We are a family of 4 Americans (mom, dad, 14-year-old boy, 19 year-old-boy). We have decided to go to UK this summer for a total of 2 weeks, beginning with 1 week in London. I want to be ready to buy airfare really soon, so I need to decide whether it will be round-trip to/from London, or an open-jaw flight into London and out of another city. In previous trips to Europe (Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Holland, France, and England (many years ago)), we have always enjoyed renting a car and exploring the countryside (I love feeling more like a "local"), but this time my husband and I have decided to do this trip without a car rental. (We seriously need to reduce stress....hence our decision to not drive on the left side of the road.)

After a week in London, what could we do by train/regional air? We are definitely not a new-day-different-city type family, but I would appreciate suggestions on 1, 2 or 3 other main stops to make. Should we do 1 week in London and fly to Dublin for the 2nd week? Or train to Edinburgh for a week? Or train to Manchester (soccer stadium tour, for sure) and then to Edinburgh? Or??

As you can tell, I'm at the brain-storming stage, and I would greatly appreciate any suggestions. FYI, interests for my family are: good food; beautiful scenery; not very many museums but open to castles and other interesting sites; exploring/walking (but not intense hiking); having a relaxing place to hang out. I actually envision while in London that we will rent a flat, and split up some during the day. I like to be out-and-about exploring, while my husband likes to explore just a bit and then relax with a glass of wine

Thanks in advance,
DJ

Hmmm....sorry for my spelling....itinerary!

OK -- you have TONS of options -- but here is one really easy itinerary:

London, then train to York for 2 nights, then train to Edinburgh for 4 nights. While in Edinburgh you can take day trips to Stirling and/or St Andrews.

You can fly in/out of London or do an open jaw (which might route you through London anyway) In to London > home from either Edinburgh or Glasgow (or vice versa).

Meant to add - If 'any old football stadium' will do - not just Manchester -- you can tour Wembley . . .

Would not do Dublin because a couple of days would be enough there and you would want a car for other places.

1. Rent a canal boat, long boat or cruiser and do a self drive canal trip in one area of England. So many places to see and explore. Might be fun for your sons to drive the boat. You can explore small villages. Your DH can relax as the world glides by.

3. Fly to Barcelona for another amazing city with a young vibe. Fantastic architecture, music, beach. You could spend 3-4 days there and 2-3 in another area.

Except for the car, I would think west/southwest Ireland would be perfect for you all - a great contrast to London if you're looking for that, and a quick flight over. Incredible scenery, walks/hikes, relaxing. If the decision on the rental car is at all flexible, I'd think about that.

If not, janis's idea is good - a week in Edinburgh itself would be too much for me, but splitting it between York and Edinburgh plus some day trips would be great. You could also do a day trip or two from London with a week there, to give you a bit more countryside-ish feel.

I didn't find Barcelona particularly relaxing (though others would disagree, I'm sure!), but it is an interesting suggestion and certainly like nowhere else.

You could visit football grounds in London eg Chelsea, arsenal Emirates . Of course if the boys are Man U supporters these probably won't do .

Thanks for the ideas. The idea of renting a canal boat is intriguing...but is too far out of the comfort zone of my family. And, we're pretty set on not renting a car for this trip.

I think the London-York-Edinburgh is a possibility....I'm researching that a bit further. Would those 3 places be enough different from each other? I'm also still thinking what if we ended up doing RT air in/out of London? I think the train to York could still work, but I think Edinburgh starts getting rather far, and we end up spending too much time traveling to get back to London to fly home. What other towns would anyone recommend that are in lower England (below York)? Are there any particular smaller cities/towns that would give us a different flavor?

Again, thanks Fodor folks.

--DJ

>>Would those 3 places be enough different from each other? <<

Absolutely.

London is - well, LONDON. York is a small walled medieval city w/ the Minster and the most amazing museums (Especially the Railway Museum and the Castle Museum), Edinburgh has the castle looming over the whole city, has Arthurs Seat country park practically in the city center, the Medieval Old Town with the Georgian New Town spread out below.

>>but I think Edinburgh starts getting rather far<<

Not at all sure what you mean by that. London to York is just over 2 hours, and York to Edinburgh is . . . just over 2 hours. Then to Fly home . . . You get on a plane at EDI and get off at LHR 1 hour later, change terminal (or maybe not) and fly home from there. Could not be easier.

In fact Edinburgh is faster and more convenient than may place in England.

should say >> . . . more convenient than many places in England.<<

What janisj says

OR you could stay the whole 2 weeks IN London and take 4-5 day trips (not all in a row) like to

York
Dover
Oxford
Cambridge (which I recommend without having actually been!)
Stonehenge via Salisbury
Winchester
Bath
Canterbury
Brighton (although not a big fan of it)
We even did Cardiff (Dr Who fans?) as a long day trip

Greenwich, Hampton Court, Windsor Palace are each half day trips

We also went to Chatsworth, Chawton (Jane Austen's house), and Silverstone Racetrack via train from London; I mapped out getting to Ely and Bletchley Park but didn't get to go--so there are tons and tons of possibilities.

There's something appealing (since you don't want to rent a car--which I understand!) about having a base and not having to pack up and unpack any.

We have used Rail Passes and interspersed London days with long/have to leave early/probably get back late days for train trips.

But for 3 different experiences if you want to move like 3 times, then London, York, and Edinburgh make great itinerary.

(probably training back all the way from Edinburgh to London to catch a plane isn't very appealing in time usage, as you noted)

You can fly to the US (if that's where you're from) from Manchester or Edinburgh.

How about staying south and hitting some of the places texasbookworm recommends?

I agree that London-York-Edinburgh makes for a great trip. Depending where you are located, you may be able to get a direct flight out of Edinburgh without having to backtrack to London.

From London I do recommend a day trip to Bletchley Park if you are interested in Alan Turing and how he cracked the code during WWII. Did you see the movie the Imitation Game? My DS and DH were very interested and enjoyed the day and so did I. Up the road walking distance is the National Museum of Computing where my DH got to play on an enigma machine and DS got to play with vintage video games. It made for a great day trip.

I also very highly recommend a day trip to Hampton Court Palace. Between the gardens, the maze, the rooms, the kitchens, and the little skits they put on throughout the day, we spent most of a day there.

In London don't miss the Tower of London and after you can take a boat ride at the base of the Tower over toward Parliament and visit the nearby Churchill Museum and War Rooms.

York is very different from London. The Railway museum is fantastic and walking along the walls is a lot of fun. The York Minster is spectacular and the snickleways (or alleyways) are fun to navigate.

As Janisj says there is plenty to do in Edinburgh too especially the castle and a day trip to Stirling.

OK, you all have me thinking. Love Bletchley Park idea -- especially since my oldest son is a Computer Science major in college!

Another question....if we stayed south and did some day trips (and didn't go to Edinburgh), what would be a good base? For our true London days, I want to stay in central London in a flat, but that's going to be expensive, especially since I plan to rent one with A/C (health issues with heat, and we're doing last week of July). So I don't see being able to afford 2 full weeks staying in central London. Should we pick a second base in the London suburbs, or (better yet) is there another town with good rail access to get to those other day trip recommendations? I actually like the idea of staying in some other cute, charming smaller town...but don't want to jeopardize our ability to get around.

I appreciate all the group think. It has been many decades since I did the "back pack thing" with Eurorail Pass in my 20's, and I'm accustomed to seeing the European countryside by car.

--DJ

not the burbs, but you could stay say in Windsor.

I might look at a train to one of

Winchester, Salisbury, Bath, Oxford and base there for a second week. Getting about, either to a day tour (which can be a bit frustrating but is doable) or use public transport

http://www.traveline.info/

If these "lower" or more southerly ;-) towns are not to your interest you could base say in Cambridge and do day trips to Bury St Edmund, Ely, Lincoln. But the punting in Cambridge is not as good as it is in Oxford

Going further north York is a great base and you can do bus trips to Fountains Abbey but while there is public transport it gets harder to use as the pop density drops off. Finally you could base in Leeds and take trains to Manchester and York for day trips and then catch buses to the various museums in West Yorkshire.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...West_Yorkshire which include at least one world class art gallery.

>>Should we pick a second base in the London suburbs, or (better yet) is there another town with good rail access to get to those other day trip recommendations? I <<

The 'suburbs' don't really work because you would often have to travel in to central London to get out the other direction to where ever your day trip is going.

And other towns can be an issue because there are no 'hubs' where you can get to lots of other areas without either several changes . . . or heading back to London. Plus public transport to some more rural things can be time consuming/more limited.

IF you want to do a lot of southern England day trips . . . then London is the best place to base. But - and you probably won't like this, your best option would be a week in London and a week based someplace else <u>with a car</u> from where you could drive anywhere.

Your desire to use only public transport is the very reason I suggested York and Edinburgh. You can easily do them w/o touching a car (including some great day trips out of Edinburgh).

You can hit Bletchley Park as a day trip from London . . .

Yes definitely Bletchley Park is an easy day trip from London. You wouldn't want to stay south and then travel north for day trips--too complicated and time consuming as others have said.

If you don't want to explore York and Edinburgh (both highly recommended by the way), there is the Southeast area of Kent but for that area you would definitely navigate better with a car. There is so much in that area--Hever Castle, Bodiam Castle, Dover Castle with its war time tunnels, Canterbury, Sissinghurst, Chartwell (Winston Churchill's home), the towns of Rye and Battle. It's best to have a car in these areas.

Whereas for York and Edinburgh you would not need a car at all. Plenty to explore without a car.

Oxford is another great day trip or overnight trip. The Oxford bus straight from Heathrow is very convenient.

You probably won't need air conditioning even in July in London unless they experience a heat wave which does happen. The Premier Inn chains probably have air conditioning and can accommodate families. Crown Plaza is another hotel that actually offers two beds in a room for families.

>>The Premier Inn chains probably have air conditioning and can accommodate families.<<

Unfortunately Premier Inns (and travelodges) are very strict re ages. Only kids UNDER 16 (that means 15 or younger) can stay in the same room w/ parents as a 'family'. And yes, they do check. Since you have a 19 yo, your family you would need to book two rooms.

Just an update on what I've done so far. We decided to stay relatively southern and I just booked airfare yesterday. We're flying from US into Heathrow, and then 2 weeks later flying home from Manchester. (Believe it or not, this turned out to be a total of $500 cheaper that RT to/from Heathrow.) Since my one son is a big Man Utd fan, I decided we would end in Manchester with at least a stadium visit for him.

So, now I will spend some time rereading your posts about ideas for the smaller town, countryside possibilities without a car. I could see where we could do London-York-Manchester....but I'd also like to explore a small town or two instead of York.

Days 1-6 London (6 nights)
Days 7 - 11 ? (5 nights)
Days 12-13 Manchester (2 nights)
Day 14 - Morning flight home

Thanks, everyone.

Just to clarify, York isn't a big city. The parts a visitor would visit are basically. Witching the very compact city walls and just outside the walls - the railway museum.

If you are still sticking to public transport, London, York and Manchester would be great. But I'd add a day or two to London, rent a flat for a week, train to York, train to Manchester, fly home.