hourly), York (2 hours, 2 trains hourly), Newcastle (3 hours, 2 trains hourly) and Edinburgh (4.5-5 hours, hourly). Several trains continue to Aberdeen or Glasgow, and one continues to Inverness.
• Transpennine Express trains run from Liverpool and Manchester (Airport and Picadilly) to the Lake District (roughly hourly). They also run a service from Liverpool and Manchester to Leeds and York (up to 4 per hour, every 2 hours from the airport at night), with a few trains going as far as Newcastle and Hull.
• Virgin Trains operate the Cross Country network, which is centred around Birmingham. Trains run north to Leeds, York, Newcastle and Edinburgh (hourly, 2 hours, 2.5 hours, 3.5 hours and 5 hours. Also hourly to Newcastle missing out Leeds). Seperate trains run up the west side of the country to the Lake District, Carlisle and either Edinburgh or Glasgow (hourly 4-4.5 hours to Scotland). Hourly services also run Birmingham to Manchester, and from Manchester to Edinburgh and Glasgow. Several of the services to Edinburgh carry on to Inverness or Aberdeen.

  Trains run south to Oxford and Reading, carrying on to Southampton or Brighton. Other trains run to Devon and Cornwall, and still more head to Cardiff and south Wales. Most of these trains are continuations of the northern services, so for example there is a daily train from Edinburgh to Brighton (around 9 hours), and also from Edinburgh to Cornwall (11 hours).

The southeast and Scotland, have some long-distance routes which run entirely within the region - click on the links for more details.

More details about buying tickets and services are on the National Rail page of this site.

© Ben Stafford, 2006

Getting around by car

In the UK you should drive on the left-hand side of the road. It is impossible to emphasize enough how important this is - people who don't drive on the right are extremely like to meet somebody who drives on the right almost immediately, and an unpleasant and dangerous collision is almost certain to occur.

Almost the whole the UK (except Scotland) is fairly close to a motorway. Aside from the M6 Toll (which runs parallel to the M6 but has less queues on it), and a couple of tolls for tunnels and bridges, this network is free to use, and of a generally fairly good quality. Unfortunately a large proportion of it is also extremely congested most of the time - if you want to get anywhere quickly avoid rush hour (7am to 10am and 4pm to 7pm), and ideally try to travel at night. Cars are a pain in large towns and cities as they are horribly congested almost all the time, and especially around school hours. Parking is also a problem, with most on-street parking covered by expensive meters, and extremely dedicated traffic wardens.

The main issue for drivers in the UK is the high cost of fuel - including the taxes it is almost the most expensive in Europe - over a pound a litre in much of the country at April 2006.

As everywhere else, drinking and driving or driving under the influence of drugs is a serious offence in the UK, and you can be stopped and breatalysed almost at random. Most people should be able to drink a pint of beer and remain under the limit, but there is no guarantee of this.

Post

Stamps can be bought from Post Offices, newsagents, and most supermarkets and convenience stores. Letters for any destination can be put into any red post box - there will be one on a street corner near you. As at October 2005, costs are:

• 30p for first class (next day delivery) within the UK.
• 21p for second class (2-3 days delivery).
• 42p for letters to Europe (up to 20g) or North America (up to 10g).

Mail can be sent Poste Restante free of charge for collection at an UK post office. It should be addressed to the recipient "POSTE RESTANTE, POST OFFICE" followed by the full address of the post office, or the name of a town for it to be sent to the main post office there.

Up to date prices, and full details are available from Royal Mail

Phone

The international calling code for the UK is 44.

Numbers are generally quoted in the form of an area code followed by a number, for example:

   (020) 10022121

Unless you are in the same area as the number (in this case the 020 area, which is London), you should dial the whole number as written. If you are in the area you can omit the area code and just dial the number (eg. 10022121). If you are calling from abroad you should dial the international prefix followed by the area code, but omitting the leading 0. (eg. +44 20 10022121)

Different area codes indicate special types of calls, here are some examples:

• Codes starting 01 or 02 are ordinary calls to a landline
• Codes starting 07 are calls to mobile phones
• Codes starting 09 are premium rate calls costing sometimes several pounds a minute
• 0800 numbers are free to call from most phones
• 0844/0845 numbers are described as local rate, but usually cost slightly more than ordinary calls
• 0870/0871 numbers are described as national rate but cost significantly more than ordinary calls

Calling cards are available at almost any newsagent or corner shops. Many of these offer great value on international calls, with different cards being better value for different countries. The best way to choose one is to check with other travellers which card they have found to be the best value for money.

As a visitor you generally have three options for making calls:

• Using a payphone. Call boxes are mostly operated by BT, and unless you are calling a freephone number (numbers starting 0800), these are generally quite expensive - it can be worthwhile to use a calling card even for local calls on payphones. Payphones in hostels etc. are usually owned by the owner of the hostel, and charges can be very variable indeed. Sometimes these private payphones will even charge for freephone calls.
• Using your mobile phone from home. Check tariffs with your phone provider. North American phones do not usually work in the UK.
• Buying a Pay-as-you-go phone or SIM card in the UK. The mobile companies in the UK are O2, Vodafone, Orange, T-Mobile and Virgin Mobile. All of these companies offer Phones for 40 pounds or less, or SIM cards for 10-15 pounds (usually including 5 pounds of free credit) which will work as soon as they are put into a suitable phone. Almost any mobile phone shop will be able to sell you one of these. This will allow other people to call or text you at no cost to yourself, and will allow you to make reasonably cheap calls within the UK. International texts can usually be sent for around 20-25 pence each. If you take this phone to another country in Europe you will generally still be able to receive texts for free, but sending and receiving calls will be costly, and sending texts will typically cost approximately 50 pence each. It is not free to call 0800 numbers from mobile phones.

Internet

The Internet is free to use in most public libraries. There are a number of restrictions on this, however:

• You will generally need to join the library, although this is free and not generally too inconvenient.
• Libraries are often not very well located.
• The computer will usually need to be booked in advance.
• Often only a web browser is installed, so using messaging applications can be difficult.

Most towns also have plenty of Internet cafes, particularly centred around student areas. Town centre venues can be fairly expensive at 3-4 pounds per hour. easyinternet provide a consistent easy-to-use interface at locations in most large cities, and are usually at the cheaper end of the price range. See local listings on this site for more actual addresses.

UK keyboards are pretty similar to other English-language keyboards. The main symbol which Americans may find difficult to find is the "@" sign, which is above the apostrophe on the right hand side of the keyboard.

Television

Terrestrial television in the UK is provided on five channels. Two are run by the publicly-funded BBC (BBC1 and BB2), and one each by ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5. All of these provide news coverage and entertainment, with BBC1 and ITV being the mass-market channels, whilst the others cater to more niche markets.

Freeview (Terrestrial digital TV), Cable and Satellite all provide further general entertainment channels run by the organisations above, plus the usual selection of 24 hour news (BBC News 24 and Sky News, along with CNN, Bloomberg, etc. on Satellite), MTV and other music channels, and various other forms of entertainment.

Newspapers

All major UK newspapers have an online edition, which usually provides at least the contents of that day's paper for free. Click on the links below for details. The Guardian in particular has an extremely good searchable website with the contents of the paper and additional material for several years.

The leading serious newspapers are:

• Daily Telegraph (politically right-wing)
• Guardian (politically left-wing)
• Times (politically right-wing newspaper of the ruling classes)
• Independent (politically centre-left)

The big mass-market tabloids are:

• Sun (right-wing)
• Mirror (left-wing)

Radio

Partly thanks to the limited availability of airspace, radio in the UK is less genre-based, and more geographically-based than in other countries. This means that national stations such as BBC Radio 1 and Virgin cater to a fairly wide range of popular genres. Most of the national stations listed below can be listened to over the internet - click on a link to see details of the website. In addition to these, there are a range of commercial local radio stations providing non-stop adverts and mass-market hits, and BBC local radio stations providing full up-to-the-minute coverage of jumble sales and church fetes. They're probably available on the internet as well - you can put any old rubbish on there nowadays.

The national stations likely to be of interest are:

• BBC Radio 1. Current-ish pop during day, giving over to good shows covering various popular genres during the night.
• BBC Radio 2. Mostly light-weight pop and MOR music from the last 20 years or so.
• BBC Radio 3. Serious classical music. Very elitist reputation.
• BBC Radio 4. News, plays, magazine shows and other talk radio.
• Virgin Radio. Current and classic pop. Nothing to alarm the horses, guaranteed.

Hostels

Traditional youth hostels are run in England and Wales by the Youth Hostel Association, and in Scotland by Scottish Youth Hostel Association, both of which are parts of the Hostelling International network. These will provide basic clean accommodation. If lock-outs, curfews, school parties and rules are your kind of thing you are likely to find them perfect. In all fairness the best of them can be pretty welcoming to all kinds of guest, but ultimately their mission is still mostly to provide a wholesome and safe environment for teenagers, so don't bank on a party atmosphere and big groups of like-minded backpackers.

Luckily all of the more popular tourist destinations, such as London, Brighton, Edinburgh and York, and most other major cities, have at least one backpackers hostel. As these are independently-run, quality can vary widely from one hostel to another. See sections on the various regions and cities for hostel recommendations and links to booking services.

Cheap eats

• If you are eating out you will find the cheapest places are generally pubs. Look out for 2 for 1 main course deals, and the odd pub offering steak and burgers for around 3 or 4 pounds.
• You will often save money in restaurants (although not usually pubs) by going for lunch instead of dinner. The Pizza Hut buffet offers unlimited pizza at lunchtime for just four pounds, which the dedicated eater can make into quite a bargain.
• Out-of-the-way curry houses can also be quite cheap - if you stick to the basics you can often get a meal for around five or six quid. Be wary of added extras though - you may occasionally get free popadums (although the pickle tray to go with them could well cost a pound a head), but everything else will be seperately charged.

Cinema

Britain is an expensive place to go to the cinema. In city centres, evening showings of films cost upwards of 6 pounds. If you want to see a film cheaply, try the following:

• Get student ID - student tickets are up to 40% cheaper.
• If you are getting a mobile phone SIM card in the UK, consider getting an Orange one, as they offer their users a 2 for 1 deal on cinema tickets on a Wednesday.
• Avoid central London. Leicester Square cinemas are no better than any other cinemas in the country, and cost well over a pound extra for any given showing.
• Head out of town a little way - cinemas in out of town entertainment complexes are usually about 20% cheaper than the equivalent city centre venue.
• Avoid evenings and weekends. Daytime showings are usually about 25% cheaper. Some Cineworld cinemas are even cheaper for films starting before midday.

The three main cinema chains are Cineworld, Vue and Odeon. All of these have websites with advance booking, although the booking fees mean that it is almost never worth it. Listings for all these, and most independant cinemas can be found on Ents 24, which also contains slightly less glowing reviews of the films.