Cities in England: how many days do we need?

It really depends on what your focus would be: Art and Architecture? History and Heros? Sports and Pubs? Churches and Graveyards? Music and Festivals? I've been to all of the places you mentioned. Look at Wikipedia for basic information. Run Distances on Google Earth Maps for topography and distances. If you've never been to London you should go there 1st. You would never regret spending more time if possible. I'm from Pacific Northwest so I don't travel for damp scenery; but for Castles and Cathedrals. We drove a car thru England, Wales and Scotland, which I reccommend for those who are able; most rentals have navigation. You don't need a car in London or Edinburgh. Do you know where you are going in Scotland? www.visitscotland.com is a great gateway site. I'm a Genealogist, so I'm into Churches and Graveyards. Durham Cathedral has an excellent chapel and crypt. York Minster has the most beautiful Rose stained glass windows. Liverpool has the Beatle Muesum. Bath is mostly dedicated to Jane Austin. Remember you can always come back, we did! P.S. Hadrian's Wall is great for seeing Roman Ruins while you are hiking! P.P.S. Chester is a fun walled city and a good start for going into Wales and Liverpool! Enjoy your RS Scotland Tour!

Are you constrained in your overall time abroad?

2 full days per location would, in my book, equate to 12 days, assuming you
are flying into London and going straight to Bath (you say nothing about London).
Arrival day, 2 days per city x 4, and transit days, which due to hotel check out
and check in times, break up the ability to see all that much during that particular
day.

Add in your time in Scotland and see if it all makes sense. As Kathleen has noted,
without knowing what your interests are, it's hard to say how much time you might
want in any specific place. However, 2 full days in each place seems like enough
to see the major things.

Bath, York and Durham are similar. Small historical cities. Liverpool is a large modern city. By 2 days, do you mean 2 nights or 2 full days?
Bath is a bit out of the way of the others. Are you flying into London. If so, then train to Bath, then to Liverpool, York, Durham and then on to Scotland. The Bath-Liverpool will require the most changes. York to Durham very easy and short. All can be done in between a mid morning check out and the late afternoon.
If you are travelling by train, a two together railcard costing £35 will pay for itself.
Instead of Bath, have you considered Chester, not far from Liverpool. Very nice old city. You could then fly into Manchester and use the airport rail station.

Thanks, everyone, for responding! We like history, castles, cathedrals, museums, and just being temporary locals. Sorry for not providing enough details: We’ve been to London on a past trip. We’re doing Rick’s Scotland tour, so my posted question is about our pre-tour travel. I picked those cities based on Rick’s blogs—all look fascinating. And we are keen to be Beatles tourists in Liverpool. Yes, I want to walk a portion of Hadrian’s wall. I assumed we’d fly into London but will check into Manchester. We have a week to 10 days. Thanks for the suggestion on Chester, also.

I think two days is a good amount of time for those places. I agree with the order briwire has put them in- Bath, Liverpool, York, Durham. You definitely don't need a car unless you're planning to head out into more remote areas. In general most major cities in the UK have good train connectivity. Depending on where you're going in Scotland a car may be more useful there.

We have visited all the places that you mentioned. York is my favorite city in the UK, we loved it.

Liverpool is OK, but we weren't wowed by it. Not into Beatles tours.

Bath, we did three nights there, but it was our first city after we arrived from the USA.
We had two full days in Bath. You can do Bath in one full day. Our send day in Bath, we did a day trip to Wells and Glastonbury.
Recommend The Brooks Guesthouse, a great B &B. Also, the Scallop Shell restaurant nearby had the best fish and chips in England.

York, we did three nights there and spend 2 1/2 days touring there. Did the great National Railway Museum, the Minster (Cathedral-perhaps the most impressive in England), two other museums, walking the ancient walls and the city's narrow ancient streets.
We stayed at The Minster Hotel, located walking distance from the north gate. It has parking and a great breakfast.

Durham we did one full day there, with three hours at the famous cathedral, which is very historic. The city is great. Forgot the hotel.
We also, stopped to see Hadrian's Wall on our way to Scotland. The wall is only about 4-5 ft high now as most of its stones were removed for border fences or other construction.

Thanks for the helpful comments and recommendations! We will definitely go to the Railway Museum!

I’d say that Durham would only require 1 full day to see everything it offers. It’s a very small city. The cathedral is truly wonderful and not to be missed.

2 days would be sufficient for your other destinations but you could always add a day to any of them if you reduce your time in Durham.

There is an update to Rick's information on Hadrian's Wall, which makes it significantly easier to reach.

As from this Monday (that is 2 days ago) a new hourly bus service has started from Carlisle via Lanercost, Birdoswald and Gilsland running as far as the County boundary at the Roman Army Museum.

Carlisle is a stop on the main west coast rail line from London Euston to Glasgow and Edinburgh.

I would take a day from Durham and add to Bath so you can do a day trip to Salisbury from Bath. I know it's Disneyesque, but I recommend the Yorvik Viking Experience in York. If you like cats, look for the cat statues on the tops of buildings in the Shambles area. When we were there, the glass shop had a list of them. I just looked and the cat trail can also be found online.

It's important not to fall into the trap that many do from across the pond that England = London and that the only airports in the country are around London . It's obvious that you haven't as you plan on venturing further north, but there are airports such as Manchester and Glasgow that have international connections especially to the US.

Thanks again-yes, I was in that mindset of flying into London. But now I’m checking flights into Manchester.

Remember that 2 full days in a place means 3 nights there.