First time to U.K.
 

Plan to visit U.K. by end of Jul. I want to spend some time in Scotland. Below is my tentative itinerary outside London:

Day 1 Hire a car to drive from London to Bath
Day 2 Driving from Bath to Lake District, via Warwick if enough time
Day 3 Hanging around in Lake District
Day 4 Driving from Lake District to Edinburgh
Day 5 Edingburgh
Day 6 Road to the Isles, take the ferry from Mallaig to Skye
Day 7 Driving around on Skye
Day 8 Driving to Glen Torridon, Loch Maree via Kyle of Lochalsh. Then return to London.

I want to see some landscape, coastline in Scotland. Any comment on the itinerary? The return trip is very long, should I return the car in Glasgow and take the train back to London? If I drive back to London, any stop-over recommended for staying overnight?

This is way too much. Driving from London to Bath will take you at least 3 hours, once you have got over the stress of our motorways and driving on the other side. Bath to the Lake District could take up to 6 - 7 hours, before you even think of stopping off. I assume you are from the US. If so, please remember our tiny island is cram full of people and our roads are not the expansive highways you often get in parts of the US. Again, Lake District to E'burgh could take up to 5 hours.
Reduce, and think of getting a rail pass and hiring a car in one base.
I would do Bath for one night, Warwick for another, Lake District.
Concentrate on one country - England or Scotland - for such a small amount of time.

Should I skip Bath and go straight from London to Lake District by train then? Would it be inconvenient to travel Lake District without a car?

Afterwards, take the train to Edinburgh and rent a car to travel around Scotland from there?

Just confirm for me that you do NOT intend to drive from Skye through Torridon and then to London in one day. That would be suicidal!!

Whew, I'm exhausted just thinking about all that driving!
I think that I'd get a train to Edinburgh and hire a car there. You'll certainly need a car for the Highlands.
The Lake District has reasonable public transport, but a car would be handy.
Personally, I'd spend more than one day in the Lake District and Edinburgh.
I suppose that one day in the Lake District would enable you to see some scenery, but I'd have thought that just one day in Edinburgh would hardly scratch the surface.

Looks like way too much driving in a short time.

How about from London getting a flight to Edinburgh (cheap Easyjet/BMI will be perfect). You could pick up a car after your time in Edinburgh (you won't need one while you are in the city). Then however many days you are left with, drive back down towards London via the Lake District and Warwick.

I would not go out to Bath on this trip. Are you spending time in London at the beginning or end of what you have described? If so, you could do Bath as a day trip if you are still very keen on that.

I know we are a relatively small island and one could be forgiven for thinking that driving is easy but believe me driving here in the UK is not as easy as you may think. The roads are crowded and full of lorries as the rail network is grim.
For your own safety cut down on the driving, fly to edingburgh and forget about Bath.

Good luck

Muck

Just check the railway fare, the price is unreasonably high for one-way trip. As advised by my friend, the itinerary is revised to below:

Day 1 Take a train from London to Manchester, rent a car to drive to Lake District
Day 2 Lake District
Day 3 Drive to Edinburgh
Day 4 Edinburgh
Day 5 Edinburgh
Day 6 Road to Isles
Day 7 Skye
Day 8 Glen Torridon, Loch Maree via Kyle of Lockalsh. Then return to Stirling.
Day 9 Drive from Stirling to Manchester. Take the train back to London.

This can avoid the high cost of one-way ticket and shorter driving time.

Thanks for Dave's advice, the Easyjet is a very cheap option. I decided to take the flight back from Edinburgh to London. Now my schedule can be finalized as below:

Day 1: Hire a car to drive from London to Bath
Day 2: Drive from Bath to Warwick, via Stratford upon Avon
Day 3: Drive from Warwick to Lake District
Day 4: Lake District
Day 5: Lake District in the morning, drive to Edinburgh by evening
Day 6: Edinburgh
Day 7: Road to West Highland, Road to Isles, take the ferry from Mallaig to Skye.
Day 8: Drive around on Skye
Day 9: Drive from Skye to Glen Torridon, Lock Maree, via Kyle of Lochalsh. Back to Stirling by evening
Day 10: Stirling castle in the morning. Take the 4:45 p.m. flight from Edinburgh to London in the afertoon.

A few questions:

1. With One and a half day in Lake District, where should I explore?
2. How long does it take to drive from Edinburgh to Mallaig, with some stop-overs say in Fort Williams, Glenfinnan, Morar? What's the time of the last Ferry from Mallaig to Skye?
3. With 1 day driving on Skye, where should I explore?
4. On the way from Skye to Stirling via Glen Torridon, which areas can I focus in one day? Eilean Donan Castle? Glen Shiel? Loch Duich? Plockton? Loch Maree?

I know I have too many questions. Forgive me as I am a first time traveller to U.K.

Have a look at http://www.rac.co.uk/
They will give you a really detailed route planner, easier that just relying on a map.They say that the distance between Edinburgh and Mallaig is 185.2 miles and takes 4 hrs 29 min.
I think that you'll find that travel time is much longer than you might think.
For the Lake District, I'd go to somewhere like Keswick and take a look at the leaflets on display to see what catches your eye. Even from a car, you'll see some stunning scenery, but there are many good walks ranging from easy to challenging.

I think you shoudl count on a 5 hour drive time from Edinburgh to Mallaig. Thee's no reason to stop in Fort William (unless you need to pee). But you will need a good hour at Glenfinnan, maybe more, there's nothing to see at Morar as such. So build in maybe another hour of 00-ahh time and you're at 7 1/2 hours. The last ferry from Mallaig to Skye goes at 6.10pm and there's a 30 minute check in. If that's the one you want to be on, BOOK!


I'll do some stuff on Skye itself for your later.

That day 9 is a total nightmare, you know...

Eilean Donan is not actually en route, tho' it's only a few miles off it. It's very pretty from the outside but everyone says not much cop inside.

YOu can't be serious about wanting to go south through Glen Shiel before you go north to Torridon?

Loch Duich is not great after all that you will have see. It's where Eilean Donan is, so you will see it.

You could be adventurous and get the little ferry from Skye to Glenelg, cross over the Mam Rartagan pass to Shiel Bridge, which will give you great views over the 5 sisters, go north past Eilean Donan to Plockton and then round Loch Carron.

By far the most spectacular road from there to Torridon is to go over the Beallach nam Bo to Applecross and then back through Torridon to Loch Maree. but that's a whole day in itself, and you're still 4 1/2 hours from Stirling on the most direct route. If it were me, that's what i would do, and I'd give Stirling castle the by, but if you really want to do that, I'de go straight south from Skye and miss out Torridon altogether. Unless of course, you are all aliens and don't need sleep:)

Which route would you recommend after leaving Skye:

1. Kyle of Lochalsh -> Plockton -> Loch Carron, drive back to Shiel Bridge, then Glen Shiel -> accommodation at Stirling

2. Kyle of Lochalsh -> Plockton -> Glen Torridon -> Loch Maree -> accommodation at Inverness (or somewhere in between). Drive back to Edinburgh to return the car next day.

Roughly, how long does it take?

I'd do the second if I were you.

I would count on four hours to Kinlochewe- minimum. Hour and a half to Inverness.

Sylvia,

Thanks for your tips. The route planner is very useful and I have recommended to my friend who will also visit U.K. this summer.

If I rent a car, which budget hotels or B&B you would recommend for each area:

1. Bath
2. Lake District
3. Edinburgh
4. Isle of Skye

I'm coming in late to this itinerary, but have you considered gettting to Bath by train and renting a car when you leave Bath? Parking's not so easy in Bath and you won't need the car in Bath unless you're not staying in town. Here's a place to stay that has free parking though

www.VillaMagdala.co.uk/

Here's another string with other b&b options in Bath

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34398715

Are you familiar with how a text search here works?

I am also late getting into this thread (I was on holiday in the UK when you first posted).

People have been fairly frank telling you you are biting off waaaaaay too much. Have you ever driven in the UK before? Everything -- and I mean everything, will take longer to get to and to see than you probably realize. The only place you are slowing down even a tiny bit is in the Lake Dist and that's only for a 1 1/2 days.

Most of your time will be spent in the car and you will "see" a lot but only through the windscreen (wind shield). The area you are trying to cover is roughly the distance from San Diego to Sacramento -- but except for the motorway most of the way from from Warwick to the Lake district - is over very slow roads - in the lakes and western Scotland you can count on averaging about 35 mph.

I know it is late into your planning - but do you really need to see all of these places on this trip? Will it be your only trip, ever, to the UK? I would SERIOUSLY think about just doing the Lakes and part of Scotland -- OR -- Bath, Warwick, Stratford and, maybe, the Lakes.

Oh - I missed your title. Obviously you have not driven in the UK before. So my advice goes double. You won't be visiting many of these places - you will just be driving through them . . . . . .

You only have 10 days so don't try to see everything - (and day 9 will kill you off so you won't have many memories of the trip anyway)

I shall take the flight to London tonight and begin my 2-week vacation in the U.K. Thanks to every one who contributes ideas to my plan!

Bring lots of "credit" and ATM available cash!
M