kristin1207

I am headed over to the UK in mid-march for 9 days to visit my brother who is studying abroad in London. I have been to London before, and I want to travel around there for a few days. I love the city, but am hoping for some more insight into some places not to miss in London.

Also, we are planning on taking a 4 day train throughout all of the UK (Wales, Scotland and England) but there are so many things I want to do in these 4 days and i want to make sure I am able to see the best of the UK in this time. Right now I am would like to see (but know I need to cut some things out) Cardiff, Birmingham, Crewe, Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Newcastle and York. I know I need to cut this list down, but I am hoping to get some insight on what to cut out, and what to add (If I am leaving something else great off the list!)

Also, has anyone had any experience with this 4 day unlimited rail pass through the UK. How close does it drop you off to the tourist attractions? hostiles? hotels? Do you need to reserve each train you want to take?

Thanks so much!!

janisj

You want to travel &quot;throughout all of the UK&quot; in <b>4 days</b>?

What you are planning is basically just riding around on trains and not seeing a darn thing. You need to study up on your &quot;must&quot; list and pick 2 of then and there you are - a 4-day trip.

&quot;<i> . . . 4 day unlimited rail pass through the UK. How close does it drop you off to the tourist attractions? hostiles? hotels? </i>&quot; I don't understand your question -- you get off the train at a train station. How far it is from a tourist attraction/hotel/hostel will entirely depend on which station and which attraction/hotel/hostel.

Sorry - but I think you need to do a whole lot more research before you buy your rail pass.

sheila

Kristin, you can do a lot by train, but not as much as you're looking at. If you come to Scotland, you're basically going to lose two days or nights travelling to get there.

So, I'd suggest you look at a map of the rail lines, and see where you want to go that's near them. You could do Wales if you restrict yourself to Wales and what's between London and Wales; ditto Yorkshire. But don't go any further, would be my view.

You might want to pick a hub, and take day trips from there. Some of the railway hubs aren't very pretty, tho'

crazychick

A lot in 4 days which you can't really do list your reasons for picking the places you have then priortise them and use one of the train websites like the trainline to workout the train timetables and see what to cut out.
Crewe seems an odd one to me but you must have had your reasons for including it.

nona1

Are you interested in seeing cities and just using the train to travel between them?

Or are you interested in taking in the views of lovely landscapes from a train?

You would probably need to plan completely different trips to accomplish these.

Or are you a train buff and the actual trains/stations the main interest for you (I can't see any other reason for Crewe).

I too find the question on whether the trains drop you near attractions etc rather peculiar...

rogeruktm

Sounds like something I would do. However, please re-think the places you listed. Birmingham, Crewe, Manchester. IMO I would drop from your list.

kristin1207

My itenterary that I have been looking at doing is as follows:

Day 1: Leave London around 7:30, Arrive in York around 9:30am. Spend most of the day there. I found a walking tour that covers many points of interest that starts at 10:15am. Then I thought we would leave York around 4 and get to Manchester at 5:30. We just want to spend a short while in Manchester. I basically would like to see the Old Trafford and that is probably the extent of it. I would not make the stop, but would just hate to be so close and not at least see it.
Stay the night in Manchester and leave early in the morning to go to Liverpool

Day 2: I would like to see some Beatles points of interest here. But am planning on leaving Manchester around 8 and getting there around 9. Then just spending about 4 hours there. (I would not be opposed to skipping over Liverpool completely if I am just going to be wasting my time by only alloting 4-5 hours here). In that case we would leave Manchester in the morning on day 2 and spend it in Glasgow and spend the day there.

Day 3: Leave Glasgow for Edinburgh early in the morning. Spend the Day in Edinburgh.

Day 4: Morning in Edinburgh. Leave around 11am, stop by Newcastle on the way back to London and arrive at London around 11pm.

Does this sound like we are cramming way too many things into one? I have cut out cardiff, birmingham and Crewe from the trip. but would still like to make 5 stops in 4 days. I dont want to feel like i am traveling the whole trip away, but at the same time want to be able to see a lot. according to the train schedules i have looked at, this would seem to work. but again, I dont want to feel like i am travelling my whole trip away.

flanneruk

Personally, I think the whole thing's nuts.

You're not just spending forever getting to places you then think you can see in a few minutes, you're going back on yourself endlessly. And what are you going to Newcastle and Glasgow for anyway?

If you're a football fan, and want to see the grounds, I'd start by checking if there are tours of Old Trafford, Goodison, Parkhead, Hampden and St James' Park and organise yourself accordingly (You wouldn't want to waste time at Anfield or Ibrox, surely?). Unless you really are a Toon freak, I'd knock Newcastle right out. And at the very least, I'd do one clockwise or anti-clockwise trip.

But frankly, I'd forget everything north of York. You're hardly out of your teens, you've got at least another 70 years to see Britain properly, our trains are just about the worst aspect of this country and spending more time in the ghastly things than hanging round Liverpool pubs or Manchester clubs is a shocking misuse of youth.

And I'd then check whether a railpass really is the cheapest way to do a London-Liverpool-Manchester-York-London trip. Megabus and advance train bookings are probably a lot cheaper.

janisj

flanner said it better - but I'll add my 2¢. This is a trip for a train spotter, not a tourist. You are dashing to and fro just to tick places off a list.

Reading your two threads it looks to me a bit like you've got your heart set on this 4-day rail pass, and will darned well use it to get to places as far apart as possible.

Do York and Manchester - or Edinburgh and Glasgow - or Liverpool and Manchester - or maybe York, Manchester and Liverpool. But don't try to squeeze in 2 weeks of travel into 4 days.

hlocke1

Hi Kristin --

You emphasized a couple of times that you don't want to feel like you're travelling the entire duration of your trip... but that is exactly what you are planning to do. You won't really get to see 5 places in 4 days. You'll end up rushing through a few things on your list without experiencing the town/city itself. In addition, the hassle of checking in and out of hotels/hostels (and having nowhere in particular to keep luggage during the time in between) will cost you even more time.

I would suggest dropping the idea of the 4 day rail pass. Buy point-to-point tickets and visit 1-2 areas that will interest you, offer a lot to do, and could possibly serve as a base for day trips.

Good luck!

Robespierre

I agree with the others who suggest you're planning way too much riding and too little walking.

Maybe you'd like to base in or near London and make your day trips into the Southeast instead of trying to cover three countries.

Check out this offer: http://southernrailway.com/main.php?page_id=189

One of the rail hubs (like Brighton) might make a better base than London, because from there, you can get all over the coast with relatively little hassle.

PalenQ

If doing that then yes the BritRail consecutive day 4 dau pass is a real bargain. www.nationalrail.co.uk to compare

i recently took a train to Manchester from London for a day trip and the 2nd class fare each way for tickets bought at the station was 115 pounds!

Though there are cheaper, much cheaper highly restricted tickets if you want to go to York and then just get on the next convenient train at a time undetermined then the railpass is a real bargain as it can be used on any train any time.

I also went to Bath and the return London-Bath fare flexible ticket was 133 pounds or nearly as much as the 4-day pass costs.

As for travel style it's up to you to know what you want. I often travel just like you do and love it but most do not.

Robespierre

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carolinetaylor

&lt;&lt;And what are you going to Newcastle and Glasgow for anyway?&gt;&gt;

I can't really speak for Glasgow, but Newcastle is an amazing city if you are young, it has beautiful streets in the city centre, great shopping (though it is a bit of a building site at the mo' There will also be a Harvey Nichols opening there in the near future (also one in Glasgow i believe)

Newcastle also has some decent museums, if you are a football fan, St James is a good ground to take a tour of.

Then there is the quayside with the Baltic gallery, the Sage music centre. On a sunny day it really is beautiful.

Come night time, Newcastle has great nightlige, some really good restaurants, bars and clubs. It has a bit of a stag do reputation but if you avoid the Bigg Market area then you'd be okay.

Flanneruk's view that there is nothing worth seeing north of York is frankly a view that a lot of the South share and is outdated, the north has some great cities and towns. It also has some of the friendliest people you'll ever meet.
However, you are short of time, so from all of the places you've mentioned i'd pick one or two that you realy want to go to and spend a couple of days in each.

My choices would be Edinburgh and Manchester.

janisj

carolinetaylor: flanner didn't say there was nothing north of York. I took his point to be that the OP doesn't have time to go that far and she has a whole lifetime to tour the UK properly, and not to try this nutty itinerary.

All that info you give about Newcastle is great - But the OP really can't use much of it since she will only be in the city for about 4 or 5 hours.

sashh

Does the rail pass have to be 4 consecutive days? (sorry not familiar with rail passes)

I think you underestimate just how tiring travel can be.

IMHO stay in London and take a couple of two day trips. Or even a couple of day trips.

If you have been to London before then why spend time there when you want to see more of the UK? And if you think you need a few days for London why do you think you don't need more than a few hours in other cities?

Is your brother going to travel with you? If so he might have a few ideas on where to visit.

carolinetaylor

Apologies flanner i misread the York thing, and i totally agree that the itinerary is absurd, see my point about picking Manchester and Edinburgh, hence the reason i gave so much information about Newcastle as if the OP gives up on her ridiculous itinerary then she may consider Newcastle as an option.

PalenQ

There are indeed some Brits on Fodor's who steadfastly maintain that all is grim above the Watford Gap

i do not share this myopic SE England view however and i'm sure northerner at heart Flaneur does not either.

Josser

There are indeed some Brits on Fodor's who steadfastly maintain that all is grim above the Watford Gap


There's this British thing called &quot;irony&quot;.
We are a gritty lot up here as opposed to those effete Southerners who spend their lives eating grapes and strumming guitars.

Robespierre

I don't characterize anyone's itinerary as &quot;nutty&quot; or &quot;absurd&quot; - I only that point out that it might turn out to be more rigorous than you think, and the time you have provided to discover your destinations may prove to be disappointing.

I'd cut it down to one or two bases (one Scotland, one lower Midlands), with day trips by car or Cheap Day Returns to the surrounding regions.