Itinerary question

Hi

First off, your division of time sounds perfectly fine if those are the areas you'd like to focus on! AS for seeing the cliffs at Dover, it's actually quite difficult to get a good view of them, unless you take a ferry to Calais and see them from offshore!

I'm not sure how you're planning to get around outside of London for your 'Dover day', but if you are desperate to see famous white cliffs, consider visiting the 'Seven Sisters' cliffs, a bit further west from Dover. These cliffs are famous enough to have made picture postcard type images on some of Microsoft's Windows standard wallpapers! You can find out more about how to se the Dover cliffs here: The White Cliffs Countryside Partnership , and also here: National Trust, Dover , and more on the Seven Sisters cliffs here: Seven Sisters Country Park

The advantage that Dover has is that on a day trip you can also visit one of England's largest castles, Dover, giving you plenty to do whilst there.

As for Scotland, I'll defer to other travellers who have more detailed knowledge, but having been to Edinburgh and Scotland on holiday myself, I'd state that you'll have absolutely no problem at all filling your time with interesting things to see and do.

Joylaw3, personally I think it provides too little time in London (especially with the Dover day trip). But, if you prefer hiking and rural scenery over what London has to offer, then it may be perfect for you. The Cotswolds are lovely, and it is good you'll have a car there - really difficult to do the Cotswolds justice without a car. The only other suggestion is to consider flying open jaw - into London and out of Edinburgh or Glasgow, rather than coming back to London on a 5 hour train ride just to make sure you leave from Heathrow. It may add an extra day to your sightseeing time and change how you allocate time in another part of the trip. Cheers and happy travels!

I just deleted my response after reading Steve's post above -- no point in being a parrot , What he says is my answer as well .

You don't say where you are leaving from to take train to Scotland. If you are in the Cotswolds, I would consider leaving the hire car in Cheltenham (if possible) and taking the train to Scotland. (This would be far more convenient than returning to London). I hope you have pre-booked your trains as turning up and paying on day is expensive.

2 routes go from London to Dover = 1. High Speed service from St.Pancras taking just over 1 hour. 2. A slower service from Charing Cross taking a bit over 2 hours. www.nationalrail.co.uk

If you wish to see white cliffs, consider taking the train (from London Victoria) to Seaford - takes 1 hour 35 minutes. You would then have to walk to the beach and then proceed eastwards to see the Seven Sisters. (Please look at Google Earth to see how far you would have to walk). You could also include Brighton on the same trip by changing at Lewes .http://www.southernrailway.com/tickets-and-fares/ticket-types/daysave/

Have a think about doing a day trip to Brighton instead of Dover. You can see the Seven Sisters cliffs from the pier and there's loads of lovely things to do in Brighton. Go to the Royal Pavilion for a tour, and walk around the charming Lanes shopping streets. You can walk along the pebbly beach and dip your toes into the English Channel and have fish and chips at the seaside.

Southern trains can get you there from London Victoria in an hour and if you book ahead you can buy a DaySave pass that allows unlimited Southern train travel on a given day for a set price.

Thank you all for the advice! Do you think the cliffs are worth a visit? Some pictures I see they look amazing, then others are kind of blah. I really want to see the natural beauty of England and I'm afraid I'll end up choosing the wrong place to visit.

I've sailed past the cliffs, east from Dover, and they're beautiful, like a lot of scenery in Britain and elsewhere. Dover Castle is also very interesting and historic. It's hard to see the cliffs from the town of Dover itself, though. Others have suggested alternative views of similar cliffs.

But if I had only four full days in London I wouldn't spend one of them looking at some rather distant white cliffs. I'd stay in London or maybe take one of the shorter day trips to Greenwich or Hampton Court or Windsor.

Your time in Scotland is enough for a good taste of Edinburgh but not much more. I have seen good recommendations of Rabbies Tours from Edinburgh, and they have one-day tours that take you into the highlands, but I don't have personal experience with them. A tour like that might be a way to "see" parts of the highlands, mostly from a moving mini-bus.

You might consider a low-cost flight from Edinburgh back to London to save most of May 18 for either city. Seems a shame to spend almost a whole day on the train.

It is 4 hours 21 minutes by train from Edinburgh to London (Kings Cross). By the time you have travelled out to Edinburgh Airport, checked in, flown & then got back from Heathrow (or whatever & paid for the journey), you might just as well have taken the train & seen something of Britain en-route. (York is a place place to have a 1 night stop over on the East Coast Mainline).http://www.visityork.org

What Dick said. "If I had only four full days in London I wouldn't spend one of them looking at some rather distant white cliffs. I'd stay in London or maybe take one of the shorter day trips to Greenwich or Hampton Court or Windsor."

But if you are really set on seeing the white cliffs of Dover, do include a visit to Dover Castle, which overlooks the sea. If you're going all the way down there from London, Dover Castle is worth a visit.