Budget & Money Saving Tips!

I'll just cut to the chase: the UK is expensive. Even if you are doing a road trip & camping, this is still not the cheapest trip.

To give you an idea of van/car costs

• My van hire cost £30 a night, which was an AMAZING deal. It was very cheap because I had a long-term hire discount (usually if you hire for more than a month, but some places don't do it), and because it was winter/off-season.

• The company I hired through has now closed down, so the cheapest options sit at around £65 per day for a basic van, and £120 for a fully equipped van.

• Depending on season & what type of van you want, they can be upwards of £150 per day.

• Insurance is not usually included in the price & on average is about £25 extra per day, but this can vary a lot depending on the coverage you want & the company.

• If you are under 25, unfortunately things get a bit more difficult. Most companies will not hire you, and the ones that do charge about £90 extra per day for a young driver fee.

• If you're not a van person, you will most likely need a car, unless you're only visiting Edinburgh & surrounding areas. Car hire has the same rules/costs regarding young drivers, but for everyone else, it's quite cheap, around £25 a day for a standard car. But the downside is that you have to pay more for accommodation.

• Please also note that most vehicles are manuals. If you're after an automatic, they're a lot harder to find, and about £10 more per day.

Food & Petrol

• Food & Petrol/Diesel. I don't want to give you a recommended amount for these 2 because the prices are constantly changing, & it completely depends on your trip style.

• To save money on food, I ate very basically, cooked all my meals in the van, & packed lunches with me every day. This saved a lot of money, & most vans have a small stove cooker for you to use.

• If it does come with a cooker, you are usually in charge of the gas for it. I would wait until you actually have the van to buy this, as there are multiple different shapes & you could easily buy the wrong one. As the company, if you are unsure what gas you need

Camping & Accommodation

• As much as I love supporting local, if you are on a budget, you can mostly get away with not paying for any camping fees.

• I highly recommend you get a van that has everything you need & can run on gas/solar, rather than electricity. This means you don't have to pay for campsites every night, & can camp nearly anywhere.

• If you don't have a full-kitted van, don't worry! I managed to only pay for 2 camping sites for my whole trip. It's a lot more basic living this way, but I had my stove and found public toilets/rubbish bins. Every few days I would come across showers too! You just have to be more on to it, filling up your water when you see a tap, taking showers, washing dishes etc. whenever you can, even if it's not the most convenient time.

• If you do choose to go for accommodation rather than camping, allow a minimum of £100, but more realistically £250 per night.

• You can look into getting a Youth Hostel membership, but this is mostly shared dorms, and they're often closed in the remote places of Scotland.

Parking & Entrance Fees

• Unfortunately, most of the places you go to charge parking fees - including hikes, castles, sightseeing, etc.

• The fees are usually around £5 for the day but can be more at popular spots.

• They are almost always paid by card at the machines.

• If you get lucky & see someone leaving, they will sometimes give you their ticket to use if it still has hours left, or if it's an all-day ticket! Great way to save money & you can also do the same to help others out.

• It's about 50/50 whether or not attractions are paid for or free, and they can range anywhere from £7 - £25 or more.

Passes/memberships

• To save money on both parking & entrance fees, you can get 3 different memberships/passes.

• The Historic Environment Scotland membership costs £64 for a year, or they offer an Explorer Pass for £42.00, which lasts 14 consecutive days.

• National Trust for Scotland membership costs £79.20 for a year.

• All of the passes give you access to their listed sites for free, which are hundreds across Scotland. They also include free parking at most sites & discounts on products.

• Do not get the 2 different companies confused; they are not the same. Ensure you check out both websites thoroughly to ensure you are buying a pass for the places you actually want to go to.

• Historic Scotland focuses on archaeological sites, ruins, ancient monuments, etc. Whilst National Trust focuses on stately homes, gardens, landscapes. Historic Scotland would be my pick as it includes many of the famous castles.

I am also an affiliate member with GetYourGuide, which means you can get discounts on any tour/activity booked through them! (I do make a small amount of commission, but you also save, so it's a win-win).

All you need to do is use my code DANASDIARYY5 in the 'discount code' section at checkout. It can be used for anything booked on GetYourGuide.

If there's accommodation or other activities you want to do that are not on GetYourGuide, still let me know; I have some other ways that I can hopefully get a discount for you!