Itinerary Suggestions - England, Scotland, Ireland

Posted by Terri (Florida ) on 01/31/17 11:52 PM

We're flying to AMS from Hawaii in mid-May. We arrive in AMS around 8A (have an overnight in SEA on the way, so hope to be fairly rested). Thanks to suggestions from another thread, we're basing in Haarlem for the first day and flying out to the UK evening of the following day. We scored a super price from Hawaii to AMS, thus the reason we're going this way.

We'd like to see some of the famous London landmarks (is Westminster a good option?), enjoy a musical at the West End, and then travel outside the city. We would love to go to Canterbury, head to Scotland and if possible, see a bit of Ireland, although we realize that it's not likely to work out.

We only have 7 days for the above, 11 days overall, including travel days.

What's not to miss? We're seniors, not drinkers and aren't looking for night life. A lot of walking and/or stairs could be a problem. Public transportation is our preference as are more local spots. We prefer traveling by train once in London and flying back to AMS for the trip home from wherever we are at that point.

I know this is a very broad request, but will appreciate all suggestions!

Posted by Nigel

Northamptonshire, England

02/01/17 08:01 AM

32929 posts

how many of the 7 days are in the UK - not counting any travel days?

is Westminster a good option?

Westminster what, Terri? It is difficult when there are abbreviations because the whole name is much clearer.

Do you mean Westminster Hall?
The Palace of Westminster, the collective name for the Houses of Parliament?
The City of Westminster?
Westminster Bridge?
Westminster Abbey?
Westminster Cathedral?
The Borough of Westminster?
or many more?

It may be difficult to see a lot of London or Amsterdam without a fair bit of walking...

Posted by ramblin' on

Royaume-Uni nul points, pas plus

02/01/17 08:29 AM

2518 posts

London for a few days, train to Edinburgh for a couple of nights, then fly to AMS

that's all you have time for - don't get overwhelmed by choice!

Posted by Jennifer

Tunbridge Wells

02/01/17 09:58 AM

6113 posts

Flying to/from Amsterdam may save you money on the flight over here, but it will cost you time and money back tracking!

With 7 days in the UK, you only have time for London, a day trip to Canterbury and two nights in Edinburgh and fly from there back to Amsterdam.

Get your train tickets to Edinburgh 12 weeks out for the best price and travel after 9.30 am. Get your Edinburgh - Amsterdam flights now, as they have been available for months and prices only head in one direction.

Posted by Terri OP

Florida

02/01/17 08:23 PM

137 posts

After reading through pages and pages of posts, we're definitely going to wait on Ireland for another trip.

The difference between flying directly to London rather than Amsterdam was about $1400 each. The flight to AMS was less than we pay to fly to the West Coast of the US, so we had to take advantage of it.

When flying to AMS we'll stay for 2 nights, then to the UK. My husband hasn't been to the Netherlands, so we are going to spend 2 days on arrival there for the flowers and windmills outside of Amsterdam and a canal tour around Amsterdam.

Flights to Edinburgh are quite a bit less expensive than from Edinburgh, so the current plan is to fly in to EDI then take a train to LON and fly back to AMS for our last night. This leg is still in process as air fares are a lot cheaper than what I've seen for the train. We're using the latest date available as an estimate as fares aren't released for mid-May yet. Is the scenery by train interesting? Any place we should stop on the way for a few hours?

Westminster Abbey is the Westminster to which I was referring, but we're open to a hotel anywhere that's safe and has good transportation to get us around to the main tourist spots (preferably with not too many stairs). We definitely want to see Westminster Abbey, Westminster Cathedral, the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace (Kensington Palace if we have time), take a trip to Stonehenge and see Les Mis one evening.

We're hoping to take advantage of the 2for1 for some, but most expire on April 30. Hopefully, they'll update to include our May dates.

Thanks to all who have responded. We're taking all suggestions and hoping to make the best of our time there. We wish we had a longer time, but consider ourselves lucky to be going at all.