We are coming to Great Britain in May'08.
We will start with the Cotswolds, but need to make a choice between York and Edinburgh before journeying to London. Which would you choose? We are 50, not going to drive a car, first timers there.

Hi, srcurly -
The good news is that both are worth seeing. My vote would go to Edinburgh, but it depends on what you are interested in seeing and doing and how long you would be able to spend in whichever city you choose.

I've been to both (on the same trip - York on the way to Edinburgh). How much time will you have? York is very interesting but it can be seen in a day. I'd give Edinburgh at least a couple of days.

This is a tuffy because they are both such nice cities. We spent 3 days in York and never got bored, but we had a car so we did some great day trips. We spent 5 days in and around Edinburgh and we had plenty to do there too. If you have more than just a day or 2, I vote for Edinburgh. But you really can't go wrong either way.

I'm confused - York and/or Edinburgh are not on the way from the Cotswolds to London. I agree with dmlove - you could go to York on the way to or from Edinburgh - and York can be seen in a day. We found Edinburgh much more interesting.

My vote is for York. Unless the weather is stupendous - which is hard to plan ahead - and then I'd go to Edinburgh. Edinburgh on a cold, miserable day is one of the bleakest places I've been. On a sunny day, it's something else. York is easy to get around, fascinating and lively, rain or shine. We spent one day and regretted not planning two more.

The good news is - both are great.
On our last trip (about 4 years ago), we did both.
York - wonderful cathedral and city walls, great medieval streets.
Edinburgh - great castle, some lovely medieval AND Regency architecture and interesting museums.

Both are good "walking around cities" - compact and interesting.

We found that there was a bit more to do in Edinburgh (in spite of a very rainy first day). BUT York is great too. My recommendation - do a little more research and find out which has more of what you are interested in.

We loved both - but Edinburgh distinctly has more to do - esp without a car. (There are several good day trips from York - but the walking part of the city is smaller - but still fascinating.)

Is there ANY way you can rearrange this itinerary? The Cotswolds to York and/or Edinburgh to London is pretty convoluted. If you could say, fly into Edinburgh, travel down through York, on to the Cotswolds and finish up in London (or do the trip in reverse). There would be a lot less to-ing and fro-ing and it would be a more efficient use of your limited time.

Thanks for the input. It sounds like they are both wonderful places. Would one night for York and two nights for Edinburgh be worthwhile?

Possible plan:

Sunday: arrive in London, bus to Bath
Monday: see Bath
Tuesday: Mad Max tour of cotswolds
be dropped off in Moreton in Marsh
Wednesday: walk, hike, relax, explore
Thursday: morning train to York.
explore rest of day/evening
Friday: morning train to Edinburgh
castle, museum, etc.
Saturday: see more Edinburgh
Sunday: morning train to London

We then start a week tour of London with Rick Steve's and fly home to Seattle on Saturday

I would be interested in flying into Edinburgh, but the flights from Seattle seem to stop in London or Paris anyway.
It is also more expensive that way. I am using credit card points and must fly in and out of the same place.
I also thought it might be better for jet lag to go to Bath first.

It's still an awful lot of traveling around. I would recommend staying in York, perhaps adding a day to Bath. Both Bath and York have wonderful things to explore and discover. Getting there one day and leaving the next will leave you with almost no time in York itself.

As great as Edinburgh is, I'd leave it for another trip.

I'm one of the apparently few people who doesn't mind changing locations with some frequency, so I think spending 1 day and night in York and 2 days and nights in Edinburgh makes sense. Enjoy!

There's no train from Moreton to York: just a 5-hour marathon with at least three unpleasant changes, usually involving hoiking yourself and your bags up a staircase and then back down again. And all involving Britain's two most grotesque parodies of train operators, Worst Great Western and Virgin Cross Country.

As a frinstance, I took part of the journey you're planning yesteday. With no explanation or apology , a train with capacity for 500 people was replaced by one with a seating capacity of less than 100. Guess how the rest of us 350 travelled.

Personally, I'd get a taxi the hour's journey from Moreton to Birmingham airport, fly (Flybe's the operator) to Edinburgh, do the stuff there, then get the train to York and then to London.