Spring break travel

Do your 3 days in London include your arrival day? (Assuming you are flying from the US as your last set of posts indicated you were flying from the Tampa area?)

I'm asking because to me 4 nights = 3 days for touring and to me that's not enough for London.

Is going to Edinburgh a must do for you? If not, I'd be tempted to spend the whole time in London with maybe a overnight or 2 to York, Bath or Salisbury.

Which places did you find that are closed? I'm surprised that anything in London is closed for any part of the year, lol.

Sounds like a really fun Spring Break.

The weather will be iffy--but that can be true almost anytime, anyhow.

Whether your plans work for you depends on your style of travel and what you most want to see.

My first time in London, we had 2 1/2 days. In that time, we saw Oxford Circus, Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, Westminster Abbey (although, as it was a bank holiday weekend, it was horrendously crowded), the Tower of London (toured the tower and the crown jewels), the outside of Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park, including part of the Diana memorial walk, the Peter Pan statue, and the Victoria and Alberta memorial, the outside and some of the inside of Kensington Palace, the Abbey Road crossing, the Monument to the Great Fire of London (climbed it), the London Eye (rode on it), the Nelson Mandela bust, the Leake Street tunnel (cool graffiti), Carnaby Street (did some shopping), and a show (Billy Elliot). Mind you, we had spent the previous week in Paris and so we weren't jet lagged.

We spent 4 days (5 nights) in Edinburgh. On one of the days, we did a full-day tour of the Highlands with The Hairy Coo, which left us 3 full days in Edinburgh. We toured the castle, visited the Camera Obscura/World of Illusions (really cool, but we chose this partly because the weather was bad that day), toured The Real Mary King's Close, walked up and down the Royal Mile, went to the Writers' Museum, saw the fabulous Sir Walter Scott Monument (can't miss it really), did a Harry Potter Tour of Edinburgh, visited Calton Hill (twice--once in fog and once in sunshine), tried to visit Holyrood House, but it was closed that week due to visiting dignitaries, ate jacket potatoes in the library cafe downtown, toured the Royal Yacht Britannia, ate at the Sheep Heid Inn, said to be the oldest pub in Scotland, and generally walked around and looked at scenery and architecture. Again, we had been elsewhere in Europe (Denmark and Norway) prior to this, so we weren't too tired.

So, I say you can do and see a lot in 3 days in each city, provided you are not too tired or jet lag doesn't slow you down much, and you realize that you can't see absolutely everything. Also, be aware that Edinburgh can get pretty cold.

I will agree with Pam. London is huge and has so much to see and do that it deserves your full seven days. And there are many day trips available - Bath and Salisbury, as Pam mentioned (I loved Salisbury Cathedral) but also Windsor Castle and Hampton Court Palace. On my first visit, I spent 7 nights in London and could easily have added another week. It will take up almost a whole day to get to Edinburgh and that would give you only 2 days time there.

Another vote for just doing London. You don't have time to do justice to both London and Edinburgh. There are so many options for day trips - as well as those mentioned, there are also Oxford, Cambridhe, Canterbury...

Places like National Trust houses usually reopen =around REaster, so may not be open in March. The London Muserums and other attractions will be.

Come prepared for cold weather and also rain. You may be lucky and it may be an early spring - who knows.

Naturally, I assume you would fly into one city and out of the other, and fly in between. I just did a search for a date in the middle of March to fly from London to Edinburgh. It's $30 US on EasyJet and takes just under an hour and a half.

for central London to central Edinburgh the train will be faster (get to the airport, check in on phone but have to check or have checked luggage, wait, 90 minute flight, half an hour getting off stuff (Easyjet don't use jetways usually), wait, half an hour into town as against arrive 5 minutes before train, get on train, 4:20 to 4:40 train, get off and walk to destination) and the train is ever so much better for the environment.

We spent spring break in London years ago. Stayed there the entire time, did a day bus tour to Leeds Castle, Canterbury, and Dover, but there are plenty of other good day trips from London that you could do on your own by train.

Mid March in Edinburgh can be - bracing.

I don’t think anything in London will be closed at that time of year. Which things look closed? Anything that closed for winter, like some National Trust properties, will be open again by then. The school Easter holidays mark the start of the U.K. tourist season.

Our family of 4 enjoyed spring break (3rd week in March) in York and London last year and we lucked out with no rain (sunny to partly cloudy) and mostly mild temperatures (60s F) in London. A little cooler but still pleasant in York. Perfect weather really for being out and active, enjoying parks, etc. We did not see significant disruption due to off-season site closures in either London or Edinburgh either.

As someone noted, Scotland will figure to be cooler and more likely to be rainy (we were in Edinburgh in June and it was quite a bit colder and rainier than we found our week in London in March). That's true all the time though, not just spring break.

Overall, we loved our spring break trip as it had the benefit of fewer tourists generally (even though London is always busy), decent weather, and better prices for hotels and airfare outside of the main tourist season. Happy travels!

Nigel is correct. Flying is not going to save you any time over the train. I've taken the route numerous times and much easier than flying. Less stressful, no security, no worrying about bag weights and sizes. Just get on the train at one end and get off at the other.

Get on an early morning train in London, and you'll have lunch in Edinburgh.

I would love to know what sites were closed in March.

Thanks for the correction re: flying. I just assumed, based on someone mentioning travelling all day, that the train would be a lot slower. I do prefer the train over flying for many of the reasons mentioned. I withdraw my suggestion of the flight, if the train trip is not long.

Thanks all.. If we can't make it to Edinburgh what can be the suggested itinerary? Also any hotel suggestions for families with teenage kids.

We did spring break with our kids in London a few years ago (last week of March). . We stayed 8 nights in one location in London and enjoyed seeing so much of the city. This was our 2nd time to London. We also enjoyed some day trips by train - one to Hampton Court Palace, one to Canterbury and one to Hever Castle. I’d recommend staying in one location if possible. I love Edinburgh, but the weather might not be the best at that time. London was beautiful for us and blooming with flowers.