Hi everyone, newbie trip planner here. I’d love suggestions! Here is my tentative plan for our late July family trip to the UK. There will be 6 of us. It will be myself, my husband and our 4 (mostly adult) kids: Daughters are 29, 21, and 19 and then our son is 16. It is VERY important that we see Paisley and Fairlie since that is where my husband’s grandparents lived (Fairlie is actually our last name!). Other essentials (sorta) are Edinburgh, Rosslyn Chapel, Highlands, Bath and London.
My biggest issue is fitting in the Fairlie/Paisley visit (really only need 1 day total there) but I also want kids to at least see some parts of the Highlands and seems like it'd be easier to do that from Glasgow? Thanks everyone so much in advance - I love Rick Steves and this Forum!!
**2 Week England/Scotland Itinerary-Late Summer
Day 1 - Land at Heathrow at noon, take train to Bath, sleep in Bath
Day 2 - Explore Bath, (on foot or use tour) sleep in Bath
Day 3 - Explore Bath, sleep in Bath
Day 4 - Train to Cotswolds explore Cotswolds, Sleep in ? TBD
Day 5 - Explore Cotswolds, (see Blenheim?) Sleep in ? TBD
Day 6 - Taxi to Bristol, Fly (EasyJet?) to Edinburgh, sleep in Edinburgh
Day 7 – Explore Edinburgh, sleep in Edinburgh
Day 8 – Rent a Car, see Rosslyn Chapel then drive to Paisley, sleep in Paisley/Glasgow?
Day 9 – Drive to Fairlie (25 miles E of Paisley on coast), then back to explore Paisley, sleep in Paisley/Glasgow?
Day 10 - All Day Tour to Highlands (Robbies?), sleep in Paisley/Glasgow?
Day 11 – Drive to Edinburgh, return car, train to London (arrive by 6pm?), sleep in London
Day 12 – Explore London, sleep in London
Day 13 – Explore London, sleep in London
Day 14 – Day tour to Windsor Castle (or ??), sleep in London
Day 15 – Fly home in afternoon
Questions:
-best way to handle the Scotland portion of stay so that Fairlie/Paisley visit, Edinburgh and Rosslyn visit and the Highlands tour can all work?
-does renting a car make sense (worried about finding bus/taxi/Uber for Fairlie coast visit)?
-Recommendation on day trip from London if not Windsor?
-how long would getting to and visiting Blenheim take?
-where should we stay in Cotswolds (assuming Blenheim visit perhaps)? We are a large family remember!