First proper UK trip suggestions for Jan 2025? Looking to explore beyond London.

You might also want to post in the Ireland forum for those parts of the trip that are not in the UK.

The one-day tours combining Stonehenge with other destinations are likely to involve a lot of time sitting on a coach between destinations and not enough time to actually see things.

A day trip to Bath, Stonehenge and the Cotswolds from London is only useful if you want to do an in depth study of England's road system from a coach because that's mostly what you will see. IT will probably be a bit shorter from Bristol, assuming that you can actually do one from there in January?

Overall in your two itineraries there is an awful lot of moving around and not much of stopping in places to actually see anything. Ny advice is to slow down considerably, choose a few locations and see them properly.

As Johnew52 says that is a lot of travelling around and doesn;'t teallly allow any time to see a place.

Also factor in day length and weather conditions. A fall of snow could easily scupper plans.

On Itinerary 1 it is not that unusual for the main A9 and the railway to be closed North of Perth (on the way to Inverness) at short notice by snow in late January, which could cause real problems to you.
I assume that if Rabbies can't physically get to Skye they will substitute in something closer.
I did a day tour from near Inverness to Skye once in mid December and the weather closed in. We were one of the last vehicles off the Skye Bridge in the afternoon before it closed due to high winds. On the mainland we had a full blizzard and the road eventually closed due to drifts about half an hour or so behind us, in spite of snowploughs being out. We could have easily got stranded on Skye, or in the middle of nowhere on a road. The weather was forecast, but the tour went anyway (not Rabbies I hasten to add).
If I had been driving I wouldn't have gone that day.

I strongly suggest a form, modified or otherwise, of Itinerary 2.

The well respected Rabbies are doing a day tour from Bristol to Stonehenge and the Cotswolds on 25 January- the Costwolds villages visited being Lacock and Castle Combe.

You can easily do Bath yourself either if you arrive in early enough from Belfast on 24 January (take the bus from the Airport straight to Bath, put your luggage in a Stasher (or other such app based left luggage), then do it yourself/find a city tour, then train for the short hop to Bristol) or on the 26 January- early train or bus to Bath, luggage at a "Stasher" then evening train to London.

If you can add on the extra day at the end in Edinburgh and fly home on 3 February you will find that beneficial.

Everyone has their own travel styles and I respect that. I would find your itineraries too far-flung and too much time in transit, but that may be your style and if so, ok. However, often when I see an itinerary that is literally all over the place it is because of a desire to see as much as possible.

I would encourage you to consider reducing the number of places you are going and increasing the time spent in them. A strange truth in travel is that sometimes you see more by seeing less.

OP: please listen to the excellent, veteran members of this board who are encouraging you to slow down, limit number of destinations, and take some time to really SEE and ENJOY fewer places.

Honestly, I got a headache just reading your itineraries. It seems like every day includes either some sort of coach tour or a trip to another destination.

I get wanting to see as much as you can - but at what cost? Maybe the cost is not being able to really luxuriate in the experience of being in each place long enough to not only enjoy it, but take your time, settle down a bit, and relax into the atmosphere, culture, and vibe.

For example: I can’t imagine being anywhere in Ireland without taking an afternoon to sit in a cozy pub (even if you do not drink) and chat with some friendly regulars. That’s just not compatible with whizzing off on a tour and then getting up the next day to hustle off to another place - which you are presumably checking off a carefully-considered bucket list.

That said, if you love the process of travel - the coach rides and flights and dealing with deadlines and luggage - then you’ve probably got itineraries planned that are just right for you… and that’s fantastic!

However you end up doing it, I hope you have a blast - and make a big impression at the conference!

Quite apart from the packed itinerary, you need to research when sites are open. Windsor Castle is closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, so you would be disappointed if you turned up and expected to be admitted, assuming you're not just planning to visit the town itself (your itinerary doesn't specify the castle) .

Both your itineraries have "Day Trip to Windsor" at the beginning.
If you are arriving into (and out of) Heathrow, Windsor is right there by Heathrow. There is no need to travel all the way into London and then back out again.

You can take a taxi from Heathrow to Windsor, walk around the town, see the castle, then go to the Windsor train station (either one; there are 2) and travel into London.

If you are traveling light, then I assume you can just carry your backpack or whatever with you for a walk around Windsor. If you have more luggage than that, there is a Stasher location in Windsor where you can drop them for a couple of hours.

WAY TOO BUSY a trip, slow down, eliminate half your sites and enjoy.