Scotland is a great destination for budget travellers with a diverse range of things to see and do for little or no money, from windswept wilderness, mountains and islands to the varied architecture and buzzing nightlife of its cities.
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Budget Accommodation Options for Scotland
Budget accomodation is growing in Scotland all the time and there are now many independently run hostels as well as the more traditional SYHA (the Scottish branch of Hostelling International). Campsites are widespread and prices vary from next to nothing for a mown field next to a river up to a few pounds for a site with showers, toilets and other extra facilities. Wild camping is acceptable all over Scotland as long as you leave no trace of your camp when you leave and you can stay in a bothy for absolutely no money at all in the mountains if you know where to find them, but do take some fuel for the fire and a bottle of whisky to share with the people you'll meet there.
A Travellers Budget for Scotland
Scotland, being part of the UK, isn't the cheapest destination
in Europe when it comes to daily living expenses but it's achievable on
a budget if you're careful. Supermarkets and chip shops (chippies) are
the cheapest options for food but avoid the latter too often, Scotland
doesn't have one of the worst health records in Europe for nothing! Bar
food is usually reasonably priced if you avoid the more pretentious areas
such as Edinburgh's George St and Glasgow's Merchant City. Drinking can
be less of a blow to your wallet if you take advantage of happy hours,
most places have one, and the (usually) cheaper price of local beer.
For travelling about, public transport within cities is pretty cheap to
use and if you plan ahead for travelling further afield you can pick up
cheap train and bus fares on the internet. Megabus and Citylink will both
take you between the major towns for a pound if you get in quick, and
FirstScotrail's SuperApex isn't bad compared to a standard train fare.
Cycle lanes and paths are widespread in the towns and the National Cycle
Network covers the majority of Scotland if you want to travel under your
own steam.
Activities for Budget Travellers
Scotland offers a wealth of activities which can be done on a budget
Here is a list of some ideas:
Mountain biking; The Seven Stanes trails in the
Borders / Dumfries, Wolftrax at Laggan and the World Cup course at Fort
William are all free to use and make their money from bike hire and cafe
facilities which are usually excellent.
Hillwalking / Mountaineering; There are no charges in place for wandering
in the wild in Scotland. You can pretty much go where you please as long
as you respect the privacy of landowners and cause no damage to agricultural
land, but leave a note of where you intend to go with someone as it's
unlikely that there will be many people about to help you if you get into
trouble.
Walking and Cycle Touring; There are three main long distance trails in Scotland: the West Highland Way, the Great Glen Way and the Southern Upland Way. These are all completely free to use and you can wild camp along the way if you're really strapped for cash. Some of the guides have recommended spots for wild camping. Similarly cycle touring can get you to most parts of the country on cycle paths and quiet roads for absolutely no cost whatsoever. Sustrans have a map of the routes available from any bike shop.
Museums, places of historical interest etc; Most museums
and art galleries have free entry, or by donation if you wish, many ancient
monuments cost nothing to look at and even the somewhat expensive entry
fee for Edinburgh Castle is waived on one day a year, usually in August.
The Parliament in Edinburgh is free to look around and you can get the
best view of the Capital for nothing but a bit of leg work from the top
of Arthur's Seat. All the major towns have plenty of parkland to chill
or play games in and most have leaflets for self guided walks around the
highlights.
Edinburgh International Festival on a budget; Despite the initial impression
of prohibitively high prices for top comedy and arts, you can do the festival
for next to nothing if you're prepared to look hard enough. The FreeFringe
guide tells you where the comedy's at, be there in the first week for
'two for one' tickets on a variety of shows and always be on the lookout
for students handing out free tickets to lesser known shows. They might
be big next year...
