My wife and I are planning a trip to the UK in June 2023. We will be in country a total of 16 days. We plan to fly to London and definitely plan spending a few days in Bath and York with side trips to the Cotswold's and the Lake district (home basing Keswick). As per Rick's recommendations, we plan on returning to London for the last 4 days. However, trying to decide if we just do Edinburgh/Highlands or instead opt for Ireland. Can't do both. Any recommendations would be helpful.
Posted by
Colorado Springs
2813 posts
Will you have a car?
Posted by
Tunbridge Wells
6113 posts
Is that 16 full days not counting your arrival and departure days?
Posted by
OP
41 posts
I do not plan on driving in the UK and yes, the 16 days do not include the departure dates coming and returning home. Thanks for any suggestions you can provide.
Posted by
Olympia, WA, USA
6487 posts
With 16 days on the ground, I suggest limiting yourselves to the places in England you mentioned -- Bath, Cotswolds, Lake District, York, and London. That's five cities or areas. Every time you move your base you lose at least a large part of a day. Each of your places is worth multiple days of sightseeing without having to move your base. Just your English destinations would be a very rushed trip for me. You could easily spend a week just in London with plenty left to see and do on a future trip.
A car, rented in Bath and dropped off in York, would probably be the most efficient way to make a trip like this. Assuming that your airport is LHR, you can use transit to reach Bath (others know better than I about how this works), and York has good train service to London. Apart from London, driving will free you from train and bus (coach) schedules, though parking may be an issue in Bath and York.
Scotland and Ireland are wonderful destinations, each worth a couple of weeks or more. Save them for future trips.
EDIT -- Just read your previous post -- without a car the need to limit your geographic spread becomes even greater.
Posted by
Bend, Oregon
2303 posts
Whatever you decide, I would fly into one city and out of another. Do not backtrack to London. Fly into Edinburgh and and out of London. You would book this as a multi-city trip on the airline’s website.
Once you start writing down the actual days in each place, you’ll find that the days fly by. For example:
Day 1: Arrive in Edinburgh
Day 2-3: Edinburgh
Day 4: travel to Keswick
Day 5-6: Keswick
Day 7: travel to York
Day 8-9: York
Day 10: travel to Bath
Day 11: Bath
Day 12: travel to London
Day 13-16: London
Day 17: fly home
Posted by
Land of La
8645 posts
Forget Ireland.
The Emerald Isle deserves a trip of its own and is best done with a car. Have driven the entire Island including NI twice. Started driving when LBJ was in office. Used and still use paper maps as GPS is meh in some areas.
Do London, Bath and York. Excellent train service to all 3.
So much to see and do in London. Visited countless times. Never bored.
Always changing yet always the same.
I’ve consider it a “ home “ away from home.
Posted by
Seattle, WA
16178 posts
I think you can easily fit in a bit of Scotland if you make your flights open-jaw, into Edinburgh and out from London, or vice-versa.
The Cotswolds are not as easy by public transportation as other destinations on your list. Maybe see a couple of villages on a day tour from Bath, and save 2-3 days to spend in Scotland. You can easily reach the Highlands by train; we took the train from Edinburgh to Bridge of Orchy in the heart of the Highlands, and spent the night at the hotel there:
https://www.bridgeoforchy.co.uk/
The hotel is very nice ( we opted for modern rooms in the annex) and dinner was excellent. We had time to walk the very scenic West Highland Way in both directions from there, ut if you have to choose one the path to the north was far more scenic.
Posted by
OP
41 posts
Yes. I am very well aware that Northern Ireland is part of the UK (including Belfast) and that the Republic of Ireland (including Dublin) is not. Thanks for your helpful suggestions.
Posted by
199 posts
I think Ireland is worth a trip, but on its own. If you take a train to Scottishland, you can check out the scenery on your way. If you take a boat to Ireland you see one coastline, then another. The entrance to Cork harbour is pretty nice, though. You are not there (the British Isles, which do include Eire, as well as Northern Ireland, which are kind of attached to each other), for long enough for both islands. Just my two cents, sorry "p".
Posted by
Charleston & Birmingham
4299 posts
Since you're going to York, Scotland is a much better choice. I don't think your time and itinerary give you time to go to Ireland. travel4fun's itinerary looks good but if you must do a day tour to Cotswolds from Bath, you will need another day and night in Bath to have enough time to see Bath. I've taken the train from York to Bath and we missed our connection and it was awhile before the next train came through. It is nowhere near as easy as taking a train from London to Bath(which I've also done).
Ireland is difficult to do without a car. We don't usually rent cars in Europe but did when we went to Ireland.