Where to go after London?
 

My husband and I will be in London later this month for 6 days. After London, we have 4 additional travel days and would then come back to London to fly home.

We're looking for some ideas on how to spend our last 4 days in Europe. Right now we're considering going to Scotland but would appreciate any other ideas. Also as we only have 4 days, we'd need to be able to get there relatively easily.

Thank you!

For ease of travel either remain in the UK and explore England, Scotland or Wales or take the Eurostar train to Paris (journey takes about 2.5 hours).

If you don't want to drive I'd choose Paris.
Second choice would be take the train to York for an overnight stay and then go on to Edinburgh for the rest of your time.

How's driving in Scotland? My husband isn't too excited about it but he did a great job during our last trip to Ireland. It sounds like you get maximum flexibility if you're driving.

Are the sights in Scotland similar to Ireland?

I would suggest Paris, or Amsterdam, or Scotland, or Wales, or somewhere in the UK in the country like the Cotswolds or Yorkshire or the Lake District.

I'd suggest the Southeast: Canterbury, Dover, Brighton, Portsmouth, Salisbury, Stonehenge and Heathrow (Gatwick)

There are many gardens (Sissinghurst), castles (Arundel), etc.

In case we take a quick flight, are there inexpensive airlines that I should check out? Not sure if it's feasibly but I've never been to Barcelona nor Prague and I hear the both cities are gorgeous!

www.whichbudget.com www.ryanair.com www.easyjet.com

Be very careful about extra charges and lugguge restrictions - they weight everything and are VERY sticky about it! Be sure to follow the transaction through to just prior to payment to see what the total will be and then compare it to the traditional airlines like www.ba.com as sometimes the headline price ends up being about the same as a traditional carrier who usually have less restrictions.

You have lots of options -- my first two choices would be Scotland or Paris.

Fly or take the train to Edinburgh, stay a couple of nights, rent a car for two days for a short driving tour. You could do Fife & St Andrews, or the Trossachs & Stirling, or something like that - nothing too ambitious distance-wise.IME the countryside driving in Scotland is easier than in many parts of Ireland. generally the roads are a little wider, fewer stone walls right next to the roadway. If you did OK in Ireland, you'd be absolutely fine in Scotland. Then fly back to LHR or LGW to catch your flight home.

Or Paris -- easy and wonderful w/ the Eurostar to Paris and fly back to LHR. A bit more complicated if you are flying home from LGW since there are no flights there from Paris.

You have lots of options - you could even have a weekend in Luxor or Sharm-el-Sheik (or Jerusalem).

The main thing to consider is how do you get back in time for your homeward flight as if you miss it it will be you with the big bill to pay for new tickets.

Therefore it's recommended to return to London the previous day or, better still, see if you can extend your current ticket to allow your return home to start from wherever you go.

alanRow is right -- wherever you decide, you'd want to return at least the evening prior to your flight home. If it is a morning departure, you could fly into LHR or LGW the night before and priceline an airport hotel.

If it is an afternoon/evening departure you <i>might</i> get away w/ an early morning flight to LHR/LGW since there'd be more leeway for delays. But generally when flying on separate tickets you want to be back to your departure city the day before.

If you can change your tickets to open jaw w/o incurring huge fees - it is worth considering.

I would stay in England. I love England -- and exploring the countryside is my favorite part. There's pubs, castles and gardens. Plenty to do. There are lots of places that are beautiful to visit, Bath, Oxford, Chichester,
The Cotswolds are beautiful, with lots of little towns to wander through. The ruins at Tintagel is one of the coolest places....

You are only in London for 6 days. I'd just stay there! We've spent at least 1 week in London for the last 40 years, usually more and I never have trouble finding things to do.But if youy have been several times, then I'd head to Dorset, my favorite part of the UK or the Lakes, but you will be better off with a car.York , Lincoln or Bath you could do without

You didn't say where you have and haven't been and what you like.
Paris is probably #1 if you haven't been there. You can also get to Brugge Belgium via Brussels on a Eurostar ticket in about the same time.
It may be too much driving but you could fly to Edinburgh, rent a car and drive to Inverness, then to Ft. Williams and back to Edinburgh on a multi-day trip.

Spending 4 days in the Cotswolds is a less stressful option. See the Slaughters, Stow, plus the many other towns. You could also include Bath.

Stay in London and do day trips to Oxford, Brighton, Canterbury, etc.

I was checking into the Eurostar from London to Paris and was surprised at the cost. It was $372 a person round trip! Is this typical?

Yes if you book this late then prices can be that high.
Generally the cheap fares are booked a couple of months in advance and summer is peak season.

If you can travel on weekdays and avoid peak times the prices drop.

Use www.eurostar.com and look for the cheapest non flex tickets.. to save money you may have to travel late in the evening.

There is an ad on the home page of Fodor's for "as low as $114 RT".

Because of our time contraints, we've decided to focus on Scotland (I've never been). We're planning to fly to Edinburough on a Thursday and then rent a car. We would have 3 1/2 days to travel around and fly back to London on Sunday. We would then fly home on Monday.

Any must-see sights that we should include or great little hotels/b&b's?

I just bought R/T eurostar tickets for November and paid 90 dollars, what dates were you putting in to get 372 dollars!

We really enjoyed Edinburgh. We especially liked visiting the castle, Holyrood Palace and hiking to the top of Arthur's seat for a fantastic view.

Avalon - it was for June 30 - July 4 so there wasn't much of a window. For that reason alone, Paris is off the itinerary.