ENGLAND/SCOTLAND 4-5 week itinerary

Well, I will give a stab at your lengthy itinerary. I haven't been to England since the 1970's so I won't comment on England. However, we visited Scotland this past June so I can give some advice on Scotland. Keep in mind I am not a Scotland expert having been only once.

Firstly, regarding renting a car or using public transportation: Based on our experience, I think renting a car is the most ideal way to travel around Scotland. Otherwise, you are too dependent on trains and buses. It's not what I would do but obviously some people do travel by public transportation. We rented a car and my husband and our friend's wife shared the driving. They both agree they got accustomed to driving on the left-hand side fairly quickly. The roundabouts caused a bit of stress at first but if you aren't sure where to get off, then just go around a few more times until you know where you should get off. If you visit Skye (which I highly recommend) there are quite a few one-track roads, but there are pull-offs quite frequently where you can pull off to allow the car coming towards you to get by. There are also videos on how to drive in Scotland that my husband and our friend watched. We did rent an automatic car, too, and we are also from the US.

I notice you don't have Skye on your itinerary. If you can, I highly recommend including Skye. Although we enjoyed every place we visited, Skye was one of our favorites. The scenery is spectacular, stunning and unique. We visited in June, and the crowds weren't as bad as people said they would be. The crowds certainly didn't ruin our trip for us. We had perfect weather in June; sunny every day and temps in the high 60's and mid-70's. This is not the norm, though. There is no way to predict what the weather will be like in June 2024. Although with climate change a real thing and getting worse, you might have the glorious weather we had.

Instead of staying in Inverness, I recommend staying in Nairn, a lovely seaside village about 30 minutes from Inverness. Inverness is a large commercial center. We loved staying at the Sunny Brae B&B in Nairn.

Instead of Fort William, you might consider Glencoe Village. We spent 2 nights in Glen Coe, and this area is jaw-droppingly gorgeous. Glen Coe and Skye were our two favorites for scenery.

Yes, definitely drop off your car before going into Edinburgh. You don't need a car in Edinburgh, and driving there would be horrendous. We picked up our car at the airport when we left Edinburgh. We spent 4 nights there and I wish we had an extra night. Never enough time!

Your trip looks like it might work for you We all have our own opinions. May and June have decent weather with showers that pass quickly. This means it will tend to be crowded at most of the sites in the south and being popular the prices tend to be higher. We drove both times we visited the UK, When I was single I took the train. Bath is worth visiting. We only spent 2 days in the Cotswold. We stayed in Chester and took a day trip into Liverpool. We spent the night on a farm in the Lake District. It looks like there are pretty good views if you hike up the Hills. One of our trips we drove to Carlisle and followed Hadrian's Wall on our way to York. We stayed in a BnB by the Railway Museum. Visit Fountains Abbey. Visit Howard's Castle. Visit Durham Cathedral. You would be closer to Edinburg going this way. Visit Stirling Palace. Then go to Glasgow and go to the Highlands from there.

I'd second a recommendation for Nairn over Inverness too. I've spent many happy holidays in Nairn, friends of the family had a caravan (trailer) there when I was young. I haven't been there for some years but my mother and sister rented an AirB&B there in May of this year, down by the very attractive little harbour. They enjoyed it very much. There's two great beaches, really nice walks along the River Nairn and a few stores in town. Inverness is in easy reach by train or bus.

You might also consider posting on the Scotland forum for more advice?
You don't say why Liverpool is a draw for you, so perhaps you could miss out Liverpool to add more time in Scotland to include an island (e.g. Skye or Mull). You might also want to hone down the Scotland section by identifying locations for your overnight stays, and then plan activities from those locations. For example where will you base yourself on the Lake District to Glasgow days? That's a big area! What do you want to see apart from Hadrian's Wall in that area? If you have 5 weeks you might consider renting a vacation home and 'self catering' (i.e. cooking for yourselves). This would give you a really good base and flexibility to explore from there. For example you could rent a cottage on Mull or Skye for a week and live more like locals exploring the wonderful scenery and hiking opportunities. Walk Highlands is a brilliant resource for finding good walks. Anyway, I think I'd find it easier to help with the Scotland section if you had more of an idea where you want to stay and what you want to see.

Do NOT try and tour Hadrian's Wall either from the Lake District or Edinburgh. You will be spending all day getting there and back. Build in 2-3 nights in the area. If you want a city experience, chose either Carlisle or Newcastle. If you want to be more rural, try either Hexham of Corbridge. If you want to be really close to the wall (and be able to walk to it) then look at Haltwhistle.

It is of course up to any visitor to decide where to go but Skyegirl’s questioning of the choice of Liverpool suggests she is unaware of how popular Liverpool is becoming with overseas visitors, especially from North America. Over 70m in 2022.

I agree with Skyegirl that you should also post this on the Scotland forum.

For the Lake District you could stay in Penrith, and concentrate on the Ullswater area although you can easily get to the Central Lakes over the Kirkstone Pass from Penrith in a bit over the hour- bus or driving.
As well as a PI (if you must) there are lots of family run guest houses and a couple of upmarket hotels.
Penrith is a lovely market town with all facilities so is a good compromise.
From there Carlisle is 15 minutes by train, and from Carlisle Haltwhistle is 30 minutes - the Hadrians Wall bus AD122 leaves from Haltwhistle Station Yard. A very easy day trip.
With the new Avanti trains short distance advance tickets and the new Northern Rail advance tickets you can do the journey for less than £5 each way, even less with a railcard.
From Penrith to Glasgow by train is a straight shot taking about 1 1/4 hours, with advance fares starting at around £10.
Liverpool to Penrith is under 2 hours on the train, two through trains a day, or hourly changing at Penrith. You should get that fo around £12 each before railcard discounts.
So Liverpool to Glasgow is easy and cheap by train.
Local bus fares will still be a flat £2.50 each next Spring.

Did a bit of a longer trip than you are planning but inc Ireland and Wales. A couple of decades older than you we are also both nurses.
Coming from Oz the driving was no issue. Accommodation was easily solved as we booked a small van that doubled as sleeping quarters. Also stayed with 3 lots of friends during the trip.
Rather than critique your itinerary I thought I'd just outline ours. Might give you some ideas.

Our itinerary.
Wiltshire (small village at a friend's). Day trips to Avebury and surrounds. Oxford/Great Coxwell,Bath, Burford, Uffington White Horse/Ridgeway, small Wiltshire villages. Also did an overnight trip to Wales with some great hiking near Crickhowell and visiting Abergevenny and Raglan Castles.

West Yorkshire (also small village at a friend's). Meandering exploration of the amazing countryside and villages, caves, waterfalls, viaducts. Runs up Pen Y ghent and Ingleborogh,

Lake Districts. Drove over Hardknott Pass (brilliant) and hiking and running around Eskdale.
Camped at Wasdale and ran up England's highest peak Scafell Pike. Lots of hiking amongst great villages and rugged country.

Off to Scotland.
Stayed near Oban in a forest full of silver birch, deer and squirrels.
Great hikes/runs around Glencoe and Glen Etive. Stayed in the forests of Glen Nevis, a quick trot up UK's highest in Ben Nevis. Great hikes around Glen Shiel, visited Eilean Donan Castle.
Isle of Skye. Magfrigginnificent place. Wandered around a fair chunk of it.
Ferried across to gorgeous Isle of Raasay (fell in love with it). Great hike up it's high point Duncaan.

Over the amazing Bealach na Ba pass into Applecross. Up the NW roads. Brilliant. Stopped at Torridon, stunning. Hike up beautiful Beinn Eighe.
Last stop north was a campsite near Poolewe.
Worked our way back south.
A lot of places well off the tourist trail all the way into Wales to catch the Irish ferry.

Back from Ireland into Wales. First highlight being South Stack, wild stunning coast, great archaeology.
Visited Caernarfon Castle (10/10). Through Snowdonia, couldn't resist a quick run up Wales' highest Snowdon (fearsome weather).
An overnight at Harlech ( nice castle).
Wandered across Wales and back into England.
Stopped off a the lovely villages of Lacock and Castle Combe. Back to our friend's place in Wiltshire then off home via Singapore.

Very low cost, great fun. Probably too fast a pace for many, we were rolling along as we would on an Aussie roadtrip. We enjoyed the freedom of staying where we stopped rather than meeting a tight preplanned schedule.

Personally I enjoy a visit to Liverpool, but it's generally to hook up with friends and ex work colleagues. For me it's not a big tourist draw. I get the whole Beatles thing, but the OP doesn't say why they want to go there, so was just wondering.

Whilst the Beatles do seem to be a big draw to Liverpool for North Americans, it’s a long way from the only attraction. Football brings huge numbers of people from all over the world and increasing we see Americans - Liverpool FC are of course American owned.
Vast numbers of North Americans have family roots from across Europe and the majority in the 19th and early 20th century will have travelled through Liverpool. Then a large collection of museums and galleries, two completely different cathedrals and the largest collection of listed buildings in the U.K. outside London.

The Slavery Museum and the Western Approaches HQ (WWII--somewhat like the Churchill War Rooms) are both excellent. I didn't do anything Beatles-related and still thoroughly enjoyed Liverpool.

After leaving Bath, drive to Glastonbury/Wells. You can do them in one day.

Then head for Stonehenge and Salisbury.

Stay at the Volunteer Inn in Chipping Campden in the Cotswolds.

I would go with York over Liverpool BY FAR, York is amazing.

For Hadrian's Wall, stay at Haltwhistle.

Durham is great to visit on your way to Edinburgh.

Hi Kristen -

If you want to stay virtually on Hadrian’s Wall you could consider staying at the Twice Brewed pub near Bardon Mill. You’ll need a car but from there you have the best of the wall in either direction (it’s a ten to fifteen minute uphill hike from the pub to Steel Rigg and the wall in person), and you are well positioned for Housesteads and Vindolanda, Sycamore Gap, etc. Granted there’s nothing much round the Twice Brewed, but there’s enough wall stuff to keep you occupied.

If you want to visit York I’d suggest a minimum of early train from Edinburgh there, explore a little, then overnight in York doing more exploring before catching a mid/late afternoon train back to Edinburgh. Trying to do it in one day, although I understand the time constraints you have means you’ll spend more time on the train than in York. If you are flying out of Heathrow you could break your rail journey in York and overnight to give you chance to look round taking a late train the London the following day. Wouldn’t risk doing York to Heathrow on a flight day though, just in case.

You could shave a night off the Fort William - Inverness stage for my money, but you may have specific plans in the area. Inverness, like Fort William, is a jumping off place for other destinations (generalisation I know, but…)

Ian