Hi...
A cousin of mine and I are at the beginning stages of planning a trip to Scotland. We are enthralled with castles..so we want to visit and see just that. Is Edingburgh the way to go? Or is there another city you can recommend? We live in Los Angeles and have never left the city..so yes, it's about time we go out and venture. Also, is it possible to do Scotland and London? We have 6 days of vacation. Thanks

No, you'll lose at least one half day travelling between the two.

You could spend months in London and still not see most of the things worth seeing. Same for Scotland. Stick to one.

Actually, I really liked Edinburgh and would think time split between the two would be very nice. Sure, there is a lot to do in London, but it's a very large city and some people aren't that enthralled by just spending more vacation time in a another large city just to see more museums, etc. So I wouldn't say only do London, especially given you have never been anywhere before, that doesn't sound like much fun to me.

One of my first trips abroad when I lived in LA was to Dublin, Edinburgh and London and I am glad I didn't just see London. I did spend about two weeks total, as I recall, but at least 5 days were in Ireland and a couple were in the Lake COuntry, so I probably did spend about 6 between Edinburgh and London.

I think it is important to go places you are really excited about and enthralled with. Because London and Edinburgh aren't that far apart, this isn't such a bad idea. Now I was in a group that had hired a coach for the trip down so am not sure about the train, but don't think it is that tricky. It's about a 4:30 train ride so you can be in London by about 1 pm.

I'd do both. YOu can see Windsor castle outside London, but I think Edinburgh would be more fun and interesting, and that way you won't need to do that day trip outside London once you are down there.

Six days isn't that much time. You will lose a day just going back and forth.

You might want to consider an early train to Edinburgh and the late, late train back.

I agree with MK2 - pick one and save the other for another visit. After 8 visits to London, there are still things I haven't done. You will have a good time no matter which one you choose. Enjoy your trip!

If you want to go to Scotland, then go to Scotland. 6-7 days should be great, and there are direct flights from the US to Glasgow and Edinburgh. Leave London for another trip. I doubt you'll run out of places to see in Scotland, but you may also go down to York in Northern England if you want to.

If you decide to do both, arrange your flights into one and out of the other.

It should cost about the same and not waste your time & money traveling between both, twice.

Keith

See both London and Edinburgh for this first trip. You will be enthralled, and next time you will know where you want to spend more time, or maybe you will want to try another couple of places. I feel sure the travel bug will bite you.

Along with Keith's suggestion of an open-jaw air you could take the overnight, sleeper train from one to the other.

You wouldn't lose time traveling between the two that way.

Thank You very much for all the suggestions. But I do think that because it is our very first trip...we should stick with just Edingburgh. Thanks again for all your input.

Doing research for my first trip to London I was enthralled with seeing The castle, palace & the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, & I wanted to squeeze in a quick trip there. I new I would be back to both places in future trips. While there is more than enough to do in both places for 7 days, I wanted to be able to see both, even if just for a short time. I took an overnight train from London to Edinburgh. The train left around 11 - 11:30pm, so I had that whole day in London, actually took a day trip to Windsor that morning. Leave the train in Edinburgh at about 7am. Since the sights aren't open at that time of the morning, you can catch a breakfast somewhere (maybe try hagis), & then go to the top of Calton Hill for an unforgetable view of Edinburgh & the Firth of Forth. Then you are down by Holyrood Palace, go through that. Then walk the Royal Mile & end up at the castle. But in order to have time to tour the castle had to miss a few things along the way, but will catch them the next time in Edinburgh. Then even had a short time to do some shopping on Princes Street. Then caught a train back to London around 4pm or 5pm. Back in my London hotel by 10pm for a good nights sleep & up the next morning for more touring of London. So basically turned it into a sort of day trip. I know there is much more to see but have been back to London 3 more times & have done this overnight trip to Edinburgh 2 more times, to introduce Edinburgh to my wife & then my oldest son. Next trip over will most likely be just to Scotland. So it can be done in a day, & you go knowing that you won't see it all, but you can tour the castle & some other sights & still have time to maybe even do some shopping on Princes Street. But you will also be tired after doing this but should be ready to go after a good nights sleep.

You are wise to keep it to just Scotland. You can't really "do" either one in just 6 or 7 days -- but you will see even less if you try to visit both London and Scotland.

However - If castles are your thing, in Edinburgh you will only see 1 -- well 2 if you include Holyrood Palace which isn't actually a castle.

So if you have 6 full days in Scotland I would spend 2 or possibly 3 in Edinburgh. Then rent a car and head north into Aberdeenshire. Enroute or there you will have the chance to see Glamis castle (where the late Queen Mother was born and an enormous, wonderful place), Dunnottar Castle (if you hit it on a nice day I guarantee it will be you favorite stop on the whole trip), Crathes castle (a really lovely place with a world famous garden), Craigevar castle, Castle Fraser, Braemar castle and then head back south to Edinburgh airport to fly out.

If you only spend 2 days in Edinburgh then you would also have plenty of time to visit Stirling castle plus all the others mentioned.

The message header title question is impossible to answer, of course, but I just have to comment on the use of the verb "do" here (a personal pet peeve pf mine)!

"Do" Scotland and London in seven days?

It was beyond the scope of Caesar's armies, Napoleon and Hitler as well. Not in seven centuries, treble times over!



Best wishes,

Rex

Thank You Janis...that was an awesome suggestion. It's going on my task list

Stick to Scotland. Never try to pack too many places into a short time. There is so much to see in Scotland. If you can try to get to Loch Ness and Ellen Donan. There are so many castle ruins.