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The UK is full of hidden gems, beautiful scenery, and exciting places to explore, but it’s often overlooked when people are looking for places to travel because it can seem quite expensive. But with overseas travel plans on hold for the foreseeable future, it’s time to look closer to home for your big adventures next year. We take a look at some of the best budget-friendly UK travel ideas for 2021.
Drive around the Scottish Highlands
For spectacular, vast landscapes that make you forget you’re even in the UK, head up to the Scottish Highlands. There are lots of routes around Scotland that make a perfect road-trip, but one of the most impressive is the North Coast 500.
Starting out from Inverness you can drive a loop around the top of Scotland’s coastline and back across to where you started. You’ll drive about 500 miles, which should take between five to seven days with plenty of opportunities to stop off and take in the amazing scenery.
You can choose to hire a car for the drive, but make sure to book hotels ahead of time to find the best price. Alternatively, you could hire a campervan so that you don’t also need to pay for accommodation. If you want to save more money you could even plan a wild camping trip around the Scottish Highlands.
To save money on your road trip you should consider getting a fuel card to cut down the cost of filling up your car. A fuel card is essentially a credit that is restricted to fuel-related purchases only, which helps you to monitor how much you spend on fuel and can cut down your fuel costs. There are lots of different types of fuel cards so you can find one that suits your needs and save money on your next road trip.
Camp on the Gower
Another great, budget-friendly travel destination in the UK is the Gower Peninsula in South Wales. Just past Swansea, the peninsula has been recognised as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty for decades.
You’ll find 19 miles of stunning coastline, including Oxwich Bay, Three Cliffs, and Rhossili, as well as historic castle ruins, and moors, which are ideal for long walks and escaping everyday life.
There are plenty of budget-friendly places to camp all over the Gower, as well as caravan parks (a good way to find affordable campsites is to use https://www.pitchup.com/). And if you’re after even more adventure, you can try out all sorts of activities from surfing to abseiling and coasteering.
Walk the South West Coast Path
The South West Coast Path is perfect for a budget-friendly travel adventure. Overall the path covers over 630 miles around the coast of Devon, Cornwall, and Dorset. So, unless you’ve got several weeks to walk the whole route – pick a section and set yourself a walking challenge for a few days.
Avoid the holiday-maker hotspots in Cornwall like Newquay, and choose somewhere a bit more remote such as the Lizard Peninsula, which is perfect for accessing the path.
The path is mostly very easy to walk and you can either book some camping sites along the way, or stay in a B&B and pick a different circular route to walk each day (find a suitable route by using https://www.southwestcoastpath.org.uk/).
To save money try to book accommodation at least a month or two in advance (use a comparison site like https://www.booking.com/region/gb/cornwall-county to find the best price).
The UK has countless options when you’re looking for a budget-friendly trip. You just need to spend a bit of time planning and you’ll be able to explore some amazing scenery and historic locations without spending a fortune.
