Yostkj

It seems that my first attempt of an itinerary was a bit too zealous , given travel times and proper time to explore. Feedback is greatly appreciated.

I arrive in London and if I planned a day to recover from travel, I'll have 16 days to explore England, Wales and Scotland (by car or train) prior to flying to Ireland for 6 days in Kinsale, Ireland. I plan to take day trips via car from Kinsale and fly out of Dublin.

I have absolutely NO idea what is realistic to expect to see. I can skip Wales (many forums suggest) if necessary. I like the idea of using a handful of spots as a base to take day trips from. What if we were to leave from London (after a few days) and make our way up to Scotland and fly from Edinburgh to Dublin?

I really don't want to spend more than 3-4 nights in London because we would like to explore other parts. We love history, landscape beauty and architecture (in that order) & would like to avoid the overrated places (Don't need to see the Downtown Abbey).

Anyone have any ideas about the following itinerary? There are two open days that can be filled in anywhere.

September 4 Arrive LONDON, sleep LONDON
September 5: LONDON
September 6: LONDON
September 7: LONDON (day trip?)
September: 8 Travel STONEHENGE/BATH, sleep BATH
September 9: Travel COTSWOLDS, sleep BATH
September 10: Travel OXFORD, sleep STRATFORD-UPON-AVON
September 11: Travel WARWICK, sleep STRATFORD-UPON-AVON
September 13: Travel YORK, sleep YORK
September 14: sleep YORK
September 15: Travel EDINBURGH, sleep EDINBURGH
September 16: Day Trip, sleep EDINBURGH
September 17: sleep EDINBURGH
September 18: Open
September 19: Open
September 20: Travel to Kinsale for 6 days & fly out from Dublin

janisj

Just my initial thoughts:

>>September 7: LONDON (day trip?)<<

You already have little enough time in London so I wouldn't take a day trip out if the city. You could do a half day trip to Hampton Court Palace (basically IN London) or Windsor.

>>September: 8 Travel STONEHENGE/BATH, sleep BATH
September 9: Travel COTSWOLDS, sleep BATH
September 10: Travel OXFORD, sleep STRATFORD-UPON-AVON
September 11: Travel WARWICK, sleep STRATFORD-UPON-AVON<<

This part has you all over the place. The Cotswolds are a large area . . . and most of it is quite a long ways from Bath. Only for the southern fringes of the Cotswolds would a base in Bath make sense. And on the other end -- Stratford-upon-Avon/Warwick are just north of the Cotswolds. Oxford is closer to the Cotswolds than it is to either Bath or Stratford. So maybe consider something like: From London, pick up car at LHR drive to Stonehenge in the AM, and on to Bath in the early afternoon. Explore Bath that afternoon. Next day drive to Oxford and explore til mid/late afternoon (Don't drive into Oxford -- use the park and ride lot and take a bus into the city) -- then drive to a base in the norther Cotswolds to sleep for 3 nights. Someplace like Chipping Campden can be a great base for all of the Cotswolds and Stratford/Warwick.

For the 13th thru 17th if what you want to see are York and Edinburgh, you don't need a car at all. They are easier by train. . . . BUT there is a lot to see/do in between so I'd use Sept.13, 14 for York, Sept 15,16,17 for Northumberland and the Borders, Sept 18, 19 for Edinburgh and fly out on the 20th.

PalenQ

Train or car? All those places can be gotten to by train, even the Cotswolds though you may want to take buses from railheads to some of the nicer spots - but all the others are cities where cars are not of much use - and your time plan has little time for meandering the countryside between your bases so consider the train and with all those possible train trips check out take a look at BritRail Pass pr booking discounted tickets well ahead of time (non-changeable at the discounted price or refundable either I think) - the pass allows you to hop any train anytime.

Anyway some sweet sites for thinking about and planning a British rail trip: www.seat61.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.

Comare full fare and discounted ticket fares to the pass and if the pass is not a whole lot more go for it - takes all the pain out of planning - no need to book advance tickets just hop on any of zillions of trains - have no fear of not getting a seat but you can make optional train reservations on most trains.

nytraveler

Well I would stick with a car - we did a trip not too dissimilar several years ago and having a car allowed us to see a lot of things along the way as well as things outside the towns. while public transit is possible it really ties up your sightseeing having to fit into train or esp bus schedules.

We loved seeing Hadrian's Wall/Housesteads - I think this is must see for any history buff. Also there are many other places along the way you can easily stop for an hour or two to see a caste or cathedral - or just have lunch in a charming village.

We picked up the car on leaving London and dropped the evening we got to Edinburgh.

sheila

I think I'd agree with nytraveler, with the caveat that I did wonder about suggesting you drive to Stranraer and on to Dublin over your two days. Lovely part of Scotland a a nice trip. BUT if that's too much of a faff, and you've got rid of the car, you can easily spend the extra days in and around Edinburgh. If you keep the car, I'd suggest a trip to the west coast. In fact, either way (you can do this by train) I suggest you go to Oban and spend the night, then go back to Glasgow and fly to Ireland from there