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.

Having read RS's itinerary it sounds like one of the more ambitious AI itineraries we get posted on here. Quite frankly it is laughable - especially the suggestions for Day 16...

Steven,

You've been given great insight from the folks above who know the country far better than me.

Whenever I hear people say Rick Steves pacing is just plain wrong, well, I feel an obligation to say I still love his pacing even as I get on in years. And when I was younger, I often found his pace to be a tad slow occasionally. Some 30,000 folks a year take his tours and those tours generally use the same itineraries. Millions use his books.

And while it is true that having travel arranged adds efficiency, groups also add inefficiencies as well. When we travel on our own, we change out his bus legs for trains or cars or planes. There are many places that deserve more time-- but there are tradeoffs.

And again, I'll repeat-- the insights given above are great. I am just politely saying I find Rick's advice also to be great. And if AI has similar itineraries now, I see that as a sign the machines are getting smarter! (Oh, dear. That may not be a good thing!)

Choose the style and places and pace that best fit you. You'll have a great time.

Happy travels.

Re accommodations - sadly, the bed and breakfasts have been disappearing (the last one in Moreton-in-Marsh closed right after we stayed there last year). However, we - a couple ages 69 and 70 - have stayed in hostels in both Great Britain and Italy that offer 'family rooms' or similarly-named rooms that are not shared with others, with private baths. They are much less expensive than hotels and we've been really pleased. Another bonus is that the staff are typically multilingual young people who are incredibly helpful about local resources.

Re cars: neither or us wants to drive "on the wrong side" (our brains can't handle it!) so on our trips to GB we rely on buses and trains, with a rare taxi when we're really way out there and no other options. It's true that we haven't been able to go everywhere we'd like to, but we have been quite happy and we just plan our trips to use public transportation.

Great advice and comments above. I have been in the UK twice this year, 2025. The trips included some of RS's sites. For comparison with his days, here is how my time lined up with his suggestions. For further reference, this year's ventures were not my first UK trips with several of the spots noted below being return visits.

Lake District - RS days 10 & 11 looks like 1.5 days. We spent 5 nights and a couple half days with travel. We left with a list of "return to sees".

Edinburgh - RS days 13 - 15 - 2 full days. I spent 5 nights, 3 full and 2 half days including a couple day trips. Stilll didn't have time for everything on my "list" and I skipped the "majors" I had seen in past visits.

Durham/York - days 16 - 18 including ridiculous day 16!! Me - 6 nights York; 4 nights Durham. From Durham - full day at Beamish and full day at Bishop Auckland (Rick hasn't discovered Bishop Auckland or doesn't like it - no mention that I can find.) Durham sites on other days. Day trip to Whitby and Malton from York. Didn't have enough time in remaining days in York to re-visit or first visit everything on my list.

London - RS day 20 &21. I can't count the number of times I've been in London. This year, probably a total of 6 days between my two UK visits. I still have a mile long list of unseens that grows with each visit I make to the city.

Rick ignores the South Coast on his itinerary. Many spots worth consideration.

I like the Michelin Green Guides for high level planning. The books indicate "Highly Recommended", "Recommended", and "Interesting" on maps for quick over views. And, unlike Rick, the guides are much more comprehensive so when researching an area, you can hone in on sites that might be of special personal interest.

This thread demonstrates the two wholly different approaches to touring the UK. They are both legitimate and will be attractive to different people. I'm very much in ORDtraveller's camp wherever we go - plan to stay for a decent amount of time and move slowly around an area.

But it's obvious that many people, especially from the US who mostly don't have the holiday time to spend a few weeks here, want to see as much as they can in a very short space of time. It's also true that those who come from a very large country with not a huge amount of "modern" history, that they find it necessary to travel great distance between points of interest - the US and Australia are good examples. Here in the UK you can base yourself almost anywhere in the country and easily fill a week with interesting places to visit in close proximity.

Thanks again for your replies.

@Johnew52 has summed it up quite well in terms of having two different approaches.

Ideally it would be nice to spend more time in each area, but we are coming from Australia, so it's not really an option for us to come year-after-year to do one part of GB/Ireland each time. Especially as there are other parts of rest of the world we would like to travel to. Realistically there might only be 1-3 more opportunities for us to visit GB again, unless we win the lottery. :)

Even in Australia we eventually want to do the 'grey nomad' thing and travel a few months around in a campervan.

"And if AI has similar itineraries now, I see that as a sign the machines are getting smarter! (Oh, dear. That may not be a good thing!)"

"AI" is only as good as the data it had to work on. If it is producing plans that are similar to those provided on this site my guess is the technology is simply regurgitating them not coming up with them themselves. It's technology not magic :-)

Obviously everyone has their preferred styles of travel, there are no rights or wrongs (although day 16 on this route challenges that rule!) But what works in one situation or country might not be optimal in another.

If as you say none of the sights are as important to you as any other and your wife will be excited by what ever you do, this gives you the option to drop some to give you time to spend a bit more time experiencing others. Using days 6 and 7 as an example, do you honestly have an interest in industrial history and/or Shakespeare? I'm not saying these aren't worth visiting but if you are just visiting because its on a list what is the point? You would be better spending the time where you are interested.

It is also worth trying to build a bit of flexibility into your plan particularly to take into account a particular British variable, the weather. There is a reason we talk about it all the time! The weather in October can be lovely, or it can be awful. It can change from hour to hour and any forecast more than about 36 hours out isn't as reliable as you might think. If you choose to stay in one place for a few days you can flex your plan to take this into account, and staying in one place won't limit your options.

For example from a base in the north west you can easily do day trips to Liverpool, Manchester, Chester, North Wales, the Pennines, the Peak District, the coast. A lot of this is very easily done on public transport rather than driving. So if you wake up to a wet day you can focus on a town and leave walking in the countryside to another day. There are other similar examples of places across the county you can use as a base to explore rather than moving on every day.

Finally you need to take into account day light hours in October, Using Manchester as an example on the 1st Oct there is day light for approximately 11.5 hours, by the 31st it is down to 9.5 hours., with sun set at about 1640. If you have plans that involve seeing outdoor sights towards the end of the day, also if you are not comfortable driving new routes in the dark, you will need to take this into account.

It's a bit funny that Steven posts his plans to follow a Rick Steves itinerary and everyone rips the sh1t out of it.

My opinion (it's worth not much) is go to the Scottish Highlands rather than Durham and York.
The Scottish Highlands were a fave of mine and my wife. We didn't go to Loch Ness but instead headed a long way north along the West Coast.

Where do people stay? Our trip (9 years ago) was 7 weeks long. We hired a decked out Tarago and grey nomadded it. The van cost no more than a typical hire car. We only spent 4 nights in hotels one in a bnb (my birthday) and 10 in caravan parks.
The rest of the time were freebies or very low cost off grids.
Cheap as chips way to do it, great fun, easy and very flexible.
Anyway I am sure you and your wife will enjoy your trip. Looking at that itinerary I'd suggest to not worry too much about making sure you get to all the places on the list. Take the foot of the pedal a bit and relax and enjoy.
Cheers.

Thanks everybody for your replies. It's a lot to take on board and I can't individually reply to or aknowledge everyone easily using this interface, so don't take it personally if I don't reply.

I think I will have to revisit what I was planning, but that will take me a couple of days. On the one hand we could be totally flexible, but that comes with the risk on not finding accommodation or paying a lot more for accommodation.

we could be totally flexible, but that comes with the risk on not finding accommodation

Even in October you need to plan and have accommodation booked well in advance. Don't leave it to the last minute, especially in rural areas where there may not be much choice anyway. Places like Skye and Mull always book up months before.