rhj3131

What are the "must sees" in England? I have 9-10 days and want to spend 3 in London before branching out. I would love to spend two on Edinburg. That leaves me 4-5 days. We love history, especially religious and royal and local culture. I do not care as much about gardens and scenery. I would love to avoid a bus tour and stick w independent traveling if I can make up my mind and get details planned out. Thanks!

janisj

>>What are the "must sees" in England?<<

That is like asking what are the must sees in the USA. First of all 3 days is not very long for London -- you will probably be jet lagged on arrival so '3 days very quickly become 2 usable days. And IF you are flying in and out of London then you have to get back from Edinburgh. So 9 or 10 days might only be enough for London, a trip up to EDI and back and a couple of days in Edinburgh.

I suggest you get a guide book or two and decide which of the thousands of sites in England are your 'must sees'

elberko

Starting a second thread just confuses things.

historytraveler

There are really no must sees. There are only the things that interest you and your family. Start with a guide book, look at the numerous possibilities and make a preliminary itinerary including travel time. Then come back here with any questions and for further advice.

Sure we can make suggestions and I'm certain some will offer there opinions, but it's really better if you do the initial research.

janisj

Oh -- thanks elberko . .

Here is the earlier thread so we don't reinvent the wheel

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-locations.cfm

thursdaysd

I usually ignore these requests for 'Best of" or "Top Ten" lists, not to mention ignoring the lists themselves, other than to recommend that the inquirer obtain a guidebook. However, I happen to haveboth Eyewitness' and Lonely Planet't "Great Britain" guidebooks handy, so I took a look.

Here you are. Eyewitness, sensibly, doesn't provide a list. Lonely Planet has a "Top 26" list:

Stonehenge
Edinburgh
Bath
Snowdonia
Isle of Skye
London's Museums
The Cotswolds
Football
Oxford
Hadrian's Wall
Britain's Pubs
The Lake District
Cambridge
Castles and Stately Homes
Canterbury Cathedral
Cardiff
Stratford-upon-Avon
York
Scotland's Northwest Highlands
Liverpool
Pembrokeshire
British food
Glen Coe
Cornwall
Whisky
Golf

If you drop the ones that aren't places it's 22, but then several are multiple places. Notice that none of them are in Northern Ireland, and only two in Wales.

But of course, like all such lists, it is TOTALLY SUBJECTIVE

janisj

And even that short list would require about 6 weeks minimum

basingstoke2

I'll give it a go considering your interests.

Bath - loads of history. Start with the free morning mayor's walking tour leaving from the Pump Room (next to the Cathedral) and you will have more history thrown at you in 2 hours than you can handle. Follow that with a visit to the Roman Baths which is much more than its name implies. Lots of history, archeology and architecture. Reserve 2-3 hours if you want to see it all. Nice Cathedral too.

Stonehenge - not one of the world's major religions but a religious site, or so it is thought. Visit and let your imagination lead you. We find it fascinating. It is close enough to Bath and Stratford upon Avon so that you can easily do a circle tour in a few days. You will likely go through Salisbury to get to Stonehenge if you use public transportation so if you can, see the cathedral there and take a tour. You will hear the history of every speck of dust in the place if you get the right docent. When we visited we were taken around by one of the cleaning ladies who was a wealth of information.

Which leads to the home of the Bard. Uber touristy but for a reason. Take the hop on hop off bus to get around to the sites. Try for one with live narration. You will hear lots of stories of questionable historical accuracy on the bus, but the docents at the sites are quite good. Don't miss a visit to Shakespeare's burial site in the Cathedral. If you like, get tickets to a Shakespeare play and have a bite at the nearby Dirty Duck pub.

York - The York Minster Cathedral alone is worth the trip. Take the cathedral tour and be sure not to miss the "basement." Come back for evensong. Take the free afternoon walking tour leaving from near the tourist info office. You will learn for example how to distinguish the Norman parts of the wall from the Roman. York is an easy train ride to Edinburgh. It is scenic too if you have a seat on the right side of the car as you face the direction of travel. Have tea at Betty's Cafe Tea Room, just to say that you did. Actually it is very nice but try to come at time to avoid the long line to get in. I think that would be about 2PM, but check.

In London, sign up for whichever London Walks tour that strike your interest. They are not free, but inexpensive and the historical ones are informative and interesting. If you are a classical music fan, stop by the Church of St. Martin's in- the- Field and see where all of those wonderful recordings were made. Have lunch at the cafeteria in the crypt - yes, it is a real crypt. Perhaps you will see the ghost of Sir Neville Marriner lurking about. BTW, our favorite museum in London is the Victoria and Albert.

nytraveler

Sorry - you really need to figure out what YOUR must sees are - either towns or specific places. Then people can help you plan on how to put them together.

BUT, I have been to London at least 14 times and still have a bunch of stuff I want to see there (either again or for the first time) and we have done 4 road trips in the UK - going only as far north as Edinburgh - and also have a hard time choosing what to see/do on any of the trips. I have a collection of at least 30 or more places we still want to see there - and fear we won't get to all based on our lists for everyplace else.

I can only say that for a first trip to London anything less than 5 nights (versus 2.5 days) will be very frustrating for most people.

historytraveler

thursdaysd's post illustrates why it's so important for you to get hold of a guide book and decide what interests you. I could've easily added to the post and kept you busy for a couple of months.

thursdaysd

And now I think about it, I spent a very satisfactory month in the UK last year, visiting a number of places that are not on that list and only a few that are. Of course, I had already seen almost all of them at various times.

rhj3131

Thanks for input. I have multiple guide books and have looked through them and the internet. As it has been mentioned, 10 days goes by fast! I am just working on deciding whether or not to keep my radius small and dig deep or cover from London to Scotland and hit major stops on way. I would love to stay a month and see everything but time and money constraints do not allow it. Thank you basingstoke2 for the input-very good info and confirms some of what I was thinking about as well.

ESW

In the time available, you are not going to see a lot (except from the inside of a train or car) if you are trying to cover from London to Scotland and hit major stops on the way. Distances may not look very far on the map but will take a lot longer to cover than you might expect. In a place like UK, less is definitely more.

Also remember that ;must see' places are those that the world and his wife (plus dog and kitchen sink) want to see and are therefore going to be BUSY. Some I admit are so unique that they do justify 'must see' but very often the places not on the must see list are just as good, if not better... It just takes a litle more effort to discover them.

Get yourself a good guide book - forget Rick Steves (beloved by the Americans) which is very over rated in my opinion, and try Eyewitness which has a lot of pictures, good descriptions and reasonable maps. It also covers many places not seen in other guide books. They do one covering all of Great Britain, or you can get one just for London or Scotland.

Don't try and cram too much into each day either.

di2315

The less distance travelled, the more time you'll have for seeing.

From my experience of road travel in UK, you'll either be on motorways, or on narrow local roads that give great views of hedges, but not much more. These little roads require you to travel at a fairly slow speed - you have no way of seeing what's likely to be coming the opposite way around the next curve. Great for a short experience, but not so practical for busy tourists!

Di

ssander

All a matter of taste, but you say you love history, so you should consider putting these on your A-list in London (if you only have 2-3 days):

Tower
Westminster Abbey
Churchill War Rooms

ssander

nubbyrose

Bookmark.

I’m researching my own trip and basingstoke2’s comments on York caught mr eye. Are you saying you could do a day trip to Edinburgh? I’d be visiting in Jan 2018. Would this make a difference?

TheBigMan

"Must sees in England" wouldn't include Edinburgh or anywhere else in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. Just something to remember if you decide to visit those parts of the UK.

janisj

nubbyrose: You would do better to start a thread of your own.

But re Basingstoke's comment - York to Edinburgh is a little over 2 hours each way so possible as a long day trip. BUT daylight is very short in Jan so you would be leaving and returning in the dark. (depending on exactly when in Jan -- Sunrise is approx 08:30/sunset about 3:30 or 4PM.)

nubbyrose

I didn’t know the day light hours were that short. Thank you for the replie#.

janisj

They are short all over the UK -- but shorter the farther north you go so Edinburgh will have very short daylight.

London will have about 30 minutes longer at both ends of the day -- sunrise about 30 mins earlier and sunset later.