Itinerary help 34 days

The first and last day of every overseas trip is essentially wasted--getting to and from hotels.
And every time you move from city to city you essentially lose a day.
We long ago started staying in central locations and doing day trips to surrounding areas and towns. We realized that there was no way to see everything on one trip.

Just planning a fast moving itinerary could take weeks and weeks. It also adds a lot of pressure to make your next stop on time. We now travel slower--and better.

Sorry, but you are going to spend longer in the car than actually seeing places.

E.G. Caernarfon to Liverpool will take 2,5/3 hours by the time you have found somewhere to park. I always manage to get lost driving in Liverpool and I have been several times! So you get an afternoon in Liverpool and the following day you intended to make a 5 hour drive to Glasgow (or longer if you want to stop for a coffee or lunch or drive via the Lake District).

I think you need to consider cutting a third of your destinations, as 2 nights somewhere is only one day there. You need to cut one region, be this the West Country, Wales or Scotland. The U.K. roads are prone to traffic jams and difficulties parking. With a trip of this length, you need a chill day every 3 weeks to catch up on washing etc.

Mid December, midweek, I drove the 248 miles from Kent to my home village near Manchester, all of it on major roads. It usually takes 4.5 hours but this trip took just short of 8 hours plus stops due to a series of accidents and congestion. It isn’t the first time that I have been similarly delayed.

You are trying to cover way too much territory. Can you take a read through this current thread about someone wanting to go from London down to Dorset (County which has Lyme Regis) and then Bath. Each are of Britain has loads of things to see.

Are we crazy with this schedule?

Yes.

It can be done but you will have little time for sights and it will all be a blur.

You'll also be exhausted at the end of the trip.

Think about what you really want to see. You mention Roman history, so Hadrian’s Walk is an absolute must, and you like walking so definitely plan at least one day walking the wall.

Lyme Regis is a pleasant seaside town but I don’t think it’s a must see destination. I personally wouldn’t bother with Cardiff, Liverpool or Glasgow unless there was something specific you wanted to see in these places. It’s not easy to get an appreciation for large cities in just a few hours and you risk seeing nothing more than traffic jams and generic shopping centres.

The Scottish Highlands are amazing. You have time to get there so I’d prioritise Skye etc over North Wales. You can take in the Lake Distrct en route instead.

Cardiff is more than just shopping. Within 8 miles of the city centre are 4 castles - one being Cardiff Castle in the heart of the city.
https://www.cardiffcastle.com
https://museum.wales/stfagans/castle-and-gardens/ (A vast site that needs at least half a day).
https://cadw.gov.wales/visit/places-to-visit/caerphilly-castle
https://www.visitwales.com/attraction/castle/castell-coch-cadw-516101

On the Newport side of Cardiff >https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/wales/tredegar-house
Just to the west of Cardiff is >https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/wales/dyffryn-gardens

While your schedule could be done, did you really want to spend most of your vacation in a car?

Cut this list in 1/2, slow down, enjoy some days without big car rides and changing hotels again.

I think we will rethink and see where we can cut back. Having never been we are/were optimistic we could cover a lot of ground! I think Liverpool and Glasgow will have to go and then think hard on Skye or Oban. Thank you all for your input so far!

If it's only 2 of you, I would look at the itinerary carefully and not drive the entire trip because the trains are quicker and easier in many places. Also, if you are not accustomed to driving on the other side of the road, your driver may not enjoy all that driving. I would stay longer in Cardiff and skip Conwy. Cardiff is an easy train ride from London and you can get to Bath from Cardiff. From Cardiff, you can go to St. Fagan's Folk Museum and Caerphilly Castle. You could do a train trip by train from Edinburgh to Glasgow. Every time you pack up and move, you waste time and energy.

If you want walking, I would scrap Cardiff and spend time around Snowdonia and Anglesey, which has a fantastic coastal path.

Don't underestimate how long it will take to get between places. If using google maps, it is recommended to add 25% to their driving times and then add on time for stops. Allow time to get parked up and walk to whatever it ius you are doing/seeing.

You have 2 nights for Gwynedd and another two for Caernarfon or Conwy.

Where are you planning to stop in Gwynedd and could this be combined into 3 or 4 nights in a more central location?

We were looking at Gynedd for Snowdownia but could roll it on with something else.

After receiving so much good input we are thinking that maybe our 34 days may be better spent in England and Wales only. After spending 5 days in London can anyone suggest a good driving route that would include Jurassic Coast, South and North Wales, Hadrians Wall and any other great locations. Thinking that staying in a handful of locations for a few days is a better option. Thank you!

You’ve already got the basic itinerary - just cut out the Scottish section. Possibly build in a stop in Mid Wales and combine the Gwynedd/Caernarfon/Conwy stop into one place. From Liverpool, head up to Carlisle and then to Haltwhistle followed by York.

Sort out what your priorities are for each of the different stops and then work out how long you need for each one.

I’ll just do a route that would appeal to me based on places I know. I’m sure others will have more suggestions.

Salisbury or Winchester. Trip to Swanage/Studland Bay/Corfe Castle/Poole.

Lyme Regis

Bath

I love Pembrokeshire so would go to St David’s for few days. Explore area.

Drive along the coast to Snowdonia. Quite a long drive but many beautiful places en route.

Few days to explore inc Anglesey.

Chester.

Lakes

Hadrians Wall

York

Train back to London.

Helen's suggestions would definitely work and have the advantage of adding in some other rather nice places too. St David's is lovely and there is some superb walking along the coast there. Driving along the coast, think about a stop around Aberystwyth and a detour to Devil's Bridge...

We are doing an abbreviated version of this schedule in March.

I think your itinerary looks absolutely wonderful and is close to what I would do if I had that much time. I like to move pretty fast overall though. If you have traveled for a good length of time at that pace previously, I'd say full steam ahead, but if not, I'd slow down by doing things like not sleeping in Liverpool but putting both nights in Glasgow and going through Liverpool on the way or Staying two nights in Liverpool (exploring all day the first and driving out early to spend most of a day in Glasgow on your way to Oban).

That said, I probably wouldn't pick up the car until Cardiff. The initial part of your trip is train friendly other than a 10 min taxi in Lyme Regis and a car in the initial locations seems more trouble than help, but a car is most helpful between Cardiff and Liverpool and of course from Glasgow til you're in Edinburgh. After Edinburgh, the train is actually faster to the last 3 stops.

So, in your shoes I'd take the train but keep a car from Cardiff to Edinburgh. Even though the train is also a good option Liverpool-Glasgow-Oban, I can't see it being easy to pick up a car in Oban. I'd just find places near parking or that offer it or even park outside the city center in Glasgow and Liverpool and take public transport in.

I don't know how many people you are traveling with, but the train in the UK is not super cheap in my opinion, so I would just do the rental car (also not cheap) if I had 4 or more people in terms of cost as a day for a rental is likely to be less than 4 train tickets.

I wouldn't want to rush through either Liverpool or Glasgow with just a one-night stop. (And I didn't go to any of the Beatles sites in Liverpool.)

I would drop Chichester but add Winchester instead as it is on the way to Dorset (Lyme Regis). You might want to consider doing that by train London (Waterloo) to Winchester and continue by train to Dorset as driving around Southampton and the Bournemouth area can be very busy with traffic. Train to Dorchester South might be a good idea.

However, another possibility which avoids the congested Southampton / Bournemouth area is to go by train (or hire car) to Salisbury - which has a wonderful medieval cathedral. A shuttle bus also goes the few miles up to Stonehenge. (If hiring a car in London, you should drive direct to Stonehenge and then down to Salisbury). So, assuming you have a hire car at Salisbury, it is relatively easy run down the A354 to Dorset . If in Dorset, I highly recommend Lulworth Cove & Durdle Dor.
https://www.dorsetaonb.org.uk/location/lulworth-cove_visitor_centre/

Driving from Lyme Regis up to Bath is not easy and Bath is congested. You will find it much easier to do this bit by direct train from Dorchester West to Bath. Once you have had a couple of fights in Bath, take the train to Cardiff and see the attractions mentioned earlier plus the waterfront (Cardiff Bay - 1 mile south of the city centre). This will take about 2 full days.

After Cardiff, I would hire a car (that can be returned elsewhere) and head west along the M4 to Pembrokeshire (the south-west County of Wales). On the way - just over 1 hour from Cardiff - detour for 2 miles off the A48 expressway to see the National Botanic Garden of Wales. Then continue westward where I suggest that you should make for Tenby in south Pembrokeshire for maybe 2 nights before heading to St.David’s in north Pembrokeshire.

Once done with Pembrokeshire - drive up the west coast of Wales to Snowdonia = the County of Gwynedd.
Once done with Snowdonia - where you will find more info in postings in the Wales section - consider going to Chester for a couple of nights. From Chester you can take a short day trip by train to Liverpool.

If you are going to continue up the western side of the UK - take a detour to see the Lake District (NW England).

Trains > https://www.traintickets.com/?/
Long distance (say over 1 hour) trains are cheaper if pre-booked for specific trains say around 11 weeks out. These are called Advance tickets. If you were just making the short hop from say Chester to Liverpool and back - you would pay on the day. Play around with the above website and see what is says about timings and prices.

https://www.traveline.info is good for finding buses.

Also look at Google Maps for the routes you plan to travel. Zoom down and go to street view to see the type of roads and major junctions. Make sure that accommodation has parking for sections of trip where you will use a car. The Travelodge and Premier Inn chains usually have free parking except in cities. Of course, you may get a better experience by staying with locals but that may not be easy for such short stays.

Im assuming the OP included Chichester for Fishbourne Roman Palace as they are keen on Roman history. If so, it can be done from Winchester by getting a train to Chichester and then bus.

I know people are recommending the train but wouldn’t contemplate doing this trip without a car from London. There are only a couple of long drives.

It also saves having to make multiple car hire bookings...

With your interest is hiking and cycling, you might enjoy the 3-night walking and cycling holidays offered by HF Holidays, a member-owned cooperative in the UK. They have country houses in many locations around the UK which offer all-inclusive stays with room, all meals, and guided activities (or self-guided if you prefer, but we have enjoyed the camaraderie of the group activities. Non-members are welcome for a small additional fee.

Two of their country houses are in Wales, Brecon and Dolgellau ( for Snowdonia), and two are in the Lake District ( Coniston and Keswick). The one at Keswick offers cycling as well as walking, and the house there is particularly nice, with its location right on the lake (Derwentwater).

I have set this link to show the cycling options, but you can click on “country houses” on the menu to see the full range of options. You can set the calendar to September to filter by date.

https://www.hfholidays.co.uk/special-interest/activity-breaks/cycling

We found Haltwhistle to be a great base for exploring Hadrian’s Wall —- that was our next stop after our stay in the Lake District with HF Holidays.

Thank you all for this great information! We are keen on Roman history so trying to see as much as we can.

If you like hiking, you can't go wrong with more time in the Lake District.

We really enjoyed exploring the Housesteads Roman Fort. I will have to look at a map to refresh my memory on how we got there and back from Haltwhistle. I know it included a good hike on one of the most scenic sections of the Hadrian’s Wall path, as well as a bus ride.

If you have a car, then Housesteads is a 15 minute drive in the car along B3618. If walking from Haltwhistle along the wall, use Haltwhistle Burn path to get to the Milecastle Inn on the B3618 and then follow the sign to Cawfields Crag picnic site to pick up the wall. This is just under 8 miles walk and will take 3 hours or so. It takes you along the best stretch of the wall. Either walk back or catch AD122, the bus that runs along the wall between the main sites.