Rick’s Best Three-Week Trip to Britain

Hi Steven

Welcome to the forum! I think a little more information might help us to give useful advice. For example you don't say how long your trip will be and therefore how much of the itinerary you will do (apart from the Highlands). Is it all of it? Or some of it? Do you plan to stick to Rick's advice on how many days in each place? I think for many on here the amount of travelling and associated changing of accommodation would be off-putting.

Also it might be helpful to know something of your interests. If you have specific interests e.g. aspects of British history, or if you want spectacular scenery or hiking, then the advice might be to include different places. The Scottish Highlands are completely different to York and Durham. The former is all about the spectacular landscapes, opportunities to hike and get close to nature and wildlife, while York and Durham are historic cities with cathedrals and beautiful architecture. Which is more important to you?

As for accommodation, the Premier Inn hotel chain is one that consistently gets recommended here. It has hundreds of locations across the UK, often on the edge of towns and cities for easy access to the major road networks. Holiday Inn Express is another reliable chain. Of course B&Bs still exist, but the offering has probably changed quite a lot since the early 1990s. There are still cheap B&Bs to be found but in some places they have become more upscale and you'll hear the phrase "boutique B&B" bandied about to indicate something more akin to a small luxury hotel. Many owners have moved on to the big booking platforms to access wider markets and payment handling systems (I say this as someone who runs a small B&B).

Jacqui (Skyegirl)

You don't say how long you have, but that RS itinerary is very aggressive in its pace, faster than his own tours, and those move at speed.
It seems to say 3 days for the Lake District, Hadrians Wall and Durham combined. You could do three days in each of those and barely be scratching the surface. Durham, maybe 3 days is about right, but the Lake District could be a week, Hadrians Wall, the Borders and Northumberland easily a week-especially if you remember that Hadrians Wall country is far, far more than the Roman forts. Most people on this forum don't even touch on the Reivers aspect.

York, if you get out to the Moors and the Dales, could easily be a week.
If you are doing Liv to Man to Durham to York to LD to Edinburgh you really and fundamentally do not need a car. In the cities and in the tourist parts of the Lake District it is an utter hindrance.
But you are also missing so much beautiful countryside on the way. The UK is about way more than the cities.
As for places to stay the B and B is very much alive. It probably never really existed in the big cities. But in York it is very much alive, in the Lake District it is the main form of accommodation (in spite of chains like Premier Inn trying to muscle in).
For Liverpool use the frequent Merseyrail trains to stay in places towards Southport or out on the beautiful Wirral peninsula, especially on the west side of the Peninsula. Likewise in Manchester if you want small B and B's or pubs you need to get out of the centre into the smaller towns and villages which are easily linked by public transport to the city.
Actually in the cities, as opposed to the Countryside there is nothing inherently wrong with budget chains like Premier Inn, Travelodge, Wetherspoons or the various brands of the Accor group such as Ibis etc.

Thanks for the replies so far.

Some clarifications

I was planning to pretty much follow the "by car" itinerary in the link for days 2-19, except skip South Wales and finalising days9-18

As it is my wifes first time to UK, I realise it will be very much a 'highlights' package, so are looking for a mixture of cities, small villages, historical sites and hiking areas like Snowdonia and Lake District. I don't think any are more important than another and I think it will be exciting for her whatever we do.

We are used to staying in places for just a couple of days and moving on. I think one of my main concerns is the travel times for each day seems to be alot for some days.

I have a few extra days in London before and after, about 5 in total.

If you want to find somewhere to stay in Keswick you are best to use the town website. That way the establishment keeps all the money, as no commission to pay to such as booking.com (or similar) and any special offers go on there.
https://www.keswick.org

Liverpool to the Lake District, say 2 hours. So you have 1 1/2 days in the Lakes. Really, really. You won't do much in that time- a little walk, a boat trip and Wordsworth- almost loses the point of stopping off.

The Lake District to Oban - as far as Luss that is every minute of 3 hours with a brief stop on the way. Say 2 hours at Loch Lomond then a further 90 minutes to Oban.
Next day you move on to Edinburgh via Inverness, 5 hours with barely any stops, having seen little of what Oban has to offer.

Edinburgh to Durham- you will be very lucky to make Hexham over Carter Bar in 90 minutes. Allow 2 hours base minimum for the wall, then one hour to Beamish. Then a further 30 minutes to Durham for Evensong at 5.30. Gives you maybe 90 minutes at Beamish. You will barely touch the surface of the place in that time. That is some pace.

Briefly looking at the itinerary, this looks to be a tour for those interested in British roads more than anything else. Some of the timings are much too short. Day 16, for example. Beamish is an enormous site. You'd be pushed to see everything in a full day. Combining it with Hadrian's Wall and Durham Cathedral in a single day is simply not doable in my view.

Also, Day 12 - roughly speaking, you'd be in the car for over 5 hours (if there are no particular traffic problems) on this day. The scenery north of Glasgow is stunning (ie Loch Lomond to Oban) but the roads are slow. If you get behind a truck there is no chance of overtaking.

One other point - Day 6. I'd swap Oxford for Stratford every time, although you do need to use the Park and Ride car parks there.

I'd reevaluate what you want to see and bear in mind that in many UK cities, car parking is expensive and hard to find and that often the best bet is a 'Park and Ride' car park on the outskirts of town - but this adds time.

I’m exhausted just reading the 3 week route, let alone trying to do it!
You really will just see motorways of the UK with very little time to actually see the sights. I’m not sure it even factors in stopping for necessary breaks.

It really is worth taking some time to work out what you are really interested in seeing. If you haven’t already try and look at some other guide books. The Rick Steves books are in no way comprehensive, and there are lots of areas of the country that just aren’t mentioned.

That said, if you are planning this trip for this October you probably do need to start putting some bookings in place. School holidays fall in October and places book up and prices rise, often by a lot.

Regarding Emma's point - most English (but not Scottish) schools are on holiday for the week of 27 to 31 Oct 2025. But, the clocks go back (ie from BST to GMT) at 2 am in the morning of Sunday 26 Oct. After this, it will be getting noticeably dark by 5pm.

If you are in the UK over the school half-term week (as it is known), expect the main tourist areas to be very busy. The long weekend at the start of this week (ie 24 to 27 Oct) is a very popular time for Brits to take short breaks and I believe that the Friday (ie 24 Oct) is one of the busiest days on the roads in the whole year.

When our kids were at home we always went away this week - if you're lucky the weather can be quite good, although evenings can get cold.

Drop the car in Edinburgh and travel to Durham, York and London by train.