Hi, I'm planning a 12 day trip to Scotland and England in Mid August. I would like to arrive in Edinburg and depart from London. I will rent a car. My interest are castles, Distilleries, historic sites, museums and galleries and amazing countryside. I would appreciate suggestions on an itinerary that would make for an amazing trip. I'm not sure what approach to take on where to stay that will allow enough time to visit destinations and not just spend all my time driving!

Well -- 12 days is not very long at all.

Is that total -- home to home? If so, then you will only have 9.5 days on the ground. But even IF you do have 12 days on the ground (a 14-15 day trip in total) you really would only have time for maybe 3 days in Edinburgh, maybe 2 or 3 of days in some other nearby part of Scotland, and 5 days in London. So having a car - except for maybe 2 or 3 days outside of Edinburgh - doesn't make sense -- you don't want a car in either city and don't have enough time to drive between the two.

If you want to see someplace else in England (and not more of Scotland) then having a car still probably doesn't make sense. You could spend 3 days in Edinburgh, take a train to say York for two days, then maybe Cambridge for 1 day and the rest in London.

OR if it was my first trip and had the interests you listed -- I would just stick to Scotland. Or perhaps 9 or 10 days in Scotland and a quick 2 day stop in London. Then you could start in Edinburgh car-less, then rent a car for a week, then train or fly to London, and fly home. But you do need to read up in a couple of guide books because even w/ a week touring around by car you would only be able to cover a very small part of Scotland.

• Now, ALL of those suggestions are if you actually have 12 days on the ground. if it is a 12 day trip in total, you'd have to cut back even more.

Car useless in London

You could spend time in Scotland and then catch a train to London, end of.

You could visit the obvious of Hadrians wall, Durham, York, Lincoln, Cambridge, London. Amazingly the last 5 can be visited by train easily.

Agree with above given your interests. Stick to Scotland or venture down into Northumbria for more castles. Best scenery on West side of Scotland.

I think it could work quite well if you are happy to stay in and around London for the second part of your trip, rather than wanting to explore further flung bits of England.

So 6 days in Scotland (2 actually in Edinburgh, 4 out and about with a car seeing Glencoe, the Trossachs, the Highlands or whatever takes your fancy). Then down to London on the train, leaving you about 5 days to explore the capital - with maybe one easy day trip out of the city - somewhere like Brighton or Cambridge, both doable by train and take about an hour.