Visit England & Scotland before Christmas

I would strongly recommend not renting a car and driving to Bath after an overnight flight. It doesn't seem safe to me even before we consider the driving-on-the-wrong-side-of-the-road bit.

Just driving Heathrow-Bath-Edinburgh-Heathrow is estimated by Via Michelin to take about 16-1/2 hours with no stops, navigational errors, traffic delays, searching for parking, etc. The actual driving time is likely to be quite a bit longer. It sounds as if you will have only 7 or 8 days for the places you want to see outside London. Do you really want to spend more than 2 of those days sitting in a car? I can't help but feel trying to include both Bath (west of London) and Scotland (way north of London) in the time you have is going to lead to a very high ratio of traveling to actual sightseeing.

I have no idea whether you might encounter challenging driving conditions in northern England and Scotland in December.

I certainly appreciate the considered response. But a point of clarification since I did not provide sufficient clarity in my original post - sorry. My question is what Christmas decorations and markets are best, and do the towns/cities along our route have sufficient Christmas attractions/markets to warrant this route or are there too many for the 10 days or so we plan for the trip? Also, are each of the Christmas displays/events and markets worth more than a day or so? We plan to stay in places along the way, so we don't expect to spend more than a few hours at a time in the car. As mentioned, we have enjoyed the Christmas markets in single days throughout Germany. So, one night stays would not be troublesome. [I have been visiting much of Europe over the last 15 years and have driven in most of those countries, including England, directly after arriving on a flight. No problems ever (even driving in England and Ireland on the wrong side of the road while sitting on the wrong side of the car and shifting with the wrong hand)].

The best Christmas lights will be in London.

If you are expecting Christmas markets like those in Germany you may well be in for a big disappointment. Many just sell the usual Christmas tat that you will find anywhere are over priced and crowded. (Lincoln Christmas Market is the closest to where I live and is well regarded. I went once and said never again. )

Is it too ambitious - it would be for me, especially in December when there is limited daylight and likely to be cold, dull and miserable..... You are unlikely to see snow.

Stay in London. No need to drive anywhere.

Oxford and Regent streets Christmas lights. Coal Drop Yards. Seven Dials Market. Carnaby Street.

Dine in a snow globe besides the Thames. There will also be booths in Jubilee Gardens and on the adjacent Thames River Path.

Definitely book tickets for Christmas at Kew Gardens.

See a panto.

Research to see if Alexandra Palace ( Ally Pally ) is having its light festival.

Been to London for Christmas more than once. You should Wander about Selfridges, Liberty and Harrods.

Be advised that on Christmas Day there will be no public transport. Maybe Uber but rates will be insane.

EDIT: The neon lights of Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park are a sight to behold.

Both the main motoring organisations in the UK- the AA and the RAC- have route planners on their website. They are tailored to UK roads so are realistic in their drive times. They also have live disruptions on roadworks, accidents, weather etc.
So far better than an international planner than VIA Michelin.

Yes conditions can be challenging anywhere in the UK due to weather at that time of year, not just in the North and Scotland- wind, rain and snow. You do get road closures, even on the motorway network. I certainly wouldn't go north of Edinburgh/Glasgow in spite of a major weather event closing even the main highways.

The news, the route planners and your sat nav will keep you up to date. Just don't over schedule in case of disruptions and diversions, and be prepared and nimble to change your route.

So far this winter has generally been pretty benign, but last year wasn't. It varies wildly.

To answer the OP's question a bit better you will have to be selective. There are lots of these festive markets round the country and I'm sure every UK member of this forum will have their favourite.
Both Edinburgh and Glasgow have them.

You also find Dickensian markets and festivals (as distinct from European style ones). It's too early to get dates for many of them yet. But up in the Lake District there is one in Ulverston (25 November 2023) and one in Keswick (date not yet announced, but a Sunday in early December normally).
It's far too soon for dates but in Cumbria we will have several local food festivals- great local producers.
In Grassington (a lovely village with cobbled lanes easily accessible just north of Skipton) in the Yorkshire Dales there is a big one- normally the 1st and 2nd Saturday and Sunday of December. That is a wonderful excuse to visit that part of the country and overnight somewhere close. Loads of lovely villages in the area to choose from. Not far at all off the main A1 route north.
On the west coat route north the seaside resort of Blackpool has the Blackpool Illuminations every year from late August to the end of December- a lights extravaganza along the promenade, always worth an evening drive thru even if not staying in the town.
The best events are often the small local ones, not those in the big name tourist towns. Rewards those who want to explore more.

If you're anywhere near East Anglia there is the Thursford Christmas Spectactular. A true feast of festive music throughout December. It's in the middle of the countryside but very justifiably attracts people from all over the Country. Stay in surrounding towns and villages.
It always sells out as do local hotels so needs to be booked early.
If coming south on the A1 it's not that long a diversion on the way to London as the last overnight before arriving back into London.

Christmas markets in the UK are all the same old tat, frankly. Wherever you go they are identical and to be avoided. And don’t drive straight off a plane.

I’m no fan of Christmas markets but Bath market does try to have a good number of local traders and makers so it’s a more unique offering. It is insanely busy!

Hi HRM -

One thing nobody has mentioned (as far as I can see) and might be worth bringing up, especially apropos driving, is that it will be dark very early in the U.K. in early to mid December - completely dark by 4.00 pm. Benefits of this are that where places are lit up to look Christmassy, they’ll look great, but it might not be terrific fun slogging up a motorway or worse, a minor unlit road in the wilds in pitch darkness.

If you are happy to drive to Scotland in the time you have, fine, it’s just something to bear in mind. As for the weather, this far out we U.K. residents will be happy to speculate endlessly on what it might be like but nobody in their right mind will make so bold as to forecast or predict the weather until twenty four hours (or less) before the event!

Good luck in planning your trip - hope it pans out as you want, and you can rest assured you’ll get good advice here.

Ian

Well, don't ' talk down' UK Christmas market 😅

Winchester Christmas market is legit. Feature quite a number of independent traders and stalls.

For Christmas decorations, the National Trust has done a good job at many sites.

There are a lot across the Southeast and other parts of the country.

There are also some light shows/ Christmas light in the evening, like Kew garden.

I went to Christmas at Kew (Gardens) last December and the lights were amazing. Put this on your list and make sure to buy your tickets early. You can actually book now for 2023. These tickets sell out!

https://www.kew.org/kew-gardens/whats-on/christmas

Excluding the pandemic, I have spent the last few Christmases and New Years in the UK.

Besides what has been mentioned, London also had Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park:

https://hydeparkwinterwonderland.com/

Manchester also has a fairly large Christmas Market that is spread out.

When you exclude Lindon, you basically have a week to try to do everything you pkanned. You will spend most of your time driving. While I love Scotland, I would save it for another time.

We just did a trip to England and Scotland (Nov 18 - Dec 3 2022). We flew into London Gatwick, took the train straight to Oxford, then continued to York, Edinburgh, and back to London to fly out of LGW. (Yes, we did have to backtrack, but we had a direct flight from the US to London and it saved us $200 per ticket x 3 people, plus we would have had to layover in LGW anyway on a US to Edinburgh flight anyway). We did the entire trip by train and didn't rent a car.

We really enjoyed our time in Oxford and LOVED the Christmas market and decorations at Blenheim Palace (super easy bus ride from Oxford). Outside of London, this was our favorite "Christmas" experience.

York, while we love the city (we've been a few times before), didn't have our favorite Christmas decorations or market of the trip.

Edinburgh had a great Christmas market with fun stalls, food, and drinks. Glasgow (a 1 hour train ride from Edinburgh) also had great Christmas decorations.

London goes ALL OUT for Christmas decorations and there are fun markets scattered throughout the city. We came across markets in Trafalgar Square, by King's Cross station, and (our favorite) along the South Bank. I'm sure there are others, but we were only in London for a few nights and barely scratched the surface of their Christmas markets/decorations.

Given the length of time for your trip and the amount of Christmas decorations you can see around London, I'd recommend 4-5 nights in London, 3 nights in Oxford, and 2 nights in another city.

The biggest christmas market in the UK is the Frankfurt German Market in Birmingham

I won’t get into an argument about where the largest Christmas markets are, because it’s probably quite close and anyway they might be big but they’re not good, but it’s between Manchester and Birmingham.
These days there are lots of places like stately homes, RHS gardens etc that put on excellent Christmas light events like the one mentioned above at Kew. I know Eltham Palace in London and RHS Bridgewater have them Chatsworth probably has the best Christmas events programme overall, unsurprisingly as it’s probably the outstanding stately home experience in the country.

Thanks to all for your very insightful and certainly very helpful comments. Based on these comments, we may just take trains to/from Scotland and other transportation to/from Bath or some other smaller town. We will probably spend more time in London.

The Bath Christmas Market appears to have its dates set already: Nov 23 - Dec 10. Just fyi, in case this is a must-see.