England, Scotland, and maybe Ireland? Need itenerary suggestions

Since the trip isn’t till 2025 there’s time to research.

There are the Rick Steves Great Britain and Ireland guidebooks that would be worth buying and reading. Loads of pertinent and useful information in both.

I would check the cost of traveling to see what would be the best for 2 adults and a student (keep a student id). Study train passes if you plan to keep moving. Buses would be necessary if you want to see the countryside. Or you could book day tours from a central location. My personal choice would be to drive a car or van. We enjoyed the freedom to go when and where we wanted. If you like nature, some of the National Parks have accommodations. If you have van, the couple can sleep in the van and nephew can enjoy a little tent, or there are sometimes cabins available,just bring a sleeping bag. If you stay in smaller villages you can usually find affordable Bed & Breakfast. We really enjoyed walking Hadrian's Wall and stay in a B&B near the wall. You can take a train and then a bus to Hexham or other stops near the Wall. After you see the sights in London and you want to train to Edinburgh; you can stop at York, stop near Hexham, stop at Durham. From Edinburgh, go to Glasgow, then south to the Lakes District, (or bus to ferry to Ireland; I would actually save Ireland for another time.) From the Lake District go south to Liverpool , then to Chester, then to Conwy in Wales ( I would reccommend more time in Wales, if you have time. If not go south to the Cotswolds and Bath, then to Stonehenge and Oxford. Back to London. There are a lot of things you can see for free in London. Check admission passes to see if they would be worth it, depending on how many sites you want to visit. We used the National Trust UK membership pass which includes a parking place. I don't know if a nephew over 18 would work on a Family Pass, but there are Couples passes and Student passes. Bon Voyage!

Visiting three countries in two weeks is a bit of a stretch. Traveling between England and Scotland is more convenient so go to Ireland another time when you have more time.
You need to rent a car when visiting Ireland and you may need to in Scotland too if going to the Isle of Skye. To learn more, buy Rick Steves Great Britain guidebook. The 25th edition will be available in Oct: https://store.ricksteves.com/shop/p/britain-guidebook.
Fly multi-city meaning fly into one city and out another i.e., London and Edinburgh. It would be ideal to sleep in London six nights and include a day trip to Bath. On your way to (or from) Scotland stop in York and spend at least one night there.
Edinburgh deserves two nights and the Isle of Slye is also a must-see: https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Skye. There are buses that travel between Glasgow and Skye.

14 days will go in a flash so don't be too ambitious with your itinerary. I know you want to see and do the lot but that means you end up not seeing much of anything. SLOW DOWN! Also trying to do England, Scotland and ireland in 14 days is unrealistic.

What initial research have you done? Get the 18 year old involved especially as he enjoys history. There are 5000+ years of history to explore in the UK so there is plenty to go at. Is he particularly interested in one particular period - Pre Roman, Roman, Saxon, Norman, Medieval ... you get the idea?

You have plenty of time to start reading and doing your own research and to come up with an itinerary that suits you rather than slavishly following someone elses. Also don't be afraid to go to the less popular sites and places. I like the DK Eyewitness books - they do one for all of Great Britain or one just on Scotland. They have a lot of photos and cover many places not in the other guide books. Maps are sufficiently detailed to help with planning.

Are you planning to drive or travel by public transport. If driving remember many parts of the UK are very built up and traffic is slow moving through urban areas. It's not much faster in rural areas either as roads are narrower and slow. It will take a lot longer to cover the miles than you might expect.

I assume you will be wanting to start in London? Everyone does, although it's not obligatory. Allow a couple of days to adjust to jet lag before driving any long distances. Bath and York are both popular spots for tourists with plenty of history and culture. Edinburgh or Glasgow probably merit a couple of days. Most people then head for Skye, although Mull or Isle of Aran are closer and scenically as good.

Probably plan to fly into London and then back from either Edinburgh or Glasgow.

As stated, you have time. Start the research now and get your nephew doing some as well. Hear the places he wants to go.

I agree that you should stick to England and Scotland for this trip. Not really enough time ti add Ireland.

Trains and coaches are good ways to get around and you can base in a few places and operate out of there.

Day tours are a good idea. One company that now has tours throughout the UK with many starting points is Rabbies. Highly recommended by many here. They started in Scotland and expanded. These are smaller tours in 16 passenger vans. Anything from one day to more than a week.

If you decide to base a few days in Bath, then I can recommend Mad Max Tours

I like one day tours because they allow me to leave the driving to them and I can enjoy the scenery.

What excellent advice you have gotten! This community rocks. :-)

Just wanted to drop a “no love for Wales?” here. If the nephew loves history and is into castles and knightly whatnot… Wales has it all! And no need to fly/take a night ferry to Ireland. It is attached - like Scotland, but closer.

That’s all. You may have already considered and rejected Wales, but I just wanted to put it out there. :-)

It really depends on how much travelling you want to do and if you want to hire a car.

You could easily spend the best part of a week in London (or more) and then do one-day or two-day trips from London by public transport to see some of the other sites in the south of England. You don't say which period of history you nephew is interested in, but doable trips from London are, for example;

Pre-history - Stonehenge and Avebury from Salisbury (latter has nice medieval cathedral)
Roman - St Albans ("Verulamium") and Bath (the latter also for early 1800s)
Medieval - Canterbury and Dover (castle at the latter started by William the Conqueror - I think - but still in use in WW2!)
Oxford and/or Cambridge - University towns, quite compact and walkable
Henry VIII - Hampton Court Palace
Country Houses - Hatfield House (also Blenheim Palace is accessible from Oxford)
Naval History - Portsmouth Dockyard (and also Chatham Dockyard, but Portsmouth has HMS Victory)
Computing History - Bletchley Park

The list could go on and on. Note if you hire a car, that parking in both Oxford and Cambridge is a nightmare and that you'd want to use the Park-and-Ride car parks on the outskirts of town.

I love York - Roman, Viking, Medieval and Railway History - again accessible by train, and also a nightmare parking, but probably too far and too much to do for a single day.

My view, although I am sure others will disagree, is that if you wish to go much outside Edinburgh then you really need to have your own transport in Scotland.

London, Leicester, York. Maybe add a trip to Bath, Avebury & Salisbury, or Canterbury.

How about a visit to Leicester to see the King Richard III museum? The finding of his skeleton is such a great story.

https://kriii.com/
https://www.bosworthbattlefield.org.uk/
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13421498/

4 days in London, a day in Leicester (& battle of Bosworth field?), 2 days in York, 6 days in Scotland or Wales (or do more in England--there's plenty)

Frankly, whilst I think Leicester is interesting, I don't think it's worth spending a whole day of a first 2-week visit to England there.

In the museum, you can see his grave (it's under glass) and some interesting reconstructions of his skeleton etc. But all the artifacts in the museum are modern replicas - I don't recall a single medieval object from when we went there, albeit pre-covid. You can see his tomb in the small Cathedral which is very close to the museum, and dignified as it is there isn't an awful lot to see.

I'd recommend 2 days in York instead.

London-York-Edinburgh is an easy trip by train. You could add Durham. This means all cities. If you want to explore the countryside it’s far more efficient to do it by car. Hadrians Wall would be a great stop off point on this basic itinerary. Get off the train at Newcastle, which is also an interesting place to visit especially for young people as it’s very lively and known for its fun nightlife, and travel to Hadrians Wall from there.

Be aware that if you ask for a van in the UK, you will get something with a bench seat across the front and no seats or windows in the back. Builders drive round in vans.

I'm going to echo Helen. If it were me (and it's not!) and I had 14 nights, I'd do 6 nights London, 2 nights York, 6 nights Edinburgh. The train goes straight from London, through York, up to Edinburgh.

While in London, you'd have 5 full days that you could either spend entirely there or add in a day trip (Oxford, Cambridge, Windsor, Canterbury, lots of options).

With 2 nights in York, you could just stay put or add a day trip; the most common seems to be Durham but there are other options.

And then with 6 nights in Edinburgh, you could easily include 2-3 day trips ... Glasgow, St. Andrews, Stirling Castle, or sign up for a group tour (Rabbies is a popular option) into the Highlands etc.

Admittedly, my take on this is influenced by my own plans: I'm doing 4 nights York + 6 nights Edinburgh next spring, and then heading to London separately next fall. Ireland will be its own trip down the line.

Below are the Rick Steves suggested itineraries (and links) for England, Scotland and Ireland. If you want to knit together all three (ambitious indeed but could be great fun!), I'd suggest doing the big cities of London, Edinburgh, and Dublin then fly home open jaw from Dublin -- and do some day trips if you are up for it.

If England and Scotland, then do 5-7 days of the RS's England and then 5-7 days of his recommend Scotland. If just England or Scotland or Ireland, just follow his guidance.

No matter what you choose, I'm sure you'll have a great time!!

https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/england/itinerary
England Itinerary
By Rick Steves
So much to see, so little time. How to choose? To help you get started, I've listed my top picks for where to go in England, and my plan for your best three-week trip. (If you're considering adding Scotland and/or Wales, see my recommended itinerary for all of Great Britain.)
Depending on the length of your trip, and taking geographic proximity into account, here are my recommended priorities:
3 days: London
5 days, add: Bath and nearby sights (take a minibus tour or choose some combination of Stonehenge, Avebury, Wells, Glastonbury, and Salisbury)
7 days, add: Cotswolds
9 days, add: York
11 days, add: Lake District
14 days, add: Durham, Stratford, and Warwick or Blenheim
[continues on with more days]

Scotland Itinerary
Sheep crossing, Isle of Skye
Humans aren't the only ones keen to explore Scotland.
By Rick Steves
So much to see, so little time. How to choose? To help you get started, I've listed my top picks for where to go in Scotland and my plan for your best two-week trip. (If you're considering adding England and/or Wales, see my recommended itinerary for Great Britain.)
Depending on the length of your trip, and taking geographic proximity into account, here are my recommended priorities:
3 days: Edinburgh
5 days, add: Glasgow, Stirling
7 days, add: Oban, Glencoe
9 days, add: Inverness, Loch Ness, Culloden
11 days, add: Isle of Skye
13 days, add: St. Andrews, Mull/Iona/Staffa
https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/scotland/itinerary

By Rick Steves and Pat O'Connor
So much to see, so little time. How to choose? To help you get started, we've listed our top picks for where to go in Ireland, and our plan for your best three-week trip.
Depending on the length of your trip, and taking geographic proximity into account, here are our recommended priorities:
3 days: Dublin
5 days, add: Dingle Peninsula
8 days, add: Galway, Aran Islands, slow down
10 days, add: County Clare/Burren, Kilkenny/Cashel
13 days, add: Belfast, Antrim Coast
https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/ireland/itinerary

This would be a whirlwind but if you are introducing a young person to travel it is possible to do a sampler. I did one with my Mom when I was young and I got the travel bug.

Fly into London, (Day 1,2)
London tourist for 2 full days + 1 day trip (day 3,4,5)
Train to York (day 6)
Train to Edinburgh (day 7,8)
Rent a car for 3 days and explore Scotland (9,10,11)
Return car in Glasgow or Edinburgh
Fly to Belfast, Ireland (day 12) see Titanic museum
Take a day tour to the Causeway coast (day 13)
Fly home from Belfast (day 14)

If you instead decide to do Ireland, only take on 3 counties maximum, 10 days is fine, 2 weeks allows you to get off the beaten path and do some good hikes (don't follow any itineraries on this forum they always stick to the main circle route, it's like seeing California only from the I-5 freeway). You could absolutely do Ireland and Scotland by taking a short flight between the two.

I am going back for my 4th trip to Scotland this September and Isle of Skye is not my personal favorite, it'll take you a long time to get out there and there are closer villages and isles that will give you the feel for Scotland.

Have fun, I say do a variety with a young person (you are all young).It's an introduction, not a deep dive. It's all about the experiences. Something will go amiss but that is travel, stick together and explore!

We love the British Isles and all the countries. Have visited several times.

1) 14 days, you should consider not trying to do all three, also, you ignored Wales, which is wonderful.
2) Many plan to do such a trip and visit key cities like London, Edinburgh, Belfast and Dublin, but do little in the fantastic countryside.
The country side is cheaper and less crowded. We did a four week rent a car and drive tour and only did South Wales and England, not visiting London at all. Even doing just England and Scotland in 14 days is a push.
3) Key places to see outside major cities are York (this one for sure for three days); Cambridge, Oxford, Canterbury, Winchester, Stratford Upon Avon, Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, Wells, the Cotswolds (need a rental car there). For Wales, consider Cardiff, Tenby and St. David in the South and North Wales, Conwy and Llanberis. See Hadrian's Wall, Durham and the Lake District.
4) For Scotland, Inverness, Loch Ness, St. Andrews, Loch Lomond, the West Highlands, Isle of Skye, and Stirling.
5) Tours of Ireland usually recommend 10 days or two weeks just for Ireland.

What a great graduation present. Because of the ages involved in traveling (all young) I say throw caution to the wind. The 18 year old can return home, maybe to college, and talk about the landscapes he saw in Scotland or the churches in England. Or he can reminisce of the trip that took him to four countries capitals in two weeks.
Fly into Dublin and spend 3 nonstop nights, unlimited things to see and do.
Fly from Dublin to Edinburgh and spend 3 nights with maybe a day trip to St. Andrews or Glasgow.
Train to London and spend 3 nights doing everything you can, palaces, museums, castles…
Take the train to Paris, only 2 1/2 hours, and soak up being in Paris.
I know it’s only 12 nights so you can either add a couple of nights or cap it at 12. You can rest when you get home!
Enjoy

I agree with Jmo, no young person is going to want to spend 6 days in London museums. Get out and see the world! Go for it. Broaden his world. He will come back for more later.

Can I add my tip for traveling in a group: Each person write down the top 3 things they would like to do or experience during the trip. Write them down and make that the framework for your joint trip.

2 weeks isn't a very long time to be stretching yourselves thin over 3 countries. My 25 year old daughter tried England, Scotland and Ireland over 2 weeks a couple of years ago and came back disappointed. She limited herself to London, York, Edinburgh and Belfast in Northern Ireland and she says it was too rushed with too many days wasted to travel.

First step may be to prioritize specific interests and must-sees. In the past 5 years we've been to the UK for a total of 6 weeks over 3 trips. Trip number 1 was a week in London (which is a good start but not enough time) and a week in Bath and the Cotswolds. Trip 2 was 16 days in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Isle of Mull and 3 nights in the Highlands. Trip 3 was SE England from Salisbury to Canterbury. My preference is quality over quantity and immersing myself in an area. The Eyewitness and Rick Steves guidebooks are a good start to narrowing down your priorities.

I think it's critical to know what period/events of history interest your nephew? For example, if military or aircraft or Roman history interests him, perhaps other cities with key sites with that focus should rise to the top of the list alongside London and Edinburgh. (I would leave Ireland for a wish list for the future.) York is an all time hit for anyone and any age and deserves at least 2 days/3nights. Add day trips or other locations depending on specific interests. Wales is another good suggestion to incorporate another country.

Are there any TV shows or films which might also provide some direction?