Driving Trip Edinburgh to London
 

Hi all - I have been avidly reading other posts and hope some of you guys can assist with my trip...

My husband and I are flying into Edinburgh on 5th September 09. Our plan is to hire a car and do a road trip seeing the highlights of Scotland, then choosing a few key highlights on our way down to London. We have about 12 actual 'sightseeing' days, which needs to include 3 days in London itself.

I would love some assistance on the usual dilemmas - what are the 'must sees' along the way, how much time to spend where, and is our plan to drive to London viable, or would we be better of training/flying down and then doing day trips from London?

Finally, this is what we have identified as some of the places we would love to see:
Scotland - Glencoe, Loch Ness, Edinburgh (not planning to go to Glasgow)
England - Bath, Oxford, and some of the 'classic' Cotswolds villages.
Thanks in advance for your expertise and advice!

As you will have read the country appears pretty small but is surprizingly dense(!) and so it takes time to travel. The lowlands of Scotland and the cotswalds are way apart and full of fun stuff to do.

So I suggest you look at two alternative routes, one on the East side and one on the West side of the country (small mountain range in the middle designed to eat up time) East coast I know better but it offers Berwick on Tweed, Durham, York, Lincoln, Cambridge, Ely, London. West coast gives you Lancaster, Manchester, Wales, Oxford, Cotswalds, Stonehenge/Winchester/ Salisbury.

Each of these gives you loads of places to do things to see. I guess if you are doing a road trip you need a car and for most of thee cities that should be ok. If in doubt check with your hotel where you can stick it. Worst problems are in York, Oxford and London with the congestion charge (just beaten off in Manchester this year)

Another way is to look at town and county web sites to see what there is to do. Good luck

Thanks for that. I am probably leaning more towards Oxford and the Cotswolds on the west coast.. Can anyone comment on the amount of time I have allowed and where to go in Scotland?

Cheers

Oxford and the Cotswolds are nowhere near the west coast.

You'll be a bit limited what you can see/do in just 12 days.

Are you flying in to Edinburgh long haul? If so there is jet lag to deal w/. W/ 3 days in London and 2 days in Edinburgh (one probably an exhausted blur) that leaves you 7 full days. You want to cover a LOT of territory - Edinburgh to Inverness to Glencoe to Oxford/the Cotswolds and Bath. Not terribly realistic.

Why Inverness? Is there a particular reason you want to go there? It would take 2 full days from your already very rushed itinerary. The Cotswolds are not a place you can just drive through - they take walking and wandering and exploring. Oxford takes a full day. Same w/ Bath -- and they are hundreds of miles from Scotland.

One possible route

E'burgh 2 days/nights
Glencoe/the Trossachs/Stirling 2 days/nights
Lake District 1 day/night
The Cotswolds 3 days/nights (this is to visit the Cotswolds and Oxford)
Bath 1 day then drive to LHR in the evening and drop the car. Public transport into London for your final 3 days/nights.

This would not be my choice - but is (barely) doable

We did the trip in reverse - picking up a car when we left London and dropping it when we arrived in Edinburgh. This was a short trip so we only stopped in Oxford (3 nights) and York (3 nights).

We prefer to do day trips rather than changing hotels every night - and had done other parts of England on previous trips. But I think Oxford and York, besides what there is to do in each town, both have a lot of options for short day trips. From Oxford you can easily see much of the Cotswolds, Blenheim Palace and even Warwick Castle.

Thanks for your replies.
Janisj - thanks that is really what I was needing - a reality check! We are flying in from Melbourne to LHR and then through to Edinburgh so will be exhausted as you say. (arrive Edinburgh 8.30pm)
I am not committed to going to all these places - I just really wanted to make the best of our time and have an enjoyable time exploring.. We hate rushing around and just 'ticking the box' so I would prefer to do less and experience more. You mention that your suggested itinerary would not be your choice - I am open to suggestions to scale this down further. Would we be better spending more time in Scotland, training/plane down to London and then doing a couple of day trips from London?
Really appreciate your thoughts...

OK - just for arguments sake -- how would this sound?

Which airport are you flying out of?

Assuming it is LHR -- Fly into Edinburgh and spend 5 days split 2 nights in Edinburgh, 1 day/night in Fife (St Andrews/fishing villages etc) and 2 nights somewhere west or northwest of Stirling to see mountains, lochs, castles, Glencoe (though not Loch Ness). Possibilities would be Callander, Crianlarich or Glencoe. (Or drop Fife and spend one more day over to the west.)

Then either fly or train to London for the final 7 days. You could either stay all week in London or 5 days in London and 2 days/nights in the Cotswolds. During the time in London you could do a day trip to Bath by train if you wanted.

This would eliminate a LOT of extra driving. You'd rent a car for 3 days in Scotland and just for the 2+ days to drive out to the Cotswolds and back.

This is just one way that you could fit most of your wish list in . . . .

I recommend the train from Edinburgh with a 2 night stop in York and a day in Cambridge on your way to London. The train is excellent and relaxing. It has wifi and power outlets, plus food and drink service at your seat.

Of course the OP could go to York and Cambridge -- or Wales and the Lake District -- or Kent and Sussex -- or Northumberland and the Peak District. Or just about anywhere. All are wonderful

But none of those places are Oxford/Bath/the Cotswolds which they seem to want to see.

thanks guys - very helpful, I am going away to rethink and do some more research... Any suggestions for a place to stay in the COtswolds? Happy with a B&B or pub budget around the 80-100 pound mark.

"Oxford and the Cotswolds are nowhere near the west coast."

No. But they're slap bang in the middle of the West Coast route from Scotland (including Edinburgh) to London.

Hi Mac,

You might like to try a meal here http://www.theoldspottedcow.co.uk/index.php - it's a beautiful old pub and the village of Marston Meysey is spectacular. The surrounding area is also very beautiful.

I know that the Old Spotted Cow Hotel does have a B&B room but I haven't seen it and am not sure of rates but you could email them to find out.

Anna, the chef at the pub serves really gourmet standard fare, with very reasonable prices and the staff and locals are very friendly.
Bath is just an hour's train ride from Marston Meysey and I had a fabulous time there.

The Cotswolds are just such a beautiful area of England. I dined in a few pubs in the area and was never disappointed. I've not been to Scotland but it is actually next on my list so I hope you have a fabulous trip.