paperlette

Hello fellow travellers!

My husband and I are hoping to travel to the UK for 2 weeks in early September and I am looking for some advice and wisdom from you all. Could you take a look at our schedule and let me know whether we're going to the right places and giving each place enough time?

To give you some context, we are inexperienced travellers from Canada. The only place we've been is NYC for 5 days and while we loved it, we know that we tried to pack too much into the trip and we also hated spending so much time in Times Square (our hotel was there). We like to discover neat neighbourhoods, we love good food and we love nature.

Here is what we're thinking:
Fly into Edinburgh and leave ourselves one day for jet lag.
Take a 3-day tour of the Highlands, Inverness, Isle of Skye and Loch Ness with Timberbush Tours.
Return to Edinburgh and spend two days there.
On day 6, take a train to Windermere.
Day 7 - go on the 10 Lakes Spectacular Tour with Mountain Goat Tours.
On day 8, take a train to York and spend two days and two nights there.
Day 10 - Take the train to London. Spend 4 days here.
Day 14 - Take the train to Paris (we want to spend a week here)

I'm pretty set on the 3 days touring the Highlands but am wondering whether there are better places to see than Edinburgh, the Lake District and York or if those are good places to see in the time we have.

Any feedback would be much appreciated!

janisj

Looks basically fine. Edinburgh/the Highlands/ the Lakes/York/ London is a wonderful mix. I might suggest you look at Rabbies and compare them/their itineraries to Timberbush. Both are very good/respected companies, but Rabbies uses smaller vehicles and has smaller groups so could be a better experience.

https://www.rabbies.com

I also might do my Edinburgh bits before taking the tour. Getting off an overnight flight one day and immediately getting on a coach very early the next morning is IMO an awfully hectic start to a holiday.

tower

Paperlette:

Nice journey, looks like you've chosen some good tours. Strictly personally, I would drop the two days in York for two days in The Cotswolds to get a feel for small town, country life in England. Very close to London to end your tour before leaving for Paris. Enjoy your trip!!

historytraveler

Love the Cotswolds but it seems you will be using train and doing tours so assuming no car. In that case, York makes more sense. Agree with janisj that Rabbies may be a better option if only because of ( smaller ) group size.

BTW, good itinerary!

bilboburgler

York gives you access to a small city but also take public tranpost out to say Pickering (area is just as pretty as Cotswalds)

http://www.traveline.info/

Morgana

I definitely wouldn't drop York - beautiful city and with plenty to do in the area. The train from York to Kings Cross, London takes less than two hours. It makes perfect sense in your itinerary.
Without meaning to sound patronising, this looks like a well thought out trip!

paperlette

Wow, amazing feedback! Thank you all very much. I did have the Cotswolds in the intinerary before but dropped it for York for that reason, Historytraveler. Bilboburgler, thank you for the recommendation to see Pickering - I was regretting that we wouldn't get to see some smaller towns. I am definitely going to look into Rabbies. Janisj - Thanks for the suggestion re: moving touring days around. I am going to see if that works.

Now that the itinerary is nearly set, could anyone make recommendations for the must-sees and the "not-worth-its" in Edinburgh, York and London?

Morgana

My list might be very different from yours, but I'll try and help with York (I'm a Yorkshire local).
Must sees -
York Minster
National Railway Museum
Walking the Walls and the Shambles
York Castle Museum (excellent if you like social history, and there's a brilliant mock up of a Victorian Street).
Bettys Café and Tearooms (a Yorkshire institution) for brunch, lunch, afternoon tea or whatever.
Not worth it -
Jorvik
Clifford's Tower (just view from the outside)
York Boat

My suggestion if you have two days in York is to spend one in York itself, narrowing down what you want to see and do. The other day I would catch the bus to Pickering, and then go on the North Yorks Moors Steam Railway to the coast. You can get on and off the train at little villages on the way. Fish and chips by the sea is another Yorkshire tradition!
http://www.nymr.co.uk/

bilboburgler

The steam railway is worth the time (but have a B plan if it rains)

janisj

>>could anyone make recommendations for the must-sees and the "not-worth-its" in Edinburgh, York and London?<<

I'd get a guide book re London for sure. The list of possible 'musts' there is VERY long and every Fodorite will give you a different list. So read up a bit and work out your own 'possibles' list and we can help you refine it.

Morgana has given you a very good York list. I'd also consider Castle Howard (beautiful house on its own but also setting for both Brideshead Revisited productions). But it will take a fair time expenditure w/ the buses (or taxi) RT and tour of house and grounds. So you might not be able to fit it in.

Thirsk is another option - easy train connection from York. Nice town plus James Herriot connections.

Re Edinburgh - more sites than your 2 days allow so the basics would be The Castle, Holyrood Palace/Abbey and the Royal Mile connecting the two (St Giles Cathedral, various museums, closes (alleyways), Gladstone's Land - a very interesting merchant's house). The castle/Royal Mile will essentially take an entire day.

Then there is the wonderful Museum of Scotland in old town, the National Gallery and the general New town along and north of Princes Street.

There is your two days.

historytraveler

Regarding Morgana's suggestion of Betty's, there are actually two Betty's in York. The main tearoom is at St. Helen's Square and very nice, but I prefer the smaller Betty's on Stonegate. It has much more character and usually isn't as crowded.

PalenQ

For the train portion be sure to either pre-book your tickets at www.nationalrail.co.uk - well in advance becauwe there are a limited number of discunted tickets on each train - I believe you canot change nor refund the cheapest discounted tickets so check the conditions of use when buying. Walk-up fares can be very steep - so steep that a BritRail Pass could well be cheaper and you can just show up and hop any train anytime (not sure it would be but check full fares on national rail site to see) - but the cheapest way would be to pre-book tickets.

If wanting some flexibility there are discounted tickets available on a walk up basis on some trains but with certain restrictions - like using it in off-peak times, etc.

For loads of great stuff on British trains check www.seat61.com - written by a Brit and the guru of discounted tickets; www.ricksteves.com and www.budgeteuropetravel.com.

and yes you have a wonderful itinerary planned!

janisj

>>For the train portion be sure to either pre-book your tickets at www.nationalrail.co.uk - <<

The train company you want to book w/ is East Coast trains

http://www.eastcoast.co.uk

PalenQ

>For the train portion be sure to either pre-book your tickets at www.nationalrail.co.uk - <<

The train company you want to book w/ is East Coast trains>

Why is it better than nationalrail.co.uk on non East Coast trains - is it cheaper than nationalrail.co.uk for East Coast trains?

Why do you say it is better to book thru east coast for say Windermere to York or Scotland to Windermere - cheaper fares - why is it better?

www.nationalrail.co.uk represented everyone of the about 28 or so independent train franchises, of which East Coast is one but you can book the other trains on eastcoast but what is the advantage janis that you claim?

I guess I would advise doing a comparison on both sites to see if prices were the same. East Coast may be a few pence cheaper on its own trains but East Coast don't serve Windermere trains does it.

Curious as to why you imply East Coast is better....

janisj

Because East Coast is the train operator they will be using - <u>National rail doesn't sell tickets</u> so why build in an extra step?

sofarsogood

PQ you need to revise your advice

"I believe you canot [sic] change nor refund the cheapest discounted tickets"

cheap Advance CAN be changed for a £10 fee plus any difference in the fare payable

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_...pes/46546.aspx

historytraveler

BTW, National Rail does not sell tickets. Once you select your route and time and select buy tickets on the National Rail site, they will automatically direct to the train company that does. On some routes you may have a choice of which company you can buy tickets from, but on others you will not. It really doesn't make any difference since the prices are almost always ( haven't yet found any difference ) the same.

historytraveler

Apparently posting same time as janisj. I just checked and the train operator for the Edinburgh/Windermere route and the Windermere /York route is the Transpennine Express. Don't think you can buy from another company, but don't hold me to that. Again the easiest way to proceed is through the National Rail website.

For the OP, please note that you'll have at the very least two changes on the Windermere to York route. I think there is one late morning with just two changes, the rest have three which will be a hassle IMO. I only checked morning trains so, maybe, something with fewer changes in the afternoon, but I would't count on it.

janisj

East Coast is the operator for the Edinburgh > Durham > York > London corridor

But yes, the trip over to the Lakes would be on a different operator.

Just a thought -- the train trip from the Lakes to York takes quite a long time (3.5 hours give or take) so your two nights there will only give you 1.5 days -- not enough time to explore much except the city itself.

I'd add at least another night to York.

paperlette

Ok - great suggestions. I will do some more research about the trains and see what we can do about fitting in an extra night in York. Love the idea of fish and chips on the coast. Thank you all so much for your advice!