Coeliac-Safe UK Travel Tips by Stephen McNeight
@thecoeliachiker Stephen McNeight offers his advice for a great coeliac-safe UK travel experience
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GUEST BLOG: Stephen McNeight
Hi, I’m Stephen, also known on Instagram as thecoeliachiker. I travelled to the UK in late March 2026 for a 4-week family visit and hiking adventure. Below is a summary of the amazing time I had and the food I ate. I’m writing this in the hope it will inspire other coeliacs to travel the world and not let this disease stop you from experiencing the joys of travel.
I’d like to start by saying the thoughts expressed below are my experiences, likes and dislikes and in no way diminish anyone else’s preferences or ways in which they like to travel. I choose to have the ethos that I’m not letting food availability limit my traveling options, so most times I don’t plan on eating out.
I choose instead to book accommodation with cooking facilities and plan to cook my own meals the same as I do at home. That’s not to say I don’t eat out; I just consider it a bonus not a limitation on my ability to enjoy my holiday. In hiking terms: “I hike my own hike!”
Sourcing Gluten Free Aeroplane Food
It’s never great, is it? I chose to fly Emirates and while I was provided with GF food, it wasn’t always coeliac safe, tasty or in some cases edible. It mostly consisted of the usual horrible bread roll, dreaded tomato puree sauce and overcooked vegetables. The highlights were the fresh fruit, cheese portions and the one pasty I was served at 3:00am.
This turned out to be GF but on waking up a bit a few hours later, I realised it had a may contain warning, thankfully I didn’t get sick. Lowlights were fish and tomato puree, chicken and tomato puree and this disgusting vegetarian pizza covered in broccoli and olives. I’d still give it a pass mark as you could always eat something and my meals were always served first, with everything being technically GF.
Navigating UK Supermarkets for Coeliac-Safe Brands
As with any of my trips the first point of call was to find the supermarkets. There was a Tesco around the corner, and boy are they good! So many new things on the shelves, in the fridge and freezer sections. Things are clearly marked and sorted into “Free From” sections. This is the same for nearly all supermarkets in the UK and I tried them all. Waitrose, Sainsbury, Morrisons, M&S and CO-OPs. Aldi and Lidl don’t have a designated range anymore and are a real pain to find things in. They do obviously have GF products; it’s just you have to search for them and read labels.
Supermarket highlights included Warburtons crumpets, White Rabbit frozen pizzas, Peppermint Aero bars and an M&S meat pie. Lowlights included BFree bread rolls, Goodfella pizza and certain varieties of sausages containing wheat flour. Also, a side note on potato chips (or crisps as they are known), popular brands like Walkers and McCoy aren’t GF so you need to be careful, quite often store brand ones are however GF.
Food for the Gluten-Free Travel
One of the most enjoyable aspects of traveling in the UK for me was the availability of GF sandwiches at truck stops (Services in the UK) and supermarkets. Most supermarkets have an option and M&S stores at the “services” have GF sandwiches. I ate so many of them as they are usually part of a meal deal where you can get the sandwich, snack of fruit or hardboiled eggs (oh it’s a thing and I loved them!) and a drink, all for less than $10. Admittedly the sandwiches aren’t brilliant as the breads a bit dry but the novelty and ability to eat a quick and cheap meal while travelling is brilliant.
UK’s Gluten Free Restaurant and Café Scene
There are so many options in the UK and often not in places you would expect. The standout places I visited were The Real Food Café in Tyndrum and the Hideaway Café in Linlithgow. Both accredited by Coeliac UK and their food was brilliant. I had fish/chips, bacon/egg rolls, a full Scottish breakfast with black pudding and haggis, haggis loaded fries and an amazing burger.
That seems like a lot, but I did go five times! Another highlight was The Salamander in Bath where I enjoyed a traditional Sunday roast with Yorkshire pudding. The best food I enjoyed was the fish and chips at the Blue Lagoon in Stirling, amazing chips and lightly battered fish. The Find me GF app is a must and always leads you to great restaurants.
Options for Gluten Free Hiking
The UK has a really good hiking culture and therefore there is often a GF option on a lot of their hiking trails. Again, it takes a bit of planning and willingness to prepare your own food, but hey that’s just coeliac life in general, nothing new for us. I purchased GF sausages, sandwiches, fruits/vegetables, a brownie and biscuits - all while on trail and found wings, fish/chips and bacon/egg rolls at cafes and pubs.
Coeliac-Safe UK Conclusions
The UK is an amazing destination for coeliacs with very good allergen knowledge throughout the country, even in regional areas.
There are many upmarket restaurants, bakeries and café’s that get plastered all over social media, but to me that’s not reality for most people on a daily basis, so I’ve chosen to give information about what I think is an achievable option for most travellers.
Hopefully this blog helps and inspires you to travel yourself and not let coeliac disease stop you from experiencing the world!
If you’re ever planning to travel the UK for coeliac-safe options and find yourself in London, we highly recommend linking up with Cate’s GF Tours. As a long time fellow coeliac, Cate knows all the in’s and out’s of England’s capital city and where the top spots are found.
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