When you head on your travels, are you desperate to tick off every historical landmark, art gallery, and museum? Or do you rush to the nearest bar for a Negroni, and watch the world from the comfort of a piazza or pub? Well, if you choose your BnB’s based on the proximity to cocktails, not culture, then we’ve found the perfect getaway for you. Researchers have carefully planned a route through the UK, stopping off at the top 100 gin bars across the country (according to TripAdvisor) - and you can sample every one in just under five days.
Reckon you could complete the map?
You can pick up the tour anywhere, but starting off at St Ives is suggested, and you can tick off 40 towns and cities through your trip. In total, the travel cost (petrol and a ferry over to the final destination in Northern Ireland) is £601.60, but this doesn’t include accommodation expenses. Plus, if you’re sampling gin at 100 spots, we definitely don’t recommend hopping straight back in the car, for obvious reasons. But hypothetically, if you were to zoom round the United Kingdom at the same time, the entire trip would take four days, 19 hours, and 11 minutes. So we’d suggest finding a friend who’s doing Sober October, propose a ‘nice long weekend getaway’, hide the atlas, and only mention your first stop when you’re halfway up the motorway.
London alone is a busy stop - perhaps Londoners can try their whole city first, before committing
The cost of a gin and tonic at every single stop would cost an additional £827.29 - which may seem a little steep if you’re based outside of London, but the most expensive G&T comes in at a staggering £14, at The Gin Palace, Strand Hotel. We’d hope there’s a sprinkling of gold over the slice of lime, at least. The cheapest is just £3.30 at The Butcher and Tonic in Lancaster. So maybe, if you’re wanting to save funds, just head there for five days instead?
Evil Eye is a popular cocktail bar in York - and even has a world record
If you successfully complete the crawl, you’ll have ticked off some pretty amazing spots in the UK gin scene (which is definitely a thing). For example, Evil Eye in York holds the Guinness World Record for selling the most amount of gins in the bar - with a whopping 1,026 to choose from. That’s nearly /three/ years of trying one per day (no wonder it’s a popular University town…).
MORE: If you don't fancy a whistle-stop tour of the country, get a taste of Yorkshire with this TEA gin
So, who’s opting to hire a car and complete the ultimate gin bar crawl for your next holiday? Or perhaps arranging it for your next hen do? It still comes in cheaper than a week in Las Vegas, after all.
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