The high cost of holiday accommodation in Scotland

[Scoffingbiscuits]

Holiday accommodation is so expensive in Scotland that, despite living in Scotland, we don't even aspire to go away on holiday here except out of season. I know that we could do wild camping, and we've done that on occasion, but it's not really my idea of fun.
We decided to book a short countryside "summer break" in late September, but the prices were still astronomical. So we looked just south of the border (Cumbria) and prices are literally half what they are in Scotland.
I've read somewhere that Edinburgh is now the most expensive place in the world to go on holiday.
I've scoured the holiday accommodation sites. My main discovery is that the cheapest accommodation in Scotland is around Aberdeen airport. That's good to know, but we'd like to explore other areas too. Are we missing something?

It depends what you mean by expensive - what's your budget?

I am Scottish and holiday in Scotland once a year for a week we take our dog it isn't too expensive, i have no idea why there is a spate of anti Scotland posts it is baffiling.

Holiday accommodation is expensive all over the UK

Don't see why it's anti Scottish to make an observation about the cost of holiday accommodation

I mean Edinburgh city will be expensive if you go for a fancier hotel, but "in the world" is a bit of an exaggeration is it not ?

Oh there has been spattering of isn't Scotland terrible posts, over the last few days, and the wording of the posts is a bit Artificial looking.

Parts of Cumbria (mostly the Lake District) are also very expensive. I’m surprised they’re half the price of Scotland though!

My husband works in Fort William and they have a hell of a time getting long-term, reasonable accommodation. Absolute dive hotels are charging £1700+ for 10 nights, when his work allowance is only £47 per night, and that's supposed to include meal allowance!

Ultimately the work guys end up refusing to pay it out themselves and the company is forced to use one of their approved-list hotels which racks it up to well over the £2k mark. It's wild stuff.

It's simple over tourism, spawning from social media and everyone wanting that Instagram pic.

Op where were you looking?

Depends where I think and how high your standards are. Still plenty of Premier Inn rooms for between £45 and £60 a night.

You’d get better value heading south of the border in October holidays. Equally nice places - lakes, n wales - for a lower price due to the difference in school holidays.

Yes, it can be very expensive. A couple of years ago we had a long weekend away, booked about a month in advance. I put my requirements into the main booking sites, for both hotels and holiday lets, and came up with 3, yes 3 places within 3 hrs drive for us that fit the budget!

I try now to book a bit more in advance, but wow.

As for Fort William, we had wanted to go there for the above trip but there was nothing left that I considered reasonable, so the following year I booked 6 months in advance. Still expensive, but we got more choice.

I've been looking pretty much everywhere that has nice countryside. Finding something good value is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Airbnb is astronomically expensive now. The contrast with decent spots in England is striking. We've booked to stay in Cumbria - 2 people, a whole very nice looking house with 2 bedrooms, pets allowed, in a nice little town surrounded by lovely countryside. £80 a night. In Scotland you'd be lucky to get a small glamping shed for that, but we didn't need to search much to find it in Cumbria.

No children, so I only look outside of school holidays. It's still very expensive, though you can find the odd cheaper price if you go very off season, like February, and pretty much search the whole of Scotland.

in many places there is a general shortage of accommodation- which inflates house prices and holiday prices

What kind of budget do you have, per night?
And of course it's nightmare for someone who's booking for one person, as they have to pay the same price as a couple.

I tend to go the other way and look last minute - some people do reduce their prices for last minute bookings.

What is your budget per night?

just had a quick look on holidaycottages.co.uk for 5 nights at the end of September and there are a few at around £100 per night across Scotland. If you book at the end Oct there are more to choose from and they're cheaper.

We go away in our caravan in Scotland or England and the cost is identical for a pitch on a camp site. Scotland is no dearer than England or Wales.

That time as I recall we paid about £360 for two rooms, two nights, about 3 years ago. We usually have a low budget lol. We are out and about during the day and I prefer to spend my money on things other than fancy rooms.

The Fort William trip was over 1k for 3 nights for a 3-bed house, bit of a splurge. There were cheaper places, but they all seemed to have downsides, like 1 loo between 5 people.

We camp for the main part of our Scottish holiday, but the cost difference between our one night Scottish stop over on the way (we live a fair distance from the west of the Highlands) was more than double its English counterpart for the last three years and it has never been anywhere near Edinburgh. Always worth it, but is more expensive in our experience.

I’d be very surprised if Dumfries & Galloway is more expensive than the Lake District which is just around the corner. There are some tourist hotspots and you have a book a long time in advance for some self catering up north but I’m hope that’s because not too much of local housing has been diverted to holiday let’s (but I doubt it).

Edinburgh is mobbed all year round now. I live here and it used to be quiet-ish around February then there would be a vibe of the city “wakening up”. Absolutely not the case now.

Anywhere with one local shop which is a long way from any large centre (100 miles) is going to be be expensive.

£80 is very cheap for Cumbria, you’ve either found a bargain or it’s next door to Sellafield ;)

It was reduced because it's fairly last minute (booked a couple of weeks ahead). But prices are much lower there - it wasn't the only one in that area that was that kind of price. It's in a nice location and has rave reviews.