My wife and my work schedules are pretty crazy this year, so the only chance we have for a 2 week vacation is the first two weeks of November.

We had been thinking our next trip would be Scotland and England, but it seems like the short days and cold weather might lead us to postpone and pick a slightly warmer destination (Italy? Israel? Argentina?).

Any advise for going/not going to Scotland and England that time of year?

It's probably going to be grey, damp & miserable and the days are short.

The attractions in cities & towns will be open but you might find places in the country closed.

Scotland's always wonderful. Go for it!!

I've traveled to teh Uk in every month (and lived there for several years). Nov can be fine - or it can be stormy. I have been in Scotland in late Nov and actually ate outdoors at Stirling Castle - and the very next day there was a dusting of Snow.

In early Nov the days aren't all that short - the <u>really</u> short days are in Dec/Jan.

Of course the weather can be bad in Nov - but that's relative. It won't be nearly as cold as the NE or midwest USA. And even in Italy the weather won't be warm that time of year. You'd get the bonus of great airfares.

I'd go for it - more and more of the rural sites are staying open through the month of Nov. You will miss the lovely gardens - but most castles, parks, palaces, and historic sites will be open as usual

It's wonderful, even so. Go for it!!

Practically nothing's closed in November.

Some more or less private houses in the coutryside close for visitors during Nov-Feb: increasingly the bigger ones (like Blehheim) are reducing their closure periods anyway. NOTHING else closes.

&quot;It&quot; can't be miserable. Only people can be miserable. Miserable people can - and do - choose any time of the year to be miserable in.

BUT if hot weather's necessary for your happiness, Britain's rarely a good place to choose.

I'm not sure what you want, I'd never imagine someone considering a trip to the UK would also be trading that off against Italy, Israel, or Argentina. Think about your reasons for the UK. What is it that you want to see?

The weather in Italy will be marginally warmer, but once again you still have shorter days. You must rent a car though otherwise you're going to be missing a lot of places in Scotland.

The weather wouldn't particularly bother me, but if you're looking for a substitute summer holiday, this won't be it.

If it were me, and I never go away in November, I'd probably tour the Basque country in Spain as in my opinion it offers dryer weather, just as picturesque scenery, and a more reasonable selection of hotels. Good hotels in Scotland are disgustingly expensive...largely because of golfers. And if you want to pay money to stay with golfers....

So that's another suggestion, or you could do Southern Spain, or even Argentina. What do you want out of this trip?

We were in Northern England during the first week of Nov. 05. We had the mix of rain, sun, wind and clouds you would expect. It was still a great trip.

However, if there are sites that are especially important to you, double check the days of the week that they are open. We found many English Heritage sites switch to winter hours on Nov. 1. That meant that they were not open every day as they are at other times of the year. As a result, we did miss a few sites that we had planned on because they were not open on the days we were there. But we still found more than enough to fill our days.

Thanks for the feedback.

My gut feeling has been to not base our decision solely on the weather, as I've been freezing in Scotland in August; I'm more concerned about short days and a lack of options. . . .Although the weather is a concern so far as I know that rain in the 40s can be colder than snow in the 20s.

These posts have been helpful.

As far as &quot;I'd never imagine someone considering a trip to the UK would also be trading that off against Italy, Israel, or Argentina&quot; . . . .

um . . . , we love to travel, and like I said we have been hoping to travel in the UK for our next trip. However, we love Italy; my wife's never been to Israel and we have family there, and a friend has an apartment in Buenos Aires.

What are we looking for? Adventure, interesting (and hopefully good) food/drink, escape, relaxation, the unexpected, and hopefully remaining healthy.

Thanks again.

I'd postpone it. Cold and grey wouldn't cut it for me, unless I were planning to do a strictly city type of vacation. The countryside in that type of weather is wasted. I'd want to see gardens in bloom, take walks, be outside. At least a city is largely buildings, not nature, and doesn't lose as much in wet, grey weather. So my advice is either stick to the cities or go someplace warmer.

We went to Israel in November and had a wonderful trip with warm and dry weather. The fresh fruit and vegetables are great. I would love to go back.