Ten Days in June - and dazed

I'm not sure how much sense it makes to fly into Edinburgh. Most of the destinations you list are in the south of England, and even York is closer to London than it is to Edinburgh (at least as far as train travel times go).

Only makes sense to fly into Edinburgh if you will spend a couple of days there. Otherwise no point. It is great train ride to London and you may be able to get tickets in then40-50 pound range. After that, you are correct, you have too much scheduled for the remaining week.

While Edinburgh airport doesn't make sense for the destinations you list, Bristol airport is close to Bath, and Manchester airport isn't far from York, so using one or both of these may avoid backtracking compared with a round trip flight to London. Manchester airport gets nonstops from some US cities, and while Bristol doesn't, you can connect in Dublin (via Aer Lingus) or Amsterdam (via KLM).

To learn about travel times between places, a good start is Rome2Rio: https://www.rome2rio.com/. Again, it's only a start. But if you plug in some of your destinations, you'll see that you would need far longer than 10 days to see the places you listed - without a teleporter. That is, if you actually want to see these places, instead of just getting to and from them with no time in them.

Of the places you mention, Avebury is the one that would be most difficult without a car. Stonehenge can be done on a shuttle bus from Salisbury rail station. (Salisbury also has a wonderful cathedral). You don’t go all the way down to Cornwall to just see the Eden Project. A car makes getting around Cornwall more easy. However, it is still possible to visit interesting places by train or bus. See
www.traveline.info
For more advice on rail travel see:>https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/england/how-to-save-money-on-railfares-not-pre-book
www.seat61.com

Not sure how you will be able to visit all these places without renting a car. I have done it and it is not so hard.

There are day tours that go to Stonehenge, Bath, and Oxford from London. Also, you can take the train to York.

However, Cornwall is a considerable distance from Bath and Oxford and could not be done on the same day trip, or any day trip from London.

If you want Harry Potter sites, consider visiting Warwick Castle and the Lake district, but that could not be done in 10 days with the other places.

Thanks, this is all helpful.

Trying to figure out Avebury without a car, as a place to stay or as a day out from Salisbury (where I had a very pleasant couple of days ten years ago).

Are there taxis or shuttles that could be used? Driving would be less difficult in that area than in the big cities.

Daughter thinks heading for York right after Heathrow is feasible. There are lots of trains - if we arrive London mid-day, night we get settled for the night in York?

Having a hard time dissuading her from a trek to Penzance or St. Ives from Salisbury....

I haven't been to Avebury but want to and I think Rick's book lists tours to Avebury from Bath. Bath is an easy trip from London/to Salisbury.

If it's this June, best to get going on flights, hotels and such. I agree with others that there's no point flying into Edinburgh unless you want to spend time there, and with ten days and your list you don't really have it. For this itinerary a roundtrip flight to London would seem to make the most sense.

This company offers one-day tours from Oxford to Salisbury, Stonehenge, and Avebury (Tour B on their website). We took their Cotswolds tour and enjoyed it though it felt rushed. I expect their other tours would too, but it's an efficient way to visit some of the places on your list and get a good narration along the way, without having to drive. EDIT -- RS and many posters recommend the Mad Max tours out of Bath, which I believe would get you to Stonehenge and Avebury also.

BTW, your daughter is wrong about the left-side driving. It's doable, but it sure is different -- I think more so the longer you've been driving on the right. I had a lot more trouble at 67 than I did at 19, for sure.

We found the Eden Project disappointing -- really just a great big botanical garden like you can find in lots of big cities. Crowded, commercialized, and remote. Lots of informative signage and programming -- but that's true of a lot of other botanical gardens. Don't go all the way to Cornwall just for that.

Cala mentions tours of Avebury from Bath and I have done that. I took a MadMax day tour from Bath which went to Stonehenge, Avebury, Lacock (some HP was filmed here) and Castle Combe. It was a very enjoyable day and worth the money for me traveling solo.

I agree that you have too much for 10 days and hoping your 10 days does not include your travel days. To me 2 days is not enough for London particularly if one of those days is going to be the Harry Potter Studios. I would cut York and Cornwall and plan to spend 2 nights in Bath. If you just want to do Stonehenge, I would spend 2 nights in Salisbury and take the local bus out to Stonehenge on the full day. It comes back via Old Sarum which is an interesting sight which started as an Iron Age fort. Your priorities might be different, though.

I hope you have Leadenhall Market on your list of places to visit in London. It's where the Diagon Alley scenes were filmed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leadenhall_Market

You might be better off taking a Mad Max tour from Bath - which would cover Stonehenge & Avebury. Just make sure that you are in Bath on the day of that particular tour.http://www.madmaxtours.co.uk/tours/stonehenge-full-day-tour

Fly into Manchester if possible then take the direct train from the airport to York. You could get there from Heathrow, but you would have to go into London first and it will take much longer. Is this what you want after a long flight?

Walk up fares on trains are expensive - best booked 11 weeks out for the best prices. If you are booking rail tickets, allow at least an hour to get through the airport. The cheapest advance fares are fixed timed trains, so if your flight is delayed by 2 hours and you miss the train, you will have to pay again, so either allow plenty of time or just pay on the day. Fares will be much cheaper from Manchester than from Heathrow.

It isn't worth going all the way to Cornwall just to see the Eden Project IMO, as it takes so long to get there unless you are a botanist. It is interesting, but that and York are your two outlying places and your schedule is tight by public transport.

Oxford can be done as a day trip from London, as could Stonehenge. To see both properly, don't cover these plus Bath in the same day trip, as you spend too long in transit vs time actually visiting.

Oh, this helps so much - tours from Bath! That is so unlike us and so RIGHT! That's what we'll do.

We had been thinking if we went in at Heathrow to train up to York immediately - but that is much more work and time for that first day off a flight.

Then we don't need Salisbury, pretty as it is. Would that make an overnight train to Penzance or St Ives possible (no Eden Project then - another daughter actually runs a botanical garen with domes) and one night there semi-sane, to slake the hunger for Cornwall?

Already this is seeming more possible. Thank you!