rivermama

My husband, son (10 yrs) and I are coming to the UK in July 2011. We are staying in London for 7 nights. We have 7 more nights to kill. My husband really wants to see N. Wales so we are going there for 2-3 nights, for other days should we....
a. go to Cornwall, and see Cotswolds/Warwick as a day trip from London
b. go to the Cotswolds, Warwick Castle, head to N. Wales and then end up in York.
What do you think?

The main problem is I want to see it all!!

janisj

You really don't have a lot of time to play w/.

Conwy to Penzance for instance would take most of a day for the drive (at least 8 hours). And then Penzance back to Heathrow would take about 6 hours. So basically you would use two full days just to get to and back from Cornwall.

Conwy to York is MUCH more doable. here is an option you might want to consider:

7 nights in London, then collect a rental car and drive to the north Cotswolds and stay 2 nights (to see the Cotswolds and Warwick). Then a 3-4 hour drive depending on exactly where you decide to stay to North Wales for 2 or 3 nights. Then a 3-4 hour drive over to York for 2 nights.

Then some options are 1) drop the car in York and take the train to London the night before your flight out - or - 2) drive down to LHR (about 4 hours give or take) and stay at n airport hotel before flying out in the AM - or 3) fly home from Manchester (this would mean booking open jaw tix into London and out of Manchester)

And IF you are using Gatwick instead of Heathrow - there would be some slight revisions.

rivermama

Thanks Janisj, I was afraid going to Cornwall was a little too much. I think your second plan sounds just about right, I do want to see York. Thanks for the help.
We are using Heathrow and have the tkts booked to the open jaw would not work. Our flight is not until 2pm so we could drive down the same day, depending.

janisj

An afternoon flight helps a lot -- you wouldn't need to turn the car in at LHR until about 10:30-ish so leaving York really <u>early</u> in the morning would work.

But what I might do instead is drive down in the evening after dinner in York, and check into an LHR hotel late that night. That would give you a decent night's sleep and you wouldn't need to check out until about 10AM. You'd avoid the very heavy morning commute traffic on the drive south and have some 'wiggle room' in case of heavy traffic/road closures

bellini

I'd echo Janis' suggestion about getting down to Heathrow the evening before your flight home as drive south on M1 can be horrendous and the 'rush hour' starts as early as 5am.
Your 10year old would love Warwick Castle

jamikins

Aboslutely agree with driving down the night before a flight. It once took us 3-4 hours to get from central London to Luton due to an accident so I would never chance it. Traffic in England can be crazy and one accident can cause hours of delays.