United Kingdom — where to go and when
2 destinations covered
Two capitals appear here, and they belong to two different nations inside one state, which is worth understanding before you plan. London is enormous, layered and endlessly specific, a city where a day can be spent in one borough without exhausting it, and where the great national museums charge nothing to enter. Edinburgh is the opposite in scale: a volcanic ridge with a medieval spine along it, a Georgian grid below, and the sea a short bus ride away. Our index reads about a sixth lower than France, which surprises people, but the national average conceals London, where accommodation dominates every budget. The saving is real in Scotland and in the English regions, and largely theoretical in central London. Come for museums, walking, live music and a drinking culture organised around conversation, and plan the sleeping arrangements first because they decide everything else. In London especially, the address you settle on shapes the budget more firmly than any other choice you will make.
When to go
Our figures endorse June, August and September, and the wording matters: this is the least bad weather rather than reliable weather. London is the warmer of the two at 23.5 °C in high summer, against 19.5 °C in Edinburgh, which is cool enough to need a jacket in July. Rain is the constant, falling on 123 days a year in London and 156 in Edinburgh. Winter is mild but dark, with 8.1 °C and 6.9 °C respectively at the coldest.
The places we cover, side by side
| Place | Favourable months | Warmest month, avg. high (°C) | Coldest month, avg. high (°C) | Rainy days a year (≥ 1 mm) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Edinburgh | none | 19.5 | 6.9 | 156 |
| London | June, August, September | 23.5 | 8.1 | 123 |
Figures measured at the weather station nearest each place, then averaged over the warmest and the coldest months of the year — not over a fixed calendar season. Each destination page carries its own month-by-month table, its station and its sample size.
Getting around
London runs on contactless payment across underground, buses, trams and suburban rail, with a daily cap applied automatically, which removes any reason to buy passes in advance. Trains link the two cities in about four and a half hours, cheapest booked weeks ahead and expensive on the day. Edinburgh is walkable end to end, steeply. Airports cluster around London at 12, 23 and 39 km; Edinburgh's sits 10 km out, with a tram running into town.
Budget
Country price level compared with France : −17 %
Price index for restaurants and hotels, France = 1000, from European purchasing power parities. It is a country average: it says nothing about one hotel in particular.
Destinations in United Kingdom
EdinburghEdinburgh gets rain on 156 days a year, against 123 in London, yet the annual total stops at 904.9 mm. The city is wet by frequency, not by…
LondonLondon's reputation for rain does not survive the numbers: 671.7 mm a year, where Rome takes 946.1 mm. What London has is frequency and grey, 123 days with…Frequently asked questions
Why do the free museums not make London cheap?
Because the room does the damage. Permanent collections at the major national museums are free, which is genuinely unusual, and transport is capped daily. But accommodation in central London is among the most expensive anywhere on this site, so the sensible move is to sleep further out on a direct transport line and spend the difference on days rather than nights.
How long should Edinburgh get?
Three days is comfortable for the old and new towns, the castle, the hill walks and a museum or two. The city is small, so a fourth day is best spent leaving it, whether for the coast, the Forth bridges or a train north. Avoid August unless you are there for the festivals, when prices roughly double.
Updated on 21 September 2026