England base/s for 6 days (part 2)...need final nudge! Please...
 

I have already posted a thread a while ago ...but now that our tours have been cancelled, daughter and I are on our lonesome in England and need to finalise our itinerary
Here's what we have so far:
Jan 20: arrive Heathrow 6am...booked in at Premier Inn Leicester Square for 7 nights but havent paid yet so can be cancelled
we plan to do all manner of things LONDON ...and may even venture out to CANTERBURY COTSWOLDS BATH as day trips from our base in London

Now... we have ...5 more nights ( sat 1st feb is already booked back in London)
Mon 27 Jan ( our tour through England was supposed to start then ) til Saturday 1st Feb to fill in

At first I thought itd be nice to base ourselves in YORK for say 3 days (catch train from London) then catch train maybe to BRISTOL for another 2 nights before returning late afternoon Saturday 1st Feb to meet husband in London ( just for the night cos we three are then flying to Dublin the next day at around 2pm )

but ive just hung up from chatting to a travel agent who suggested maybe using LEEDS as a base instead of Bristol ( cos Bristol is fairly close to London and anything like Bath can be done from our base in London...right?)

I dont know whether to base ourselves in York or just do trips from Leeds out to York and wherever else people recommend?

WE WONT BE HIRING A CAR ...so the moors and dales and lakes district are out I guess and it's winter anyway..

So basically...do i extend our stay in Leicester Sq London to incorporate tours/ independent traint trips to Bath, Cotswolds, Oxford..etc
and then move somewhere to the north to access YORK ( definitely want to see it )

OR do i divide up the remaining 6 days/ 5 nights - 3 and 2 between Leeds and somewhere else?

The idea is to really minimise lugging our baggage on trains....

oooooh...Im leaning towards London and Leeds now...say 9 in London and the rest in Leeds?
Is there a nicer town than Leeds to stay in but one that still has good fast train access to the tourist hubs? ( we love history )

Thanks so much ..any advice would be very much appreciated...I have to start booking accommodation this week I think!
Cheers
Lanejohann

Most visitors would prefer to stay in York rather than Leeds.

But if you prefer big cities with a Victorian centre rather then a smaller city with a mediaeval one, then Leeds might suit you better. It certainly has good transport links.

Leeds has some great shopping, (take money), good restaurants and fine museums. Knowing it as I do I'd find fun things to do for a couple of days there.

York is an easy train trip and a day's entertainment.

Train to Manchester offers another day's fun while theart galleries of Wakefield (I still struggle to write that) are world class. (the hepworth and the yorkshire sculpture park) can be accessed by train and bus.

http://www.transportdirect.info/Web2...epeatingloop=Y tells you how to get around.

On top of these obvious ones there is Saltaire (world Unesco site) and Hebdon Bridge for the hippy chick.

The Marriott in Leeds is the most obvious large US style hotel, and "42 the calls" the best boutique (means expensive) both more or less in the centre though 42 is about 10 mins walk to the station.

Hope that helps, come back if you need more

sorry "Hebden Bridge"

Leeds isn't a town, it's a huge industrial city - I think it's the second largest city outside London. It's a lively, buzzy place which I like very much (I work right in the city centre) but personally I would not advise you to stay there if it's a choice between Leeds and York.
If you want to see York why not stay in York? I don't see what you'd gain by staying in Leeds. Both cities have very good train links.
There's absolutely loads to see in York, it's walkable and compact and it's also very beautiful.
By the way, Bristol is 120 miles from London - not 'close' in my book.
Only you can decide what you want to do, but here's a suggestion.
Take the train from Kings Cross to York (less than 2 hours). Stay in York for 2 or 3 nights. Then take the train from York to Edinburgh. Spend a couple of nights in Edinburgh. Then train back - the East Coast line is pretty regular and reliable. It's also very scenic when you go through Northumberland. Or you could go up to Edinburgh first, and do the York days on your return journey.

Meant to add - London to York, and then York to Edinburgh are both direct train journeys without changes, so you won't be lugging your cases around too much!
I worked in Glasgow from Monday to Thursday each week a few years back and would catch the train up from York each Monday morning, back again Thurs afternoon throughout the winter. Never had a problem with winter weather although of course no one can guarantee what each winter will bring!
If you stay in York I'd also recommend a trip to Durham (again a quick, easy and direct train journey)

oh youre all too fabulous! thank you for all that input...
now while youve been responding..ive been mulling over it all
and heres another idea....
what if
instead of leaving london...daughter and i stay put (im pretty sure the hotel can extend our stay for another week)
that way we dont have to pack up all our gear ( this is a 6week trip which includes singapore on the way home so theres an assortment of essentials weather-wise)
so ..we stay in london...and decide the night before what to do..
advantages...just having a base; playing it by ear

disadvantages..could be expensive...all the to-ing and fro-ing on trains and staying in the london hotel is about 260 AUD per night ( probably more by the time i book the second week)
my daughter is somewhat prone to the odd migraine which wipes out half the day for her when she does get one...the advantage of having a base is that we can see how we all feel before committing to a whole day out...just a precaution


so any opinions>>>
the travel agent did mention that there is an organised daytrip from london to york...11hour day you leave at 630...aabout 230 AUD pp...so theres one option...or we just catch the train and do the independent thing

staying in london...we have the opportunity to travel to so many destinations
and then theres no panic if we happen to miss out on something one day...therell be time the next..

or if york is just too far for a one-dayer...then maybe we could just go there on the thursday and return on saturday...

york is a must -see...if you think that it is not possible to do it from london then we will uproot ourselves and book accommodation

we would prefer medieval towns by the way...
not so much into art galleries and wont be shopping too much for clothes ( baggage restrictions on aer lingus)
we are watching loads of british history documentaries and definitely leaning towards the roman - norman-tudor- james II- charles I times so far...
( fingers crossed we may even get to bayeux in france this trip to see the tapestry! )
okay...over to you folks for any opinions
thanks!

Beware travel agents suggesting expensive tours. They are only after the commission they get.

Stay in York, don't rush it as a daytrip from London. The money you save not doing an expensive rushed tour will pay for the hotel in York.

okay...mjdh...im thinking hard...about to ring and book accommodation
im hearing you...460aud for the tour for daughter and me will indeed buy plenty of accommodation in York...but there are the train tickets as well to consider...have no idea how much these are..
money isnt the entire focus..as long as we dont start falling into the 'ridiculous' basket, im not too worried
im thinking about the time and hassle it is to pack up...get to the train station...haul our luggage...get there...haul our luggage/ catch cab ...settle into hotel or at least dump luggage then set out again...
repeat that a few times and it does eat into your sight-seeing
as opposed to rush out and leave your luggage and just do daytrips...with or without an organised tour

what if we just caught a train from london up to york by ourselves..say one of the earlier ones...spent the day..and returned to london on an 8pm (or something around that time..getting back to our hotel by 10 30pm)

what are your thoughts>? still too rushed?

I have no idea what an Australian dollar is worth but 460 is a big number. Only you know if that is 'ridiculous' or not.

You get cheaper train tickets by booking about three months in advance. Use the train operators website to book (East Coast) and pick the tickets up at a machine before you travel. If you look at dates a couple of months in advance of now you will have an idea of what it will cost.

For me, York would be too far for a day trip from London, but then I like to take my time in a place. And there is a lot to see in York.

Can't believe how much that organised day trip to York is! My eyes are watering.
Yes, it's easily done as a day trip - living in North Yorkshire we do it the other way round and come down to London for the day. It will get dark reasonably early but just do your York outside things first.
There's lots to do in York but you are clearly a planner, so just work out what your priorities are and you'll get a really good taste of the city.

Train to York or Leeds is very easy and if booked early (unchangeable) the price is pretty good.

You can do a York day visit but the cheaper tickets tend to be post 9ish which limits the day but you can dine on the train on the way back

Migraine, does she eat vegimite? Its uk equiv. helps me.

dollar AUD is about US dollar. 460 sounds high

You might find this thread interesting too.
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...r-not-york.cfm

yes it is a lot for the two of us to have an organised tour london - york..
(460AUD is about 257 GBP or 420 USD at the moment
...
but when youre on holidays..mum and daughter..theres a different budget altogether..
theres the 'convenience factor' that has to be built in lol
thats why tours...something that we never do with OH ...might be good for this leg of the trip
we will see
in the meantime..ive extended our stay in London to 12 nights..and will start tweaking it..

will research exactly what we need to see in York ...maybe we could leave london on the Thursday...leave the bulky bags at the hotel( they might mind them for us,seeing as we are coming back on the saturday night) and just pack overnight bags...have to check with the hotel directly i guess

thanks again everyone !

Well of course it's entirely your business how you spend your money but I'd be thinking of all the other things I could do with that amount!
I promise you, York is an absolute doddle for independent travellers. The train station is very close to the city centre - you'll be off that train and into the heart of the city in moments.
Loads of places to stay - even a Hotel slap bang next to the station called the Royal York.
Google and print off a map of the centre - there are plenty of good ones - and away you go.

Like Morgana, I've no idea what your money is worth.

But York is supremely walkable, its station is almost in the middle of everything, and much of what's worth doing is free. For an English speaker, it's probably the most pointless place on earth to need any kind of guide or package for.

Booking now, it's about £25 return on the train, plus the cost of the tube to Kings Cross to get on it. Leave it till the day you go, and that £25 can easily turn into ~£250 on a weekday if you get a train early enough for a full day's sightseeing.

Do stay in York. We've left bags at London hotels several times and traveled light to York and to Edinburgh. We were last in York late October 2011 for 2 nights and could have easily had another day.

We can recommend the Hazelwood York B & B just outside the walls and an easy walk to the Minster, the Shambles, etc.

IMHO York is about 5 times more interesting than Leeds. I would split time between London (and day trips - but do remember the very early dark) and York (with a day trip or two from there). I wouldn;t miss Hadrian's wall - but I think you wold need a car to make that work from york.

Morgana's right. It would be easy to get to York and to get around, as it's not very big but with lots to do. I would not try to see Hadrian's Wall from there, as it is quite a ways south and would be very hard to see without a car (and even with a car it is not easy).