18-day trip in England & Scotland

You could probably get to your hotel quicker and for less money by using the tube or Elizabeth Line, depending on where exactly it is.

BTW it’s the Thames, pronounced Tems.

And staying overnight in Slough is an unusual choice.

Overall, a nice trip.

I agree that Slough is an unusual choice. I'd suggest on Day 5 going all the (short) way to Windsor, do your sightseeing there, and then when you are satisfied there, go on to Oxford to sleep. Granted, lodging might be cheaper in Slough than Oxford, but you would waste an afternoon and evening in very-low-priority Slough in my opinion. If this gives you an extra day in the itinerary, you can always use more time in London, Oxford, Manchester, or Edinburgh.

Also in London, consider if you want the Tate Gallery or Tate Modern; if you say you don't like modern art, you've made the right choice. I only raise this because Tate Modern is better in its class than the Tate, in my opinion. Also the National Portrait Gallery is not nearly as distinguished as the National Gallery (two different things), although if you have time constraints, you can get a lot out of the National Portrait Gallery in a quick one-hour walk-through while that amount of time barely scratches the surface at the National Gallery.

@Camborne2018
Thank you for your quick response.

We will stay at London Hilton Park Lane. I just checked and looks like that we could take Piccadilly line to Hyde Park Corner, then walk to the Hilton London according to Google Map for around 1 hour. We took Heathrow Express to Paddington 7 years ago.

The reason we chose Moxy Slough is that we like to stay at Marriott brand hotels for free breakfast as Titanium members. And the hotels in Windsor area is quite expensive. We can take train from Slough to Windsor as well as local bus and possible Ubers. Any suggestions?

Thank you @ nancycantravel for your suggestion.

We will visit National Gallery first, then National Portrait Gallery.

Any other insights?

Last spring, the two of us bought a Two Together pass, and bought Heathrow Express (HEx) tickets well before we left the USA, for the early-bird discount. We also applied the Two Together discount to our HEx tickets when we bought them online, and that discount alone almost paid for the Two Together pass.

You’ll get QR codes on your smartphone when you buy HEx tickets. Scan the QR code at the entrance turnstile to get on the HEx, and scan again to leave. So that’s scan-in/scan-out, not quite tap-in/tap-out.

As mentioned above, there’s the Tate Modern, on the south side of the Thames, a mile’s walk west of the Tower of London and across the pedestrian Millenium Bridge. The other Tate museum in London, the Tate Britain, is farther west (upstream) of the Tate Modern, past Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. The Tate Britain is British artists, with a good collection, and not as busy as the Modern. Both offer free 1-hour tours throughout the day that can help showcase some of the collection that might otherwise not get appreciated so well.

The cafe/restaurant at the Tate Modern, The Corner, is a great place for a good, relatively affordable lunch, with a view.

staying overnight in Slough is an unusual choice.

We did that in 2023 and I have regretted it since. It is very uninteresting in my opinion. Unless you have a personal reason I suggest staying in Windsor or Oxford.

Arrives at Lond ... t Mayfair area, breakfast, rest, walk

Do you have an early check-in ? If not, I don't think you can rest anywhere. I suggest to lave your luggage at the hotel and then walking around until you can get into your room

Whilst staying in Slough is indeed an unusual choice, as a fellow Bonvoy Titanium member, I can see your logic. As long as you treat it just as a bed for the night and spend the day elsewhere doing more interesting things, I think it will work fine.

I assume in Liverpool that you mean the 3 Graces? If so, and whilst they are worth seeing, there is much, much more to see there. Many go for the Beatles connections, but there is a lot else to see as well. But then, so does Manchester and if you only have a couple of nights and will be able to see Liverpool on a future trip then I would leave it on this one.

If you are Bonvoy Platinum it seems an odd choice to stay at the Hilton Park Lane? There are lots of Bonvoy hotels in London and in any event I don’t find the Park Lane location very good. You have a busy road in front and are not very convenient for tube stations or your onward travel.

Instead of Manchester and Liverpool, I recommend visiting other places in England like Stratford Upon Avon, York (add another day to that city) and Durham. Also, the Cotswolds deserve a couple of days.

I don’t. Unless you are a Shakespeare nerd Stratford-on-Avon has nothing like the tourist interest of Manchester or Liverpool. And as I have often said, the Cotswolds can’t match the national parks in North Wales and Northern England. The OP is already planning to see York.

I agree with Johnnew52. Liverpool and Manchester are both worth a visit. I especially loved Liverpool, and much more than Stratford-upon-Avon, which I felt was rather touristy. And with all respect to the comment above, I also agree that North Yorkshire and basically the entire north of England beats the con hands down. It is my favorite area of England

What did those who posted like about Liverpool.
I wasn't that impressed that Liverpool was a top destination in the UK. I liked the Beatles, but didn't want to do a tour based on that.

I did love touring North Wales.

Just for starters in Liverpool (skipping all the Beatles stuff):

• Western Approaches HQ: Underground HQ for the Battle of the Atlantic, somewhat similar to the Churchill War Rooms in London, but with less fancy audio-visual stuff.

• Tate Liverpool: Modern art.

• Walker Art Gallery: Early through modern art and applied arts.

• World Museum Liverpool: Archaeology, natural history, space and time. I didn't have time for this.

• Museum of Liverpool: Lonely Planet says it takes a broad-brush, rather than in-depth approach because there's a great deal of history to cover. I skipped it.

• Victoria Gallery & Museum: Closed at the time of my visit.

• International Slavery Museum: Excellent, but currently closed for building work.

• Merseyside Maritime Museum: Reportedly excellent, but also closed for refurbishment at the moment.

• Rodney Street: Georgian Houses.

• British Music Experience: I skipped this

• Liverpool Cathedral: 1978 Neo-Gothic; UK’s largest.

• Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King: Good stained glass.

• Central Library: Spectacular building on a street with several great neoclassical buildings.

• Baltic Triangle: Creative district

• Ropewalks: Former warehouse/factory district with galleries, etc.

• St George’s Hall: Exhibition venue; city’s most impressive building.

• Open Eye Gallery: Photography and related media.

• Mersey River Ferries: Boat trips give great waterfront views.

We really appreciated everyone's valuable insights and suggestions.

The reason we choose London Hilton on Park Lane is because it is one of the largest hotels in Mayfair area with easy walking access to lot of attractions. We are Hilton Diamond members and think that it is more likely to secure a room in a large hotel for early check-in and at least we can have lounge amenity if there is no room ready.

And, we have to change train anyway at Slough from Paddington to Windsor station. Why not just check-in to a hotel within 5 minutes walking from the station, store the luggage, then take a train, bus or Uber to central Windsor for the Castle and College. The next day, we can take train to Oxford with only 1 change.

I think that Heathrow Express to Paddington, then taxi or Uber to London Hilton is still the best option, taking into consideration of traffic, crowd, luggage and cost as long as we purchase advance tickets with Railcard, which we will need for 35% discount on long-distance train rides.

Any recommendation or insights for various cities we plan to visit.