Would The UK Be A Cheaper Weeks Tour Than Northern Europe?

Load your panniers with tinned spam and stop in run down areas, i.e. Hull. Take a flask and make a fresh brew each morning with the B&B tea bags and milk supplied in the room.

Make a point of visiting motorway service stations late in the afternoon as they reduce their week old sandwiches at that time.

Stop off in Blackpool for a day and get that real holiday feel, for a bit of added adventure park on a yellow line along the "strip".

The date you've penciled in, June 12th is perfect as it'll be nice and sunny.

Fill up with petrol now as i've heard it'll be more expensive in June.

If you fancied something a bit more exotic you could use the same method but stick around the port areas of Calais or Boulogne.
For real cheap pants on fire adventure catch the overnight ferry to Le Harve and stay for a few days in a sailors hostel by the container terminal...
 
I'd say Germany is one of the cheaper countries in my experience, as is Austria and particularly Spain. Switzerland is very expensive, as is Norway

A staycation can be cheaper and just as much fun if planned well. I can honestly say the first and last days of my tour to the Alps and Italian Lakes in 2015 offered some of the best riding and scenery of the holiday i.e. the Yorkshire Dales, Lakes and North Pennines on the way to Newcastle ferry port and back :thumb2
 
Load your panniers with tinned spam and stop in run down areas, i.e. Hull. Take a flask and make a fresh brew each morning with the B&B tea bags and milk supplied in the room.

Make a point of visiting motorway service stations late in the afternoon as they reduce their week old sandwiches at that time.

Stop off in Blackpool for a day and get that real holiday feel, for a bit of added adventure park on a yellow line along the "strip".

The date you've penciled in, June 12th is perfect as it'll be nice and sunny.

Fill up with petrol now as i've heard it'll be more expensive in June.

If you fancied something a bit more exotic you could use the same method but stick around the port areas of Calais or Boulogne.
For real cheap pants on fire adventure catch the overnight ferry to Le Harve and stay for a few days in a sailors hostel by the container terminal...

Have you been hangining out with Wapping again, Neil?:augie:D
 
If you are southish head to Northern France, then onto Belgium, Germany and bimble your way to Black Forest or Vosges (or just stay Northern France).

Depending to where you are located it could be less miles than getting to the Highlands plus you get that 'proper' abroad feeling where they talk funny, use funny money and eat strange things.

If you want really cheap forget the bike & go on 10 days all inclusive somewhere.
 
Depending to where you are located it could be less miles than getting to the Highlands plus you get that 'proper' abroad feeling where they talk funny, use funny money and eat strange things.

You're describing Scotland ...
 
Load your panniers with tinned spam and stop in run down areas, i.e. Hull. Take a flask and make a fresh brew each morning with the B&B tea bags and milk supplied in the room.

Make a point of visiting motorway service stations late in the afternoon as they reduce their week old sandwiches at that time.

Stop off in Blackpool for a day and get that real holiday feel, for a bit of added adventure park on a yellow line along the "strip".

The date you've penciled in, June 12th is perfect as it'll be nice and sunny.

Fill up with petrol now as i've heard it'll be more expensive in June.

If you fancied something a bit more exotic you could use the same method but stick around the port areas of Calais or Boulogne.
For real cheap pants on fire adventure catch the overnight ferry to Le Harve and stay for a few days in a sailors hostel by the container terminal...
You need to be careful if you visit Hull there are some nice areas as well as some like dumps it's a bit like London but the dump areas don't spread as far and bike theft is far less likely

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You need to be careful if you visit Hull there are some nice areas as well as some like dumps it's a bit like London but the dump areas don't spread as far and bike theft is far less likely

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That's amazing... i didn't think anyone had any bikes to nick.
 
Thanks everyone some really interesting points. Hadn't thought about it being trickier in the Future post Brexit. Will have a proper read through and chat with the Wife this evening :thumb2

Brexit won't make it any harder, no EU country is going to turn down extra income in the form of tourism, it's pure scaremongering.
Unless you go somewhere in the UK you've never been before getting across the channel, in my opinion, will always feel like you're on holiday and away from it all. It's only about 530 miles from where I live to Aviemore and I go up a couple of times a year, but because that distance is do-able in a day the temptation to pop home rather than paying for another night in a hotel is always there.
 
A few of us regularly go away for a week or so on the bikes, France Spain, Germany, Italy etc. Decided last year to stay in Uk and go to South Coast - Oxford - Wales. Much as I love the UK, for biking, no fun at all, far too much traffic, draconian speed limits and little opportunity to enjoy bikes. Wales was better from the riding point of view, however weather pretty grim for most of the time away. It certainly wasn't cheaper (lot of time in pubs waiting for rain to cease) and came home early. Next time going to Brittany! Cheers:beerjug:John B
 
A few of us regularly go away for a week or so on the bikes, France Spain, Germany, Italy etc. Decided last year to stay in Uk and go to South Coast - Oxford - Wales. Much as I love the UK, for biking, no fun at all, far too much traffic, draconian speed limits and little opportunity to enjoy bikes. Wales was better from the riding point of view, however weather pretty grim for most of the time away. It certainly wasn't cheaper (lot of time in pubs waiting for rain to cease) and came home early. Next time going to Brittany! Cheers:beerjug:John B

I could have told you that, before you went!:D
 
We go most years, France, Germany, Spain etc. My tips (for what they're worth) is to take the tunnel, bit pricier but fast, you lose an hour, don't forget. Secondly, don't plan too far ahead,that way you can check weather forecasts etc. We once rode from the Italian lakes to Valencia because the weather was consistently poor in that part of Europe. Busking your route also allows you to browse booking.com in the morning for hotels at your chosen destination for that evening, which can lead to some good room rates. Also check the hotels own site before booking, we've found that some are cheaper booked direct. I is budget hotels are pretty good. Stay off the autoroute where practical (I normally get the other side of Paris via Rouen, Le Mans. Tours etc then it's N or D roads from there. Don't stay in the big cities and avoid tourist traps such as La Rochelle and San Sebastian, we normally stay 10k or so away and then visit for the day.
Hope this is useful!

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If you have a Garmin satnav PM me, I have a couple of tested Euro trips you could look at, you won't be disappointed I promise
 
I see SimonW did not mention Luxembourg - it's quite pleasant and has cheap petrol and accommodation. Part of the Ardennes and Eifel regions are in the country and the roads along the major rivers in the SE are great fun.

If you want to keep costs down then scratch the idea of Denmark and Sweden. Also, keep the mileage down to cut fuel costs. Rather than schlepping through several countries pick somewhere as a base and spend a few days doing circular tours from the base. France has quite a few suite type hotels that are about 40/50 euros a night. They come with a kitchenette so you can make your own breakfast and store stuff in the fridge for packed lunches. Buy dinner out each night but make your own breakfast and lunch and you have probably saved 150 euros for the week, or 3 or 4 nights in a budget hotel.
 
Will one destination be cheaper than another? Maybe no, probably yes. It all depends on what you want and do. Yes, it's cheap to cross the Channel from London but it's not free. Some correspondents on this site believe the train's 40 minute crossing time is a rip-off compared with a ferry's 90 minutes, where you can have (pay for) a breakfast, compared with just a coffee and sandwich (which you pay for) on the train.

If you camp in Wales, it's probably going to much cheaper than the Grand Hotel in Copenhagen and the beer will certainly be cheaper. Camping in Luxembourg will be cheaper than a very smart Scottish hotel.

In short, only you know where you intend to stay, how many miles you intend to do a day riding from one place to another; miles which all cost money. If you have a day off the bike, you won't spend money on fuel but if you pass the day shopping in Luxembourg City's Louis Vuitton shops, you'll probably spend an awful lot more.

Price it all up yourself. Sites like booking.com will tell you to the penny how much your room will cost you in June. Assume that the pound will stay at its current rate of exchange or assume it will devalue or re-value at say 10% and see what difference that makes. When you've finished that, work out that 100's if not thousands of bikers and car drivers go to the continent each year and 100's go to Scotland, too. They cannot all be loaded, though many will have fully loaded awesome panniers or boots. If they can afford it, so can you.... probably.


PS RiDE magazine website has some really good suggested tours in Europe. Look at them for some good ideas. Similarly, there are some quite good ones on UKGSer, hunt them out.
 
Personal experience is that hotels tend to be as cheap if not cheaper in Germany and food is about the same price , if you live near the Channel ports then it is reasonably cheap to get onto the continent. however, if you live OOP NORTH then you get your eyes taken out with ferries from Newcastle or to a lesser extent Hull and that is what makes the holiday expensive.

A question I've asked German bikers is why go to Scotland touring when you have the Alps/Italy etc etc on your doorstep and the answer is usually ' it is somewhere different' and that is the way I look at going to Europe rather than touring the UK
 
My wife and I are due to go to Europe for a week in the summer on the GSA, however due to other holidays / expenses the holiday budget has diminished. Would it realistically be a decent saving to tour up to and around Scotland perhaps via a night or two in Wales? I haven't toured in Europe only the UK and Ireland. Our basic plan so far was to head through Belgium, Netherlands, Germany and Denmark. If we can prolong the journey to 10 days i'd like to go across to southern Sweden. But on a like for like board basis (obviously I would have the additional cost of a ferry to France) would the UK be cheaper on a day to day basis (Fuel, Food, Accommodation). My other concern is the Scotland weather. We penciled in the 12th June at the moment.

Any number of suggestions and thoughts here already, some of them useful.
If you are concerned about budget then perhaps you could consider a base in Northern Ireland for a couple of days which would allow excursions in all directions. This could be followed up by an "on the hop" trip through Scotland as part of your return home , assuming the weather holds good?
Re the actual budget , only you know whats affordable for you, but based on my reviews and planning for this year the comments from Simon and Steptoe stand out - you are only likely to "save" money if you scrimp. IUf you have to scrimp perhaps you should shorten the duration?
 


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