Cost of visiting England beginning to be discussed...
 

In planning a spring trip to Rome, Paris and London, I have been constantly surprised by the differences in expenses between the three countries. Generally, England is MUCH more expensive for similar items.

This morning's TIMES elevates the discussion to a new level:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...320655,00.html

Matters not. We love the place so much we'll just groan and bear it.

Jim

Same here but I'm more savvy now about where to buy things & rent a flat which saves a lot.

It is true about everyday items being more expensive in the UK than on the continent. When we come back from car trips to France, Belgium, or Germany, the car is loaded up with everyday supplies like detergent, dog food, coffee, wine, etc., all of which are cheaper over there.

Hi.. I dont know what type of holiday you are looking for but I live in the north of England 30 miles north of Manchester.. and everyday things are cheaper up here than in London we have a lot to offer, castles, stately homes beautiful countryside, and a warm welcome.. Food for thought.

BTilke,

Ah. That's exactly why we go to CostCo--another fantastic American concept!

As for the price of renting a cottage, how much does a Manhattanite pay for Hampton cottaes these days?

The Sunday Times runs a "rip-off Britain" story every six months or so.

Britain may or may not be extraordinarily expensive. But a story about it in one of Mr Murdoch's organs is merely a sign that Murdoch Towers can't dream up any new Fads of the Month.

Incidentally, the cover price of The Sunday Times is now £1.80. Are there any other Sunday papers elsewhere in the world charging that much for so much hot air?

This is probably why most Brits don't holiday in Britain ! And the weather of course...

>A meal in a family restaurant starts at around £25 a head....

>a 120-mile train journey in Britain was 65% more expensive than any other similar train journey in the world.<

Oh C'mon.....

((I))

Climate and cost of agricultural produce are not independent variables, and climate varies considerably between those three cities/respective countries.

Distance from the holiday rental cottage to nearest major city would affect price. Just about anywhere in GB would be nearer a major city than a random spot chosen in Italy or FRance.

GB is an island (although some dispute this, arguing it is but a conspiracy involving, amongst others, the publishers of atlases and the makers of aircraft) - and such geography generally increases cost of goods.

Summmary: Densely populated foggy island in northern latitude is expensive, but loveable anyway.

Immigrants are flooding into the London area. They are occupying the least expensive housing. Tourists are now faced with a limited supply of housing. Tourist demand is high, hence prices are up.

I ahd breakfast in a New York City hotel yesterday morning and happened to be sitting between two British couples on holiday.

If it is any comfort to anyone, they all thought that New York is 'expensive' despite what I would consider a favorable exchange rate.

At this stage, I would think surprise might have given way to acceptance or at least dogged recognition as to prices in the UK, especially in London which has been pricey for as long as I've been going there and that started back in 1970.

I've found that traveling in the north of England (as pentway mentions) to be much more affordable than London. I've had B&B's in Yorkshire & Lancashire at under 40GBP a night. Pints in the pub are less, as are dinners. London's fun, but after a couple days I want to head north to the Dales!

I was in Norfolk this weekend – hotel room £40 a night, beer £2.50ish a pint (for the good stuff – mass market swilling stuff for less) and a really good meal for £25.00

I really don’t think England’s expensive…However remember that our minimum wage is over $10 an hour, so overheads are expensive.

A £600 cottage - of course there are - but there are just as many £250 or £300 cottages.

And even if meals are more expensive in London - when you consider all the free museums/galleries you can visit London as cheaply as Paris or Rome.

When people complain about a £25 or £30 meal in the UK, for some reason they don't complain about paying €10 or €15 to enter a gallery in Italy

Don't get me wrong - parts of the UK are expensive and especially in London. But there are easy ways to budget -- w/o scrimping.

Excellent point, janisj. Just for grins, I believe I will review costs from total perspective on our trip, since we will be doing similar activities city-to-city, and compare. The no-fee factor in London is, indeed, significant.

I will be curious to find out if it offsets other expenses for our family, to make all three about the same.

Jim

The Swiss bank, UBS, just released a report "Prices and Earnings - A comparison of purchasing power around the globe / 2006 edition" which probably accounts for the rash of articles in newspapers and magazines.

They have been preparing this report since 1970 and this is the 13 edition.
this year it's 52 pages.

They surveyed 122 goods and services and earnings for 14 professions in 71 cities around the globe.

They recognize that using one figure for a category may be simplistic (my word). The methodology for the pricing table says "The cost of a weighted shopping basket geared to Western European consumer habits containing 122 goods and services".

Further "The effetive cost of living in one city may vary considerably depending on the area, lifestyle or life cycle".

We are about to commence a 7 week trip through Germany, Switzerland and Italy. Our forecast average daily cost for each country is pretty much the same, allowing for some differences in travel method etc. This based on both previous experience in the countries concerned and some serious resarch on current prices.

We are generally travelling at 3 to 4 star standard with a few B&Bs thrown in.

This time, the nearest we plan to get to London in the UK is flying into/out of Heathrow, but will be visiting some other major Engish cities. I certainly agree that the cost of visiting London is very high.... but not as high as visiting New York!!!!

Cheers,

Bill

Oppos that should have been Germany, Switzerland, Italy AND the UK! (red face}

I think with the exchange rate and some of the 350 Pounds PLUS hotel rooms "available" in London it can be just as, if not even more, expensive than New York!

London is much more expensive than New York. That's why lots of Brits do regular shopping trips to NY, especially in the run up to Christmas.

According to the UBS survey, the most expensive cities are Oslo, London, Copenhagen, Zurich, Toky, Geneva and New York. Paris is #11.

If rent is included, London is #1 and NY #2.

I just returned from a month in Cambridge and found things expensive as well, but, if you know where to shop (Sainsbury's, market, etc.) it is not so bad. And I feel the quality of the food (less hydrogenated oils, perservatives) is far superior, so I am happy to pay more for some things!

On the other hand, we spent one weekend in Dublin---wow, that place made London look downright CHEAP!!! But again, we were tourists 100% there and not trying to save money. It just seemed really expensive.

But like other posters...I don't care what the cost--I'll be back to England as soon as I possibly can!

Because we are in and out of Belgium frequently, we shop for many of our essentials there. And we find that the Colruyt chain carries most of our everyday items significantly cheaper than we've found anywhere (including ASDA, Sainsbury's, Tesco, etc.) in the UK, and thankfully without the madness we've encountered at the local ASDA (ugh). Plus we can get staples there that we simply can't find easily in the UK (like Nutroma coffee cream). And certain special items--like Michelin Green Guides--are deeply discounted at Colruyt for some reason.
We find it's not just a question of the difference between tourist prices and what the locals pay, but a difference between what UK (non London) locals pay and what "Continentals" pay.

Caroline I disagree. I think many Brits shop in New york because the 'shopping' is better, it's not necessarily the lower price.

Having just looked at a quick 4 night trip to New york in October, the prices I was getting were around £1200 pp for 3* hotels and flights. Anything I may have saved on shopping would be swallowed up with the cost of the journey.
Ok I am sure I could get things a little cheaper but the flights are ridiculously priced, this because I should have booked months ago.

Doh !

Never mind I will go to Crete or Zante instead.

;-)

Muck

For a while, BBC had a fun series in which Brits shopped for items in other countries. They pulled together a list of several items with the UK price. Then they would go to that episode's destination (New York and Turin are the two I remember) where they would be shown the exact same item and two alternatives. Even if they picked the same item as they'd priced back in the UK, they ALWAYS saved money by buying in another country (even when you added in charges for exceeding the duty free allowance). On the trip to NYC, for example, the couple saved hundreds of ££.

Did they count in the tax due on return?

I think the common Londoner feels that London prices are keeping folks away - at least Europeans. I base this on my B&B lady out in Eltham who last Dec said the Europeans that normally came there by car were way down and she thinks the high price of tourist living in London is keeping them away.
Funny though, this clean B&B will fine breakfast at 22 pounds should i guess be attracting more tourists if central London hotel prices are amongst the highest in the world are to be believed!

I don't think it's that expensive, sure if you don't do your homework...we took a family trip to Disneyworld last year and it cost us $5000 everything included, airfare, deluxe resort, food, gifts...this year it's England...11 days (4 days longer than Disney) and it's costing me the same...sure we may not be in the Polynesian Hotel..but who cares when you get all those museums for free? For food, we just split some deli sandwiches and get some croissants and fruit for breakfast....who needs ribeye and chocolate torte? I think folks expect to maintain their standard of living in England...they look at these hotels and think HOW can I pay that much for a room that wouldn't be acceptable in my own home? Simple, you do your research and get a good deal. It may be harder to get the deals, but they're there! Off to show my family London and England 3 weeks from today! :) Can't wait!!! :)

Tara

stellarossa: "Caroline I disagree. I think many Brits shop in New york because the 'shopping' is better, it's not necessarily the lower price."

Now it's my turn to disagree. I don't think there's anything one can buy in NYC that one can't buy in the UK. All the people I've known who regularly shopped in NYC were just stocking up on staple clothing items like Levis & Calvins, and buying CDs, DVDs and US-based toiletry lines like Origins - all of which are available here but more expensive. When we've been, DH has just bought CDs and I've never shopped for anything except a coat, after mine was stolen.

Then I'd suggest you shop somewhere other than Madison or 5th Avenue next time.

I'm definately with Caroline on this one, its the price that makes people go.

Geordie

I'm with you Caroline - I don't regard New York as being any 'better' than London for shopping. But it is, undoubtedly, much cheaper for certain items. Most people I know seem to take a New York trip as an opportunity to buy ipods and jeans at reduced prices.

There's certainly plenty of fun to be had shopping in the more quirky shops downtown, but that's nothing you can't also do in many areas of London.

You shop on Houston and Bleeker, right?

"I think the common Londoner feels that London prices are keeping folks away"

Well, that particular common Londoner's talking through her rear end.

Visitor numbers to Britain for the latest full year (2005) were up 8%. Since two-thirds of visitors to the UK come from Western Europe, it's not surprising that that's also the growth rate for visitors from there. In fact, the only geographical area that's generating fewer visitors is North America (-3%). Since that's only 14% of our total visitor count, it really doesn't matter. Our tourist honey pots are more jam packed than ever this week.

But we do seem to have a lot fewer European cars on our roads.

The problem PalQ's B+B lady faces is that she's in Eltham. Jolly handy for people driving from Dover or the Tunnel - but useless for practically any other purpose.

Since a shareholder revolt, Tunnel car prices have risen at a time cheapo flight prices have tumbled. Europeans are flying here, rather than driving. Eltham's about the last place in the world you'd want to stay if you'd just got off a Ryanair at Stansted. As practically the entire under-35 population of Europe seems to have done.

Well... we live on the Upper East side of Manhattan. Had a lovely visit to London last Oct. Everything was essentially double what we pay in NYC. We just closed our eyes and signed the charges -:) In London, we stayed in a neighborhood comparable to our own. I'm sure a dedicated traveler can find cheaper rates. However, not much one can do about the exchange rate.

Ya know - it is often said "London prices are twice NYC", or that "the £ prices are what the $ prices are at home"

Well, I just don't get it. Sure, dining is expensive, but other than that a reasonable traveler can do things as cheaply in the UK as in the States.

A few examples:

<b>Lodging</b> I regularly rent nice studio to 2 bdrm flats in Pimlico/Victoria for &pound;65-&pound;100 per night. And Scala House often recommended here runs &pound;110-&pound;140 for 2 bdrm, 1.5 baths. You could not touch a holiday rental in SF, at Lake Tahoe, a nice area of LA, or definitely not in NYC for $120-$260 per night.

<b>Museums</b> The Metropolitan Museum costs $20 (yeah, I know it is &quot;voluntary&quot;), the De Young in SF is $10 and the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago is $11. The National Gallery, British Musem, V&amp;A etc are free.

<b>Transport</b> In my home town a day pass on public transport only costs $4 - BUT it barely goes anywhere. Certainly doesn't cover all of the city and isn't viable as tourist transport.

<b>Theatre</b> A great seat can be found in any London Theatre for &pound;12-&pound;25 via TKTS - or up to about &pound;55 at full price. Here in my home town a third rate road show company costs $25 (for nose bleed seats) to $125 for decent seats. And that definitely is NOT for Ralph Fiennes or Maggie Smith.

<b>Concerts</b> You can get fine seats for the LPO or LSO for &pound;6 to &pound;35. Our little semi professional symphony cost $25 - $60. And the NY Phil costs $35 to $125 or more.

I honestly can, and do, visit London for less than SF or NYC or LA . . . . . .

It is cheaper for me to fly to London for a week of theatre than to do the same for 4 days in New York. And Vancouver-London is a 9.5 hour flight vs 5 hours to New York.

One way to save a lot of money when visiting London is to swap homes. If you check out the London based agency, Home Base Holidays, http://www.homebase-hols.com you'll find a very large choice of London exchange offers, both central and in the suburbs.

Public transport is excellent in London and you will be able to easily travel to the West End (or anywhere else, plus travel outside of London) from most London suburbs and the surrounding counties. There's also lots of great attractions, parks and restaurants off the tourist track too and, if you want to save money, you can certainly enjoy London without it costing an arm and a leg.

Shopping is the main thing that is horrendous due to cost in the UK compared to other places. Even when the dollar was stronger it wasn't that good, especially with VAT.

Restaurants can be outrageous but good food can be found at more reasonable prices.