stephenholdridge

Looking for any thoughts on below itinerary for our family our four --- kids are 14 and 11 and they have done a fair share of traveling around the world - so are used a decent pace. We like a combination of cities and the typical travel icons mixed in with some out of the way places and smaller or different type of lodging options. We also enjoy getting out of the city into country or more remote areas to degree time allows. Would welcome your input on sites to add or delete and any specific input on the lodging selections or your favorite in the area. We will be doing this trip in mid-April 2014.

Fri - arrive London morning - tour London, stay at Marriott County Hall, London (points)
Sat -tour London, stay at Marriott County Hall, Globe Theater play?
Sun - day trip from London (Stonehenge/Salisbury?), stay at Marriott County Hall
Mon - Rent Car. Tour Bath, Cotswolds, stay at Noel Arms Hotel (Chipping Campden)
Tues - Cotswolds, Oxford? (daughter interested in University), Warwick Castle, stay at Noel Arms (Chipping Campden)
Wed - Train to Fort Williams, Scotland, stay at Inverlochy Castle Hotel
Thu - tour Highland, Isle of Ske, stay at Inverlochy Castle Hotel
Fri - tour Highlands, Loch Ness, stay at Inverlochy Castle Hotel
Sat - Train or drive to York, (Hadrian's Wall), Stay Grange Hotel
Sun - Tour York, Sta at Grange Hotel
Mon - Train/Drive to London, late afternoon flight back to U.S.

Other areas we have considered but dropped out of the schedule due were:
Lake District
Edinburgh
Stratford Upon Avon

We prefer to stay at least 2-3 nights in each place and tour from a spot for a day or two versus changing lodging every day or two.

bilboburgler

you are fitting a fair amount in, I havn't checked what the time Chipping Camden to Fort William (no s) is but not my idea of a great holiday. So I'd cull scotland on this trip and stretch out the time to the other sites.

York is fine, but visiting outside the city is not to be missed. Would you like to see the Lewis Carroll animals in Ripon? Visit Fountains abbey?

London is not really getting enough time with you plan but maybe you have been many times before?

Rubicund

How much of your itinerary above is already booked, as it seems you have gone as far as specific hotels? The jump from Chipping Camden to Scotland is an enormous leap, missing out the whole of the rest of England, apart from a couple of nights in York.

You then leap all the way from York back to LHR on the same day that you fly, not allowing for potential hold ups on either rail or road. Why not fly "open jaw" and arrive in London and fly home, say from Manchester (you don't say where your home airport is). You only have around 10 days and IMO are trying to do much in one go. I too would miss out Scotland and stick to a more reasoned pace, maybe including the Lake District.

janisj

I've done several trips where I've jumped around like that - heck, last year I went from Scotland to the Dales to the island of Jersey to London. So the jumping around isn't a big problem IMO.

But train to Ft William from where? (no train in Chipping Campden) Where are you dropping the car - Oxford? From Oxford the train to Ft William will take 10.5 hours w/ THREE changes, or much longer but w/ fewer changes. So it isn't realistic. You can get a train from Birmingham - about 9 hours w/ a couple of changes. again -- a tough journey.

Have you already booked these hotels? Because I'd do them in a different order. I'd Fly into EDI and take the train to Ft William - do the castle stay first. (Rent a car while there) Then take the train from either Ft William or Edinburgh to York. Stay in York. Train to London - stay in London. Fly home.

Driving the length of England the day you fly out is never a great idea . . .

annhig

I have to agree with the other posters - you say that you are used to a fast pace but there's no point in needlessly over-burdening yourselves with journeys that are longer than necessary.

first of all, I'd try to squeeze another day into London, especially if you're going to do a day trip. Day 1 may be wiped out by jetlag/ flight delays, and Day 3 you are planning to do a day trip, so really you only have one day for London - which is hardly enough to scratch the surface.

then on Day 4 you are planning to pick up your car [where?] drive to Bath [that's a good two hours if the traffic on the M4 is OK, longer if it isn't], tour Bath, then drive onto Chipping Campden [another 2 hours] which if you are going to arrive in CC in time for dinner gives you about 4 hours for Bath. less an hour for lunch!

your next day is also problematic - CC to Oxford is over an hour [and getting parked there is a pig] then Warwick is another hour and the Castle deserves a whole afternoon, if only for the amount it costs! so you're not going to have very long to look at Oxford, let alone the countryside of the cotswolds which is presumably why you're going there.

That's a lot of travelling if you really only have 2 days for the Cotswolds. I think that you have fallen into the trap of thinking that the distances aren't that great so the driving times won't be either. Sadly they are, and you need to make allowances for urban traffic and parking too.

I like jj's plan a LOT better.

dwdvagamundo

Hadrian's Wall is nowhere near York, fwiw. It's nearer to Durham. Either is very nice, but each deserves at least a couple of days.

I would also cut this trip in half: either do London/Bath/Cotswolds and possibly York and add Stratford back in(we did this our first trip plus Kent)

or London--Edinburgh, Highlands, Durham/Hadrian's Wall, York.

Hampton Court Palace is a great and easy day trip from London. Add another day in London in any event.

stephenholdridge

Thanks for the input - common theme - looks like we will consider cutting back at least one of the locations. Also if we keep Scotland we will fly out of that area rather than going back to London.

We made some hotels for placeholders but easy enough to change them around or move the dates at this point I would think.

To get from London to Fort Williams we were considering the Caledonian overnight train with sleeper cars. May have a tough time getting family to eliminate time in the Highlands from the schedule - perhaps 5-6 days in London and surrounding areas (bath, stonehenge, cotswolds), and overnight train to Scotland with 4-5 days in Highlands with flight back to states out of Edinburgh.

janisj

i'd take the train from London to Edinburgh instead of ft william. Stay one night there -- the city and the castle are amazing.

then rent a car and drive to Ft William. Lots to see in between the two.

You could either take the sleeper to Edinburgh and arrive in the early AM or take the regular daytime train which only take 4+ hours so you could still easily be in Edinburgh before noon. One full day in Edinburgh - then see Stirling, the Trossachs and Glencoe enroute to Inverlochy.

Then you can fly home via either Edinburgh or Glasgow - there normally aren't any drop off fees for one way rentals.