Cotswolds and itinerary questions

The Cotswolds and Wales will be significantly easier with a car. Wales covers a large area - which towns do you want to see? What do you want to do in these areas?

How long is your trip?

You can take the train from Wales to Edinburgh.

It will be our first visit to the United Kingdom. We’ve been to other European countries.

We tend to like the beauty of new places, quaint shops and great restaurants.

Would you recommend renting a car when we get to the Cotswolds?

what do you think about Rick's recommendations (hint, hint)?

A car in the Cotswolds would give you more flexibility, then return it in Wales and take the train to Edinburgh. I prefer Minster Lovell near Oxford for the eastern Cotswolds and Winchcombe in the west.

The Pembrokeshire coastal path is stunning - St David’s is the best base. Mostly local independent shops rather than national multiples.

In north Wales, Snowdonia is the obvious place for stunning scenery.

You didn't say how long you plan to tour the UK.
We have visited the British Isles four times in the past 10 years and love it.

We planned a 4 week drive tour and originally included S. Wales, England and Scotland, but the more I planned and discovered more places in Wales and England to see, we dropped Scotland. We had been to Scotland twice before anyway.

Our drive tour started from Heathrow where we rented a car and drove to Bath, then we headed into Wales, stopping at Castles on our way to Cardiff. Then on to Tenby and St. David's, before visiting the village in SW Wales where my paternal ancestors came from in 1716.
Then, on to the Cotswolds for six nights (Chipping Campden as a base) to visit Oxford, Blenheim Palace and Stratford Upon Avon as well as the Cotswolds. On our way north we stayed a night in Warwick to see the castle then to Yorkshire, spending three nights in York before going to Castle Howard on our way to the Yorkshire Dales and then to Whitby. From Whitby to Durham, then to Haltwhistle to see Hadrian's Wall, then to the Lake District at Keswick. Our last city was back south to Winchester, then to Southampton to catch a transatlantic cruise back to the USA.

Check out details on what we saw an where we stayed, etc.

28 days in Britain and Celebrity Eclipse home

https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=599139

One thing, Wales is wonderful and very scenic. We spent five nights there, if you try to cover North and South wales, you will need at least another 3 nights.

Great suggestions. This is our first visit and we are picturing 10-14 days.

“This is our first visit and we are picturing 10-14 days.”

If you wind up with just 10 days I think you’ll need to edit your wish list. Days 1, part of 2 and 10 are lost to travel or did your 10 day count exclude your travel days?

For a first visit to London I’d want a minimum of 4 or 5 nights which just gives you 3 or 4 full days. I’m not sure of your location but even if you arrive in the AM on Day 2 from your overnight flight you may not want to plan much on that day. If you give yourselves 3 nights in your Cotswold base that just leaves 2 nights for Wales or Edinburgh. I’d want to be back to my flight departure city the night before an international flight.

You might enjoy this Rick Steves tour: Best of England;
https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/england/best-england-tour

It goes to London, the Cotswolds, Wales, plus additional wonderful places, such as Bath and Blenheim Palace, where Winston Churchill was born. We really enjoyed the Lake District and York on this tour.

Two things that you said made me think this tour could be right for you.
First, you said "We would like to avoid renting a car if possible."
Second, you said "It will be our first visit to the United Kingdom."

This tour begins in Bath and ends in London. After your days in London, you could take the train north to Edinburgh for several days on your own. Fly into Heathrow (London) and back home out of Edinburgh.

Or leave Edinburgh for a future trip when you will explore more of Scotland.

I believe this tour would be a great introduction to England and Wales for you.
It's a sampler of many sights.
A big plus is that transportation, hotels, and many meals are included/planned for you. It makes it easy instead of difficult for your first trip.
We took this tour in 2018 and enjoyed it very much.
In Wales, the tour took us to Conwy Castle and Caernarfon Castle. They made the transportation easy for us.

I myself would hesitate to rent a car on my first visit. But that's just me.
Some of our forum members here love driving in England on the left side of the road, with its many roundabouts, but others love taking the trains in England instead--which is what my husband and I usually do.

We've been to England many times, but enjoyed the Rick Steves tour because all we had to do was sit back, relax and enjoy the sights.

10-14 days is not enough time for all 3 countries. To avoid renting a car, personally I would skip the Cotswolds or do a Mad Max day tour from Bath. I have never spend the night in the Cotswolds but have taken two group tours there for a day and they would not be on my list for a first visit. I would spend two nights in Cardiff, Wales, which is easily reached by train from London or Bath, and take public transportation to St. Fagan's Folk Museum and Caerphilly Castle. And London does require a minimum of 5 days.

I appreciate all of the suggestions and information. This will help my husband and I get started planning our adventure.

Re the Cotswolds and vicinity. Twenty years ago we based in two boltholes, one at each end: Kingham and Painswick. We didn't drive, though my brother picked us up every second day or so to take drive us around a bit, on other days we took a bus or train to a few locations. You can't see all the places in a few days, especially if you will be doing some hiking. If you stay in Moreton-In-Marsh you can hit a few places by public transport quite easily: Oxford (may even be worth two days), Woodstock and Blenheim Palace: Stow-on-the-Wold, the Slaughters and Bourton-on-the-Water one way: Batsford Arboretum, Broadway and Chipping Campden the other way: Stratford-upon-Avon.

Moreton is a market town, not as popular as some of the smaller villages. Nonetheless, it has a decent high street, some nice homes on the sidestreets, a good mix of pubs and restaurants.

Re Wales, no driving experience there but hit a few good spots with others when I lived in England for a few years as a youth/very young man. I really liked the Wye Valley and Dean Forest areas for hiking, hiked Snowdon, tented by Lake Bala. Spent quite a bit of time around Wrexham (a family friend lived on the outskirts) and Chester (England, cousin went to college there). Wrexham, Cardiff and Swansea were unattractice places when I was there, they may have been rejuvinated since.

As for hotels, here's one to be aware of -

Rick Steves, the famous guidebook author and travel guide, was hosting a tour of Cotswold villages and Stonehenge in the ’80s, and was scheduled to stay in an old bed-and-breakfast near Glastonbury.
The area is known as one of the most spiritual places in Britain, drawing religious visitors and new-age witches alike. To boot, the guesthouse was built on a spot where two ley lines crossed. (Some people believe ley lines are invisible gridlines that channel the Earth’s magnetic field, and ancient civilizations aligned landmarks along them to harness power.)
Once the group went to their rooms to tuck in for the night, “I just felt some creepy spirit in my room,” Steves says. “I went out into the hall, and everybody from the tour felt the same creepy spirit in their rooms.” Having spent thousands of nights in hotel rooms, “I’ve never felt anything remotely like this,” Steves says. “So we just all grabbed our bags. … We vacated that haunted hotel.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2022/10/26/scary-travel-recommendations/

I would forget Cotswolds and wales and do Cornwall and the highlands of Scotland instead. Cornwall is paradise. The Loch Lomond and trossachs national park in Scotland. If in London take a day trip to stonehenge. We recently visited with a company that was amazing. We had our own archaeologist https://www.archaeologistguidedtours.com/
Have fun!

Again, thank you so much for all of your help.

Laurie, perhaps I missed it--did you mention when you plan to travel? Chipping Campden worked really really well for us this past summer because of its dual celebrations: its wacky 'Olympiks' then the following day's 'Scuttlebrook'. The athletics, the music, the costumes, the fireworks, the torch procession, the parade, the dancing and the overall festive vibe all made a huge difference.
Hope all goes well!
I am done. the end

I see that we are getting all sorts of advice on this one! Have you been tithe UK before? How long do you plan to spend in the UK?
I note that places at opposite ends of the country have been mentioned - such as Cornwall & Edinburgh. That is not a good idea.

We are considering traveling in May/June. We haven't finalized our plans yet.

I feel overwhelmed learning how to travel from London to the Cotswolds and how to get from town to town while visiting the Cotswolds without a car. It's been a slow process to learn specific details so I'm still figuring out the best place to stay in the Cotswolds.

Thank you everyone for all of your help.