Itinerary Help from Manchester

Flying into and out of Manchester, and hoping to see Bath, Stonehenge and the Isle of Skye in one weeks is all but impossible. At least one must give. Personally, I’d skip Skye – if the weather isn’t in your favour it could be a bleak experience. I'd also skip Bath and Stonehenge.

On the plus side Manchester is a great entry point for the Yorkshire Dales, the Lake District or North Wales. There’s more to do in York than Bath. Go to the Lakes and, unlike Stonehenge, you can walk among the ancient Castlerigg stone circle for free.

So that’s sorted then. Three days in Yorkshire, three in the Lake District. Visit Liverpool/Chester and that’s your week.

I desperately want to see Scotland (specifically Isle of Skye) in this same trip. Is that doable?

It's physically possible to drag your body there and drag it back in the time you have, but you wouldn't have any time to actually get out of the car/train/bus/plane and see/experience the place, and you would waste two full days in transit (which would come out of your other places you want to see).

Save Scotland for another trip when you an actually enjoy being there. You already have more than enough for you less-than-one-week in the midlands/south.

Start by being honest about how many days and nights you actually have on the ground, not counting your arrival or departure days. If your inbound flight arrives November 20 and your return flight departs November 27, then you have just six full days to spend. SIX.

You are choosing opposite directions from Manchester. Bath and Stonehenge are Southern England, Scotland is north of Manchester. It is not the most convenient airport for either.
Scotland to Bath is a full days drive. Depending on where in Scotland, you could fly to Bristol airport. There is a bus from there to Bath. I don't think you can do both Bath and Scotland in one week.

Since you are in the middle of the country, you should choose places there:

• York, not to be missed. Car not needed, train direct from Manchester airport. You could do York first and pick up your car there.
• North York Moors + Whitby, Robin Hoods Bay etc. Easy drive from York. Good walks, especially coast walks.
• North Wales, castles and hills (opposite direction from Manchester).
• Lake District
• Hadrians Wall.
• Northumberland. Often overlooked, Coast, hills, castles.

You are flying into the wrong airport for Stonehenge/Bath (London or Bristol airports) and Skye (Glasgow or Edinburgh). You can’t fit both into a 6 day trip and at that time of year, daylight hours are short for doing much hiking plus the weather, particularly in Scotland could be cold, wet or even snowy.

Chris F has produced the list of places that I would have, but I would also add Liverpool.

You have been offered sound advice above. The country is bigger than you appear to realise. Concentrate on areas nearer to Manchester such as:> York and then perhaps across to the Lake District (Keswick via A66) and then south to Chester/Liverpool.
Alternatively, go from Manchester Airport west to Chester for a couple of nights and use the local trains to visit Liverpool. On Day 3, perhaps west into NW Wales and the Snowdonia National Park.

You can see the areas mentioned on this map:>https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.6952717,-2.2945167,8.52z/data=!5m1!1e1

Are you locked into Manchester? You are going to be doing a whole lot of backtracking. Can you fly into London and out of Edinburgh?
It's a 3+ hour (at best) drive down to Bath...then 3+ hours back + 5-6 more up to the area of Skye. For a week that's just too much. You are going to waste a TON of time in the car. That's at least two days of driving. You only have a week - not worth it!
Can you leave Bath / Stonehenge for another time and just focus on NW England and Scotland? You'll be able to do and see a whole lot more. Sounds like you like to hike? Consider going to the Lake District...you can hike in one of the most beautiful places in England - it will be wintry but still amazing. Tons of hiking in Scotland too...

Awesome! Thanks everyone for all the good information. The reason for flying in and out of Manchester is because my sister is living just outside of Manchester. So that just made sense when I bought the ticket. I'm always into good advice, so thanks!

Can I ask for more advice? I've talked it over with my sisters and tried to narrow down the trip. (I will be arriving in Manchester Wednesday) My sister living in Cuddington is pretty set on seeing Bath and Stonehenge. So we decided after flying into Manchester we would drive south(Wednesday), take our time and see some castles in Wales maybe stop off in Snowdonia? (Thursday/Friday) (advice on castles that are a must see in Wales?). Hit Bath and Stonehenge for a day or two(Friday/Saturday). Then head back up to Manchester (my sister and her husband have to be back to work Monday). But on the drive back up to Manchester my sister wants to stay the night in a village town in Cotswold (any recommendations on place chucked full of English village charm?) Then I was thinking I could maybe go to York or Chester (anywhere relatively easy to get to from Manchester) on Monday/Tuesday. I thought I could maybe visit some of the places mentioned like North York Moors? I would like to visit the Lake district, but it might be too far to go in just two days. Wednesday later afternoon I fly home out of Manchester (i could stop and see something that morning before flying home). This will be the first time in almost 10 years I've gone anywhere without my 4 young children. I feel a little invincible and maybe a little over confident in what I can accomplish alone! I'm hoping this is a more practical travel plan. I will save Scotland for another trip, at a warmer time of year:) thanks again in advance for any advice!

Cuddington has a railway station on a line that goes directly to Chester. Only a 22 minute trip by train and costs £8.40 return (off peak). (On weekends, engineering work may result in line closure). Trains are hourly - roughly. www.nationalrail.co.uk