How to Take a UK Road Trip on a Budget

2021 is a great year to take a UK road trip especially so with all of the uncertainty with travelling abroad at the moment. There are so many breathtaking spots to visit here in the UK and a road trip can be an amazing way to go and tick some of them off of your bucket list. Today I want to share a few ways you can plan and take a UK road trip on a budget! 

Plan and set an overall budget and then divide it between the days to create a daily budget

The first thing you should do is create a total, overall budget and then you should divide that budget across however many days you are planning to be on the road trip for. Remember to factor into your budget essential costs such as petrol, accommodation and food.

Plan your route 

There are so many different road trip routes and itineraries to be found online if you are looking for inspiration or if you wish to you can create and plan your own. Planning and finalising your route beforehand will help you set and keep to your budget as you will better be able to work out the costs for accommodation, parking, tolls, food/drink, petrol and any activities you are planning. Remember that if you are planning on sharing the driving with somebody else they will need to be insured to drive your car. You can take out specific cheap temporary car insurance for this. 

Choose cheaper accommodation

Decide on what sort of accommodation you would like to stay in whilst on your road trip. If you're planning on staying in hotels, don't be quick to dismiss cheaper hotels such as service station hotels. We actually took a UK family road trip with our boys in 2018 and we stayed in service station hotels and it was really nice. Another budget option is to camp or even hire a motorhome for the duration of your trip. 

Visit Free historic sites and parks

We're very lucky in that here in the UK we have so many wonderful historic sites, open spaces and parks to visit and a lot of the time these sites can be free to visit. Utilise these free spaces when planning your road trip if you're trying to keep costs down. 

Make use of your memberships

If you have National Trust membership, or any other memberships make use of them when planning your road trip. Plan in days to visit these places whilst you're away to keep costs down.

Avoid toll roads

The cost of toll roads can easily add up to a lot when you're driving for a long time, so try to plan your route to avoid having to pay tolls. Most of the time the alternative routes will be more scenic anyway!  

Keep the cost of food down

Eating out everyday can really add up. Think about how you could keep costs down whilst on your trip. If you're camping, can you take a camping stove or a bbq? Could you stay in an air bnb with cooking facilities to save on food costs? Of course staying in a motorhome is a good option as you will have cooking facilities on board. 

Thank you for reading. 

  Alex xo

*This post is in collaboration with Dayinsure.