United Kingdom in 6 Days on a Budget
Six days, two capitals, and one Highlands day trip north
The United Kingdom is four nations, England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, not just England, and this six-day route touches two of them plus a proper day trip beyond: London, the UK’s capital, then north by rail to Edinburgh, Scotland’s own capital, then out into the Highlands for a day before you head home. The currency everywhere is the pound sterling, never the euro, and every price on this page already includes 20% VAT with no tourist refund. Most visitors, including US and EU passport holders, now need a UK ETA before boarding, roughly £20 via gov.uk; British and Irish citizens are exempt. Trains, not driving, carry the whole route: three days in London on free museums and a contactless daily fare cap, then an advance LNER fare north to Edinburgh, and a guided tour rather than a rental car for the Highlands leg. The UK is genuinely expensive and six days shows it, though it’s also very safe, with pickpocketing in crowded spots the real risk. Pack a layer and a rain jacket regardless of season; the weather changes fast.
This is the longest plan in this lineup and the only one that extends the London-Edinburgh spine to add a third stop. Cutting the Highlands and Edinburgh entirely keeps you in London on the 2-day plan; the 4-day and 5-day itineraries share the same London-to-Edinburgh spine but stop before the Highlands leg.
Book these before you go:
- A London walking tour of Westminster and the Tower: check options on GetYourGuide , useful if you’d rather have a guide than the free self-guided route below.
- Edinburgh Castle skip-the-line entry: compare options on Viator , worth pre-booking since walk-up queues run long in summer and it’s Day 5’s one paid stop.
- A small-group Highlands day tour from Edinburgh: check options on GetYourGuide , the genuine sell-out risk on this route; book it a few days ahead once your Edinburgh dates are set.
- A budget room in central London, then Edinburgh: check rates on Booking.com , then repeat the same search for Edinburgh once you’re ready to book that leg.
Day 1: Westminster, Buckingham Palace, and the British Museum
Start at Westminster and walk past the Houses of Parliament and the Elizabeth Tower, better known as Big Ben, free to see from the street. Continue to Buckingham Palace for the Changing of the Guard if the schedule lines up (it varies by season, check ahead), still free from outside the gates either way. Tap a contactless card or phone at every Tube reader instead of buying anything in advance; London’s daily fare cap for Zones 1-2 runs roughly £8.90 at tfl.gov.uk rates, and you never pay more than that no matter how many trips you take. Spend the afternoon at the British Museum, free permanent-collection entry, and book a timed slot online in peak season (April-August) to skip the queue. Finish with an evening walk along the South Bank past the London Eye.
Rough spend: budget room (£50-70) + Tube daily cap (£8.90) + food (£25-35) = roughly £84-114.
Day 2: The Tower of London, Borough Market, and Tate Modern
Walk the river to the Tower of London; the grounds and the view of Tower Bridge cost nothing, though the Crown Jewels sit behind a paid entry (roughly £34.80) worth flagging as an optional splurge rather than a required stop on this budget. Cross to Borough Market for lunch, a stall roll or a bowl of something hot costs far less than a sit-down restaurant and is genuinely a better meal. In the afternoon, tap back onto the Tube, still covered by the same daily cap, to Tate Modern, another free permanent collection, before an evening stroll back along the South Bank.
Rough spend: budget room (£50-70) + Tube daily cap (£8.90) + food (£25-35) = roughly £84-114.
Day 3: The National Gallery and a West End evening
Spend the morning at the National Gallery, another free permanent collection, then walk the South Bank past Borough Market and the London Eye, a route that costs nothing beyond whatever you buy along the way. Book a West End show for the evening if there’s one you want; a specific seat for a specific night (roughly £30-60) is the safer plan than counting on walk-up tickets, and it’s the one evening on this trip worth the splurge before the train north tomorrow.
Rough spend: budget room (£50-70) + Tube daily cap (£8.90) + food (£25-35) = roughly £84-114.
Day 4: The advance LNER train to Edinburgh
This is the day the budget actually turns on, so book it weeks ahead. LNER’s fastest direct trains run London King’s Cross to Edinburgh Waverley in around 4 hours 8 minutes, and standard-class advance fares start from roughly £34-35 one-way if booked early at nationalrail.co.uk or lner.co.uk; the same seat bought at the platform on the day can cost several times that. Treat the advance fare as the one line item worth planning around before anything else on this trip. Once in Edinburgh, drop your bag at the room and walk the Royal Mile down from the Castle esplanade to the Palace of Holyroodhouse, free to walk end to end.
Rough spend: LNER advance fare (£34-35) + Edinburgh budget room (£45-65) + food (£20-30) = roughly £99-130.
Day 5: Edinburgh Castle, the Royal Mile, and Arthur’s Seat
Climb Arthur’s Seat first thing, an extinct volcano at the city’s edge with a genuinely free, non-technical walk to the summit and panoramic views over Edinburgh and the Firth of Forth. Spend the rest of the morning on the Royal Mile, then decide on Edinburgh Castle: entry runs roughly £19.50-21, a real cost worth weighing against the rest of this budget rather than assuming it’s included. Skipping it still leaves a full day; the Castle is the one genuinely optional splurge on this leg, not a requirement to make the trip work.
Rough spend: Edinburgh budget room (£45-65) + Castle ticket (£19-30, optional) + food (£25-35) = roughly £70-130.
Day 6: A budget Highlands day tour from Edinburgh
A small-group day tour is the honest, budget way to see Loch Ness and the Highlands on a trip this length; self-driving the Highlands on a single tight day adds real risk for little payoff, and a rental car this late in the trip is a bigger commitment than one day warrants. Book a small-group Loch Ness or Glencoe day tour from Edinburgh a few days ahead, roughly £45-75, and expect a long day out with several stops rather than a leisurely one. If that doesn’t fit the budget, the honest cheaper alternative is a low-key sixth day back in Edinburgh itself, free St Giles’ Cathedral and a slower Royal Mile walk, or breaking your homeward journey with a stop in York, roughly on the London-Edinburgh corridor, instead of paying for the tour.
Rough spend: Edinburgh budget room (£45-65) + Highlands day tour (£45-75) + food (£15-25) = roughly £105-165.
What 6 days across London, Edinburgh, and the Highlands actually costs
| Day | Focus | Base/Train | Rough daily cost (GBP) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Westminster walk, Buckingham Palace/Changing of the Guard, British Museum (free) | London | £84-114 |
| 2 | Tower of London exterior, Borough Market, Tate Modern (free) | London | £84-114 |
| 3 | National Gallery, South Bank walk, West End show (optional) | London | £84-114 |
| 4 | Advance LNER train to Edinburgh, evening Royal Mile walk | London to Edinburgh (train) | £99-130 |
| 5 | Arthur’s Seat, Royal Mile, Edinburgh Castle (optional) | Edinburgh | £70-130 |
| 6 | Small-group Highlands day tour (Loch Ness/Glencoe) | Edinburgh (day tour) | £105-165 |
That’s roughly £526-767 across six days, rooms/train/tour included, before flights and the one-time ETA fee. The advance LNER fare and the Highlands tour are the two line items that swing this budget the most; book both a few weeks ahead and the rest of the trip stays genuinely lean.
Do you need a visa or ETA to visit the UK?
Most visitors do now, even from countries that used to travel paperwork-free: the UK ETA is required before boarding for US, Canadian, Australian, and (since April 2025) EU/EEA passport holders, among many others. Apply through the official app or gov.uk before you fly, budget roughly £20, and apply a few days ahead. British and Irish citizens don’t need one.
Is the UK on the euro?
No. The currency is the pound sterling (£), not the euro, and it never has been; UK prices already include 20% VAT with no tourist refund since Brexit. Contactless cards and phones work everywhere, including directly on the Tube, Edinburgh’s buses, and National Rail ticket machines, so there’s little reason to carry much cash.
Should you drive or take the train for this route?
Take the train for the London-Edinburgh leg and book a guided tour rather than a rental car for the Highlands day. The LNER route runs city center to city center in about 4 hours 8 minutes and sidesteps London’s £18/day congestion charge and £12.50/day ULEZ fee entirely, and self-driving the Highlands on a single tight day adds real risk for little payoff. Save a rental car, if you want one, for a dedicated multi-day Highlands or Cotswolds trip instead.
Is 6 days enough for London, Edinburgh, and the Highlands?
It’s tight but workable if you accept that the long London-Edinburgh leg and the Highlands day both eat real time: three full days in London, a travel day north, one full Edinburgh day, then a long day out to the Highlands and back. Readers who’d rather slow down should drop the Highlands day and add it to Edinburgh instead, or look at the 5-day version of this route.
One real budget trap: several sit-down restaurants in both cities add a 12.5% “service charge” to the bill automatically, so check before tipping again on top, and never tip at a pub bar when you’re just ordering a pint. Confirm the current ETA fee at gov.uk , general trip planning at visitbritain.com , and live LNER fares and Highlands tour options at nationalrail.co.uk before you book.