My husband and I will be traveling from the US to the UK this summer. Our two young kids will be joining us (a 3.5 year old and a 1.5 year old at time of travel). We have a place booked in Cornwall for the first week in August but we are looking to spend an additional week elsewhere in the UK. We haven't booked plane tickets yet so we can spend the additional travel week either as the last week in July or as the 2nd week in August. I've traveled quite a bit in England but I have only been to Wales and Scotland once, a long time ago for a very brief time. My husband has only been to England once and never to Scotland or Wales. I have spent several days in Ireland and loved it, but I think I'm more interested in Wales and Scotland for this trip. My children have not been outside of the US yet. Right now they are good little travelers, having spent many hours on long car rides and flights across the US, but I know they'll change a lot between now and August. The time change between the US and the UK may prove challenging with them, but we are up for the challenge We enjoy the outdoors and hiking, though would prefer easier hikes with our children.

My questions for anyone willing to answer are:

1. With 1 week in the UK, where would you recommend we visit? I'm personally leaning toward North Wales and/or Scotland (Snowdonia looks amazing, as do Scotland's inner isles). We are open to renting a car and driving, or flying, or taking the train, or any combination thereof. What specific places in those regions should we visit? For how long?
2. What is the recommended means of travel from Penzance up to the northern UK (or vice versa)? It looks to be about a 7 hour drive to North Wales from Penzance. We are fine doing a drive of that length in a day.
3. Would the last week in July or the 2nd week in August be a better time to visit? Or is the difference negligible?
4. I'm actually not opposed to traveling to another European country outside of the UK, so if you have a strong argument for traveling to another country in Europe and think we should scrap the North Wales/Scotland idea all together please let me know. My husband (and I) are really intrigued by Scandinavia. There are just so many great places to visit, it is hard to narrow it down!

Thanks in advance for any advice you're willing to share!

How are you getting to Cornwall? If you are flying in to LHR you'll ned a day or two in/near Windsor/London to recover from the jet lag before driving anywhere.

In fact Windsor would be a wonderful place to wi=hile away a day or two -- the castle, LegoLand, etc. Then you could head down to the SW.

As for where to spend the other week - you could spend it anyplace in the entire country -- really. But driving the length of the country is a slog. Especially in the scenic bits where summer/holiday traffic can be REALLY bad. "It looks to be about a 7 hour drive to North Wales from Penzance. We are fine doing a drive of that length in a day." - Penzance to say Conwy will take about 8 hours unless you hit some of the awful motorway traffic - and that is via the motorways - not on scenic smaller roads. And Penzance to Edinburgh will take the best part of two full days -- about 12 hours plus stops. Beware of all the on line mileage calculators - you need to add a minimum of 25% to the calculations and in rural parts like Cornwall, north Wales, western Scotland, Yorkshire, etc. you need to add probably 50%

If you decide to fit in Scotland consider flying - But as much as I LOVE Scotland - on such a short trip and with Cornwall as a mus -- I would stick to someplace in southern England - the Cotswolds,, or Kent, or Dorset/Somerset, and not try to travel hundreds of miles to other parts . . . Your kids are young enough they will be happy being where you are.

Any scenic area will be pretty crowded since the summer holidays are condensed into about six weeks from mid July to the end of August. You'll probably find the VERY narrow roads in Cornwall will be busy no matter whether in late July or early August and the weekends will be even more so.

Our DD and SIL drive to Cornwall regularly to see his parents from here in Lancashire. They live just on the border between North Devon and Cornwall and the trip takes a minimum of 9 hours. If you are further into Cornwall before you head north, then add on a couple of hours and even with the most even tempered kids, that is a no no of a trip. Take the train if you do head north.

I'd recommend North Wales, just avoid the resorts of Rhyl and Prestatyn. Maybe base around Llandudno and you can day trip to Snowdonia, Conway, Anglesey and the castle at Caernarvon. Chester is not too far away for a day trip too. Scotland while enticing, is too far away and too big to drag the kids all the way there.

I'm sure you and your spouse are way too young to have seen The Prisoner, BUT, the Village at Portmeirion would be an absolutely wonderful way to spend a week in Northern Wales. You can either stay at the hotel there, or in one of the self-catering cottages. The grounds are perfect for families . . . almost like staying in one of the houses at Disneyland after everyone's gone home (if you could, which you can't!).

https://portmeirion.wales/

From there, you could either just enjoy the beach or little hikes around the area, or take a day trip to Snowdonia National Park. Or, one of my favorite things to do, take the Ffestiniog Railway (a narrow gauge railway), that goes from Porthmadog up to Ffestiniog by the Slate Caverns. That trip on the little train is great fun for adults and little kids, and fun seeing the crazy signs at each of the depots along the way!

https://www.festrail.co.uk/

You should drive up there, because getting there is half the fun, and you will need a car.

<<What is the recommended means of travel from Penzance up to the northern UK (or vice versa)? It looks to be about a 7 hour drive to North Wales from Penzance. We are fine doing a drive of that length in a day.>>

I echo what Rubicund and JJ say about the time such a drive would take - I live in Cornwall and were I going to undertake such a drive, particularly with young children, I'd spread it over 2 days and I'd try to avoid the end of July/August like the plague as it's peak UK school summer holiday period plus foreign tourist period too. However you are locked into that time so the best plan would be to avoid travelling at the weekend [which includes Friday - lots of holiday lets start on Friday] as trying to get to Devon and Cornwall on a Friday afternoon or Saturday can be a nightmare.

If you decide to follow the suggestion of teaming Cornwall with North Wales, a better idea would be to get a train from London to Crewe and pick up a car there, and then at the end of your stay in Wales, drive to Manchester and fly to Newquay [in Cornwall] hiring another car there. Then you could get the train from Penzance back to London at the end of your stay; you used to be able to fly from Newquay to LHR but that service is stopping in March to be replaced with a NQY to LGW flight which I suspect would be less convenient for you.

Where in Cornwall are you staying for your week here?

" . . . to be replaced with a NQY to LGW flight which I suspect would be less convenient for you. "

Flying in to LGW wouldn't be that much of a hassle really since there is the frequent Express coach between LGW and LHR - so flying is a viable option.

Thank you all for the responses! This is my first time posting on any travel forum, so I'm not sure what the proper etiquette is with regards to acknowledging comments (tagging/quoting, etc), but I've read all of your comments and really really appreciate the suggestions and information.

annhig We will be staying in a house near Penzance for our week in Cornwall. I had not really thought about all of the summer holiday traffic, but I suppose I should have realized that would be the case since the reason we are traveling to the UK at that time is because my brother's children are off for summer holiday and we're meeting up with them in Cornwall. Thank you so much for the detailed recommendations regarding travel to/from Wales and Cornwall! Very helpful.

Rubicund I will make sure to avoid Rhyl and Prestatyn, and I will look into Llandudno and all of the other places you listed. I tend to unrealistically pack too much into our trips so this thread is helping me be more realistic and narrow down my options. We have done a handful of 12+ hour road trips in the US with our kids and they've gone well, but my husband will be doing all of the driving in the UK so I will need to confirm his willingness before deciding on a mode of transportation. I'm guessing he would favor train travel, as you suggest.

Surfergirl I haven't seen The Prisoner but now I'm going to look it up! Portmeirion looks so fun, and very unique. We'll definitely want to take at least one train while we are there because my son would love it. I do like the added freedom that comes with car travel. If we see something fun along the way, we can pull off and take a look! Although, I must say that the last time we were there and my husband drove on the narrow roads it was a little nerve wracking haha.

janisj We haven't decided yet on how we're getting to Cornwall. I've been twice before; once we drove from the Kent area and once we took a train from London. Do you have a particular recommendation? I've looked briefly at flights into Gatwick, Heathrow, Newquay, as well as trains and car rentals. My son would LOVE LegoLand, so I will certainly keep that in mind. I love England and I'm sure I would be very happy to stay there for our additional week of travel. I'm just itching to see some landscape that I have not seen before. My brother lives in Kent and I've seen a lot of that area, as well as all of the "touristy" attractions in England several times. I haven't been to North Wales before and it just looks so beautiful. After reading all of these responses I am thinking that North Wales is more realistic than Scotland, as much as I would love to cram everything into a week. I will look into Dorset/Somerset and the Cotswolds as other options. I've visited them once before, but only as a child so I'm sure I would thoroughly enjoy revisiting them.

Now we know about your family connections and familiarity with Kent so that probably isn't what you want.

North Wales is glorious -- but just to throw out one easy/low key option with less distances involved.

Fly in to LHR stay 2 nights car-less in Windsor. Recover from the jet lag and visit Legoland and the Castle - maybe even 3 nights and fit in a visit to Hampton Court Palace. But at least the two nights . Then get a car and drive down to your holiday rental in Cornwall.

After the week in the SW drive up to somewhere in the mid-Cotswolds (Burford, Stow on the Wold, Chipping Campden, somewhere like that) Bourton on the Water would fill an entire day with the Miniature Village, Birdland, the Model Railway, motor museum, and the nearby Cotswold Farm Park. Another day you can visit the Cotswold Wild life park. The Cotswolds are totally crisscrossed by public foot paths and countless lovely villages. And from most places in the cotswolds it is an easy drive to LHR to fly home.

Yes, sorry I didn't mention the Kent connection in the beginning! It felt like my original post was long so I left it out, but shouldn't have.
I love the other option you proposed! I'll look into prices for everything and talk it over with my husband to see what he thinks, but in the least it is nice to know we have a fun option if North Wales ends up being too much.

I'm probably not helping by throwing in another option, but since you mentioned it, it is possible to fly from Bristol to Copenhagen if you want to go to Scandinavia (Easyjet). It is not a daily service though. The kids might love the Tivoli Gardens and Bakken. It is a very child friendly city.

Odin Thank you! It does help I'm happy to hear about other options. I'll definitely look into Copenhagen

So two thoughts:

First, maybe you want to rent a car and then turn it in, and take a train to your destination, whatever it may be. British trains are excellent and my kids just loved trains when they were little. Even my college kids loved taking a British train, and it wasn't even the fastest routes.

Second, you're leaning Wales now but I'd still put in a word for Scotland. What I'm thinking is to get a connecting flight to Edinburgh or Glasgow. See Loch Lomond, which is lovely, but no, not really the Highlands in the time you've got. Then take the train back to London.

As an alternative, spend time in York, in northern England. You can get there by train. I found it to be a very family friendly destination, with a huge train museum, Viking Museum, one of the largest cathedrals in England, and the incredible City Wall that you can walk around and look out.

I would do a Scotland/York trip before Cornwall. Then your first days in Europe would then be on a train and doing a city tour the next day, so you'd be acclimating for two days before renting a car. Also you don't need to worry about not making your flight back to the United States.

Hi, jnom, and as I didn't say it before, welcome to Fodors. Hopefully you'll find it as friendly and useful as I have over the last 10+ years, since i came across it when I googled "renting an apartment in Rome".

As usual JJ, has some great ideas. There are plenty of things to see between London and Cornwall - if you take the A303 there is Stonehenge, Salisbury, Winchester [a bit of a detour], East Devon and the Jurassic coast, Dartmoor Plymouth, - and if you go north, along the M4 there's Windsor, Legoland, Bath [a diversion to the south here] Wells, and Glastonbury and if you then chose to head west, Dunster, Exmoor, Lynton and Lynmouth, even Clovelly and Hartland, Port Isaac and Tintagel.

Obviously I'm not suggesting that you look at seeing, let alone stopping at all of these places, but they are just to give you an idea of what's possible . My main advice remains that you do not want to be on the A30, A303 or M4 heading west on a Friday or Saturday.

5alive Thanks for the info! It is all very helpful and Loch Lomond looks really beautiful. I am certain my son would love traveling by train, so we will include it in our travels.

annhig Thank you! I've referenced travel forums for past trips but never posted to ask for suggestions. I wish I had because there is a lot of great advice given! We will definitely avoid those routes on Friday/Saturday. Thank you so much for that recommendation, as well as the list of other possible places to visit. I'm going to talk it over in more depth with my husband and hopefully solidify plans soon.