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11 Day Itinerary (London, Oxford, Isle of Wight, Edinburgh)

Hi,

We (single mom, 14 and 16 yrs boys ) are visiting UK for 11 or 12 days.

I would really appreciate your suggestions on our itinerary. We can extend our trip for a few extra days if necessary . This is what I was thinking :

  • London 3 nights (one of the days : Cotswold day trip)

  • Brighton 1 night (have to do Brighton as we move there next year)

  • Isle of Wight: 2 nights

  • Oxford : 2 nights

  • Edinburgh: 2 or 3 nights nights

Fly out Of Edinburgh

———— breakdown something like this——

3 nights in London:
Day 1 to 2 : buy Oyster card and view the main LONDON attractions.

Day 3: day trip to Cotswold and if weather is good do a walking tour of a village or a cycle tour.

Day 4: Brighton: 1 night .we have to go to brighton so
Arrive on day 4, check out schools (we move to Brighton next year), sleep over

Day 5: Brighton schools etc. sleep Isle of Wight.

Day 6: Isle of Wight: Castle of Carisbrooke, Yarmouth, The Needles. Sleep in Isle of Wight.

Day 7: Public transport to Oxford . Tour Oxford . Sleep in Oxford 2 night

Day 8: Oxford

Day 9: travel to Edinburgh (is there an overnight train to Edinburgh?

Day 10 : Edinburgh

Day 11: Edinburgh

Day 12: fly out Of Edinburgh back to Cape Town

Is this too much? Any suggestions? Can we do this with public transport ?
Thanks !!!!

Posted by
2600 posts

I would focus on London and the south of England on this trip. You’ll have more time to see Edinburgh when you move to the UK next year.

Posted by
11799 posts

Adding to the chorus: drop Edinburgh. You are missing out a lot by breezing through London and doing a day trip to boot. and I would think an extra night in Brighton would not go amiss. Why not see the Cotswolds while staying in Oxford? If you skip Edinburgh you can add time to London, Brighton, and Oxford,

Posted by
28249 posts

Way too little time in London unless you've been there before and seen a lot already. Your first day may be virtually worthless due to sleep-drprivation and jetlag. As already pointed out, Oxford and the Cotswolds are very close together. It's a lot more efficient to spend 3 or 4 nights in that area rather than making two round-trips from London to practically the same place.

The only Cotswold town with rail service is Moreton-in-Marsh. It's a very short trip from Oxford. There are at least two companies doing smslall-group van tours of the Cotswolds from Moreton-in-Marsh: GoCotswolds snd Secret Cottage

It's not easy to get around the Cotseolds by public transportation if you don't have much time, but Moreton-in-Marsh serrs to be the bus hub.

I haven't been to the Isle of Wight. Check on transportation schedules to be sure getting there and away won't eat up too much of your limited time.

Posted by
5555 posts

I haven't been to the Isle of Wight. Check on transportation schedules to be sure getting there and away won't eat up too much of your limited time.

Brighton to the IOW is very straightforward. Train from Brighton to Portsmouth Harbour then Ferry to Fishbourne (or hovercraft to Ryde if there's no car involved). Up early if you want to fit in both Carisbrooke Castle and The Needles, we took two days to see both but we were in no rush.

Drop Edinburgh, it's a real outlier and if you're moving to Brighton next year you'll have plenty of opportunities to visit. Cheap flights aplenty from nearby Gatwick if you don't want to take the train.