16 days in Scotland: Budget (2024)

Truth time. 

For my first flight to Europe I paid $1600. Now, I'm a bit more cautious (and maybe wiser?)  and more open to budget airlines and other ways to save.  For this trip, we spent $670 for each roundtrip ticket to Edinburgh.

Below is our budget for our 16 days in Scotland, before food, gas, and entry fees for castles and museums.  We estimated $2,000 per person.  We are not true budget travelers; we save in some places (like eating PB&J for lunch every day) so that we can splurge in others (like guided boat tours). You could do a two-week road-trip around Scotland for less than $1,500 per person. 

This is just our budget for this trip. If you want to see our very detailed trip report and itinerary, then check out this post. 

Becoming friends with the Highland cows (Heilan Coo) on the Trotternish Peninsula, Isle of Skye, Scotland 

We visited Scotland in 2018, but we’ve updated this blog post to reflect 2024 prices.

Transportation Total: £1,725/$2,283 for 2 people

We're jumping around a lot on this trip, so we're spending much more on transportation that we usually would (and more than you have to if you choose to visit Scotland). 

• Norwegian Air from New York to Edinburgh: £1,014/ $1342 for 2 round trip tickets 

  • meals and checked luggage are both included in LowFare +

  • 2024 Price: You can still find great flight deals from NY to Edinburgh, but Norweigian Air no longer operates from NY.

• ScotRail from Edinburgh to Oban: £60/$80

  • 2024 Price: No change!

• Rental Car with Easy Drive for 1 week: £173/$228

  • We decided a car was necessary to have the independence to pull over any time we want and access more remote spots for hiking and camping. 

  • This includes a one-way fee; we try not to double back when traveling, so we picked up our car in Fort William and dropped it at Inverness.

  • 2024 Price: Rental car costs have increased considerably; 1 week with Easy Drive would now cost £560/$720 (for a one-way rental).

Lerwick, Shetland Islands 

Lerwick, Shetland Islands, Scotland 

Logan Air from Inverness to Sumburgh (Shetland Islands): £129/$170

• We dropped our rental car at the Inverness airport and fly into Sumburgh.  It was a short and economical flight.

• 2024 Price: Flight prices have remained stable with Logan Air; there is no increase here.

• Rental Car: Sumburgh to Lerwick for 4 days: £123/$163

  •  A rental was essential here. There is a bus from the airport to the main town in Lerwick, but again, freedom to do what we want is important to us. 

  • 2024 Price: I would expect to pay double the cost for a rental car in the Shetland Islands.

• Northlink Ferry from Lerwick (Shetland Islands) to Aberdeen: £225/$300

  • This also includes one night of accommodation, dinner, breakfast, and beverages. There are many cheaper options, but we decided to splurge for a new experience.  Plus, this brought us back down to the coast and allowed us to take the train and bus the rest of the way to Edinburgh. 

Accommodations Total: £815/ $1,078  for 15 nights

• Tent Camping: Average: £25/$34 per night 

  • £75/$100 for 3 nights of paid camping

  • 1 free night of wild camping (we ended up finding a hostel for £20 instead)

  • Camping is always the cheapest way to travel, and when we rent a car, it's easy to bring minimal gear.  

  • Our favorite camping spot was Glenmore Campsite which sits near Loch Morlich and is an easy drive to Aviemore.

• Wigwams: Average: £50/$66 per night

  • £150/$211 for 3 nights of accommodations

  • A step up from tent camping, we booked Wigwams with Wigwam holidays when we were close to the water to keep warm.  Plus most have access to bathrooms and a kitchen. (We loved these accommodations so much that we plan on going back and spending weeks on the Isle of Skye in a Wigwam on Shulista Croft.)

• B&B Average: £71/$100 per night 

  • This may be surprising, but booking directly with smaller BnBs usually pays off.  They have free breakfast, and for this trip, they are cheaper than AirBnB.  We use Booking.com and/or guidebooks for reviews before making our reservations.

  • £160/$211 for 2 nights in Oban- breakfast included

  • £124/$190 for 2 night in St. Andrews- breakfast included 

• AirBnB: Average: £102/$135

  • We use AirBnB for unique accommodations, when we are staying outside of major towns, or when hotels in the city are too pricey. It's not the first place we look, but for Edinburgh, AirBnB offered the best prices for staying in the Old Town. 

  • £234/$310 for 2 nights in Edinburgh

  • £72/$95 for 1 night in Lerwick  

Activities: £490/$650

• These are our pre-planned activities.  The cost will go up once we are in Scotland, but these are places we chose to spurge a little bit to make sure we did not miss out on our must-do activities.

• Three Isles Tour- Inner Hebrides- with West Coast Tours  £130/$180 for 2ppl

• Canyoning/ abseiling with G2 Outdoor Adventure £110/$145 for 2ppl 

• Seakayaking in the Shetland Islands £90/$120 for 2ppl (This was cancelled due to poor weather). 

• Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo: £160/$212 for 2ppl (This was worth every penny.)

Read more about what should be on your bucket list if you visit Scotland. 

Want to develop your own itinerary? Here’s exactly what we did over 16 days in Scotland. 

Details from our trip to Oban, Mull, Staffa, Iona, the Glenfinnan Viaduct (also known as the Harry Potter Bridge).

A recap of our abseiling/ canyoning tour with G2 Adventures in Aviemore. Shot on GoPro.

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We visited Scotland in 2018, but we’re still traveling the world.

Read up on our recent adventures.