As I've posted on several different threads now, my son and I are going to be spending a week in Great Britain in June. What we actually have is from Saturday to Saturday. We're going to be flying from Dublin (we will have already been in Europe for two weeks at that point) so jetlag won't be an issue.

Our tentative plan is to arrive in London midday on Saturday, spend the rest of that day, all of Sunday and all of Monday. We'd take an early train to York on Tuesday and spend the rest of that day and night there. The next morning we would take an early train to Edinburgh spending the rest of that day, Thursday and Friday there. We would really like to spend one of those days doing a bus day tour to the Highlands.

And then we would fly back to Dublin early Saturday in order to spend that day there (which we probably won't have time to do earlier in our trip) before flying home the next day.

I'm just about at the point of starting to book some accommodations. But I keep wondering whether we really should add another day to London and take one away from Edinburgh. We're really not willing to give up York. And I know that no matter what we do, we're not going to be spending enough time in London. But if we add another day to it we're left with less than a full day in Edinburgh...

I've been in London before. And my son is young, he'll have the chance to go again. So we're not going with the thought that we need to see it all. We just want an overview. And a chance to see some of the rest of the UK in the little time we have. So should we leave it as it is?

Any input much appreciated!

Any advice?

I would want more time in and around London and would probably skip Edinburgh entirely (only due to time constraints) but that may not be an option if you already have a flight from there to Dublin.

If that's the case, I would add a day to London which if I read your mail correctly would still give you almost two days in Edinburgh (the day you arrive by train from York) and another full day before you fly out.

Thanks, Cath! I appreciate all the advice I can get!

You are flying to the UK from Dublin but you won't have spent any time in Dublin.

So where are you before Dublin?

Hi
You say you really don't want to miss York and yet you have less than a day there - and there's so much to do and see in the city.
So I would be inclined to jig around with your itinerary to have another day in York. (Your son would love the railway museum in York I am sure).
www.nrm.org.uk
I'm a North Yorks local so give me a yell if you need any advice about the city.
There's no right or wrong answer to your question, but personally I would take a day away from your London trip and travel up to York early on the Monday. Then continue your itinerary as planned.

Edinburgh is a fabulous place to visit, so I would suggest that you leave a good day for that one! No visit to Edinburgh is complete without a visit to the Castle and the Royal Yacht Britannia. The boat is fully open to the public and is an absolutely awesome historical archive!

Check it out at:
http://www.royalyachtbritannia.co.uk/

St Andrews & Dundee aren't too far away if you hire a car and Loch Lomond is also well worth a trip!

You mention wanting to do a bus trip from Edinburgh rather than hiring a car, so I just want to say that I did such a trip many years ago in June. We left about 7am and returned about 11pm, had breakfast in Oban, lunch I think at Loch Lomond, and possibly dinner in Stirling, and saw some great scenery along the way.

Thank you so much to all of you! I really appreciate the input.

I think we've finally made our decision to keep it as it is. The thing is, whether we add another day or not, it's not going to be enough time in London. Whereas, the extra day in Edinburgh may help us to feel we've seen more of it.

Morgana, believe me, I wish we had the time to spend an extra day in York. But I'm really looking forward to seeing what we can in the time we have. And I very much appreciate your offer of help!

Alan, the reason we probably won't get to Dublin before that is that we're going to be in Ireland for our daughter's wedding (to a young man she met while doing her semester abroad two years ago). Most of the week prior will be spent on wedding stuff.

We're hoping to sneak in some sightseeing. But whatever time we have will be allotted to getting my MIL to Newgrange, Tara and, I hope, Glendalough and the Wicklow Mountains. My husband and I have been in Dublin before. Our son hasn't. So that's why we're hoping to sneak in some time there in between Barcelona and the UK and again before DS and I fly home a week later.

But there are other airports in Ireland that have flights to the UK. Perhaps one of them would be more convenient

Thanks, Alan. But we're (DH, DS and I) flying into Dublin from Barcelona the day before we fly to the UK. And my husband is flying out of Dublin (to come home) the morning that DS and I are flying to London. It looks like we'll be able to get a flight bright and early that morning. So we should be able to be in London by noon at the latest.

I guess there's the possibility that DS and I could fly straight to London from Barcelona rather than making the detour to Dublin with DH... I'll have to give that some thought.

It looks like Aer Lingus doesn't fly from Barcelona to London. But we may be able to work it out on either Ryanair or Iberia. And it would give us an extra evening and morning in London. Actually, it would probably give all of us a little extra time in Barcelona too.

As I said, my husband has been in Dublin before so wouldn't mind if his time there was shorted a little. And my son and I will have an afternoon and evening there before we fly home.

Thanks, Alan. You've given me another option to discuss with my husband and son.