Help deciding on how to tour England/Ireland/Scotland
 

You Fodorites have given me great advice over the years, so I will try again! The number one place in the world my wife wants to visit is London. I am trying to plan a 10-12 day trip for next July (sans the kids) and surprise her with the news as a Christmas present this year.

I have to admit, I have been to London twice before (but it has been almost 20 years), and it's not really near the top of my list of places I want to visit again, but this is really for my wife. I think I will be much more excited if I can somehow add Ireland and/or Scotland (I know adding only one is probably more realistic on a 10-12 day trip).

At this point, I'm just trying to decide the best way to try to put together a multi-destination trip. Because of her work schedule, and because this trip is really for her, I will plan the details after I tell her about the trip (such as exact dates, sights, areas of London to stay in). I'm sure a travel agent or tour company would be great, but more expensive. I would like to keep the cost as low as possible (doesn't everyone?), so would it be better to try to organize everything myself (find the flights, hotels, train to Edinburgh, etc...)? I've done quite a bit of traveling and been to Europe before, but this seems a little daunting because of all of the different options that are available.

Thank you guys so much for any tips/advice you can offer!

With 10-12 days not enough time for Ireland I'm afraid.

Get a multi city flight into London and out of Edinburgh. Use something like booking.com to find accommodation.

Take the train from London to Edinburgh https://www.virgintrainseastcoast.com/

Take day trips out of each city to see other sites.

Job done.

I agree with sofarsogood, and it is basically what I have done:
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...r-hebrides.cfm

Don't just do London.
Include Bath and the Cotswolds. The landscape with thatched roof cottages is charming and Bath has stunning architecture, a gorgeous Abby and, of course, the magnificent Roman Baths. Throw in the amazing amount of history connected to Bath and the decisions made there regarding how England would handle the Colonies, and you have a wonderful place to visit.

I thought of making it London and Paris (an easy combo), but Paris will be hot.

Another easy combo would be London and The Netherlands (Amsterdam, Haarlem, etc.)

Since the trip is for her, why not ask which other places she would like?

Ask your wife what she wants to do/see in London. You might well find that she has two plus weeks of things she wants to experience in London. I love London and can spend weeks there without running out of things to do. Of course, there are many wonderful day trips from London as well.

I can see no need for a travel agent - or worse, a tour company - for this trip. You can easily put this together yourself. If you get stuck or get overwhelmed, come back here and ask questions.

>> I'm sure a travel agent or tour company would be great,<<

Not at all IMO/IME. easy peasy on your own.

W/a a ten day trip all in (including travel days) you will only have 7.5 days on the ground -- so JUST London could do the trick. That would give you time for a couple of day trip -- say places like Bath or Salisbury/Stonehenge or Oxford.

If it turns out being 12 days total -- then you could do something like London and 2 or 3 days in Edinburgh, or a couple of days in Bath or a couple of days in York. All would be car-less. OR you could do 5-ish days in London and a few days w/ a car touring the Cotswolds

Yeah, how much time to spend in London is the real kicker. I confess I'm more in your camp - it's not my fave big city in mid-summer; the crush really gets to me. But it's HER trip so deference must be paid...

I do think some combination of city and country makes the most sense. With 12 days I'd allot five to London and the rest elsewhere, and in fact I'd suggest putting London <i>last,</i> so that you don't spend your days there in zombie-land, stepping off the kerb in front of a red bus that's on the "wrong" side of the road. (This happened to a friend of mine on his first day visiting London with me. Cue "Come Sail Away" music.)

I'd actually fly into Scotland - Edinburgh ideally - and take a couple of days to get oriented to British Summer Time. Edinburgh is an ideal walking city, small enough to comprehend in a few days, but with plenty to see and do. Then I'd pick up a car and drive south to York, visiting some of the fishing villages on the Scottish coast, some castles along the Northumberland coast, and incredible Durham Cathedral along the way. Then lose the car and take the train to London for the remainder of the trip.

But this of course is but one of an infinity of options. It's all about her, after all.

I totally agree London +Ireland +Scotland is too much a stretch, but if the spousal unit wants to give a whirl, I would observe that very reasonable airfares can be had with Aer Lingus ( a co-share partner with United, flying out of Chicago) You could fly Chicago-Dublin-Scotland (Edinburgh, Glasgow, A'deen, Inverness are all options depending on your taste), six or so days in Scotland, rail (Virgin trains are quite fast) or budget Air to London, 3 full days in London, then take the train to Holyhead and ferry to Dublin - 36 or so hours in Dublin, then back to the US.

I'm not recommending this as the optimal solution, just making an observation. Rail/ferry options and UK rail travel advise are well described in the Seat61 website:
http://www.seat61.com/UK-train-travel.htm

Definitely agree with starting off in the second place and ending with London. It does depend on what the second choice would be for your wife, if she enjoys car trips and what she will enjoy in London.

We have done five days of theater and concerts in London.
A quiet, atmospheric London thing to make you feel you are in the country is a canal boat trip on the Regent's canal.

We just did 15 days in Scotland and Wales, the latter is quite lovely and not on most American tourist radars, with the aforementioned ferry to and 36 hours in Dublin. I offer this just to generate your own ideas.
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...tlandwales.cfm

go to www.nationalrail.co.uk for rail schedules and fares for all of Britain's few dozens privatized rail franchises- book early for deep discounts (available in first class too and IME there is a world of difference in Britain on long-distance trains between classes)- first class being one of the very nicest and Standard or 2nd class one of Europe's less comfy IMO (partly due to narrower train cars I think.

There is also an overnight Caledonian Sleeper between London and various Scottish cities.

For lots on trains check www.seat61.com -the bible now on discounted tickets; www.ricksteves.com and www.budgeteuropetravel.com.

The West Highlands Railway is ubiquitously listed amongst Europe's most scenic and is ever more popular with Harry Potter films using parts of it in films- Goes from Glasgow - Ft William - Mallaig where you can take a ferry to Skye. It goes thru the classic bits of Highland and also along the coast.

https://www.google.com/search?q=west...HUJ3Cw8QsAQIGw

great tips

We are not huge London fans but at least give her a few days there and then I would go to EDI. A freind just did the rail trip and she said they really enjoyed the scenery on the trip to Edinburgh.
Very nice Christmas gift btw.

>>We are not huge London fans <<

But apparently the OP's wife is -- It is >>The number one place in the world my wife wants to visit is London.<<

Agree with Janis. Let's not loose sight of the purpose of this trip. There is much to see/ do in London and there's also a number of day trip possibilities. Don't short- change it.

For a second destination, either fly into London and out of Edinburgh or vice versa. Forget Ireland this trip. Edinburgh is a wonderful city, and I suggest you stay put there where again you could do a couple of day trips even up into the Highlands. Have a look at www.rabbies.com for a list of day trips from Edinburgh or Glasgow.

<< I'm sure a travel agent or tour company would be great, but more expensive.>>

Why would it be great? You're from Tennessee so you speak some variant of English. So do the Brits (and Scots, and even the Irish). Not that hard to get around the UK (or Ireland) when you have a (semi-) common language.

PS - tell us your interests when you travel and you can get some insight into stuff you'd like in London. Especially sights like the Imperial War Museum or the War Rooms.

As a fellow Volunteer (but living in Texas for decades), I have to chime in!

Well done! Hubby did something similar--in 2008 gave me airline tickets at Christmas for a 2 week stay in London in July. It was great. We took 5 day trips and I still (after 4 other trips of shorter length to London) have things to see in London. He left it to me to pick and choose what I wanted to do--with a couple definitely for-him things!

But if you want to do one other hub/base, then Edinburgh is great. (We just got back from a week there--see my trip report if you want.)

If you happen to be planning to drive any, that will be a whole different story. But assuming you don't want to drive:

Base your self in London for most of the trip (can it be 2 weeks? Or at least the full 12 days which gives actually 9.5 of time to see stuff). There are lots of day or half day trips to do (Oxford, Salisbury/Stonehenge, Bath as a long day, Winchester or for half days Windsor Castle or Hampton Court Palace). Depending on her wish list, you will need at least 3-5 days in London.

Then get to Edinburgh somehow--train or plane--for a few days. You need at least 2 in the city; there are lots of options for day tours on a coach.

As someone suggested above, you could do this backwards--but I'd rather do London first, having an easy arrival day and an outside walking day for first full day, to get over the jet lag hump. But either way would work.

I am biased as I love London, but I vote you spend the time in London and perhaps plan a day trip outside of the city. Ten days isn't really very long and there are places you can go that don't feel so much like you're in a huge city (Windsor, Hampton Court Palace, Greenwich, Hampstead Heath).

Mainly I am suggesting this because you say the trip is for your wife, and she wants to visit London, so I would go to London.

Many thanks to all of you guys! I truly appreciate the advice. I'll look over all of you suggestions and figure out a game plan. Then, of course, let the wife have ALOT of input on the final details!

I only said give her at least a few London days because the OP himself said it is not on the top of his list. The gift is for her but he should enjoy it also. I just agreed, not on my top list so understand.