Itinerary help for family with young kids
 

I am planning on traveling to England and Scotland with my wife and two kids (an 8 year old and a 3.5 year old). We are going to be in the UK from about July 18th to August 4th/5th. I want this vacation to be a relaxed trip rather than an attraction-packed hectic one, so I have planned the following itinerary and would appreciate input as to whether this is a good plan. Please feel free to suggest changes. Thank you all for your time and input.

Days 1-2 Arrive in London & spend time with family (Overnight London)
Day 3 AM flight to Inverness/Pick up rental car and drive to Isle of Skye via Loch Ness (Overnight Skye)
Days 4-5 Skye (Overnight Skye)
Day 6 Drive to Glencoe via Mallaig and Fort William (Overnight Glencoe/Fort William)
Day 7 Drive to Edinburgh via Stirling (Overnight Edinburgh)
Days 8-9 Edinburgh (Overnight Edinburgh)
Day 10 Morning train to York (Overnight York)
Day 11 Noon train to London (Overnight London)
Days 12-13 London (Overnight London)
Day 14 Early train to Legoland Windsor (Overnight Windsor)
Day 15 Windor Castle/Evening train to London (Overnight London)
Day 16 London or Day trip to Brighton (Overnight London)
Day 17 Train to Cotswolds via Oxford (Overnight Cotswolds)
Day 18 Cotswolds/Late train to London (Overnight London)
Day 19 Depart from London

We are debating between whether we should go to York and Cotswolds or just one of them. Which one is better for children if we were to do just one?

Please feel free to suggest any changes or places that are better suited to children.

Thanks,

Shehzad

Sorry - but this looks much more like a forced march than a relaxed trip. With so many one night stops you will be constantly packing and unpacking and then spending the day driving or training to your next destination rather than seeing much.

I would slow down a lot more - so you have time to visit some parks and kids activities besides Lego. And why move to Windsor for the night when it;s only 30 minutes from London? Makes no sense at all - just let this be a day trip.

If you track your trip on a map it looks like a ping pong ball bouncing arounds - you're in London 4 different times - no sense at all.

Thanks nytraveler for the quick response and I appreciate the honest feedback.

How does the Scotland part of the itinerary look? From google maps it appears that the driving each day is about 3 hours. We are staying 3 nights in Sky and 2 in Edinburgh. We had to have a break between the two so Glencoe was a good midway point.

For the England part of the itinerary would you suggest we skip York and stay primarily in London and do day trips to Windsor and Brighton? Any other day trips you recommend?

Thanks once again for your help.

google maps is useless for times, add 50 to 60% or use the aa.co.uk map link. Scotland does not have fast roads outside the midland belt.

Loch Ness will be a dissapointment but maybe the kids will be happy. Still good idea to head north early on.

York is probably the better trip for the kids and adults than Cotswolds. The city is walled, the town centre partially medievel and there is the Jorvik Centre which most adults will find dull but a kid might love.

Yes, 4 nights in London with the odd day trip out will be good. There is a Harry Potter place to visittowards Luton which others have raved about.

Thanks bilboburgler. Would a day and a half be good in York? I will definitely look into the Harry Potter place.

The Scotland bits are OK -- a little rushed but not bad.

But IMO where the whole thing falls apart is when you get back to London::

>><blue>Days 12-13 London (Overnight London)
Day 14 Early train to Legoland Windsor (Overnight Windsor)
Day 15 Windor Castle/Evening train to London (Overnight London)
Day 16 London or Day trip to Brighton (Overnight London)
Day 17 Train to Cotswolds via Oxford (Overnight Cotswolds)
Day 18 Cotswolds/Late train to London (Overnight London)
Day 19 Depart from London</blue><<

This whole part is crazy. Staying in London , then Windsor, then back to London, then the Cotswolds, then back to London AGAIN. Simply doesn't makes sense and has you packing and moving 4 extra times.

Consider this . . . Keep the car in York. Drive to the Cotswolds, stay 2 nights, drive to Windsor, stay one night (visit Legoland the first afternoon and the Castle the next morning) then train to London, stay in London five nights, fly home.

I'd plan a full day for York, as well as what I've mentioned there is the massive railway museum, walking round the walls, the river parks with icecream and the famous Betties for tea.

Outside of York if coming or going there are

Light Water Valley
Fountains Abbey
North York Moors Steam Railway
West Yorkshire Sculpture Park

http://www.lightwatervalley.co.uk/
http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/fountains-abbey/
http://www.nymr.co.uk/
http://www.ysp.co.uk/

http://www.wbstudiotour.co.uk/ HP

Thanks janisj. I will look into keeping the rental car a little longer, but isn't what you are suggesting a lot of driving. We are on the fence about doing both York and the Cotswolds. We may forego the Cotswolds this time around and just stay in York for a day on the way to London from Edinburgh and then stay the rest of the time in London with day trips to Windsor and Brighton.

bilboburgler - will look into your suggestions for York.

>>but isn't what you are suggesting a lot of driving.<<

It only adds one long-ish day from York to somewhere in the Cotswolds -- and that day would be mostly on motorways.

Plus the Cotswolds are not a train/public transport-friendly region. If you want to visit the Cotswolds w/ a family - you really do need a car.

>>We may forego the Cotswolds this time around and just stay in York for a day on the way to London from Edinburgh<<

That is certainly an option . . . but I would want more than one day in York. 1.5 days just for the city and 2.5-3 days if I wanted to see something else in North Yorkshire.

>>stay the rest of the time in London with day trips to Windsor and Brighton.<<

You can do Windsor as a day trip from London -- Legoland + the Castle will take a FULL day but easily doable.

IMO I'd skip Brighton --there is a lot (really a LOT) in London for children and not much in Brighton for little ones. Even if you cut out the Cotswolds you aren't going to have a ton of time in London.

<< I want this vacation to be a relaxed trip rather than an attraction-packed hectic one>>

You said this in your prior thread and this suffers from the same problem - too much. One of your hobbits is essentially a toddler - can't make all this work with one of those.

London is catnip for kids - best to stay there that whole last part of the trip and do daytrips as necessary. Skip the Cotswolds (bored hobbits).

This last part contains two iterations of WTH? Checking out and rechecking into London. Ultimately, if you draft an itinerary, draw it on a map, and have lines crossing each other, you fouled up.

Thanks janisj and BigRuss. I think we will skip the Cotswolds and Brighton and spend the time in York and London instead. Here is a revised itinerary. Suggestions are always welcome.


Days 1-2 Arrive in London & spend time with family (Overnight London)

Day 3 Morning flight to Inverness/Pick up rental car and drive to Isle of Skye via Loch Ness (Overnight Skye)

Days 4-5 Skye (Overnight Skye)

Day 6 Drive to Glencoe via Mallaig and Fort William (Overnight Glencoe/Fort William)

Day 7 Drive to Edinburgh via Stirling (Overnight Edinburgh)

Days 8-9 Drop off rental car in the morning on Day 8. Edinburgh (Overnight Edinburgh)

Day 10 Morning train to York (Overnight York)

Day 11 York/Evening train to London (Overnight London)

Days 12-14 London (Overnight London)

Day 15 Day trip to Windsor Castle/Legoland (Overnight London)

Day 16-18. London (Overnight London)

Day 19 Depart from London

Thoughts? Comments?

Much better :)

>>Day 7 Drive to Edinburgh via Stirling (Overnight Edinburgh)

Days 8-9 Drop off rental car in the morning on Day 8. Edinburgh (Overnight Edinburgh)<<

Drop the car in the evening of day 7 as you arrive in Edinburgh. You do not want or need a car IN the city. Drop the car at EDI (you'll pass it on the way in from Stirling). Then take the tram or a taxi to your hotel depending on where you are staying.

Cheapest may not always be best. And IMO for a family like that I'd urge you to look at first class - 2nd (standard) class is oft full up but IME of decades of British train travel 1st class is often sparsely full and you also get complimentary food and beverages on long-distance trains - most that is - but kids can spread out on nearby empty seats, etc.

Anyway for lots of goodies on British trains check www.seat61.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.

discounted tickets exist in first class too and sometimes it ain't much more to go in style (the difference between the classes on British trains being much MUCH more great than trains on the Continent IME - kid of befitting Britain IMO! So check fares for both and if not too much more go first class - www.nationalrail.co.uk is a booking site for all of Britain's many independent rail franchises. sometimes it may be better to book directly on the site of the rail franchise you are taking - like the East Coast line Edinburgh to York and London - though there may be more than one different franchise operating on those lines, esp London to York.

Thank you janisj for info about EDI. Will definitely drop off the rental on the way in.

Thanks PalenQ for the info about first class. I will look into the tickets once the itinerary is final, which as it currently stands may be the final one.

Much better

Thanks bilboburgler.

Have you looked at flying directly to Glasgow or Edinburgh to start your vacation? If you are coming from North America, it can be both faster and cheaper to fly directly to Scotland, in addition to gaining you a day.

Your Windsor day is busy for young children. Better scope out the transport in advance. Legoland may be enough.

I think of the Cotswolds and Brighton as being a way for London tourists to get a bit of pretty countryside/seaside into their visit, but you will have already seen a lot of scenery by then so probably not a high priority to go to these places this time.

We did a similar trip last year with children and ended up keeping the car all the way to near London (in your case, Windsor). This means some half days of driving and staying on the fringe of Edinburgh and York where the modern hotels have free parking but also larger rooms. Shuttle buses are easy to use to get into the central cities. We found that these hotels accommodated children at a lower price than the ones close in. Walk up prices for rail tickets could be far more expensive than keeping the car.

City buses and commuter trains typically offer a group or family ticket that cuts fare costs for a family.

You could start with Legoland on day 15, then visit Windsor Castle if you have time. If you don't have time that day, and if it's important to someone, you could go back on the morning of one of your subsequent London days.

Thanks tom_mn and AlysonRR.

tom_mn - we are starting in London as we have local family there and will leave most of our stuff with them while we visit Scotland. If we fly there directly we will have to lug around all our bags etc. I will look into keeping the car till London and see how that works out.

AlysonRR - we are going to start off with Legoland and then see how the day progresses to fit in the castle or visit the following morning.