I'm going to be in Northern England in early June. 1 week based in Lancaster w/ friends & a car (day trips to Chester, the Lakes District, Dales Nat'l Park). Another week on my own without a car, half of which will be spent in York. I'd like to pick one other city to stay in for 3 nights but can't decide where. Stay in Chester? Berwick-on-Tweed? Down to Wales (if so, what city)? I enjoy medium to small towns, historic sites, & pubs. I could finish the trip in London but been there, done that. Keeping train fare down is a bonus. Suggestions?

I’d go up to Newcastle, spend a day visiting Durham, another visiting Hadrian’s Wall and the 3rd either more of the wall or over to Carlisle or seeing Newcastle. But then again, we may have very different interests – after 12 visits to London, unlike you, I’m still not ready to say been there, done that.

You're right about London. I've been 4 times and there's plenty I still want to see. I'll have more chances to get back their though (great low-season fares from my home city), so this trip I'm trying to focus on the north (flying into &amp; out of Manchester).<BR><BR>Thanks for your feedback!

Perhaps Durham or somewhere in North Wales.<BR><BR>US

I'd pick Durham or Edinburgh - good train connections and enought to fill your time (especially Edinburgh)

If you're flying in and out of Manchester, why not spend a few days there? There's plenty to see and do in the city itself and the Metro (tram system) will take you out to smaller surrounding towns. Check out www.manchesteronline.co.uk/tourist/<BR>for more details.

Hi, Alan. Richmond is just northwest of York and is a highly rated town albeit virtually unknown to Americans. There are several websites about it. I fell in love with Richmond from pictures in a book about the Yorkshire Dales and always wanted to go there. Trying to do that this spring. It's on the &quot;coast to coast&quot; walking route, so I would expect it to be friendly for the &quot;car-less.&quot;

I've been wanting to go to Richmond, too. It's well-situated for walking, but a bit less convenient for public transport, since it's not on the train line. As far as I know, the way to do it is to take the train to Darlington (about 40 miles north of York) and then take a 1/2-hour bus ride to Richmond. I have this really useful site for transport in the Yorkshire dales bookmarked:<BR>http://website.lineone.net/~travelinfo/dales/index.html<BR><BR>Incidentally, I've stayed in Durham and taken the train to Hexham and Corbridge (both a bit south of Hadrian's wall). I liked all those places, though I didn't particularly enjoy waiting a long time for my train connection in Newcastle on a chilly night, because I'd mistimed my return from Corbridge to Durham!

KT is right about Richmond. Richmond is indeed a lovely place, but does not have train service (probably one of the reasons it has remained lovely and undiscovered). You would have to take a bus from Darlington, and I am not sure where else you can get to from there by public transport. As a base for some walks in Swaledale, arguably the finest of the Yorkshire dales, it would be perfect. As a base from which to travel elsewhere, I am not so sure.