With its university, literary links that stretch from Alice in Wonderland to Harry Potter, and its quintessentially English pursuits, such as punting on the river, it’s easy to see why Oxford has charmed many.

The city is small enough to explore on foot but large enough that you can spend a few days without getting bored.

More UK tips:
• How to visit Stonehenge on a budget 
• When (and when not) to tip in Britain
• A London seaside escape: A low-cost guide to Margate

Oxford budget tips

What’s the downside? Well, because of its popular attractions and proximity to London, Oxford is not always a cheap city to visit. But we’ve pulled together a few tips so you don’t have to lose out and to help make a stay a bit more affordable.

How to get there

Oxford is well served by public transport. You can take the airline bus from Heathrow (£23 single) or Gatwick airport (£28 single) directly to Oxford. Services run throughout the night too.

If you are traveling from London, there are regular trains from Paddington station, which take about an hour. However, a cheaper option is to take a bus. The Oxford Tube picks up from Victoria, Marble Arch, Notting Hill and Shepherd’s Bush, while the X90 picks up from Victoria, Marble Arch and Baker Street. Both take around 1 hour 40 minutes and cost around £15 for a round-trip ticket.

When to go

Oxford is charming all year round. But, for the cheapest deals, try and avoid the boom months of July and August and, whenever you go, book your hotel well ahead of time.

What to see

The great news for budget travelers is that Oxford historic center is best explored on foot. There’s a lot of pleasure to be had from wandering its twists and turns. Keep your eyes open for the Bridge of Sighs, so named because of its supposed resemblance to the Venetian original.

Free walking tours
Learn more about Oxford by taking one of the free walking tours available from Footprint Tours. Running several times every day of the summer months, they take about two hours. Even better: once finished you get a sticker entitling you to discounts in several Oxford places.

Visiting the colleges
Another must-see is the colleges that form Oxford University and give the city its unique feel. With 38 in total, you’ll never see them all, so pick carefully. Only some colleges allow entry to tourists and many charge admission. Christ Church is the most well-known — especially as its dining hall and grand stairs inspired the look of Hogwarts in the Harry Potter films — but it’s also the most expensive to visit, costing £10 entrance at peak times (July and August).

If you want to get a sense of an Oxford college, but aren’t so fussed about which, All Soul’s, Corpus Christi and Lincoln College are all free to enter and have gorgeous buildings and grounds. You can see a full list of colleges, opening hours and charges here.

Books, books, and more books
The Bodleian Library is one of Oxford’s star attractions and a bibliophile’s dream, containing over 11 million printed items. You need to take a tour to enter, however, and a standard 60-minute tour is £9, with no concessions available. Taking the 30-minute ‘mini’ tour for £5 instead is a slight saving or you can upgrade for a 90-minute tour for£15. All tours are first come, first served.

Missed out on the Bodleian? Booklovers can seek consolation in Blackwell’s bookshop. It stocks over 200,000 titles – browsing is free, but we won’t be accountable for the amount spent on books!

Visiting free museums
A boon for budgets travelers is Oxford’s excellent free museums. The Ashmolean Museum has an amazing collection, spanning everything from Anglo-Saxon discoveries to modern Chinese art. For a more esoteric experience, check out the Pitt Rivers Museum, a unique collection of archeological and anthropological items. Modern Art Oxford caters for more contemporary tastes.

Where to eat

Head to the city’s historic covered market for top budget eats. There you’ll find Pieminister selling deliciously filling British pies. A traditional steak and ale treat costs £5; sides such as mashed potato and mushy peas are extra.

Order up a pie with minty peas, mash and gravy from Pieminister. Photo: Dani Lurie

Another option is the takeaway-only Alpha Bar, where it’s possible to grab lunch for around £5. Specializing in sandwiches and salads, they also have daily warm specials like a tasty-sounding lamb shoulder.

Finally, for those with a sweet tooth, swing by Ben’s Cookies for generous cookies, priced by weight. Warm from the oven, they’re at their best eaten fresh and gooey.

Outside of the market, Mission Burrito has a couple of locations in Oxford, and a satisfying burrito costs under £6. Also worth checking out is The Companion Café and Bread Bar. It’s slightly pricier but does delicious breakfast and sandwiches using the local Natural Bread Company’s own sourdough.

Where to drink

For a drink in a pub that has plenty of stories to tell, seek out the Turf Tavern — its foundations date back to the 13th century and, rumor says it’s where Bill Clinton famously didn’t inhale. The pub itself is a charming, low-ceilinged affair, with a large outside area. With a well-priced selection of drinks and free Wi-Fi, it’s a definite winner.

The Jam Factory’s previous life was as a factory where Frank Cooper’s marmalade was made. It’s now an arts center with its own restaurant and bar and has a happy hour on drink every day from 3 pm until 7 pm. As a bonus, take one of the many classes or even join the scrabble group that meets here regularly.

Where to stay

Just like finding a cheap room in London, Oxford can be a bit tricky to find a good hotel at a good price. But there are several options, from affordable bed and breakfasts to popular hostels with dorm beds and private rooms. Search over 80 hotels in Oxford to find the best rates. Just remember to book as far in advance as possible, as the best deals fill up fast.

A few of our picks include:

Golden Cross Guesthouse
This charming stay is a nice choice for those Cheapos willing to share a kitchen and a bathroom. Select rooms come with views of the city, and the hospitable owners make for a friendly stay.

Lake Street Accommodation
These family-run apartment-style rooms score high with visitors. The neighborhood location puts you close to a lovely footpath when you want some fresh air. A double room with a private bathroom goes for just over $100 per night.

Central Backpackers
If you don’t mind sharing a dorm room, you can stay at this popular hostel for around $20. It’s located in the city center and has a rooftop terrace.

Another way to get a taste of Oxford life is to stay in a college overnight. Many rooms in Oxford colleges are available outside term time, at prices starting at £30 a night. Book in advance and avoid the weekend for the cheapest stay. Check out University Rooms Oxford for more information.

Have you been to Oxford? What are your budget tips?

The post Budget guide for visiting Oxford, England appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

If you’re thinking of making a day trip from London, you have several options, from using a tour company to going on your own. We’ll help you get there, book your admission tickets, tell you how to get up close to the stones, and save a few British pounds along the way.

The cheapest ways to visit Stonehenge

Basics

Address: Wiltshire, England (8 miles north of Salisbury)

Admission: £17.50 (advance booking required)

Hours:
March 16 – May 31: 9:30 am to 7 pm
June 1  – August 31: 9 am to 8 pm
September 1 – October 15: 9:30 am to 7 pm
October 16 – March 15: 9:30 am to 5 pm

What exactly will you see?

Ancient Stonehenge is a mixture of constructions from different periods: an outer circle bank and ditch, and an inner circle of stones, and the distinctive Stone Circle itself, assembled around 2,500 BC. It’s been estimated that it would have taken around 600 people to carry each of these stones (in contrast to the Spinal Tap version!).

No one knows why these stones were assembled like this, but there are all sorts of theories, from it being for healing, burial, or astronomy — along with a few UFO conspiracies thrown in for good measure.

Yes, you will stand behind a rope with many other tourists, unless you get a special after-hour access pass. Photo: Adam P

To protect the site, there’s a rope between visitors and the stones (unless you apply for “special access” or visit at equinox — see below for details on both), but a new visitor center (opened in 2013) provides context to how these stones have been viewed over their thousands of years of history.

Should you go?

Visiting Stonehenge is an easy day trip from London. But, even with the tips below, it’s not super cheap. Furthermore, some visitors are slightly disappointed when they see the stones in real life — mainly becaus ofe the fact that it’s a busy tourist sight can kill the mystical atmosphere somewhat.

Bearing this in mind, I still find it to be a very special place to visit. Even without knowing why it was made, it’s amazing to realize that you’re standing somewhere that has symbolized so much to so many different people over thousands of years, and that it still has secrets waiting to be discovered.

Stonehenge is located southwest of London.

Getting there by coach: The cheapest option

By far the cheapest way to visit Stonehenge from London using public transportation is to go by coach. There are lots of competitive offers for these organized bus tours. Premium is the cheapest coach I’ve found, offering a half-day trip to Stonehenge — including entrance fees — for £53 (£43 ages 3-16). They, like many other tour companies, also offer the visit in a combination trip that also includes visiting Oxford and Bath. This would make for a really busy day but could be worth it if you don’t have much time to spend in the UK.

There is always competitive pricing between coaches, but be sure to check the small print carefully when deciding, and note that some of the coach tours don’t actually include the Stonehenge entrance ticket in their price.

What if I want to make my own way?

It is possible to get to Stonehenge independently, but it can be more expensive and also requires a bit of planning. Read on…

Ticket options

First, you need to book your ticket before you set out for the site. Entrance tickets for adults are £17.50 and must be purchased in advance.

Free admission: Members of English Heritage and National Trust (the national organizations that help manage the site) get in free with their annual membership. At £49 or £58 a year respectively, it’s probably not worth it unless you are a history buff planning on hanging around the UK for a while.

However, an English Heritage overseas visitors pass might be worth it. At £33-35 (depending on the time of year) for nine days, it allows free entry to many of the different historic properties managed by the organization, including Stonehenge.

One of the Stonehenge buses you can take from Salisbury. Photo: Ed Webster

Getting there by train, bus & taxi

To get there using public transportation from London, you’ll first need to book a train to Salisbury and then take a bus or taxi to the site. The train is about a two-hour journey from London’s Waterloo station and will cost about £25-40 per person depending on the date and time of day (book online in advance at thetrainline.com for the best deals).

However, that only gets you to Salisbury, and Stonehenge is located about eight miles away in an isolated spot. The easiest way to make this journey is by bus — the Stonehenge bus costs £15 (entry not included) or for £36.50 you’ll get the transport from Salisbury plus entry to Stonehenge and Old Sarum, a former Iron Age hill fort that was the original site of Salisbury.

If your group includes four or more people, it might be cheaper to share a taxi from Salisbury instead.

Walking is possible, but you need to cross a really busy road en route. If you want to follow in the steps of our ancestors and arrive on foot, see details here for a five-mile circular walk.

In short, this train-and-bus combo (plus ticket price!) all adds up to a more expensive trip than the coach option, and it includes a lot of pre-planning. But Salisbury also has a lovely cathedral, so if you do want to travel independently, it may be worth considering spending a night there instead of heading straight back to London.

Related: Search for cheap hotels in Salisbury

Getting there by car

If you plan to rent a car in the UK, then you don’t have to worry about the bus or train schedules at all. Stonehenge is located about 85 miles southwest of central London and could take two to three hours to make the drive (more during rush hour).

Stonehenge offers free parking for ticket holders on the grounds next to the visitor center. From there, you can catch a 10-minute shuttle ride (frequent departures) that takes you right up to the stones. If you want a little more fresh air, you can also get off the shuttle early, and walk halfway to the site.

Check out this handy map to see the layout of the facilities.

Getting up close to the Stones

During normal visiting hours, you have to view the stones from behind ropes. However, it is possible to get “special access” to go beyond the ropes, when visitors are restricted to only 30 at a time. You can arrange this through coach companies (for a premium price) or book it yourself (using the form here), although you’ll need to apply well in advance.

Remember that if visiting outside normal visitor hours, there will be no access to visitor facilities, including the gift shop and visitor center, and no hot tea after you’ve been out looking at the stones (so wrap up warm!). But that might make the whole experience even more special.

The Solstices: Free admission for all

Another option for visitors looking for easier access to the Stone Circle is to visit on the summer and winter solstices in late June and late December. On these dates, everyone is free to gather at the stones and communally witness the sunset and sunrise. This draws an eclectic mix of pagans, druids, and those who just like to celebrate this freedom. In the summer it can see crowds of up to 35,000 — another reason to work out how you’re getting there well in advance!

Your tips

Have you been to Stonehenge? What are your tips for doing it on the cheap?

The post Budget tips for visiting Stonehenge from London appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

Did we mention that it’s much cheaper than Brighton too?

How to Get There

Getting to Margate is easy on the train from London. Deciding which option is harder. You have two to pick from: get the train from London St Pancras, and it’ll take around 90 minutes and cost you £24.30, or catch it from London Victoria for a fare that’s a couple of pounds cheaper, but takes around 1 hour and 50 minutes. The decision is probably best decided on where in London you are coming from.

When to Go

While there’s a certain charm to be found in visiting a British seaside resort in the winter, you have to look pretty hard for it. Stick to the summer when everything will be open and you may, just possibly, want to brave a paddle in the sea.

What to See and Do

Dreamland

Part of the current excitement around Margate is down to “Dreamland”, an amusement park dating back to 1880, that reopened this year after a long campaign and restoration program. The park celebrates the history of the sight, with vintage rides and games – the pinnacle will be when the 1920 wooden Scenic Rollercoaster opens later in 2015.

Visiting isn’t cheap, but booking in advance online will save you 15% on the £17.95 entrance fee. You can still play on their traditional Penny slot machines without paying to enter the park (although keep an eye on how many pennies you lose!).

Turner Contemporary Art Gallery

Another great, relatively recent addition to the town, The Turner Contemporary art gallery opened in 2011. Situated on the seafront, it takes its name from being on the site where the painter Turner used to stay when visiting Margate.

The gallery holds temporary exhibitions and events and is also entirely free, making it a must-see on any itinerary. It also benefits from inspiring sea views and a rather nice café, too.

Vintage and antique shopping

Margate is a bargain hunter’s paradise, packed full of shops selling second-hand goods at very reasonable prices. While you’ll find a more curated (i.e. more expensive) selection in the Old Town, for a real rummage head to R G Scott Furniture Mart, housed in an old Ice Works: There are three floors of bounty to search through.

The beach

And, of course, no visit to a seaside town would be complete without a trip to the beach. Margate’s long, golden sandy beach is still a draw – especially as it offers all the seaside attractions you can ask for, from water sports to ice cream. Just a shame it can’t guarantee year-round sunshine too.

Literary lovers may want to keep an eye out for the Nayland Rock shelter, which is on the seafront. This is where TS Eliot wrote his first draft of The Waste Land, while staying in the town in 1921. (And worth seeking out in case of rain!)

Shell Grotto 

This is one of Margate’s peculiar mysteries: 70 ft of winding, underground passages covered in more than four million shells. The Shell Grotto was discovered in 1835 and has been intriguing visitors ever since – no one knows who created it and what for.

Entrance is only £3.50 (£3 for Students) so it’s well worth visiting to decide on your own theory.

Where to Eat and Drink

Peter’s Fish Factory

The quintessential meal for every British trip to the sea is, of course, fish and chips. You’ll easily spot Peter’s Fish Factory on the seafront as the queue can snake out the door. And with good reason – their chips were voted the best in Kent earlier this year. Eat them while sitting overlooking the beach (or even on the beach) for the proper experience.

Great British Pizza Co

There are a few alternatives to fish and chips on offer! Great British Pizza Co. is a great one: a small pizzeria that wins rave reviews for its thin crusts and freshly made sauces and toppings, sourced from small local producers. There are gluten free options too, and all are available for £10 or under.

The Lifeboat 

Want to sample some local ales and cider? Then seek out this pub – that’s their specialty. The Lifeboat will charm less adventurous drinkers too, as their menu offers fantastic value at around £7 to £8 for a main. That’s all locally inspired too, selling the finest sausages and pies, crab, cockles and whelks, to be rounded up with a plate of Kent cheeses. You may even be lucky to hear free music while you eat.

Fort’s Café 

Fortify yourself for the day at Fort’s, a café specializing in breakfast and brunch. It’s the kind of place you dream of stumbling upon, unassuming from the outside but selling classy full English breakfasts, hot chorizo sandwiches, and the likes of a cider braised pigs cheek BLT. It’s great value too – Welsh rarebit oozing with cheese will only set you back £3.

Sommerville Hotel offers Victorian charm just two minutes from the beach. Photo: Booking.com

Where to stay

Unlike some oceanfront destinations in the UK, Margate offers several options for affordable accommodations. You can search over 15 properties in Margate to find the right room at a good price.

We also have a couple favorites that we can recommend:

Somerville Hotel

Book a seaside room at Somerville Hotel that combines Victorian style with modern amenities. It’s a quick walk from the train station and the beach is practically right outside the front door. They offer rooms with water views, flat-screen TVs and free Wi-Fi for £100 or less, depending on the time of year. With such affordable prices, it regularly fills up on summer weekends, so make sure to book in advance.

Sherwood Hotel

This bed and breakfast has seven en suite rooms with plenty of simple, seaside style. A few rooms have balconies with water views, and guests start their day with a homemade English full breakfast. Sherwood Hotel is an excellent deal with rates starting at £65 for a double room in the summer. There is no online booking, but you can call or email them to make reservations.

The post London Seaside Escape: Budget Guide to Margate appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

Southern Railway is currently offering excellent value £10 return train tickets on trains departing from St Pancras, Blackfriars and London Bridge, making a trip to Brighton even easier on the wallet. The cheaper fares are on a slightly longer route (the journey takes up to 1 hour 20 minutes as opposed to 55 minutes), but it’s well worth the extra travel time to save those pounds for an ice cream (or two) on the beach.

You can save even further by taking advantage of the 2for1 offers available to day trippers who travel by train. With a little forward planning, you can download vouchers with reduced entry and special offers for a number of Brighton attractions by claiming your voucher here. When you arrive at the museum / bar / restaurant / attraction of your choice, just present your voucher with your train tickets to take advantage of the deal.

Grab a bite to eat or pick up a few souvenirs in the Lanes. Photo: Iain H

Stroll through the Lanes

When you emerge from Brighton train station you’ll find yourself at the top of a relatively steep hill, which you just need to follow all the way to the bottom to reach the seafront. En route towards the beach, a great first stop is to dip into the Brighton’s famous Lanes, which are packed with quirky shops nestled within the twisting, narrow streets. Straddling either side of the main thoroughfare, North Street, you’ll find endless corners to explore in North Laine and the Lanes, all bursting with antiques, vintage clothes, jewelry, music and juggling shops, as well as lots of coffee shops and really tasty vegetarian cafes.

The dramatic Royal Pavilion is a must-see on any trip to Brighton. Photo: givingnot@rocketmail.com

Explore the Royal Pavilion

Carrying on down towards the sea, you can’t help but stumble across the Royal Pavilion—a building that looks like it might be more at home in India, but yet sits proudly in central Brighton. This original “pleasure palace” was built for the Prince Regent (later King George IV) between 1787 and 1823 as a summer house by the sea. It’s lovely to explore from the outside in the pretty gardens, but if you do want to go inside, be sure to print off your 2for1voucher and present with your train ticket to save on the entry fee.

A panoramic shot of the beach and pier. raindog

Hit the beach

On arriving at Brighton’s enormous pebbly beach, you may well be tempted to make like the rest of us during the Great British Summer and rent a deck chair or lay down your towel and have a paddle in the (icy) water. If the weather isn’t fine enough, there’s plenty to do along the beach, with tons of bars and restaurants serving up everything from traditional fish and chips to fine oysters. A nice spot for lunch is the Brighton Music Hall, with a big outdoor seating area where it’s easy enough to get a table even on a busy day, and free live music to set the summer scene. The food is reasonably priced and the Ocean sharing platter comes highly recommended—it’s big enough for three people and gives you a real taste of the sea!

The pier is packed with amusements and rides for kids and adults alike. Photo: future15

Fun at the pier

And before you take the journey back to London, make sure you leave enough time for some fun and games on Brighton Pier. It may be tacky, but who can say no to candy floss by the beach? Some of the roller coasters and bigger rides at the end of the pier will eat into your budget, but you only need loose change to while away hours in the arcade—air hockey tournament anyone?

The post London Day Trip: Visit Brighton for a low-cost seaside getaway appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

Warwick Castle: A family attraction with a real history

Operated by British visitor attractions giant Merlin Entertainments, Warwick Castle is a family attraction writ large: an extensively renovated castle complex, mostly built in the 14th Century. Unlike Windsor Castle, Warwick Castle was never rebuilt from scratch. For this reason, it’s quite easy to relate to historical eras and architectural details.

The scenic view from the Mound. Photo: Alex Robertson Textor

On my February visit, I started at The Mound, built in 1068 on the orders of William the Conqueror and the oldest component of the castle. Once the most important node in the castle’s defense system, it was long superceded by other elements of the complex. Today, it’s a great place to view the surrounding countryside in its dozens of hues of green after our long, soggy winter.

This is no undiscovered pile of ruins in the countryside, plainly. But while Warwick Castle is slick and entertaining, it’s not soulless. The castle’s focus on entertaining guests is given heft by an organizing commitment to be faithful to history. Accordingly, daily performances are linked to actual events—scheduled duel performances, for example, reenact historically verified sword battles and are not drawn from the figment of a marketer’s imagination.

Looking down from the main tower. Photo: Alex Robertson Textor

Warwick Castle’s long-term owners, the Greville Family, sold the castle to the Tussauds Group in 1978; it was later purchased by Merlin Entertainments. This link yields a certain theatricality to some of Warwick Castle’s exhibits, in particular those depicting a weekend party in 1898 held by Frances Greville, Countess of Warwick. I have to admit that the careful deployment of waxworks among artifacts and props throughout the rooms tied to this exhibit is quite well done.

Happy 1,100th birthday!

2014 is an especially good time to visit Warwick Castle. Two big birthday celebrations will kick off in April. The castle will celebrate its 1,100th birthday with all new shows, while the town of Warwick toasts their big anniversary with festivals, fairs and a St. George’s Day Celebration on April 19.

The architectural details of the Great Hall. Photo: Alex Robertson Textor

Ways to save on admission

Entry is not, on the face of it, mega cheap, but there are some ways to save. Adults pay £25.80 to enter the castle; kids are charged at £21.60 apiece for the castle. Visitors can save money buy purchasing tickets ahead of time. Advance tickets are less expensive than tickets purchased on the day of visit itself. There are discounts of up to 10 percent on tickets purchased between 2 and 6 days in advance of visit; discounts expand up to 20 percent on tickets purchased at least one week prior to visit.

Advance fares from London’s Marylebone Station to Warwick on Chiltern Railways cost £15.

Here’s a tip: arrive in the morning. By early afternoon the castle often gets crowded, especially in the summer.

The post London day trip: History and entertainment at Warwick Castle appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.