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Assistance fixing an itinerary for London and Edinburgh

Posted by on

Hi

My family and I (Mom-60s, Bro and I - 30s) are planning on being in London from May 20th to June 3rd and I was wondering if this would be enough time to do a couple of day tours from London and then head up to Edinburgh?

I'd like to keep ourselves based in London (at least 4 or 5 nights) as we're planning on some dinners and shows but our days are completely free. We're keen to do Edinburgh as we haven't been there before whereas we've stayed a couple weeks in London before - gone up to cambridge and oxford and the sort.

We'd like to do the stone henge with an archaeologist tour but aside from that we're pretty wide open. Im a huge potterhead so I may look into that for a day but aside from that would anyone have any recommendations? Should I get a private tour guide or is it better to just book day tours and make our way to Edinburgh by train?

My moms a huge beatles fan and the brother is a pastry chef and very into history - if that could help with the suggestions.

Thanks!

Posted by
223 posts

I don't think you'd need a private guide. If you're keen to venture out of London for day trips why not look south e.g. Portsmouth, Canterbury. Liverpool is also doable as a day trip from London, though it would be a very long day.

Additionally, you can break up the journey to Edinburgh in somewhere like Durham or Northumberland, both of which are on the train line to Edinburgh so are easy to visit, and are both very historical and beautiful.

Posted by
809 posts

Look into London Walks (www.walks.com) for great walking tours of different aspects of London. They cover a wide range of topics historical and recent including several Beatles tours but also Shakespeare and Dickens' London, Magna Carta, Old London, and on and on. The walks are about 2 hours long and the guides are excellent. No need to reserve; just show up at the designated Tube stop or other location at the walk start time. They also offer day tours. My daughter and I have generally taken 2-4 of their walks on each trip to London.

And Edinburgh is great too! Have a wonderful trip.

Posted by
11294 posts

Liverpool not only has lots of Beatles sights, but other great things too (as a bonus, many of the non-Beatles sights are free!). Given your interests, you could start in London, take the train to Liverpool for a few days, then train to Edinburgh and fly home from there (or, of course, vice-versa).

If you want more ideas on places between and around London and Edinburgh, here's my trip report on Glasgow, Manchester, and Liverpool (with side trip to Chester): https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/uk-trip-report-glasgow-manchester-liverpool-in-september-2016

When I do go back to London, I'm definitely going to Bletchley Park, where they broke the Nazi codes.

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