Can anyone help with a great five day itinerary between Bath and Edinburgh? Staying two nights twice, and one night once. I want will use trains and a rental car if necessary. I'd like to see the best of the best! Thanks!

Your choices are many - but you need to decide if it is by train or by car. A combination of the two isn't really feasible.

Does the 5 days include either Bath or Edinburgh - or just the trip between the two??

But before getting those answers - one option could be (w/ rental car) 2 nights in the Cotswolds, 1 night in the Peaks or Lake District and 2 nights in the Borders.

Or -- 2 nights in the Cotswolds, 2 nights in Yorkshire, 1 night in Northumberland or the Borders.

Probably the first thing you might do is a bit more research. The second thing is to give dates and your ingress and egress airports.

If it's trains you prefer, head back to London and take a train along the east coast. I like the flying Scotsman as there are few stops. Stay for 2 days in York, go to Durham, a pretty nice city north of York. Tack on an extra day in Edinburgh, just because it's a very nice city to visit. Find a nice hotel on Princes street with a view of old Edinburgh. From there rent a car and go up into the highlands, depending on how much time you have. Visit historic Scone Palace (the original boot hill - find out why) and come back down on the east side of Loch Ness.

Somehow I don't see suggestiing London, Perth (Scone), Loch Ness (??) and Princes Street for a route from Bath to Edinburgh.

I've driven the roads throughout England a bunch of times, including a couple of stays in the Lakes District (lovely). if one wants to do it with less hassle, the train is the easier way.

The person with the original request is pretty vague. The Flying Scotsman is a nice, quick train through the countryside of eastern England.

As you probably know, Princes street is the street that separates the old town from the new in Edinburgh. The view at night is great if you have a window facing Edinburgh Castle.

This person wants to fill up some days, and I'm suggesting a simple one day trip out of Edinburgh to Scone Palace, where Scottish Kings were crowned for centuries. The stone over which the Scottish kings were crowned is now in Westminster Abbey, and sits underneath the chair in which the King / Queen of England is crowned. It's an easy trip over to Loch Ness and down the eastern side which is very beautiful in a primitive, wild sort of way. I could care less about the Loch, it's the trip that's the fun part.

There are many options.... I guess this person could rent a car and go up the M5 to the Lakes district, and so on and so on.

I'm just giving my opinion, based on many trips to Great Britain.

I started my post with requesting the person do more research. The thread is pretty vague, and I'm just throwing out some ideas. If they're used or not, I won't, nor will you know, unless there is a trip report.

I think this forum is intended to help, which is what I thought I was doing.

I understand you're flying out from Glasgow.

There is a case for travelling to Edinburgh via York and Durham. But all this talk of the Flying Scotsman is weird.

There's a vintage train called that which does trips round the country at premium prices for train buffs.Very nice if you like vintage trains, but...

Alternatively it's the title given to the 10 am departure of the regular, every hour on the hour, London Kings Cross to Edinburgh train. Not the fastest, and in no way different from the other trains that leave on the hour, except that they've kept the name for sentimental reasons.

Trouble is, going back to London, crossing the city and then getting the train to York is an awful lot of time exposing yourself to pretty dull scenery. The straightforward Bath-York train journey, changing at Reading or Bristol, is about as dull, but quicker.

The driving route through the Cotswolds then through the Peak District is a lot prettier. Whether you then continue to York/Durham on the east or the Lake District on the west depends on whether you'd prefer being in medieval cathedsral cities or pretty countryside.

rasta: The OP asked a very simple question -- a 5 day route bewteen Bath and Edinburgh. Nothing you have mentioned addresses that at all. I simply don't understand throwing in London, Loch Ness, and/or the Flying Scotsman.

Bath to Edinburgh is approx 375-400 miles by road - and a 5 day itineray would be fairly straightforward.

janisj, unless I'm reading this wrong, this person is pretty vague about where he/she wants to spend time. This means that almost anything goes. I'm throwing out ideas that this person may not have thought of.

I think of my first trip to England, and the trip was sort of like a pinball machine, I was all over the place, backtracking, missing great sites, etc....

I started my comments off tonight by suggesting the person do some more research. Who knows, this person may be a farmer and wants to see cows in Herfordshire (been there, done that).

What's a good time for this person isn't necessarily the same good time you or I would think as a great time. I throw ideas out. If this person does a bit more research on the areas that WE ALL have suggested, then, maybe, this person's experience is better. He/she chooses, we just advise in our own way.

flanneruk, the Flying Scotsman is alive and well, a descendant of the famed train of the 1900's. It's one of a series of express trains that make 3-4 stops from London to Edinburgh (York and Newcastle are 2 of them).

London to Edinburgh is 4 hours, which is pretty good time, especially if you've ever taken the English side of the Chunnel train.

Depends on how much luggage you have and what you want to do, one can go up from Bath or head to London and take the tube. I like the trip along the east coast as it's usually a pretty and green, intermingled with nuclear power plants (small joke there).

Esentially this train is the TGV of England (only in England tht means Trains Go Very fast for trains in England), which is not fast at all.

You're right about Reading being dull and then some.

Leaving from Glasgow makes the Scone Palace / Loch Ness day trip easier as you kind of come back down on the Glasgow side.

I just like York with its cultural museum, city walls, the Rambles and Castle Howard a half hour or so outside of York. Maybe train up to York and drive the rest of the way. I parked my rental car one year at the train station in Edinburgh for 3 days at a decent rate.

As for me, I have no interest in visiting Bath again in the first place, so who am I to say where this person wants to go?

As usual, chaque pour soi.

Bath to Edinburgh is an easy train journey, and there is no particular need to return to London. I would suggest this might be a chance to see one or two small towns in England, for example:

1. Bath to Ludlow
(req. one change of train en route, usually at Newport - super train journey, ending in a picture perfect small town). Stay two nights.

2. Ludlow to Settle
(2 train changes, great scenery for most of the route, ending in a lovely small Yorkshire town. Stay two nights.

3. Settle to Edinburgh
(1 change at Carlisle).

You could of course substitute York for Settle.

Hope this helps.
Nicky
www.hiddeneurope.co.uk

Thank you. I added hidden europe to my favorites listing.

As one of my bosses always used to say "if you don't know where you're going, any road will get you there."

Thank you again.

<<< The stone over which the Scottish kings were crowned is now in Westminster Abbey >>>

It's in Edinburgh Castle along with the Honours of Scotland. Unless it's been moved since yesterday when I last saw it

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_o...ed_to_Scotland

alanRow, you're correct about where it is now. However, it's been in Westminster Abbey for years, and was there for the crowning of Queen Elizabeth.

The Scots, and rightly so, are trying to gather back their various treasures in Scotland.

As you may know QE II (not the ship) has some Scottish roots and loaned it to Scotland.

However, it will be back in Westminster Abbey when the next King / Queen is crowned. As this web site points out, the stone is still owned by the Crown.

Here is a web site that might give you a tad bit more information than Wikipedia. The story about the two young men who stole the stone in the early 50's is true and kind of funny. Apparently, they knocked on the door of Scone Palace one night and 'returned' the stone, just saying 'we brought it back for you.'

http://www.durham.net/~neilmac/stone.htm

I've driven several times in England, but find it difficult on anything other than the motorways if you don't have a very detailed map and a good navigator with you! Cars are manual transmission for the most part - a little tricky at first shifting gears left handed. York is wonderful - have been the twice and would go again. You do not say when you are going? The Military Tattoo in Edinburgh is unforgettable!!! I believe it is in August.

To everyone that replied to my request for assistance, THANK YOU! You've given me lots of ideas and I appreciate your time and effort

<<< The Military Tattoo in Edinburgh is unforgettable!!! I believe it is in August. >>>

Yes it is, and it sold out for this year 2 months ago.

Plus for anyone considering Edinburgh in August thee are a few other things going on - www.edinburghfestivals.co.uk - which mean that Edinburgh becomes somewhat busy