Hi all,
I think I've included the essential information and I hope you can help.
My DH and I have decided to join some friends on a cruise to Norway and Iceland in June/July 2026.
Since we’re travelling from Australia we've decided that since we’re travelling so far, DH & I should see a few other places we’ve wanted to see while we’re there.
We are trying to work out an itinerary with about 15 days in Scotland & 4 in England before the cruise and 3 days after the cruise in London before flying out of Heathrow.

I’ve read so much it’s all getting a bit mind boggling! Things we’d like to see (generally) are; beautiful scenery, waterfalls, good walks/hikes (not the really difficult/very long ones), beautiful and traditional villages, some Pride & Predjudice (BBC & movie) locations and some of the historical buildings in Bath, London and maybe Brighton. Interested in Titanic history, fishing villages, Beatles and probably a dash of Monty Python locations if possible. Nothing is absolutely essential except for Luss and Kilsyth which are family history locations.
We are used to long days of driving and are aware that UK driving is much slower, windy and narrow so we are prepared for that, (to an extent).
The trip will be in June, and the 3 days after the cruise will be in mid-July. (I'll post separately regarding the shore excursions and tours for Norway and Iceland).
I'm presuming since we will be in the peak season places will need to be booked in advance for Scotland and England, we are not usually organized travellers and play a lot by ear so this might be new and scary! We will be picking up the car rental in Heathrow at this stage (possible to change if needed).

This is what we have so far.

Day 1 – stay in London/Heathrow - (booked motel)

Day 2 – Pick up car near Heathrow, stay somewhere between London and Edinburgh

Day 3 – Edinburgh

Day 4 – Edinburgh

Day 5 - Inverness

Day 6 – Thurso or Orkney (day trip?)

Day 7 – Durness ?

Day 8 – Ullapool / Fort William/ Glencoe

Day 9 – Isle of Skye (probably bridge one way and ferry the other)

Day 10 – Isle of Skye (probably bridge one way and ferry the other)

Day 11- Oban

Day 12 - Luss

Day 13 - Luss/Dumbarton/ Glasgow/Kilsyth (family history locations)/Stirling castle

Day 14 - Cotswolds? Beautiful villages (Lacock? Bibury?)

Day 15 - Bath

Day 16 - Bath

Day 17 - Port Isaac/Cornwall

Day 18- Then…. Maybe east to Dover (White Cliffs) and Brighton OR spend a little time in London and go to Dover etc after the cruise.

Day 19 …?

Day 20 - Southampton overnight (booked motel)

Day 21 - 35 - Cruise for 14 days

Day 36 - London?
Day 37 - London
Day 38 - London

I guess the questions are;

1. Is this reasonable?
2. Presuming there are a lot of castles & national parks - would like Edinburgh castle and Stirling Castle (also has family connections) Eileen Donan and maybe a few others along the way. Is there a specific pass that covers many/all? Or different ones for different regions etc?
3. Do we need to book castles and sights in advance?
4. Do we need to book some or all accommodation in advance, hoping to go mid-range price-wise. Inns, B&Bs, static caravans (i.e. cabins in caravan parks) etc would rather character than flash and new but open to compromise
5. Any information on prices, tips to avoid crowds lol, quiet beautiful locations we've missed!
6. Anything you'd like to share & open to anything that is truly wonderful to see along the way.
7. Thanks for any info,

Cheers, JT

1. No
2. Leaving that one for experts but there certainly are schemes of which the National Trust for England is fantastic, not sure how it links to Scotland's similar National Trust for Scotland, equally good but different.
3. No
4. At weekends and in more remote places yes, in others, probably
5. Your plan is too vague and see (1) to advise
6. Choose Scotland or England or Wales.

Brighton to Orkney in a 15 day holiday is not a holiday, it is forced march. The island of Britain is full of fantastic things to visit, I seriously suggest get a book like the Rough Guide and choose one section (one) and focus on what you can do there.

I’m currently in London and really unable to read through you whole post/itinerary til perhaps late tonight - especially since I just spent an hour outside the hotel in my bathrobe because of a small fire in the hotel!!! - THIS will be a different trip report LOL)

But basically driving straight up to Edinburgh makes little sense. After I read the full plan I’ll have some other suggestions but from LHR it makes so much more sense to fly up and if from London instead of LHR a train is the best option. Plus having a car in Edinburgh is a bad idea. Rent a car on your way out of the city.

briefly skimming the rest of the plan it looks like there are so many issues that I’ll definitely look it over tonight. This needs a total re-think

Is day 1 your arrival day? Flying from Australia could result in serious jetlag and I would say regardless of the drive up to Edinburgh rather than train you probably should allow another day to get over the flight and time difference before you get behind the wheel. My DIL has flown back several times and needed more than a day to get over it.

Driving from Cornwall to Dover in one day is not easy and will take all of that day. What do you want to see in Dover anyway? You will almost certainly see the White Cliffs from your cruise ship and they are better seen from the water anyway.
None of your plans allow for travelling times, and booking in and out of places, leaving you with almost zero time to actually see anything other than a road to somewhere.
I understand the desire to see as much as possible but you need to either add time or remove a ton of destinations so you can actually enjoy and remember your visit, not get to your cruise in a haze of drive-by visits, and no worthwhile memories to take home with you.

Look at Google Maps for distances and travelling times and then add some time on to that - Google can be optimistic, and you have to add time for checking in and out as well.

Janis will no doubt come back with some good suggestions as usual so do listen to her!

It makes more sense to fly all the way to Edinburgh, probably via Heathrow. Book it all on one ticket if you can. Have a day or two in Edinburgh then collect the car once you've had a proper rest after the flights.

I'm pretty sure the UK doesn't have cabins in caravan parks the same way we do in Australia. I'd stick with B&Bs or hotels and book accommodation soon to have the best choice. I wouldn't pay anything now and make sure you can cancel without charges. June will be busy.

bilboburgler Thanks for your response. I've looked at a few NC500 itineraries and was basing it on those. I just knew it wouldn't be as easy as it looks on Youtube videos! Will review it all and see what can be sacrificed. I don't know if I can reduce heaps but I'll try. I will look up National Trust in England and see if I can find similar in Scotland so thank you for that,. Will keep a look out for the Rough Guide or similar and keep checking out itineraries on line that are a bit more simplified.
janisj Thank you for your quick response and so sorry about the fire! Definitely messes up an evening!! I didn't have any ideas of what to see between London and Edinburgh so figured a 'convenient' overnight stop would do. The car rental has option to change - we went for the Heathrow pickup and Southampton drop off. Seemed logical at the time. We had though that we might find accommodation just out of Edinburgh and train into town or alternatively, park the vehicle out of town and stay in town without the car. (we have friends who did this a couple of years ago).
Looking forward to any input. RE the very sketchy itinerary - I wasn't even sure if we would be better to go east to west or west to east but got to start somewhere.
Cheers, JT

hetismij2 Day 1 is the day we arrive in Heathrow from Singapore (where we have a stop over for 2 nights) hopefully the jetlag will be minor! we have booked a motel near the airport for that night and pick up the car the next morning.
Yes, the White cliffs are the main sight we'd like to see there, so is it actually likely we'd get a decent view from the ship? Hmm might tick a box.
Usually, when we travel we wouldn't plan for one night stops but it seemed like the only way to fit so many places we'd like to see in. I had in mind that much of the north coast was views from roadside stops and lookouts rather than day trips from a 'home' base. It's tricky not knowing how many places there might be around the north coast where you would want to stop. And, no. I hadn't really thought about it taking time to book in and out, although we are prepared to have early starts and full days. I'll have another look at the maps and times and add 20% hopefully, I might be a bit closer to what's possible. Thanks for your input and will look forward to Janisj's comments.
Cheers and thanks again, JT

KayF We actually have the flights booked so won't be able to continue on to Edinburgh, at least not in one booking. We have a stopover in Singapore on the way so the flight wont be as big a pain and will be staying overnight in Heathrow area when we arrive before picking up the car. Hopefully that will allow us enough rest before heading off.

There are definitely some cabins in caravan parks maybe not quite the same way we do in Australia but I have seen some online called Static caravans. B&Bs or hotels sound like a good and straight forward option anyway, and perhaps a way to at least meet/talk to some locals also thanks for the book with cancellation suggestion, so far the couple of places we have booked have those conditions.
Thanks again KayF
Cheers JT

Viewing the white cliffs from the ship depends on the route it is taking to Norway of course.
Even from Singapore jet-lag will be a factor to consider. My son was wiped out after his flight from there last month.

Some campsites in the UK have cabins or static caravans to rent, but they can be pricy, deemed glamping, and generally the fewer facilities the more expensive they are! B and Bs fill up fast and generally are not that cheap anymore.
NC500 is busy, always busy, and accommodation books up fast. Honestly, having driven it, I wouldn't bother. There are nicer places to visit in Scotland than driving it.
Maybe look at renting a holiday cottage and using it as a base to explore one area in more detail.

Just taking a quick break at the hotel before heading out again. No the fire didn’t ruin an evening . . . It was at 06:30!!

I know there have been some knowledgeable responses which I’ll read up tonight. But just remember driving in rural UK is NOTHING lit driving in OZ. Plan on every drive taking longer than you figure - and a one way rental from Edinburgh to Southampton would make more sense than LHR / Southampton.

now that I see you have lumped in Cornwall with the far north Thurso/Orkney plus Bath and the Cotswolds AND. Kent in just nineteen days. Yikes! No, just no. This will take some serious rethinking

. . . AND Skye!

In terms of flying from Singapore to Heathrow and then driving north the same day. My concerns were not for your life but more for the friends and family in the area and I don't want them to die.


If you use google maps to time your journey you need to add 40% to the time
In Scotland, many of those roads are single lane, with caravans, sheep and tourists stopping to take photos.

hetismij2 Might have to leave the white cliffs to chance...
We arrive about midday on Day 1 and don't pick up car until Day 2 mid-morning. Over the years we have done up to 21 hour flights before without overnight stopovers, so have a good idea of what to expect. We are both very experienced drivers and happy to take breaks when needed, we're also used to driving on the left! Rest assured we wont take risks and will watch out for your mates!
Will consider dropping off a few places further north and perhaps reducing time in England (& hope like crazy we will have an opportunity to do the south of England another time

Any trip to this part of the world is expensive from Australia so it's important to us to cover a fair range of places even if not hanging out long - we might try to make a few more three night stays rather than drive-sleep-drive.

janisj Thanks again. Oh boy, 06:30!! That is a fresh start in a bathrobe!

RE the knowledgeable responses, disappointing to some extent but one must listen to the advice of the experienced! We haven't driven in rural UK but have watched videos and we have driven in lots of places in Europe, the villages and mountains of northern Italy the north west of NZ, tiny winding roads with nowhere to pull over! Adding time to google distances already!
Will look into the one way rental from Edinburgh to Southampton...
We have a cousin in Cornwall to visit but haven't got her address yet, will await your serious rethinking
Thanks again, JT

Jeeze - sorry but I still haven’t read though everything and it’s after midnight here (I just walked from the Savoy to Gloucester rd - which is a hella long way) and I’m going to crash. Will try again in the morning

but basically even without Kent/the White Cliffs - Orkney, Skye, Edinburgh, the Cotswolds, Bath, Cornwall, and on to Southampton is a 4-ish week trip and that is still sort of rushed. I’d honestly plan on JUST Scotland- or JUST Bath, the Cotswolds, Cornwall with or without Kent.

I would skip Dover, awful place. If you get to Brighton, and I doubt you will because you have way too much on your list, but...you might enjoy the Royal Pavilion. Day trip by train from London is easy.

It will take you a long time to reach Cornwall, maybe save that for when you can spend at least a few days or longer and see something of that area.

KayF Thanks for the tips. A day trip sounds reasonable - less moving about. JT

Trite as it may sound, when we lived in the UK and had a car, some of our best trips were inspired by TV shows like BBC’s Antiques Road Trip. These shows can give great tips for scenic and interesting explorations off the beaten path.

WeisserTee Thanks, we do watch Antique Road show sometimes and some detective shows that have great scenery. Will keep an eye out for others too, cheers, JT

Antiques Road Trip didn’t actually start until after we moved to Switzerland; I forget the name of the show we watched but ATR is the current best of the bunch for backroads travel inspiration. Followed by Escape to the Country. (we get several British channels here in CH). Antiques Roadshow can be in urban areas; we went to the filming in High Wycombe and were shortlisted for appearing on the show but didn’t make the final cut.

@janisj that alarm sounds like a real pain in the behind, plus it confuses you for the rest of the day, horrid.

Thomo, we are here to help.

You are overwhelmed with options. I would look at

Scotland West Coast
or Scotland East Coast
or Cornwall, Devon, Somerset and Dorset
or Wales and the Lake District
or Oxford, Cambridge and East Anglia
or Hampshire, Sussex, Essex, Kent
or Yorkshire (where I live), North East England
or Manchester, Chester, Liverpool etc

Obviously it is up to you but the shear density of things that a 2000 year old occupied island (with a penchant for keeping stuff) is sometimes too much. But running from one end of the sweet shop to the other does not work, it just becomes a motorway tour. Trust me, British motorways are dull and unattractive.

On the other hand the days in June are very long, especially the further north you go. So in Orkney the sun rises at 3:45 am and sets at 10:30pm on the solstice in June. That means you can hike for three hours before breakfast!

If you have a cousin in Cornwall you want to visit then I would forget about Scotland and concentrate on the south-west. You can enjoy a quick trip through the Cotswolds, and Bath, plus lovely and varied coasts, Dartmoor and Exmoor, and so on. A far more relaxed visit. Aim down the north side and back along the south side through Dorset and the New Forest to Southampton.