regalind

My first trip across the pond in 20 yrs - and first trip to UK is coming up, getting excited!
My tentative plans -
London - 3 days
Bodiam Castle, Hastings and Dover 2-3 days
Stratford upon Avon 2 days
Peak District and Haworth 4 days
Whitby(?) and Hadrian's Wall 2 days - oh, and Hogwarts, of course
Edinburgh and Highlands 4 days
Wales, Cornwall and Bath 4 days
Thoughts??

MmePerdu

Too many places for the time you've allotted and much depends on mode of transport. Car or trains or combination (after London)?

annhig

hi, regalind,

that's quite an ambitious itinerary - does it include extra time for travelling between places?

for example, you'll need at least 1/2 a day to get from the south-east [Bodiam, etc] to Stratford, and Wales, Cornwall and Bath covers a very wide area! [in fact, i really can't see how you could do all 3 in 4 days, unless you just spend one night in each].

you are in fact attempting to see most of England, Scotland and some of Wales in only 3 weeks, which is a lot of travelling and IMO not enough seeing and doing.

have you set out your itinerary in detail - where you might stay for example, and how your travelling will work? for example:

Day 1 - arrive London. stay ?3 nights.

Day 4 - drive to ? dover via Bodiam. stay?

Day 6 - drive from Dover/Hastings to Stratford. arrive ?3pm. Stay 2 nights.

day 8 - drive to peak district. stay?? Buxton 2 nights

Day 10 - drive to Haworth Stay 2 nights

Day 12 - drive to Whitby

Day 13 - drive to Hadrian's wall

Day 14 - drive to Edinburgh - stay 2 nights

Day 16 - drive to highlands - where? it's a big place!

Day 18 = you\re running out of time - drive to Wales - all day drive - stay? or fly - where to and from?

See what I mean?

you could do London to Scotland or London to Wales/cornwall - though most of your interests seem to be in the north rather than the west. I don't think that you can do it all.

Mimar

What time of year is this trip? I assume you'll be driving after London. Is that true?

Only 3 days in London, during which you'll probably be jet-lagged and sleepy. There's so much to see in London and from London.

I assume you're flying into and out of Heathrow. Next time you might do an open-jaws trip, flying out of Scotland or Manchester. Open jaws (multi-city on airline web sites) should cost about the same as round-trip and save you the time and expense of backtracking. As it is, you'll probably have to spend one of your precious nights near Heathrow before you depart.

You've clumped 3 disparate sites into your last 4 days. You might do 2 of the three. You could do northern Wales before you do the Peaks. It's due west of the Peaks, a couple hours drive. Cornwall is a bit of an outlier and deserves several days itself. And I'd give Bath at least 2 days.

Another thought is to re-order this itinerary, taking the bus to Bath upon your arrival. Rent a car after a couple days. Leave London to the end and you'll be close to the airport for departure.

Finally, you have omitted several popular destinations, like York and the Lakes. But it looks like you have your own priorities, literary interests?

BigRuss

Your itinerary is incomprehensible because "days" is a variable in travelspeak, nights is not - i.e., arrive at noon on Monday, leave at 3 pm on Wednesday you could say "three days" or arrive Monday, leave Friday also could mean "three days" because it's three whole days.

Good luck doing justice to London in three days. You'd have a hard time doing justice to Edinburgh in three days and London is far larger.

You cannot do this - Wales, Cornwall and Bath 4 days - and see anything. You seem to be applying Continental European or American drive times to your approximate distances and that doesn't work in Wales, Scotland or rural England.

janisj

too much in too little time. Several major and minor issues but just two to start you thinking:

If by Hogwarts you mean Alnwick Castle . . Alnwick Castle/Gardens alone takes nearly a full day. So your >>Whitby(?) and Hadrian's Wall 2 days - oh, and Hogwarts, of course<< is at least 2 days too short. Even w/o York ( a shame to miss it IMO) you'd need one day for Whitby and the North Yorkshire Moors, one day for Hadrian's Wall, one full day for Alnwick - - plus any travel time to/from the area.

And you want to go directly from the Highlands - down to Wales then Bath and Cornwall and are allowing just 4 days -- that is a 7 day jaunt at minimum.

Sorry but this really doesn't look like a plan - it looks like you listed all the places you want to go w/o studying distances/times.

regalind

My 2 must sees - my A list are Stratford upon Avon and Haworth, but spending 10 days in each seems a bit excessive.
My B list includes a couple things to see in London, Dover, the Scottish Highlands and the coast in Cornwall. Who the hell put these things on opposite side of the country - I'll need to have a talk with Him some day...
C list - Hastings, Peak District, Lake District, Hadrian's Wall
D list - Bodiam, Shrewsbury, Bath
E - Whitby, Wales, possibly Edinburgh
I expect to do my A's and B's, much of my C's and D's, but if I don't get to something that will be fine, I'll take it as it comes.

bilboburgler

As the guys say, too much.

I think you have to cull either Scotland or Cornwall to have even a hope of enjoying this trip. What time of the year?

texasbookworm

We did a pretty ambitious circuit that had us in London, Oxford, Wales, Hadrian's Wall, and Dover/Bodiam/Hastings/Battle and back to London. It was 2 weeks and we hustled and had a car.

It was wonderful. It was full. It was busy. Did we have enough time anywhere? Not really. But would I do it that way again? Given our time constraints and desires, yes.

Trip report at
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-and-wales.cfm

So--take your map, take your wants, take your time allotted, and plot out what you want. When I used Googlemaps, I doubled the time it said and that was a good thing--it took an average of 1.5 to 1.75 times what googlemaps said it would take to drive. (I'm totally assuming you will have a car--I would say this is impossible otherwise)

There's great merit in paring down to a fewer places and seeing them more in depth--but there's much merit in, if you want and have the energy, packing in a lot. Just factor in the travel time/ moving time etc. And beware of backtracking or crisscrossing.

(Hadrian's Wall should move up to the top of your must see's!)

janisj

You>>I expect to do my A's and B's, much of my C's and D's, . . . <<

Sorry, but you won't . . . Unless you have a month or more . . . and still lose almost 1/3 of your list. Six weeks would be better - and EVEN that could be rushed to get to all of them.

A trip that includes Dover, Cornwall, Wales, the Peak District, Lake District, Hadrian's Wall, the Highlands, Edinburgh and all those other points in between PLUS London you are in serious sabbatical length travel . . . .

annhig

My 2 must sees - my A list are Stratford upon Avon and Haworth, but spending 10 days in each seems a bit excessive.>>

regalind - i don't think that anyone would suggest that you did, but if we add in London, and the areas between London and Haworth via Stratford, you have the makings of a trip.

I love Cornwall [I live here, but that doesn't necessarily follow] but it is a real outlier on your list. the obvious way to go, if you have to go to Haworth, is north. There are cliffs at Whitby!

PalenQ

You are going by car? You still have not said or by train or by push bike or foot?

By car that is all possible but not by train.

janisj

>>By car that is all possible but not by train.<<

Sure they are all possibly by car -- IF one has weeks and weeks.

europeannovice

Stratford Upon Avon was our least favorite Cotswold village (town) or what ever it is officially called. We found it to be too much of a tourist trap. We did like Ann Hathaway's Cottage but not much else. Too many trinket shops. If you like Shakespeare you can visit the Globe Theater in London and they give a tour.

We loved Broadway and Stow on the Wold a lot more.

I also think you overall plan is too ambitious and I tend to cram a lot in with little time too. Janisj has not steered us wrong yet so if she advises it is too much with too little time, then it probably is. Read Texasbookworm's great trip report. They tend to rush around like we do and they did their trip over a two week span and still felt a bit rushed.

The thing to remember that things tend to take more time in reality than they do on paper. When we visited Windsor Castle, we waited over an hour for the security line, then there is a separate ticket line and then you stand on line to visit the Doll House and then visit the rooms etc. You have to factor in wait times or additional drive times and the time it takes to check in and out of a place.

Whatever you do, enjoy and write a trip report please!

europeannovice

"I also think you overall plan" should have said I also think your overall plan.

The thing to remember is that things tend to take more time....

Typos--I should proofread more before hitting the send button.

PalenQ

Sure they are all possibly by car -- IF one has weeks and weeks.>

My tentative plans -
London - 3 days
Bodiam Castle, Hastings and Dover 2-3 days
Stratford upon Avon 2 days
Peak District and Haworth 4 days
Whitby(?) and Hadrian's Wall 2 days - oh, and Hogwarts, of course
Edinburgh and Highlands 4 days
Wales, Cornwall and Bath 4 days

I strongly disagree with janis that this is not rather easily possible by car - you do not need to spend a week in every little place to enjoy it - some folks like driving thru countryside as much as the destinations and I think the number of days in each place is about right. Britain ain't the size of Texas probably let along America - you can drive up and down the country in a day if you want.

so I disagree that all this is not, as planned, easily possible by car.

janisj

PQ - you aren't factoring in the hundreds of miles/HOURS of drive times. . . .

You actually think one can visit Wales, Cornwall and Bath in 4 days? Starting from Northern Scotland no less. And even if that wasn't meant as the literal order of things . . Starting from ANYWHERE - Cornwall, Bath and Wales in 4 days is beyond daft. Now, if the OP means just a peek at Cardiff and not any of the magical scenery/castles in north Wales - then a teensy bit of Cornwall, Bath and 'Wales' could be visited in 4 or 5 days. But w/ the drive times to Cornwall and back you are still talking about 5 or 6 days for just this fraction of the OP's wish list.

annhig

people certainly do underestimate driving times, including locals.

[yes, that means me too]. on a recent trip "up country" - ie east of the Tamar, it took us two hours to get out of Cornwall. Turned out that Friday is the new Saturday in July and August. The traffic was horrendous all the way to london and the journey took us over 2 hours loner than we're reckoned on.

Even if you're not beset by traffic, what is the point of driving all that way just to turn round and drive back? Yes you can drive from Cardiff to Cornwall in a day [we've done it] but it leaves no time for seeing the lovely Brecon Beacons or the Wye Valley, North Devon and the North cornish coast. 2 nights in the county will barely touch the surface [our latest german guests stayed 2 weeks and left saying they still had loads to see] and that leaves a night for Bath. WHat a waste of time and money.

if the OP wants a taste of the West country, IMO a much better plan would be to do what we did last year and spend a few nights in Wells [a lovely place in itself with lots of nice restaurants and hotels] and use it as a base for touring that area.

also it's in easy reach of the Cotswolds [in which I include Stratford - just] in one direction and London in the other.

PalenQ

You actually think one can visit Wales, Cornwall and Bath in 4 days?>

Well yes but no in reality this is one segment that is too quick but most of the others I find very doable and again try to think like an American - Americans love to drive and often the driving is the part they like most - motoring thru Cornwall's back roads, stopping by quiet villages, etc.

But I grant you Bath, Wales and Cornwall in 4 days is too much, unless like you say they just want to drive thru.