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?

We have just booked Premier Inn in Stirling, for 19th - 24th December and it was about £250.00. Didnt think that was bad for the time of year.

Is that £50 a night for 2 people? Good price. It's probably is a cheap time, though. Prices go up between Christmas and New Year.

My daughter and family were looking for 4 nights in a cottage in our town in August - cheapest was £1200 which we thought was extortionate fof a very ordinary place.

St Christophers hostels do single sex, there's a few in London/rest of UK, and elsewhere in Europe.
I actually choose mixed sex because they're bigger dorms so its cheaper!

Perthshire?

It Would be great if slightly fewer people came tbh 😅

The west coast is ridicuous for not very nice accommodation. We had a holiday in Angus a couple of years ago because it was half the price of the west coast. More to do as well.

Edinburgh is expensive even outside peak season. However we’ve had some excellent value Scottish breaks this year - a cabin near Dingwall in August for around £100 per night, a week in Braemar in june in a 2 bed house around £800 and a long weekend in Aberdeenshire - admittedly everything was frozen over as it was January, but will give it a go at a different time of year.

I would say it’s easier to find good value than the Lake District, which we also visit quite often.

We are just back from 4 nights in Uist, the house was £1300 and slept 8 which I didn’t think was too bad. Although I guess maybe the islands are less popular than mainland highlands for holidays!

A Premier Inn in Inverness is about £200 a night in the summer.. it is much the same as a night in Edinburgh!

I wouldn’t even attempt a trip to Skye because prices there are just so insanely high and everywhere is booked up months and months in advance. Driving through Skye was so busy and it was honestly 80% rental cars, campervans and foreign cars. I’d be so frustrated if I lived there.

Yep we always say we fancy Scotland for afew days, check it out and then decide it’s wildly expensive for very mediocre quality in a lot of cases compared to other places in UK, so never end up going, I agree with you OP

If you want a cheaper holiday in Scotland don't go to the west coast or Edinburgh. There's lots to see elsewhere and it's all beautiful (FWIW I far prefer Perthshire to the Highlands but maybe I'm scarred from long drives down the A9 before it was upgraded.).

The last time I booked a Premier class it was 140£ for one night! That was a family room, nothing special, no breakfast included, at Newbridge. And we had to leave at 4am for a flight 🙄.

Same. We asked a lady about her available holiday cottage for just myself and DH.

she wanted >£1500 for after 4pm on the Monday until 10am on the Fri.

This was not a spectacular / high end / one of a kind / designer place. Clean and neat, yes but >£1500 for essentially 4 nights & 3 days

we were cheaper going AI abroad for a week.

Scotland is cheap compared to Cornwall, that’s really expensive. I’ve just booked in Scotland £400 for 5 nights including hot tub, no dogs though

Edinburgh airport hotels have always been pricey - more so since Edinburgh became a very popular international holiday destination.

No, house swaps are not covered by STL legislation.

Section 3.3 of the Guidance for Hosts & Operators states that "No licence is required where home-swapping is not in the course of business".