My girlfriend and I have 11 days to spend traveling...Beginning in Bath, England, and ending in London. We cannot decide how to spend these days. We were considering spending most of the time in England, and possibly traveling to Ireland or Scotland. We want a mix of city and countryside. Any suggestions?

Since you want a mix of city and country, my vote is for several days in Edinburgh and surrounding countryside. Ireland is beautiful also but I think is better for 11 days by itself.

Before anyone can give you useful advice we need to know more.

How do you plan to travel - Car? Trains? Buses? Does the 11 days include time in London - or is London in addition to the 11 days?

But just to get you started thinking - 11 days is not a long time. A trip to Ireland would take a minimum of 5 or 6 days to see anything other than Dublin. Same for Scotland - 11 days will barely skim the surface in Scotland.

You could do a nice itinerary starting in Bath and going through the Cotswolds, part of Wales and the Peak Dostrict or Yorkshire before heading back to London.

Or, head down into the west country for a few days then along the south coast, into Hampshire, Sussex and Kent and north to London.

But answer my original questions about transport and how many total days and you get useful suggestions.

All over England you will get beautiful countryside. You could head from Bath north to the Lake District, to York, to Scotland. Or head from Bath towards Chester into Wales. In any case, in 11 days you will be zipping thru everything. If your total trip is only 11 days, you could drive thru the Cotswalds (I wouldn't do that without a car), see Warwick castle (fun), just checkout the options in the area, and then head to London. And, London could use up your whole time. Ireland would really be a stretch.

If you want to contrast southern England with another country, then it's easiest from Bath to drive into Wales. Head for Sowdonia National Park in North Wales for truly spectacular mountain scenery. You can then head back through the Midlands (visiting Warwick Castle on your way down, but skipping Birmingham or any of the towns in the industrialised West Midlands) towards London.

England..ok,
Scotland...ok
Ireland...ok
Have you considered Wales??
Contrary to popular belief its not part of England.
As Kate said Wales is spectacular.
Cardiff is the Capital city and a truly magnificent place to visit.
Check it out

Muck

Edinburgh was the most beautiful city I have visited. I would highly recommend Scotland!

I'd highly recommend the Western coast of Wales, Snowdonia, and the Lake District. With a car, you could easily get a feel for these areas. If you REALLY like to drive, you can take the quick route (motorway) into Scotland and, I agree, Edinburgh is a wonderful city to spend time in.

If I was making the trip . . .

Bath to St Davids
Welsh Coast to Caenarfon
Squirrel around in Snowdonia
Lake District via Chester
A7 from the Lakes into Edinburgh
North and West from Edinburg
Motorway back to London

I could do this in . . . 72 hours, 5 gallons of coffee, 31 half-hour digital cam tapes, 256MB digital images, 7 heated discussions with my wife, 3 Force 10 discussions with my wife, and a neck cramp that would last most of the flight home.

Since you zre starting and ending in England - although I love Scotland I really think 11 days is NOT enough time to fit it in and enjoy yourselves.
I would consider Wales as other posters have suggested and/or heading into Devon and Cornwall - gorgeous countryside. I am assuming that you will have a car.

We will primarily be traveling by train...thanks for the useful info!

London is including those days too.

If you want to spend at least 4 days in London (really that's a minimum to get your bearings, learn you way around, and see much) you'll have a week free. Using trains will limit you a bit, but you can still see a lot. But with only a week I would definitely skip Ireland and (though it pains me to say so) Scotland. But you MIGHT be able to squeeze in 2 days in Edinburgh.

A good Itinerary would include Bath, Oxford, North Wales, York and back to London. That would be doable in 6 or 7 days.

Or you could do Bath, York, Durham and Edinburgh.

I would recommend the West Country - but the train service is iffy at best. It is hard to get to the best places by rail.

If you are traveling by train you will limit the amount of real countryside you will see. But you can still have a lovely trip if you drive a little. After Bath (3 nights), take the train to York (2 nights), rent a car and drive west to the Yorkshire Dales, see Fountains Abbey, drive to the Lake District, stay 3 nights, return the car (maybe Lancaster?) and take the train back to London. Last three nights in London.