Would like some recommendations on a itinerary for England

You are going to need several weeks to fit in all that in. 4/5 days in London is not long and you will need at least a week to see the other places in England and then time in Scotland and Ireland. If you haven’t got that amount of time you need to narrow down your expectations of what you can achieve in my opinion.

Thank you for your opinion and observations! I don't think I was clear- We are planning on 3-4 weeks for the whole trip.
First stop England with a concentration on London and a desire to go to the Cotswalds. I guess I got a little carried away. We would like a day trip to Stone Henge though. If we need to stay longer than we will. Any ideas on where to stay that is conviently located close to tubes and trains?

What an exciting trip! Are you planning to stay 4-5 days in London and then a few more days in England, before moving on to Scotland and Ireland?

What is your budget for hotels? I think any place you stay within Zone 1 in London, close to tube stations/bus stops will work for you. Many here recommend the Premier Inn County Hall if you have a lower budget, but if you have a healthy budget I am sure others will chime in with their favorites. Also let us know if you have any others wants/needs - elevator? Quiet? Breakfast included?

I have stayed at Premier Inns on my last visit and they were clean and comfortable, but not luxurious. I would definitely stay again. However, I have not stayed at the County Hall location, but I assume it will be similar.

There are day tours from London for Bath, Stonehenge and the Cotswolds. Would you be happy taking one of those tours or are you looking for more in-depth visits? If the latter, then you will need more time than what your current plans are for England. Are you willing to forgo York and Liverpool if you want to stay longer in Bath/Stonehenge/Cotswolds? I assume you are using public transportation to get around, or are you renting a car?

I am sorry I asked you more questions that you asked the forum, but your answers will help us give better suited suggestions.

Enjoy the planning and the trip!

Hi. My wife and I visited England a couple years ago with many of the same sites you have listed. If you are going to be in London in March you may want to catch the Boat Race.
We did all our traveling by train.
We were going to go from London then go to Bath and then go to Liverpool before ending our trip in Edinburgh. If you or your cousin are Beatles fans then Liverpool is a must see. If you aren't you may be a little disappointed. I'm a big Beatles fan so I loved it. Especially the tours of John's and Paul's childhood homes. If Liverpool doesn't suit you you can go from London to York and Edinburgh.
We found that a train between Bath and Liverpool isn't easy. And the best way to get to Liverpool is taking the high speed express train from London.
So we ended up taking a day trip to Bath. It was a quick trip by train and we were able to go through the Roman Baths and take the free walking tour they offer. We also enjoyed a nice Italian dinner there.
After visiting Liverpool we took a train to Glasgow. You can also take a train to Edinburgh. One thing you could consider if you are going to Edinburgh from Liverpool you could go through York and visit there for a couple of days.
Good luck on your planning there are so many things to do it won't be easy

My itinerary suggestion: You could head straight to Bath from the airport for a few days. From there you can see the Cotswolds either by a tour like Mad Max or by car. Next, you could go to London for your 4-5 days including a day trip to Stonehenge. York is about 2-2 and a half hours from London by train. After York, Edinburgh is another reasonable train ride (2 and a half to 3 hours). If you aren't attached to going to Liverpool, you could then make your way from Scotland to Ireland. You don't say where in Ireland you want to go. If Northern Ireland, you can take the ferry from Scotland to Belfast. And then possibly to the Republic of Ireland, flying out of Dublin.

I agree with what others have said above.

For staying in London, anywhere really in Zone 1 will be well located- you can see where that is on this map- the most central zone with a white background: https://tfl.gov.uk/maps/track?intcmp=40400

If you are wanting to be close to the trains to visit the places you mentioned- in London the trains west (to Bath etc) mostly leave from Paddington, to Liverpool/Glasgow leave from Euston, and to York/Edinburgh leave from Kings Cross.

For me, Liverpool is a bit out of the way from the rest of the places you want to go, so I would skip it unless there's something very specific there you want to see. I like the suggestion of going west first and staying in a place like Bath to visit Bath, Cotswolds, and Stonehenge. Then you can go back to London and from there it's very easy to go north to York and Edinburgh. There are many flights every day between Edinburgh/Glasgow and places across Ireland if you don't want to take the ferry (frankly the town where the ferry leaves from in Scotland, Cairnryan, is a bit inconvenient to get to and not near any of the big sights, but it does take you directly to Belfast).

It is possible to add Liverpool in there, and Liverpool is well worth a stop. For example, you could take the train up there from London, and from there head to York and on up to Scotland. But the problem with that is it adds considerably more travel time to your journey. Taking the train from London to Liverpool is going to be up to 3+ hours. And then possibly another 3 hours to get from Liverpool up to York. On the other hand, getting to York directly from London takes about 2+ hours. You would definitely save more time by going to York directly from London.

But you did say you had 3-4 weeks to travel. If you're leaning towards the 4 weeks, I think it's definitely doable. If you really want to see Liverpool, why not? It really is a cool city, and there's a lot to see and do there. But if you're only going for three weeks, I would definitely leave it out.

I also agree with the Premier Inn recommendations. I stayed at Premier Inn County Hall for 5 nights when I went to England for 5 1/2 weeks in 2024 and had a great stay there. As Map Lady said, it's a good budget option, but it's also very clean and very comfortable. In fact, I have stayed at a number of Premier Inns throughout England and Scotland, and I've always had a good stay there. The beds are extremely comfortable, and they give you good service.

Just keep in mind that the earlier you book, the lower the cost will be. So I would definitely start making your reservations now, especially for London, York, and Scotland. I can't stress that enough. Especially Scotland. Although the fact that you're going in March will help you out as it's not as crowded as it would starting in May.

London to Liverpool (Edited) is about 2 hours 20 minutes, round that to 2 hours 30,
Liverpool to York is about 1 hour 50 minutes by hourly direct train. If you took slow trains and changed twice, doubtless you could make it take 3 1/2 if you wanted to.

I think the best way from Bath to Liverpool is the scenic route I am almost on today in reverse.
Bath to Newport (Gwent), Newport to Chester, Chester to Liverpool either by frequent Merseyrail train or the hourly train via Liverpool South Parkway.
I'm routeing via Crewe today. I only booked just before midnight last night, but got a great Advance Fare in 1st class, which was a bit lower than standard class.
It's a significantly slower route than any other, but much more scenic especially if you can get 1st class, where I'm looking forward to my 3 course meal later. I'm overnighting at Newport on my way to Salisbury via Bath tomorrow as I got a Travelodge room beside Newport station for £35, again at midnight last night.

Not sure how many days you have to tour England.

We did FOUR weeks to tour Western and Northern England as well as a few days in South Wales. We rented a car. We didn't stay in London at all, and you don't need a car there.
If you rent a car, consider picking up one in a place like Oxford, visit that city and perhaps the Cotswolds.

In Chipping Campden in the Cotswolds, we stayed at The Volunteer Inn, which had the best pub in town and a great Indian restaurant.
Bath is great for a couple of days. Also, Stratford Upon Avon and Blenheim Palace (Where Churchill was born). We did Stratford and Blenheim as well as Oxford on a day trip from Chipping Campden.
York is fantastic, highly recommend staying there two or three nights so you have two full days there.
The hotel we found there was in a great location, walking distance to the city. It was The Minster Hotel with parking and a great restaurant.
Also, consider visiting Hadrian's Wall at Haltwhistle. Durham is north of York and worth a full day.

We visited Liverpool on an earlier trip and were not impressed with the excursion options of that city. Most focused on Beatles Stuff.
Instead we visited N. Wales, Conwy Castle and other scenic sites in that area.
I suggest skipping Liverpool. If you go there, also visit Chester.

Other places to see in England that we liked were Winchester, Salisbury, Cornwall, Devon, Windsor Castle and Stonehenge. Canterbury is great as is Cambridge, but they are on the east side of London.

Further to my first post, with 3-4 weeks, a trip covering what you want is definitely doable - I am used to seeing so many visitors trying to fit these sort of plans into 10 days or 2 weeks.

I think Stuart has misprinted his post re train times - I think the first line should read London to Liverpool is 2 hours 20 minutes.

Liverpool has a very great deal to offer tourists. As well as Beatles references there are some excellent museums, two great but very contrasting cathedrals and Chester is close by. Well worthy of a 2-3 night stay at least.

If you are planning to head up north then I would question diverting to the Cotswolds on the way - the scenery is much more special further north and it will be by and large less crowded.

If you let us know a bit more about your interests we can provide some more useful suggestions.

There is definitely a lot more to Liverpool than just the Beatles. It can also be a good base to explore places in the local area.

I certainly don't want to talk down Liverpool! I will just add that two of the big museums (the Maritime Museum and the International Slavery Museum) are closed until 2028, in case you were hoping to visit either of those.