UK April and May 2026

You are extremely unlikely to get a heatwave in April/May. We just had one of our warmest and driest Springs ever but there were no temperatures I would have described as heatwave and coming from California you should have no issues.

You can cut down on overall travel times on that itinerary by flying open-jaw into Manchester and back from London or vice-versa. Or even into Newcastle.

You are asking for advice on a location for York. The obvious response is York but maybe, having been to Yorkshire before you have done the city and want some more rural suggestions.

For North Wales the most popular choices would be Conwy or Llandudno, but there are other places like for example Caernarfon as well.

Northumberland 5 nights (one location just not sure where yet)

That sounds like a wonderful trip, Katie! I spent 6 weeks in England last year and had the most incredible time. I loved every minute of it, and I'm sure you will, too.

I spent 6 nights in Northumberland. Are you planning to visit Hadrian's Wall, or mostly just stay along the coast? I wound up spending 3 nights in Seahouses and 3 nights in Haltwhistle so I could explore Hadrian's Wall. But I had a rental car, so if you need decent public transportation, you might want to consider Bamberg, or possibly Alnwick. This thread from last year has some good information in it about public transport in the Northumberland area, so you might want to check that out: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/england/northumberland-using-only-public-transportation

York 3-5 nights (one location just not sure where yet)

I'm assuming you're talking about Yorkshire, not York. And are you interested in staying in the Yorkshire Dales or in the North Yorkshire Moors? It would help to know which one, as they really are a bit different, and I would choose a different base for each.

Liverpool 2 nights

I really liked Liverpool but if you like towns instead of cities, you might enjoy staying in Chester, which is close to LIverpool and has good train service. The town was very charming and fun and you can get to many places in the area from there.

Your trip and your planning sounds like so much fun! You will be visiting in bluebell season, which should be lovely. Enjoy! I don't have any suggestions for you, but will be following this thread for ideas.

Johnew52

You are asking for advice on a location for York. The obvious response
is York but maybe, having been to Yorkshire before you have done the
city and want some more rural suggestions

Mardee

I'm assuming you're talking about Yorkshire, not York. And are you
interested in staying in the Yorkshire Dales or in the North Yorkshire
Moors? It would help to know which one, as they really are a bit
different, and I would choose a different base for each.

Oops. I copied and pasted the (one location just not sure where yet) after York by mistake. We will be staying York.

If you are staying for 4 or 5 nights in the Lake District I would suggest Grasmere or Ambleside, as opposed to Keswick. They are that bit more central. Grasmere in particular is a totally different place in the evening when the day trippers have gone home. It also punches well above its weight in terms of places to eat.

If you choose Grasmere try and find out when the Grasmere Players (amateur theatrical group) are doing their Spring show in the Village Hall.

But we now have the best ever bus services to Coniston/Hawkshead and also Elterwater/Chapel Stile. For the first time in decades they are now viable for touring from on the bus. The printed timetable book this year is out of date as extra funding was found to expand services.

Mardee,

Yes. I have read and been inspired by your trip report from last year! Thanks for the input. We do have Chester in the itinerary before North Wales. Being of the Beatles generation (saw them in person in '66), I did want to spend a bit of time in Liverpool. We were not planning on Hadrian's wall. We are considering Alnwick or Alnmouth. We want to be able to go into Newcastle on Tyne for a day trip from where ever we stay for 5 nights.

Katie

Maplady

I am having a wonderful time planning the trip and all the British Isles trips we have taken have been wonderful so I expect this one will too.

Katie

Hello, isn31c (can I call you Stuart?)

You helped us so much with transportation for our last trip in 23. Thanks again for that.

If you are staying for 4 or 5 nights in the Lake District I would
suggest Grasmere or Ambleside, as opposed to Keswick. They are that
bit more central. Grasmere in particular is a totally different place
in the evening when the day trippers have gone home. It also punches
well above its weight in terms of places to eat.

I have been looking at Grasmere or Ambleside. I appreciate the recommendation!

We did possibly want to take a Mountain Goat tour but they all seem to start in Windermere now. Is it a reasonable bus ride before a tour from Grasmere?

Katie

Think carefully about the transportation challenges of staying in the Alnmouth/Alnwick area without a car. The train station is about 2 miles from Alnmouth (a tiny place with a population under 500) and about 4 miles from Alnwick (pop. over 8000). Bus service isn't super-frequent. I'd look for a different option unless I just had to see Alnwick Castle and Alnwick Garden.

The garden is nice, but for me it didn't come close to justifying the two nights we spent in the area; I don't much care for castles, and my travel mate isn't interested in gardens, so we each had only a few hours of sightseeing in exchange for our two-night stay at the reasonably-priced but inconveniently-located Premier Inn. Those willing to prebook taxis rather than depending on public transportation and their own feet could no doubt manage with just one night in the area.

The used-book store in Alnwick, Barter Books, is very attractive and a major draw, but I had to leave quickly before I started buying books I'd have to carry around for 3-1/2 months. Book lovers in a different position definitely might think the store justifies a night in Alnwick.

acraven

Thanks for the info. We are not terribly into castles but we are into gardens and were hoping to see Alnwick Garden. However, I could be persuaded to skip it if I had another Northumberland location with good transportation. We hope to get to Newcastle upon Tyne one day and Farne Islands one day as well as see something of the coastal towns. Any suggestions for a location that fits our (above described) travel style?

Katie

Hi Katie- we have just finishing planning a trip for later this month to the Northumberland coast without a car. After some research we decided the easiest place to stay was Berwick-upon-Tweed. From there you can get buses (X18 and X15) to most of the popular places (Farne Islands, Bamburgh, Dunstanburgh, and Alnwick) and you can get bus 477 to Holy Island/Lindisfarne. The buses aren't super frequent so it requires a bit of advanced planning but it's very do-able. Google maps has up-to-date bus information or you can use bustimes.org.

Also, you can get the train from Berwick-upon-Tweed to Newcastle (they are both on the east coast mainline).

Grasmere to Windermere is only 35 minutes on the bus, Ambleside to Windermere 15 minutes. Summer service will start on 28 March next year.
The first bus out of Grasmere all year is at 6.30am, and the last back arrives in at 11pm.
Summer sees the three open tops an hour- one an hour in the winter, whatever the weather. They supplement the long distance 555.
The 0900 from Grasmere gives you a nice connection into the Mountain Goat at Windermere. Get off the bus and use the restrooms at the back of Booths cafe before joining the MG.
Every one including the bus drivers does that.

Cat VH

Thanks so much for the suggestions! I hope you have an amazing trip and I look forward to hearing about it when you get back.

Katie

isn31c

Oh, perfect! I'm leaning more toward Grasmere all the time. It sounds like the transportation will be very doable.

Katie

Being of the Beatles generation (saw them in person in '66), I did want to spend a bit of time in Liverpool.

Make sure you visit the Philharmonic pub, which is an incredible bar in Liverpool. It's worth going there for the gorgeousness of it but it also has a connection to the Beatles. In 2018, James Corden and Paul McCartney filmed a Carpool Karaoke episode and ended up at the Philharmonic pub with Paul performing before a very stunned crowd (if you watch it, the pub scene starts at 15:30).

While you're there, have your husband (or the bartender) get you into the men's toilet, which is quite opulent and well worth a look.

Thanks, Mardee,

The Philharmonic Pub is now on the to-do list!

Katie

I'll concentrate on the North West/North Wales section. Liverpool and Chester are close enough to stay in one and visit the other. It's got good rail links taking between 45 minutes to just over an hour. However, staying in Chester is better for trains to North Wales.
Chester railway station is about 10 minutes walk to the city centre and there are many hotels and guest houses. I suggest you look on booking.com and premierinn.com the latter is a very popular chain of clean and comfortable hotels, and they are all over the country. There is one along the canal not far from the station.
Trains run from Chester along the North Wales coast and I would suggest Llandudno would be good choice. Again plenty of hotels, B&Bs and guest houses.
The much larger city of Liverpool has lots to see. The man station for intercity trains is Liverpool Lime St. Liverpool Central is only 5 minutes walk away but is served by regional trains, including Merseyrail from Chester, as does Lime St.
Nearby hotels that I have used are Premier Inn and The Liner, right next to Lime St station and another Premier Inn on Hanover St, called Liverpool 1 a few minutes walk from Central.
I'm sure it would be worth you buying a two together Railcard. It costs £35 but saves you 33% on fares after 0930 in the week and anytime at weekend. If you pay more than £105, it is paying for itself. You don't need to have one when buying tickets, use www.nationalrail.co.uk or Merseyrail, you just need it when you travel. So you could commit to particular timed trains weeks in advance for the cheaper Advance tickets and buy a railcard before you come. I find a digital one on the Railcard phone app works well. You just need a couple of passport type photos in your gallery.

briwire

Thanks for the input. I am definitely looking at Llandudno. We will be staying in Chester, North Wales AND Liverpool :)

Thanks for the suggestions about hotels in Liverpool and rail cards. Because of the number of trains we will be using and the flexibility of them, we will be getting Britrail passes. We have used them on the last 2 trips to the UK and paid off well for us both times.

Katie