Scotland-England (Iceland ?) family trip - Questions !
 

Hi !
We plan to make 24-28 days family trip in England and Scotland nest summer ( somewhere between july 8 and august 20). And we got some questions.

basic nfo: flight From Montreal, 2 kids (7 and 11).

1) **Cost**: what would be daily cost for airbnb, some restaurants and activities and travel (still have to decide decide car or train). Can we get away with it with a daily budget of 250-275 pounds ?

2) **Car vs train**: Of course we wont need a car in London but since we want a mix of cities, villages and nature what would be the best option. Is there a cost for renting in England and droping in Scotland ?

3) **Best base** ? We like to have 5-6 base for 4 to 6 days each and daytrip from there. We want to see:
London, Bath, York, Hadrian's wall, Northtumberland, Edingburg, Higlhands and Skye.
Is it feasible ? what would be good base to see them and throw in some fun for kids (theme park, museum, playground, pools)

4) Flight from Montreal is to London and Glasgow. If we travel with Icelandair we also got the option to Aberdeen. We could also add a layover for 3-4 nights in Iceland (of course that would mean to cut some places in UK).

Thanks in advance !

>>Can we get away with it with a daily budget of 250-275 pounds ? <<

Sure . . . except in Edinburgh any time in August, or in London. In both of those accommodations will be more expensive.

>>Is there a cost for renting in England and droping in Scotland ? <<

Sometimes there are drop off fees, but often not. Even if there are fees, they would be less than the cost of driving all the way back to the original city.

>> We want to see: London, Bath, York, Hadrian's wall, Northtumberland, Edingburg, Higlhands and Skye.<<. and >>We like to have 5-6 base for 4 to 6 days each<<. You are only talking 24 - 28 days and need to subtract 2.5 days for the transatlantic travel. so say 24 days . . . that will give you 21.5 days free on the ground. 28 days = 25.5 days

That really is not doable in 3 - 4 weeks and especially not if you add days in Iceland. You will do MUCH better if you start in the north (landing in Glasgow or Aberdeen) so you are done with Edinburgh before August. What I'd consider is hitting Edinburgh first (meaning arriving at GLA if you can't fly to EDI). Do Edinburgh carless, then collect a car and tour a bit -- but you will have to be VERY selective because just a brief overview of Scotland will fill more than 2 weeks. When you add Northumberland and Yorkshire there is all your 24 days.

What would be doable is something like fly into GLA, 3 days in Edinburgh, 10-ish days for other bits of Scotland, a 2 or 3 of days for Northumberland/Hadrian's Wall, 3-ish days in York/Yorkshire, drop car, train to London. fly home from London.

You notice none of this is 4-6 days in any one place (except for London). If you still want to do that then you will have to cut back to Edinburgh for the city and small bits of central Scotland, Northumberland, Yorkshire, and London..

Thanks a lot for that answer janisj !

We were thinking of starting in London because school in england stop around july 23. So we hope we can enjoy theme park with less people in the weekdays until that time. I think we still can avoid Edinburgh in august.

Beside London and Edinburgh (and maybe Skye) nothing is mandatory on our ''to see'' list. The onbly other mandatory part is to include fun time/activities for kids.

I'm dashing out, but briefly . . . August in Scotland but especially in Edinburgh is problematic. The city doubles/triples in size in August because of the Festivals/Fringe/Tattoo and places book up months in advance at 2 to 3 times the rates in say July.

Skye also books up far in advance and August is by far its busiest month.

more later . . .