All countries / United Kingdom / London vs Edinburgh

London vs Edinburgh

The short answer

Edinburgh is the cheaper trip, by roughly 26% a day — $130–210 against $180–280 mid-range per person. Both London and Edinburgh are at their best in May–Sep, so one trip can take in both.

Is London cheaper than Edinburgh?

No: Edinburgh is about 26% cheaper than London per day, at $130–210 against $180–280 for a mid-range traveller.

A cheap local meal costs much the same in both: $10–18 in London, $9–15 in Edinburgh.
A mid-range hotel night starts about 26% lower in Edinburgh ($140–240) than in London ($190–320).
A single transit ride starts about 24% lower in Edinburgh ($2.80) than in London ($3.70).

Side by side

London and Edinburgh side by side, mid-range per person in US dollars, both costed the same way (how we work these out).

	🇬🇧 London	🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Edinburgh
Daily budgetmid-range, per person	$180–280	$130–210cheaper
Cheap meallocal staple	$10–18	$9–15
Mid-range hotelper night	$190–320	$140–240cheaper
Transit ridesingle trip	$3.70	$2.80cheaper
Avg. monthly salarylocal, for context	≈ $3,700	≈ $3,100

What 3 and 7 days cost in London and Edinburgh

Trip, per person	London	Edinburgh
3 daysmid-range	$540–840	$390–630
7 daysmid-range	$1,260–1,960	$910–1,470
3 daysbudget	$330–510	$240–390
7 daysbudget	$770–1,190	$560–910

Over a full week London costs about $420 more per person than Edinburgh — roughly two extra mid-range days in Edinburgh for the same money.

Against local wages, one mid-range visitor day costs about 6% of an average monthly salary in London (≈ $3,700) and 5% in Edinburgh (≈ $3,100).

The cheapest beds listed are $35–63 a night in London (Hostel dorm) against $28–57 in Edinburgh (Hostel dorm), while the top tier starts around $506 in London and $316 in Edinburgh.

Per person and before flights, from each guide's daily budget, which already includes a mid-range room; budget rows use the guides' 60% budget scale.

When to go

Filled months are the ones each guide recommends; hollow ones it warns off.

London

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May–Sep

Edinburgh

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May–Sep

Month by month
Month	London	Edinburgh
January	Avoid	Avoid
February	Avoid	Avoid
March	So-so	So-so
April	So-so	So-so
May	Good	Good
June	Good	Good
July	Good	Good
August	Good	Good
September	Good	Good
October	So-so	So-so
November	So-so	Avoid
December	Avoid	Avoid

Both London and Edinburgh are in season in May–Sep, the window for a trip that takes in both.

The London and Edinburgh guides both warn off Dec–Feb, so plan a first trip to either outside those months.

Which one suits you

🇬🇧 Pick London over Edinburgh for

Museums & galleries, which only the London guide lists against Edinburgh: British Museum (the Rosetta Stone, the Parthenon marbles, and about two million years of everything else).
Theater & shows, which only the London guide lists against Edinburgh: Shakespeare's Globe (Shakespeare as it was staged in 1600, in a faithful open-air reconstruction on the…).

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Pick Edinburgh over London for

Stretching a budget: a day in Edinburgh runs about 26% less than in London.
Sights & walks, which only the Edinburgh guide lists against London: Edinburgh Castle (the fortress on the volcanic crag that explains the whole city).
Pubs & whisky, which only the Edinburgh guide lists against London: The Bow Bar (a one-room Old Town institution with ~400 whiskies, proper cask ale, and no music,…).

One day in London against one day in Edinburgh

Morning: in London, the British Museum at opening; in Edinburgh, Edinburgh Castle at opening, before the Royal Mile fills up, and stay for the One O'Clock Gun if your timing lands.
Midday: in London, Borough Market for lunch, remembering it is closed on Mondays; in Edinburgh, down the Royal Mile on foot, with a detour to Victoria Street and a hog-roast roll from Oink.
Afternoon: in London, the South Bank on foot: Tate Modern, Shakespeare's Globe, and the river path west towards Westminster; in Edinburgh, Holyrood at the bottom of the Mile, then up Calton Hill for the view back over everything you just walked.
Evening: in London, a West End show on a same-week seat from the TKTS booth in Leicester Square, or a pint at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese off Fleet Street; in Edinburgh, the Bow Bar for whisky, then Sandy Bell's if there are musicians in, which there usually are.

Slot by slot from each guide's one-day plan; the full London and Edinburgh itineraries go to five days.

What you'd actually do

A few of each guide's picks, one per category before seconds — the full lists are on the guides themselves.

🇬🇧 London

Two thousand years of city stacked on itself — Roman walls under glass towers, world-class museums that cost nothing, and a pub on every corner that's older than your country.

British Museum$Museums & galleries
Shakespeare's Globe$Theater & shows
Borough Market$$Markets & food
Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese$Nightlife
Tate Modern$Museums & galleries

Full London guide →

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Edinburgh

A castle on a dead volcano, a medieval Old Town stacked ten storeys deep, and a hill in the middle of the city you can climb before breakfast. Compact, dramatic, and best in the rain-then-sun light Scotland does daily.

Edinburgh Castle$$Sights & walks
The Bow Bar$Pubs & whisky
Oink$Restaurants
Arthur's Seat$Sights & walks
Sandy Bell's$Pubs & whisky

Full Edinburgh guide →

Practicalities

	London	Edinburgh
Language	English — though a quarter of a million Londoners speak something else at home first.	English, with a Scots lilt you'll tune into by day two. Gaelic appears on signs but you won't need it.
Currency	Pound sterling (£). US$1 ≈ £0.79	Pound sterling (£). US$1 ≈ £0.79 — Scottish banks print their own notes; they're normal pounds
Power	Type G plugs, 230V — the big three-pin ones; nothing else fits	Type G plugs, 230V
Tap water	Safe everywhere — restaurants must give you free tap water if you ask	Safe and excellent — Scotland is proud of it

Time zone, Emergency are the same in London and Edinburgh; see either guide for the details.

Getting between London and Edinburgh

What the Edinburgh guide says about reaching London:

Edinburgh also pairs naturally with London — the train between them is 4.5 hours city-center to city-center.
Either the Highlands properly, which deserves a full day rather than a squeezed one, or the train south: it is four and a half hours city center to city center to our London guide.

Staying, getting around, money and safety in London and Edinburgh

First-timers usually base themselves in South Bank / Southwark or Covent Garden & Soho in London, and in Old Town or New Town in Edinburgh.

Tipping differs: in London, Restaurants add a 10–12.5% 'service charge' to the bill, and since 2024 the law says it must reach the staff — pay it and you're done; in Edinburgh, 10% at restaurants if service isn't already added, nothing at the bar, round up a taxi.

The London guide warns about 5 scams (Phone snatchers on e-bikes, Three-card monte and cup games, Fake charity clipboards), the Edinburgh guide about 3 (Festival ticket resellers, Tartan-tat pricing, August accommodation bait-and-switch).

Arriving: in London, from Heathrow: the Elizabeth line, ~35 min to the center for £13.90 — the £25 Heathrow Express saves only a few minutes; the Piccadilly line is the £5.60 slow-and-cheap option; in Edinburgh, the tram runs airport → Princes Street in ~35 min for £8.50; the Airlink 100 bus is similar money and drops at Waverley.

Day to day, the London guide covers getting around by the Tube & buses, taxis & apps and on foot, the Edinburgh guide by on foot, buses & trams and Day trips.

On cash and cards, the London guide says London is almost cashless: contactless card or phone works for everything from the Tube to a market stall, and plenty of places no longer accept cash at all, while the Edinburgh guide says contactless card or phone covers everything, buses included.

For mobile data in London, an eSIM (Airalo and friends, ~$15 for two weeks) or a giffgaff/Three PAYG SIM (£10–20) covers a trip; coverage is excellent and the Tube now has 4G/5G on most central lines; in Edinburgh, Same as the rest of the UK: an eSIM or a £10–20 PAYG SIM covers a trip, and coverage in the city is excellent (the Highlands are another story — download maps before a day trip).

On safety, the London guide's verdict is “London is a safe big city with one modern exception worth taking seriously: phone snatching by riders on e-bikes, who pluck phones from hands at the curb in a second” and the Edinburgh guide's is “One of the safest cities of its size in Europe — the genuine hazards are cobblestones, steep closes in the rain, and overcommitting on the whisky.”