20 days in Great Britain - Self Drive Itinerary Ideas
 

Hi All,
From the begining of March 2012 we are looking at doing a self drive around the UK for about 17 - 18 days, Having never been to the UK I am after some advice,
Is it better to base ourselves in certain cities for 3-4 days and look around or keep on the move like a Trafalga coach trip (we were going to use one of their itineraries as a guide),
Any help appreciated

I general . . . w/ a car you won't want to stay IN any cities. You won't be limited to cities since you can get anywhere by car, which is a good thing since driving in most cities can be quite a hassle. If your trip is mainly 'city-centric', public transport might be the easier option.

17 - 18 days is a nice amount of time -- but a LOT depends on how much territory you want to cover. It really isn't long enough to cover more than 2 or 3 regions in England and a bit of Scotland. Are you going to spend time in London? If so -- you definitely won't want a car there.

One night stands night after night get old fast. You end up spending a lot of time packing/checking out/checking in/unpacking. There are times one night makes sense . . . but one night in a place doesn't mean a full day there.

The UK is a biiiiig place -- what parts are you thinking of visiting??

Oh --just noticed you tagged this for the UK and Ireland. 17 days definitely is not long enough for extensive travel in England/Wales/Scotland AND Ireland.

Do either Ireland - or - a bit of the UK. Or something like 12-14 days in Ireland and a few days in London would be doable. Don't spread yourselves too thin . . .

Hi janisj
I guess Ireland was an add on nice to do and not initially in our planning,
The size of the UK is not a problem living in Australia I do alot of travelling,I think the whole UK fits in South Australia, maybe the traffic may give me headaches.
we were looking at trying to see as much as possible in the time we have Bath and Chester look like they are a must and my wife needs to visit Dundee to see where her Mother was born

Sorry -- but traveling in the UK is <u>nothing</u> like in the wide open spaces of OZ, or the western USA. Considering that 35 mph on average will be making good time. No exaggeration at all.

OK - Bath, Chester and Dundee. If you also want to spend time in London and/or Edinburgh-- you have just about filled your 2.5 weeks.

Hi there Samo64

You might get a few ideas from my report where I did something similar.

http://tinyurl.com/7onadyz

janisj is right, driving in the UK is nothing like driving at home - it takes much longer to get anywhere unless on the congested motorways where you zoom along with trucks and petrol tankers going at 120km/h. Elsewhere roads are narrow and there's a roundabout every few kms it seems and you are always coming upon a village and slowing to 40km/h.

That said, lots of Aussies do the road trip around the UK and cover a lot of ground as they've come so far. It all depends on what you want to see and your traveling style. I try to mix up one nighters with longer stays. Some people advise a petal approach where each day you do a loop and return to a base - less packing and you know where you'll be sleeping that night. Having your luggage in the car is always a security concern for me, as is that "homeless" feeling you have between bases.

You'll have a fantastic trip I'm sure. First you need to decide which areas you want to concentrate on. I loved Yorkshire and Northumberland and that would be a good combination with Scotland - perhaps Edinburgh and Dundee. Assuming you're starting in London, I'd go Bath 2-3 nights, Chester, head across to Yorkshire - a few nights - into Scotland a few more nights. That's about 14 nights leaving time to add other destinations. Of course you can do open jaw - Emirates flies into several place in the UK.

Agree that you need to decide what you want to see and go from there. It's true that it's not open road driving, but I think 35 mph is overstating it for most point-to-point journeys.

We've been here 8 months and can give you an idea of some of the places. We really enjoyed the Bath area, North Wales, York, North Umberland and Edinburgh it addition to nice walks in the nearby Peak District. Not suggesting you do all of those, but here are some photos and descriptions that might help you decide.

North Wales
http://ukfrey.blogspot.com/2011/05/north-wales.html

Bath & Stonehenge
http://ukfrey.blogspot.com/2011/08/bath-stonehenge.html

Alnwick (North Umberland) & York
http://ukfrey.blogspot.com/2011/05/a...r-weekend.html

Edinburgh
http://ukfrey.blogspot.com/2011/07/edinburgh.html

Peak District Hikes
various, you'll have to poke around the blog

Ireland (for comparison -- looks like you have enough on your plate)
http://ukfrey.blogspot.com/2011/08/ireland.html

Happy Planning.

Hi there,
Here's my trip report too, we spent about 3 weeks driving in the UK, once you get past our bit on Paris you'll be into the driving!
http://tinyurl.com/6oebvfr

Hope this gives you some ideas, good luck with your planning.

Several years ago I rented a car carrentals.com LON

did York up to Scotland Wales then Bath RT LON

had a wonderful time stayed in cheaper hotels on

the outskirts of the big cities...

If budget is good best to have a car...

Train is cheaper though did that last time if budget

challenged seat61.com

Have done tours in Europe long ago stale hotel food too many

early AM bus calls and stale hotel food/rooms for me.

Happy Decising!

www.affordabletours.com good site

for tours if you elect more structure

My best experience has been with Globus 40% off

more upscale than Trafalgar for my UK/Europe

whirlwind megabus tour but felt more like work

than a vacation. Getting up at 5:30 AM every day

for a long bus slog was the worst part...

I still enjoyed it and saw a lot though...

Hi, there. If you decide you want to come to Scotland, let us know your priorities and we'll see what we can advise.

IndyDad: "<i>but I think 35 mph is overstating it for most point-to-point journeys.</i>"

But how many visitors are on point-to-point, direct itineraries? Bath to Chester on the motorway is one thing. Bath to Chester via scenic bits of Wales or the Cotswolds is a <i>whole</i> 'nuther' thing. Apples and oranges.

Here we go again.

I have just driven 160 miles in Scotland and England - average speed 82mph not 35mph.

Avoid peak times and large cities, we have an extremely logical motorway network with very straightforward entry/exits....unlike certain European countries I could mention which have just lost its philandering prime ministe

18 days enough to see whatever you wish in the UK with the correct planning.

What do you want to see?

Ah -- but Dickie -- you live there and know (usually) where you are headed.

And after you finally/grudgingly conceded my POV before changing screen names last month. ;)

Thanks all for your advice its been a great help,

qwovadis - We looked at the Guided tours but no one is running one on the dates we are there, they all seem to start towards the end of March,

DickieG - Anything of note really that you would fly halfway around the world to see, any ideas appreciated, not really into the arts but historical more so

What a fab trip it's going to be. Much depends though on what the places that you most want to see are and then seeing if you can fit them into a sensible route. As much of a fan of staying in a different place each night I am I think that a few nights in your top places is probably going to work best - 17 days of driving/traveling will be a bit relentless.

Let us know what your shortlist is. If it stays as London, Bath, Chester, Dundee then get the train to Bath and pick up the car there. You can get to Chester easily in a day including a couple of sights en route. Maybe overnight in the Lake District, Edinburgh or Glasgow en route to Dundee.

We spent 12 days in England and Wales based around historical and literary interests. If you click on my screen name, you can find my trip report by scrolling down.

Lee Ann

sheila - yes we are going to Scotland

I think reading some other trip reports of Fodorites who drove around the British Isle/s would be time well-spent. We're all going to have gone to a bit different sets of places, but you can see what worked and what didn't, etc.

janisj's and elendilpickle's reports would be great to look at. If you click on my screen name and scroll down to my trip reports you will see what we did, too. (Overview: One trip we had 2 weeks, stayed in London, took lots of day trips via trains and bus; this was GREAT! Another trip we had almost 2 weeks, spent some days in London, had about 9 to make a driving loop [didn't make it to Scotland]; this was also GREAT!)

I think planning on about 30 mph is much more what might really happen than any high estimate--for people not familiar with roads or the car, who might be stopping to see stuff along the way. If you use some on-line map service, like Google maps, to plot out some course, mulitply the estimate given by AT LEAST 1.5; I just doubled it and that left us with a little wriggle room.

We live in south Texas and just drove about 350 miles in about 5 hours--but that won't be the case AT ALL in Britain.

Such fun to plan! And just reconcile yourself now to this: You cannot, even in 18 days with a car, see all you will decide you really want to see! But you can plan a marvelous time. So keep planning! (I love London, Oxford, Bath, Chatsworth, Conwy/North Wales, Hadrian's Wall, York--and Winchester and Dover and Canterbury and Bodiam Castle to the south of London--oh my! Choices, choices!)

eh up missus!

POV what's that then.

Texasbookworm

I think we are all getting confused (again).

If you want to do, you can drive 350 in 6 hours in Britain. You may be delayed by traffic jams but you can plan around these. Britain's road network is no different to that of any other developed country. I have spent hours in traffic jams all over the world.

There are some countries were the lack of a developed road network, parts of Ireland and Scotland spring to mind... where it is difficult to travel quickly.

It is this "stopping off to see stuff" which confuses matters. Your trip in Texas could have taken 3 days with the same approach same as my trip this weekend of 160 miles.

.....but there is nothing in Britain which prevents travel at an average of 70 miles an hour around much of the country at well planned times of the day.

Point taken, DickieG. When we were on the motorways, as we were blessed with good weather and no major construction or wrecks, we sped along pretty well, maybe not 70 mph but averaging closer to 60. But those were just little bits of our trip. So looking back I'm glad for how I judged the timing--I looked at one or two mapping services on line, took their estimites of time from fairly specific point to fairly specific point, and doubled it. In reality, because of not encountering anything major, our driving times took 1.5 times whatever Google/Mapquest/AAA said. So looking at specific routes and judging times leg by leg, so to speak, is probably a safer planning strategy than thinking of average mph, whether 35 or 75, over the whole trip. Never can tell how many roundabouts you might circle and recircle for minutes or how many narrow windy lanes through the Cotswolds or the Peak District you might want to enjoy!

So, Samo64, decide where you truly want to go and plug in some "dummy" trips and see what sort of timing you end up with. Of course, if you decide on the "petal" approach (I like that word picture,eigasuki!) it won't matter so much. But if you are going to be in a different place almost every night (we did that for 9 nights and it was great--for us that year), then travel time becomes more of an issue, because you want to leave time to see something besides what you see from the car windows!

Keep planning/posting!

Oh, also, hubby and I are good map readers, in general, but we would NOT have navigated as well as we did without a GPS. Highly recommend one. (We like our Garmin.)

" Never can tell how many roundabouts you might circle and recircle for minutes"

Always love this....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAgX6qlJEMc

Look kids, Big Ben.

Sorry. POV = point of view

Thanks all for your help
we have come up with this as a start
London –
Oxford –
Salisbury -
Bath –
Cardif –
Chester –
Blackpool
Carlisle –
Glasgow –
Loch Ness
Eilean Castle
Dundee –
Edinburgh –
York –
London

sorry but that isn't an itinerary. It is more of a laundry list.

Assuming any time at all in London, 2 full days in both Glasgow and Edinburgh and one full in many of the others (which mostly requires 2-night stays) . . . You have a month long plan.

My thoughts are that you seem to be planning by towns or cities. While that is ok a fair number are close to rubbish. For instance Salisbury cathedral is world standard but the city itself is a bit of a dump, though not as bad as Carlisle, while Blackpool..... Cardiff is interesting particularly if you area Torchwood fan, or interested in football, though if I wanted to see special parts of Wales I might go to the North more than the south. However the lake district is a good objective or Hadrian's wall.

Aaaargh, I thought Salisbury a really nice little town. Traffic was thick at commute times, but we stayed just south of town and walked. We especially liked the canals and walkable proximity to the countryside.

And, I've got to agree. You will need to cut some destinations. You could take the bus to Oxford upon arrival instead of going to London. See Salisbury and Bath by public transportation, then pick up a rental car. (You should be well over jet lag by then.)

I would cut Cardiff, Carlisle, Glasgow, Eilean Donan, and Loch Ness. None of these were in your must-see list. And spend more time at the other destinations. Maybe drop the car at Edinburgh and do York and London by train.

Are you using guided tours as a model itinerary? Because a guided tour is not the same. The bus driver knows where he's going. And many sights are just drive by, not actually visited.

I have just driven 160 miles in Scotland and England - average speed 82mph not 35mph.>>

lol dickie - just as well that plod isn't watching this thread! i hope that you are not inciting the OP to break the speed limit.

sam - you need to be realistic. you might get away with one or two days spent relentlessly behind the steering wheel, but after that, you and your fellow travellers are going to want a rest from the inside of the car.

using the basic plan that you've come up with [an ignoring daft bits like London-Oxford - Salisbury, which has you going north and then south for no good reason] you could do this:

London - 3 nights
Bath via Salisbury [pick up car at Reading] - 2 nights
Chester - 3 nights [use as base to explore north Wales and/or liverpool]
Lake District [3 nights, to do some walking or York, or even Durham if you don't fancy the walking]
Dundee [ancestral research] 2 nights
Edinburgh 3 nights.
home from glasgow [assuming you can get an open jaw flight, otherwise Edinburgh or Glasgow back to London for homeward flight].

you could take a night from Chester and spend longer travelling to Wales, either to visit Cardiff or to explore some of the Welsh Marches and you could lose the Lake district bit to give yourselves longer in Wales or Scotland.

BUT YOU CAN'T HAVE IT ALL!

Comparing distances to Australia doesn't work. It doesn;t matter how far you can drive in a day - it depends on how many things there are that you want to see. And there will be a lot. I would definitely stay in fewer places - 3 or 4 days each - and see whatever city it is - and then do a series of day trips. There are a ton of places that have a host of worthwhile sights within an hour or so.

And in the time you have you really can;t see everything - you will have to decide what you want to concentrate on and make some hard choices. I would pick 5 or 6 things that you MUST see/do and then build the rest of the trip around them. And don;t use a tour as an example. That assumes a driver who gets you places while you nap - and that many of the sights are views (that is seen out of the bus window while you drive by, many fewer are stops (a 5 minute photo op out front) and very few are actual visits (which is mostly what you will want to do traveling on your own.)

And not to pile on--but yes piling on a bit :) . . .

When figuring your travel times, you can't just calculate say - Bath to Cardiff, which is a relatively short distance. About 60 miles/80 or 90 minutes. But in "real life" that doesn't account for navigating the traffic/one way streets/restricted access in both cities and finding a place to park -- or alternately -- finding the park and rides and waiting for the next bus into town.

So that simple 60 mile journey (one of your easiest city pairs) could easily take 2.5 hours or more

Hi All,
Appriciate the comments but the whole idea of this blog was to get an itinerary of which only a couple of people have attemped to do, I have not been to the UK before so was after some sort of plan to go by, my tentative itinerary
London – stay 2 nights
Oxford – stay 2 nights (relatives)Train to York
York – Stay 1 Night - pick up car
Edinburgh –Stay 2 nights
Dundee – Stay 1 nights
Drumnadrochit - Stay 1 night
Glasgow - Stay 1 Night
Blackpool - Stay 2 nights
Chester – Stay 2 nights
Cardiff - Stay 1 Night
Bath – Stay 3 nights
London - Stay 1 Nights

Samo64, there is still a fair bit of driving in this. I would recommend that you stick the route in google maps to get their driving times and add 25% to get a realistic driving time.
This is your holiday and if you like this sort of thing,.. then ok.

Once you are here you will discover that the charm of the UK is the countryside and the smaller towns. This can be confirmed by reading a few UK reports. However the cities yu have selected all have nice buildings and many have free museums.

UK tourist information (one per country) should provide good info and I would recommend checking out each of the TI for each town for instance http://guide.visitscotland.com/vs/gu...home/home.html gives you the Drumnadrochit site.

My 2pence worth, are you sure you want to go to Blackpool, personally I love Blackpool in October but it's a bit run down, what are you hoping to see there, the British seaside experience? Or as a base to visit Manchester, Liverpool? I'd suggest you skip it, you could go from Chester to snowdonia with a walk in Llandudno if you want a walk on a prom, best seaside towns in my opinion is Brighton but doesn't really fit in with the itinary. If you took Blackpool out gives you a chance to visit The Cotswolds on way to Cardiff. If you want to see some chocolate box type scenery I'd recommend the Cotswolds villages, a night in Worcester and drive down through the area for the nights in Bath, then on to Cardiff before back to London.

Looking at this I can only conclude that you enjoy driving and dont actually plan to stop and see the towns or any sites. That is fine, if thats your idea of travel. Just understand that 1 night in a place is not going to give you time to see much of anything other than a place to have dinner and maybe a walk through the high street. 2 nights gives you a full day which I think places like York at least deserve given its size and attractions. Perhaps you have already been to London or have no interest in seeing it? But I would spend at least 4 nights here.

It looks like you have 19 nights. I dont recall if you have flights booked, but I would fly into Scotland and out of London or vice versa to avoid backtracking and pick a few hubs rather than all the 1 nighters. That will save you all the time of checking in and out and finding the new B&B/hotel every night. That takes more time than you think. And if you are staying in B&Bs many dont serve breakfast until 8am so you may not be able to check out until after 9...

Just some things to think about. Please do write a trip report either way, I am always curious as to how these types of itineraries turn out! Happy travels!

How about flying from London to Edinghbourough And staying there as a base, you can go by train to Dundee and Glasgow for day trips. I'd get a train then to York, pick up a hire car and drive to chester, again use as a base, day trips to North Wales, Liverpool ( Blackpool if you insist, but seriously out of season Blackpool I would skip), drive to Bath through the Cotswolds, again stay in bath and take day trips to Cardiff, Bristol, Stonehenge. Then on to London, passing through Winchester or salisbury,I would say book a hotel on the outskirts and travel in also a day trip to Oxford and or Brighton, hectic and would only give you a quick taste but if you just want to see the highlights doable in my opinion.

Sam--Looks like you are getting closer to an itinerary that fits your wants and style. There are all sorts of folks on Fodors (understatement of the day), and advice will be all over the map--literally and figuratively. Many will still respond that your itinerary is too busy/too much traveling. Others, like me, will say that while it is still extremely busy, it is probably doable and if it fits into your style, then fine.

BUT, I reiterate what I said above about how to figure times, based on estimates from something like googlemaps. For a cushion, that will allow more time AT the places, I'd suggest DOUBLING whatever some map service estimates for time. Do NOT look at miles and think of mph averages; it doesn't work like it does for us in Texas or you in OZ. The map services will more take into account typical traffic and such.

The comment above about B&B breakfast is true, but in the 11 different B&B's we have stayed in, in 2 different 2 week trips, only 1 was unable to accomodate an earlier-than-8 am breakfast request. So if this is an issue, just ask and most will work with you.

Also, I haven't read the whole thread above word for word, but are you aware of how hard it is to park in some cities? (like York and Bath--and hope you don't plan to take car back INTO London) You must take that into consideration, too, when picking accomodations and planning time.

(and look at your actual time IN York--looks like it's getting short shrift.) (As does London, but that's just my preference.)

You will have a great time I'm sure. I just would suggest being very cautious and realistic about the time it takes to travel, so that you leave enough/some/a bit of time to actually see the places you're going to. Our overestimation of the time needed for most of our travels meant that we arrived a bit earlier than we expected or when we wanted, so we weren't disappointed by not getting to some place we most wanted to see.

Sam

I have lived and worked in the region between SW Scotland and Manchester for most of my life. There is some great places to spend time. I fully appreciate anyone's desire to "do Blackpool" but I would seriously consider spending two nights there. There are some great spring places to spend time in this area. The Ribble Valley?

I for one would not question the amount of travelling you are suggesting, it is pretty normal for us.

If you are passing you could say Hi to us in Lytham - just outside Blackpool. (the posh end)

OK changed a bit

London – stay 3 nights
Oxford – stay 2 nights (relatives)Train to York
York – Stay 2 Night - pick up car
Edinburgh –Stay 2 nights
Dundee – Stay 1 nights (relatives)
Drumnadrochit - Stay 1 night
Glasgow - Stay 1 Night
Blackpool - Stay 1 nights (relatives)
Chester – Stay 2 nights
Bath – Stay 4 nights
London - Stay 1 Nights

I lost a couple of months of this; but that looks OK.

If you need help with the Scottish bit, let me know