Facts for the Traveler

Visas: EU citizens may live and work free of any immigration controls. Citizens of the USA, Canada, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand are generally allowed to stay six months without a visa
Health risks: None
Time: GMT/UTC or BST (British Summer Time), which is GMT/UTC +1
Electricity: 240V, 50Hz
Weights & measures: Metric (except beer, which is measured in pints)

When to Go

Anyone who spends any extended period of time in England will sympathise with the locals' obsession with the weather, although in relative terms the climate is mild and the rainfall is not spectacular. The least hospitable months for visitors are November to February - it's cold and the days are short. March and October are marginal - there's more daylight but it can still be very cold. April to September are undoubtedly the best months, and this is, unsurprisingly, when most sights are open, and when most people visit. July and August are the busiest months, and best avoided if at all possible. The crowds on the coast, at the national parks, in London and popular towns like Oxford, Bath and York have to be seen to be believed.

Events

For the sporty, the traditional Oxford/Cambridge University Boat Race is held in London on the River Thames in late March; the famous but gruelling Grand National steeplechase takes place at Aintree, Liverpool, on the first Saturday in April; the FA Cup final takes place in May; Lawn Tennis Championships, complete with strawberries & cream and tantrums by major players, take place at Wimbledon in late June; the champagne-quaffing set head for the Henley Royal Regatta at Henley-on-Thames also in June; and the Cowes Week yachting extravaganza pushes off on the Isle of Wight in late July.

Those uninterested in ball games and fast-moving animals should check out the Chelsea Flower Show at London's Royal Hospital in May; the Trooping of the Colour pageantry on the Queen's birthday in London in mid-June; the bacchanalian Glastonbury Festival music extravaganza which swamps Glastonbury's paddocks in June; and the riotous (in the best possible sense) Caribbean carnival in London's Notting Hill in late August.

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