Rough itinerary for 14 days in the UK
 

Hello,
We are planning a 14 day trip to the UK. We are a family of 4, with a couple of kids(10 & 12). My wife and I have traveled abroad a bit, but our kids haven't.
Initially we wanted to do this:
Fly into London
Go to Paris
Paris to Edinburgh
Edinburgh to Inverness
Inverness to Glasgow
Glasgow to Belfast
Belfast to Dublin
Dublin to Blackpool
Blackpool to Bath
Bath to London

Thought about it and decided to drop France, then also Ireland & N. Ireland. We then adapted the trip idea to this rough draft:

Arrive in London, London to York (1 night)
York to Edinburgh x3
Edinburgh to Inverness x2
Inverness to Keswick x2
Keswick to Bath x2
London x4

Our goals are to see
Harry Potter Warner Brothers Studio,
London Eye
Leeds Castle
Dover Castle underground tunnels
Trafalgar Square
St. Paul’s, Greenwich
Tower of London
Edinburgh
Loch Ness
Highlands
Hadrian's Wall
Stonehenge
Bath
Cambridge
Oxford

Is this doable or should i stick with a 3-4-3-4 type schedule. 3 in the greater York area. 4 around Edinburgh. 3 in Bath or The Lake District. 4 back in London's area.

How are you going to do this? Without a car it's going to be impossible to fit everything in and with a car you are going to have a couple of long driving days and will have problems in York, Bath, Oxford, Cambridge & Edinburgh with parking costs.

It's a lot. Half your sights would be doable I think.

That is more like a three to four week trip and even that would be rushed. In planning/reorganizing things - realize that one night in York doesn't even get you 1/2 a day there. More like a couple of free hours since you have to get from LHR into central London and take a 2+hour train ride - jet lagged no less. 2 nights in a place only nets one full day, and so on. Simply not enough time to 'do' the Highlands, Hadrians Wall, the Lake District, Bath, Cambridge or Oxford (DEFINITELY not time to do both of these two similar cities)

Get a map of the UK and you will see you are traveling hundreds of miles zig zagging all over the place.

Inverness to Keswick is a 6+ hour drive w/o a single stop. So in 'real life' it will take a good 9 hours. More if you stop to see Glencoe or anything else enroute.

(BTW, Leeds Castle is nothing to write home about. Pretty grounds, Meh castle)

It's all so tempting, isn't it!?

I've "done" two very packed about-two-weeks each trips to the UK with hubby --plus daughter once--(plus 2 times with students), and I totally get how you are trying to get it all in there. And having an ambitious busy itinerary works for many people.

BUT --if you are thinking of using a car--as janisj says, I think sitting down with a map of the UK and plotting out some routes will make it clearer to you what is possible. I'd suggest you use a mapping site, like Googlemaps, and plan out some routes. Then whatever time the website says, DOUBLE IT!!!! In reality what we experienced was that we averaged taking about 1.5 times what Googlemap said (except around the Lake District which took over twice as long and in parts of Wales it took only about 1.25 times as long).

Plan to not crisscross or backtrack, of course.

IF you are thinking public transport--well, that's probably not going to work well with your goals.

When I planned our 14 day trip with a car, beginning and ending in London, we only made it as far north as Carlisle/Hadrian's Wall/York. I had to give up Scotland for that trip.

If your tickets aren't bought, check out flying into or out of Edinburgh maybe?

Here's what we got done in our 2 weeks with a car--we had FF miles tickets and so had to do a loop London then north and back (Preview--we had 2.5 days in London, but had all been there before, then went to Oxford, Shrewsbury, through Wales to Conwy, Carlisle, along Hadrian's Wall, York, Lincoln, Dover, Bodiam Castle/Battle, back to LHR):
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-and-wales.cfm

It's your trip, is my mantra, but you have found a wonderful forum to get real-life, practical feedback. Moving every night or two is possible, but with children, even good traveling ones, probably not the best idea. I'd urge you to probably drop the Lake District this time; I think your kids will most enjoy London, Dover, Oxford (Lewis and/or Tolkien fans too? then definitely over Cambridge), York, and Hadrian's Wall. These alone could take the whole 2 weeks. So you'd have to really rush through something to see any of Scotland. It might be doable if you rushed and then didn't have to double back to London for flight home. The Lake District is gorgeous and I regret having had little time there (YET!), but unless there's a compelling reason, or you were going to use that time for rest, I would put it on bottom of list.

I'm going to Scotland for the first time in a month but just for about a day and a bit, with students, and am super excited, so I do understand your desire to go there. Do sit down with a map and a calendar and your list and be prepared to pare away, so that what you have left is both actually doable and has built in extra time for the glitches that will happen.

Three comments.

Loch Ness is like Plymouth Rock: fine if it is on your way, but totally "Not Worth It" if it isn't.

You won't see a lot of the Highlands around Inverness. Do one night in Inverness, the follow the Great Glen (Loch Ness included

Sorry, I used to have to work to be an idiot. Now my iPad makes it much more convenient.

Anyway, go west to see the Highlands, then down to Glasgow and on to Keswick.

My third point is that Cambridge and Oxford are about 100 miles apart. You aren't going to be able to drive from Bath to Oxford to Cambridge and have time to do much.

This is a bloody mess. Answer this: what is the point of overnighting in Keswick and Bath and Inverness?

First, London is catnip for the hobbits. Extend your time there to 6-8 nights. Do NOT underestimate its size or the amount to see and do while you're there. You can see Bath as a day trip from London, ditto Oxford, ditto Dover. You can combine Bath with the druidic rockpile in one day (and a 15-minute stop to look at the rocks).

Second, what's the point of Inverness? If you want to see the Highlands, you could go to Aberdeen and the castle trail and the Grampian Highlands. If you want to see Loch Ness, then you're falling for a tourist trap - it's a lake. It's a nice lake, but it's not a take-two-days-out-of-our-trip lake.

Third, you cannot do it all. Even with seasoned 12 and 10-yo travelers and you don't have that.

Fourth, considering Windsor Castle and Hampton Court Palace are close to London, why go to Leeds Castle? If you're serious castle-philes, you can hit a bunch easily enough without bopping around the whole of Britain: (1) Tower, (2) Edinburgh, (3) Holyrood (in Edinburgh), (4) Stirling (day trip from Edinburgh), (5) Windsor (1/2 day trip from London), (6) Hampton Court (1/2 day trip from London), (7) Dover (day trip from London). Prioritize.

^^ I wouldn't do those Bath or Dover day trips either though (and I love both places). You're talking two hours' journey each way, for each place. You'll be exhausted. Stick with easier day trips from London, such as Windsor or Oxford.

We are considering 2 other options:
Paris 6 days
English Countryside(Bath or the Cotswolds or York) 3 days
London 5 Days

Or

Train to Edinburgh 4 nights
Drive to York 3 nights
Cotswolds 3 nights
London 4 nights

This happened to me/us as we planned our trip to Italy...

Feedback?

Either of those new ideas are MUCH better than the earlier one.

As written, Paris/London/Countryside is probably the easiest/best.

But a better way to do Edinburgh/York/Cotswolds/London would be to fly directly into Edinburgh (probably connecting through London but other gateways would include Amsterdam, CDG, etc) To take the train to Edinburgh the first day would entail landing at LHR, crossing all of London by car service or public transport to Kings Cross station, then a 4.5 hour train ride. A very hectic/LONG day especially on jet lag.

Since you are already at the airport, flying gets you into Edinburgh much faster and there is no schlepping across London.

Then 3 days in Edinburgh w/o a car. Enough to get a taste. Then train to York (you could drive and see Hadrian's Wall enroute but the train is faster and you have limited time). Two full days in York - (2 or 3 nights depending on whether you take the train or drive). Pick up a rental car if you didn't get one leaving Edinburgh and rive down through the Peaks maybe visit Chastworth, to the Cotswolds. 3 days maybe near Chipping Campden as a base for the Cotswolds/Oxford/Stratford/Warwick. Drive to LHR, drop the car and take public transport into London for the final 6 nights. Fly home from London.

The primary constraints that I failed to share are:
1. In and out of LHR.
2. Meeting family on the 6th day, not in London.
3. We'd like to have the last 5 nights in London.

Is Paris-English Countryside-London still the best itinerary?

Then take my basic outline and rearrange it to fit your dates . . .

I'd still head straight up to Edinburgh . Land at LHR, and fly up to EDI 2.5 or 3 hours later. that will save a huge amount of agro/schlepping.

Here's the plan, lodging and travel taken care of:
Fly into LHR, transfer to Paddington to catch the Eurostar to Paris
5 nights, 4 full days in Paris, leave the next by Eurostar back to Paddington. Enterprise Car Hire to The Cotswolds for 4 nights, then to London for 5 nights, flying back out of LHR.

Calling Context Tours for Tower Tour (3hrs)
Harry Potter, on a Saturday or Sunday?

Our goals are to see

Paris:
Notre Dame
Eiffel Tower
Palais Royal
Louvre
Arc de Triumphe
Sacre Coeur
Place du Tertre

London:
London Eye
Dover Castle underground tunnels if and when we go to the cliffs
Ceremony of the Keys
Trafalgar Square
St. Martin in the Fields-Brass Rubbing
Wesley's Chapel
Climb the O2 arena?
St. Paul's?
Greenwich?

The Cotswolds:
Bath 1 day
Oxford 1 day
Picnic/play day
Stonehenge on the way to London

Is there anything that is a must-do that isn't on the list?

Such a departure from our original beginning. Thanks for the help. I'll write up our impressions from the trip.

The Eurostar leaves from kings cross/st pancreas, not paddington.

If you are already at heathrow it makes much more sense to continue flying to Paris rather than dragging your bags and paying to cross London to take the train...

Pancras not pancreas!

Paddington makes no sense - either for LHR or for Eurostar.

In fact going in to London at all on arrival doesn't make too much sense. You will already be at the airport so just fly directly on to Paris. Otherwise you have to cross most of London to get to the train - and need to allow probably four+ hours between landing and your train.

Then take the Eurostar back from Paris to London

London--The British Museum would be way up there on my list, for a few hours at least.

Might consider climbing to the top of St. Paul's. Fine view!

If you go to Dover, I'd go to the castle first; we were disappointed when we arrived mid-afternoon on our second trip there and found all the assigned times for the underground tunnels already booked up. It's a very long hike from train station to castle and from castle to Cliffs; my DH and I did it--once!--but even with fit and happy kids I'd probably take a taxi.

In London, I would not miss Westminster Abbey. In Paris, I would try my best to see Sainte Chapelle.

Your trip sounds busy for two weeks, but you are the best judge of your travel pace.