The four nations: what is the same and what differs

What is the same

The UK has one entry system: see entry requirements. Emergency calls also work the same way everywhere. 999 is the UK's emergency number and 112 reaches the same service; GOV.UK says calls to 999 and to the police non-emergency number 101 are free.^2,3,4

What differs is who runs services. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved governments. England has no devolved legislature or government of its own and is run from Westminster.¹ For a visitor, the practical effect shows up in health care, public holidays and a few laws, below.

Health care

The NHS pages for visitors are written for England and say that rules may differ in Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland.⁵ For the detail see health and safety. For urgent advice that is not an emergency, the nation matters:

Public holidays by nation

GOV.UK publishes separate bank holiday lists for England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Some days, such as Christmas Day, are shared. Others apply to one nation only.⁹ Dates below come from the same data (our copy in src/data/bank-holidays.json), from Sun, Oct 25, 2026 to Fri, Dec 31, 2027. Confirm on GOV.UK before you plan around a date.

• Scotland lists days that England and Wales do not in this period: St Andrew’s Day, January 2.
• Northern Ireland lists days that England and Wales do not in this period: St Patrick’s Day, Battle of the Boyne (Orangemen’s Day).

GOV.UK's page does not say which shops, attractions or transport services open on bank holidays. Check each venue.⁹

Languages on signs

• Wales: road signs in Wales are in Welsh and English, and since 2016 new signs show Welsh first.¹⁰
• Scotland: bilingual signs are being introduced in Gaelic-speaking regions of the Highlands and Islands, and some direction signs on the Outer Hebrides are in Gaelic only. Scotland's Scottish Languages Act 2025 names Gaelic and Scots as official languages alongside English.¹¹
• Northern Ireland: many councils use Irish alongside English, and some also use Ulster Scots. Irish signs are contested in some communities.¹²

Drink and driving

GOV.UK says the drink-drive limits in Scotland are different from the rest of the UK. As the page gives them, the breath limit is 35 microgrammes per 100 ml in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and 22 in Scotland; the blood limit is 80 mg per 100 ml, and 50 in Scotland.¹³ The only safe approach if you are driving is not to drink.

On buying alcohol, GOV.UK says that under 18s may not buy it, with rules for 16 and 17 year olds who are accompanied at a meal. The page names no differences between the nations.¹⁴

Banknotes

Only the Bank of England issues banknotes in England and Wales. In Scotland and Northern Ireland, six banks (three in each) can also issue their own, and by law must hold assets at least equal to the value of the notes they have in circulation.¹⁵

Wikipedia says Scottish and Northern Irish notes are not legal tender anywhere, are usually accepted elsewhere in the UK, and are sometimes refused by retailers who are unfamiliar with them.¹⁶ We could not read a UK Finance page on this (the address we tried returned 404), and the Bank of England page does not address acceptance. If you are heading to England with Scottish or Northern Irish notes, spend them before you go or ask before you hand one over, and pay by card if a shop declines.

Customs and cash

Customs allowances depend on whether you arrive in Great Britain or Northern Ireland.¹⁷ The cash declaration threshold is also different in Northern Ireland, and only arrivals from Great Britain into Northern Ireland need a declaration.¹⁸ Details are on our entry requirements page.

Transport

• Great Britain: National Rail calls itself the official source for trains in Great Britain, with a journey planner and live departures.¹⁹ Our getting between regions page links journeys we could source.
• Wales: Transport for Wales sells train tickets and lists bus information.²⁰
• Scotland: ScotRail's website refused automated access, so we have not read it and state nothing from it. Check it for Scottish rail services: scotrail.co.uk (opens in new tab).²²
• Northern Ireland: Translink's site is titled Bus and Train NI.²¹ Check it for timetables.
• London: see our transport guide for Oyster and contactless.

Our guides by nation

These are the destinations we have built so far. Large parts of each nation have no Britlens guide yet: see what we cover and what comes next.

England

• Bath
• Birmingham
• Blackpool and the Lancashire coast
• Brighton & Hove
• Bristol
• Cambridge
• Canterbury & Kent
• Cornwall
• Coventry
• Devon
• Gloucester
• Hereford
• Ironbridge Gorge
• Isles of Scilly
• Leeds
• Leicester
• Lincoln
• Lindisfarne (Holy Island)
• Liverpool
• London
• Lundy
• Manchester
• Newcastle and Gateshead
• Norfolk and the Broads
• Nottingham
• Oxford
• Portsmouth and Southampton
• Salisbury & Stonehenge
• Sheffield
• Shrewsbury
• Stratford & Warwickshire
• The Cotswolds
• The Jurassic Coast
• The Lake District
• The New Forest
• The Peak District
• The South Downs
• Windsor
• Worcester
• York
• Yorkshire

Scotland

• Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire
• Edinburgh
• Glasgow
• Islay and Jura
• Isle of Arran
• Isle of Bute
• Mull and Iona
• North Coast 500
• Orkney
• Shetland
• St Andrews and Fife
• Stirling and the Trossachs
• The Outer Hebrides
• The Scottish Highlands

Wales

• Anglesey
• Cardiff
• Llangollen and Pontcysyllte
• Wales

Northern Ireland

• Northern Ireland

Also: first time in Britain, essentials, entry requirements and health and safety. Facts on this page were read on Oct 25, 2026.