tostaky

Hi ! We are slowly planning our next summer trip.
We would like to go in UK. We have travel in 13 countries in Europe (the last one this summer was France) and lodging in UK (Airbnb
since we are 2 adults and 2 teens) is so expensive !

Any tips/advice ?

How much time minimum would we need to have a nice trip in England and Scotland ?
We must travel in summer….

Thanks !

tostaky

Hi ! We are slowly planning our next summer trip.
We would like to go in UK. We have travel in 13 countries in Europe (the last one this summer was France) and lodging in UK (Airbnb
since we are 2 adults and 2 teens) is so expensive !

Any tips/advice ?

How much time minimum would we need to have a nice trip in England and Scotland ?
We must travel in summer….

Thanks !

janisj

We'd need more information before offering any sort of useful advice. Asking "How much time minimum would we need to have a nice trip in England and Scotland ?" - is pretty much unanswerable. Those are two countries where one could spend a few days seeing a few things or spend months and not see close everything. Start with which places you are thinking of visiting and we can give you a good idea how much time you'd need.

hetismij2

The UK is expensive I agree. We gave up on a trip this autumn because of the expense, but that was just two of us and many cottages were for 4 or more. B&Bs and pubs were no better sadly. I suspect there were cheaper places but a lot of them were booked, so start looking early.
There are a lot of websites offering cottages and holiday homes besides AirBnB and many are cheaper. You could also look at campsites which have chalets or static caravans or even safari tents to rent, which could work out cheaper though the minimum rental for any of them will be a week in the summer.
Look into renting a motorhome/camper maybe, if you feel adventurous and aren't planning too many city visits, but again not cheap.

Stay as long as you can manage/afford. Lots to see and do.

Moderator1

You've started two identical threads. Normally we would delete one but because both received a response we merged them.

uktravelover

Take a look at the Premier Inns website. You will not find their hotels on an a booking aggregator website as you can only book direct. If you are booking well ahead of time, you can find some great prices.
https://www.premierinn.com

Also check out Travelodge and Best Western websites. You can usually get a discount if you become a member.
Once you have an itinerary, look at places to stay in the general area. Sometimes you can get a really good deal by staying close by as the rates are lower.

bilboburgler

I'd look at these guys https://www.yha.org.uk

They exist all over, need booking and offer a good basic accom in some interesting places including central London.

I'd also look at seat61.com to find out about train deals, where skilled use of family tickets offer some great ways to get around at reasonable prices

If you want to eat well you should do ok. The days of all ethnic food being cheap have long gone and eating habits are multi-cultural in the UK, even so you will find the odd ethnic in most towns being very good value especially if still first generation, so Thai is often great.

Book early, now with Brexit and Climate Change more and more Brits are holidaying at home so booking ahead is important. Avoiding peak school holidays is also a clever idea as is avoiding Edinburgh in August and Cornwall from mid July to the end of August.

How long, well I'd assume move your base every 4 days and you could hit the usual US hot spots in England over 2/3 weeks. But it really depends on what you like, are you kite-flying opera hounds? All clues welcome

FTOttawa

A trip report on your French travels this summer would provide useful insight on your travel style.

tostaky

Maybe I could do that, but you can see our itinerary so that should give you an idea !

tostaky

We are on the first planning steps, so we dont exactly know where or what we want to see. But we would for sure :
London 5-6 nights ? Dayttrips to Bath or elsewhere ?
Cotswolds ? Cornwall ?
York 3 nights ?

I guess we would allows more time for Scotland since we like big cities but we love small place and natural sights. Maybe i'm wrong but my first idea is that Scotland got more of those. So Scotalnd
Edinburg 3 nights ?
Glasgow 2-3 nights
Isle of Skye 4 nights ?
Highlands 4 nights ?
So I guess we would try to do a 22-26 days trip. We are use to do trips of 28 days or more, but lodging budget wasn't the same !

janisj

OK - I'll be blunt . . . Since you have as yet given us no information to work with (except there are four of you and that apparently you want us to go check your posting history about France).

Just "Any tips/advice ?

and " How much time minimum would we need to have a nice trip in England and Scotland ?"

I guess I'll put as much effort into my responses as you have in your questions . . .

tostaky

it’s fair I guess. Maybe the post I made above your’s can give something to work with.

bilboburgler

I must be being dense, but I scrolled up and saw nothing from before janisj.

I note you have completely left out Wales and northern England. I still don't know even a month of the year. What sort of moeny do you expect to spend?

janisj

Sorry, we were posting at the same time so I didn't see your post #10. I am leaving for a few hours so will read over the new info when I get home this afternoon . . .

Gardyloo

FWIW here's a thread from last year indicating the OP's plans for their France visit. It might cast some light on their approach for this one. The same thread indicates they're from Quebec.

38 days in France: we are all set...I guess ! - Fodor's Travel Talk Forums (fodors.com)

Tostaky, this year you had 38 days in France, which is quite a lot. With 22-28 days available, you'll have to make some decisions about moving around, and you'll need to note that certain places can become quite crowded and expensive in the summer, in particular Edinburgh in August, when the various festivals send accommodation prices through the roof. Many of the places you've listed - Bath, the Cotswolds, Skye, York.. are so high on the tourist radar that they, too can become congested and expensive. Obviously, London always is. Places like Cornwall can be appealing when you're looking at a map, but without knowing WHY you want to go to the places listed, and what sorts of things your family likes to do, we're pretty much in the dark as to where to recommend you go, or for how long.

There's no substitution for doing your own research and relating it to your family's preferences and desires. Hiking? Castles? Music and culture? Food? Birdwatching? Bagpipes? See what I mean? Help us out here, or we'll just be throwing darts in the dark.

tostaky

Thanks for the help. !
We still have plenty of time to take vacations but they still have to be in the heart of summer. Lodging in france seems to cost half what it cost in UK, the same goes with restaurants that's why we could have to make a shorter trip this year. We always alocate around 15k (canadian) for our trips besides flights.

What we like as a family:
- Historical sights ( ww2, roman ruins, some castles...when avaible ! )
- Having a pint of craft beer
- Light to medium hiking
- small music festivals in villages
- Restaurants, but without splurging a lot of money on them

janisj

OK - Back and time to look over the plan.

First of all what are your exact dates? 'Summer' could mean anything from the beginning of June through early September. I'll touch on Scotland first. If ANY of the time is in August it will be problematic in Scotland -- but especially on Skye and double ESPECIALLY in Edinburgh. Because of the Fringe, the various Festivals, and the Tattoo all running concurrently, Edinburgh literally triples in size the full month of August. And the weekends are more so. Meaning everything is extremely crowded, restaurants book up weeks in advance, and hotels/airbnb's/B&Bs charge triple their normal rates and tend to book up 6+ months in advance. The Royal Mile is essentially unwalkable due to the mobs. Don't get me wrong -- Edinburgh in August is AMAZING but it isn't a time to visit fir actual site seeing nor if budget is an issue.

Skye has become insanely popular and it is worst in August. Mull is another glorious island which is popular but not the hordes of visitors that Skye gets.

Now ,IF your dates are more like mid June through mid July you won't have the same issues because most UK schools don't break for the summer til mid/late July. In fact - June is a GREAT time to visit Scotland because there are few British families on holiday (Sorry for all the shouting/CAPS/bold but the emphasis is important)

Now for the England bits - London 5 or 6 nights will really only net you 4 or 5 usable days and some of the will be jet lagged so I personally would not try any day trips except maybe to someplace like Hampton Court Palace or Windsor or Greenwich -- each of which are basically IN London or just outside the city.

With your limited time and obvious interest in Scotland -- I'd do 5 or 6 nights in London, 2 or 3 nights in York (2 hour train from London), and the remainder in Scotland. Edinburgh is a 2 hour train from York and then after a few days in Edinburgh, pick up a car and tours some rural areas . . .

. . . more later.

janisj

. . . sorry of the typos but I think its (mostly) understandable

tostaky

Thanks a lot Janis ! I work until june 27 and my wife until july 1st. So we cant go before july 3 or 4. For now flights are too expensive so we are not able to plan around them.

The only direct flights from Montréal are to London so that’s why we would start by it but maybe we should plan to be in Scotland earlier.

Is England better than Scotland ? I guess it’s not obvious !

janisj

Its really much too early to be looking at flights for next July -- most published schedules that far out are mere suggestions. Schedules will change multiple times between now and then plus there are now bargain fares this far ou.

As for 'Is England better than Scotland" is an absolute impossible question - sort of like asking which is better - British Columbia or California? New York or Paris? Yosemite or the Grand Canyon. France or Italy? There are truly amazing sites in every corner of both countries and you can have have a glorious trip whichever/whatever you pick.

I think its time for you to pick up a couple of guide books??