The country might be small but it holds a lot of history, fame and culture, don’t be surprised that the British accent changes every 16 miles. People who come over to the United Kingdom can find it hard to learn the quirks and idiosyncrasies and pronunciations, road rules and the drinking culture can be strange but its a lovely nation with lots of history to explore.

The United Kingdom is made up of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. England is also the site of Neolithic Stonehenge, Bath’s Roman spa and centuries-old universities at Oxford and Cambridge and birthplace of Shakespeare and The Beatles.

Entry Requirements

Your passport or identity card will be checked when you arrive at a UK port or airport to make sure you’re allowed to come into the country. It must be valid for the whole of your stay. More Information can be found at the UK Government website.

Check if you need VISA to enter the United Kingdom

Safety and Security

Visiting the United Kingdom is fairly safe and really nothing to worry about. The United Kingdom benefits from low crime rates and very effective emergency services.

Visiting any public spaces, you will find a lot of CCTV cameras overlooking the public and if any crime did happen, you could easily report it to the police with no hassle and health care is free so no need to worry about injuring yourself.

Just use your common sense when visiting any country and respect the cultural and keep your belonging to yourself.

Best Time to visit the United Kingdom

London is most heavily touristed in the late spring and summer months when the weather is warm and kids are off school and during the December rush of shopping and seasonal activities. London can be visited at any time of year, as it has a mild climate and extreme weather is rare.

Northern Ireland has relatively warm temperatures, but wet and windy conditions. In the summer months expect the weather to be between 10°- 18°C. Temperatures are highest between June and August and pleasant in April and September.

England boasts the warmest temperatures in the United Kingdom with July and August being the hottest months. summers rarely get very hot and the winters don’t get very cold, expect the weather to be between 11°-20° degrees on average.

Wales weather is similar to Northern Ireland, In the summer months expect the weather to be between 10°C-17°C and 2°C-6°C during winter.

Scotland weather during June and August in the south of Scotland average between 11°-19°C and in the winter it’s between 1°C-7°C.

Language

The United Kingdom has a number of languages, English is woken everywhere as the main language, however, some parts of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland Speak their own language: Welsh, Scottish and Irish. But don’t worry about learning the languages, English is spoken everywhere.

There are 11 indigenous languages spoken across the British Isles: 5 Celtic, 3 Germanic, and 3 Romance. Over 300 languages are currently spoken in London.

Travelling around the country

Travelling around the United Kingdom is fairly simple, just rent a car and you can go just about anywhere using the motorway to visit different cities and towns, London and Birmingham are only 2 and a half hours away, driving from the second city Birmingham to Scottish Capital Edinburgh will take you around 5 hours.

Britain’s National Rail network is one of the largest in the world and over 2,500 passenger railway stations on the National Rail Network not including the London underground, you can travel just about in the United Kingdom using the rail system. The Map below shows how far you can travel using the rail network.

Money

The currency in the United Kingdom is the Pound sterling (£) which can be withdrawn from all ATMs. The United Kingdom is a safe place when it comes to fraud, so don’t worry about using ATM’s that are not installed inside a bank, however, we would still highly recommend using the ATMs at banks.

Scotland and Nothern Ireland Have their own currency “Scottish Pound” and ” Northern Ireland Pound” you can spend Scottish & Irish money anywhere in the UK as it is a legal tender denominated and backed by sterling, the currency of bank of England.

Places to avoid

Lewisham in South-East London has the highest murder rate in the country, so I would highly recommend not going there at night.

West Yorkshire is the most dangerous place to live in England and Wales.

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