review and critique of this 2-week UK itinerary for first timers pls! thank you.

My initial take on this is that your itinerary is very busy but for the most part doable.

I feel that Day 12 has too little time for York (as you seem to acknowledge). Could you steal a bit of time from Day 13? I don't know how much it costs to go inside York Minster but it is probably one of the finest medieval cathedrals still in existence. If I had to choose, I'd go for York Minster over St Paul's.

Also, you won't see much of the Cotswolds in half a day.

Regarding driving - will you have a Sat Nav or be able to use Google Maps? Once you get off the Motorways (UK speak for Highways) roads can be slow particularly in rural areas like the Cotswolds and Peak District. The "A" and "B" letters in front of road numbers don't tell you much about the speed of the roads - A roads are usually faster than B roads but an A roads can vary from pretty much Motorway standard to a country road with one lane of traffic in each direction where you might average less than 40 mph and go through town centres. You say you are first timers, so be aware that the default is a car with a manual transmission - if you want an automatic, you need to specify this in advance and there may be an extra charge. You will come across a lot of roundabouts (really a lot) and if you are not familiar with these it would be a good idea to watch some YouTube videos.

You can actually go into York Minster and stand at the back and just admire the view down the nave without paying.

Agree with Bill, the last part of the trip once you have left London is very rushed and is beginning to sound a bit like a tick box exercise. .

Too much in to short a time, your itinerary needs to be pared back.

The UK may look a small place, but travel is slow even over modest distances. Less is very much more.

Iqone , Just a couple of things to add. When I was planning our first trip there, I intentionally placed a London day in between any of our day trips, just to allow us to slow down a bit. It really helped. We found ourselves starting to flag at the end so on day 7 your thoughts of just strolling around are good. We actually ended up dropping a day trip to Richmond at the end of our trip just to do that. Don’t beat yourself up if you need to be a little flexible because of a need to pivot due to fatigue. If the weather is nice you could check out some of the parks in London. They are spectacular. The Regent’s Park and St. James’s were our favorites. Highly recommend.

If you wanted to see more of York, could you spend day 12 and 13 there and get up very early to get into Edinburgh on Day 14? Drop off bags, have most of that day and the next before flying home? York can be crowded which can impact your sightseeing as well.

Just food for thought. Sounds like a wonderful trip!

As others have indicated, there are too many destinations for the time you have. Taking a quick look at lots of places becomes exhausting and more frustrating than enjoyable. As another suggested, it is just a "tick off the spots." travel so you can say you were there but,.....

I would stick with London, York, Edinburgh and travel by train.

I agree with what much of the others have said. Here are a couple of random thoughts.

Day 10: Do you know where you are going to in The Peak? It's one of my favorite areas of England and I love visiting there. If you haven't made definite plans, you might drive to Castleton, which is a charming town and close to some wonderful scenery. I stayed there for 5 nights and loved my time. Definitely drive through Winnats Pass, which is right on the edge of Castleton, as it is gorgeous.

Day 11: I would start with Chatsworth as that will take most of your energy. It is so beautiful and well worth a visit but the house and gardens are huge and it takes a while to get around. Once you're finished there, drive into Bakewell, which is only a few miles away, and head for a cafe so you can relax with a Bakewell tart and some tea or coffee. I guarantee you will be very tired by then.

Day 12: If you don't have time, do what wasleys suggested and walk in to York Minster, just to get a view (and photo) of the breathtaking interior. That said, I agree with BillS719 that the cathedral is magnificent and I would give up seeing everything else in York just to spend an hour inside.

Day 15: You may have done this, but I would check your days for visiting the Palace of Holyroodhouse as there are often blocked off days where the palace is closed to visitors. So make sure you check the online schedule in advance.

If you have any flexibility, I would try to visit Chatsworth and Hampton Court Palace on days with good weather. Both places have very attractive gardens (and fountains at Chatsworth) which look much better iin the sun that in the rain.

Stick to London and Edinburgh. No car.

Do Oxford as a day trip by train. The Boudleian tour alone is worth the effort. Christchurch, if interested, usually has to be booked well in advance.

Christ Church charges a pretty hefty entrance fee as a result of the Harry Potter connection. If you are not a HP fan, you might want to consider going into one of the other colleges which charge less or don't charge at all. If you Google Oxford College entry fees, you can get a list of colleges and their entry fees.

By the way, if you want to go into a college which says that it is closed to visitors, speaking politely to one of the porters in the small office (the "lodge") near the door and inventing a fictitious nephew/niece who is really interested in attending this college and asking if you could have a quiet look around will often get you in. If they still say no, they will do so very politely.

You can also get to Oxford on a bus service called the 'Oxford Tube' which is much cheaper than the train although it takes longer. But, it will drop you in the centre of the town whereas the train station is a good 10 minute walk away. Might be worth looking at depending on where in London you are staying.

Thank you, everyone. Yes, I do recognize that the post-London part of the itinerary is quite rushed. Unfortunately, with all hotels booked and the car already paid for, there’s very little room to make major changes at this point.

The only real flexibility I have is on:
Day 8: I could potentially skip the Cotswolds and give that extra half-day to Oxford.
Day 10: I can choose to spend more time anywhere along the route between Oxford and the Peak District, as long as we end the day in Bakewell where our hotel is.
Day 13: Train tickets haven’t been purchased yet, so I could delay our departure from York until after lunch. That would give us about 2 extra hours to spend at one more attraction (though all places open at 10 AM, which doesn’t help much). The downside is it would make our Edinburgh stay even more rushed.
I’m seriously considering the change on Day 13 — I just don’t see how half a day is going to be enough to do York justice.

I haven't figured out the detailed plan for Peak District on Day 10 yet (besides to spend most of the day 11 in Chatsworth and then spend some time in the town of Bakewell to relax), but the high level plan is to find some scenic drives and do a little bit walking around (no serious hiking though since we have seniors in the group). We may stop by some nice villages if they are conveniently located along the driving route -- we may not want to drive too much to the northern part of Peak District as we will be driving up from very south and will stay the night near Bakewell. Any recommendations will be greatly appreciated! @Mardee, thank you for the recommendation, notes taken!

I think you are just going to need to accept the fact that York is going to be a place you will want to return to if you want to stick to your original plan and have about 2/3 of a day to see some important places of interest. to you.

If it were me, I’d take a later train on Day 13 just to free up a bit of time to see York. It’s really special. For two reasons: 1. Gives you the opportunity to get up early to see York in the morning before crowds and tours start arriving and 2. From what I’ve been told by folks on this forum, you can fit in a lot in Edinburgh in 2 days. You’ll have a bit more than that. If you were to change this, don’t forget to factor in the need to return to your hotel, pick up your luggage (assuming they will hold it while you sightsee that morning/after check out) and then make it to the train station 20- 30 minutes before departing for Edinburgh.

I understand going the first time you want to crunch in as much as you can. You just want to balance it as much as possible. All of us returning from planned trips have a list in our heads of “Hey, that was brilliant and I did really well with that plan!”, and then the other one, “When I do this again I will not make the mistake of_____.”

It’s all part of the wonderful gift of being able to travel!

Another way to see York Minster is to go to Morning Prayer at 7.30am or Mass at 7.50am. AFAIK you enter by the West door (not the South door as for evensong) so you should get to walk at least the full length of the nave. The city walls then open at 8am.

Good idea on the morning prayers in York Minster. We went for morning prayers at St. George's Chapel in Windsor when we were unable to take a tour of the castle.

Hi, if you can't make it to Castleton (it is more northward), there is a lovely tiny village called Hartington that was very quaint and lovely and made me feel like I had stepped back in time. I stopped there for a few hours and enjoyed a Sunday Roast at the Charles Cotton Hotel that was quite delicious. There was also the Hartington Cheese Shop with their own homemade cheeses that were wonderful.

Or there is also Ashbourne, which is a very attractive village with a lot of historic buildings in the very south of the Peak District. That might be easier to get to from your route. In fact, thinking about it, you could really stop at both. Ashbourne would be pretty much on your driving route from Oxford, then after you leave Ashbourne on your way to Bakewell, Hartington is just a little detour off the main road—about 2 miles.