Help with 21 day trip to Scotland/England

If your trip is this summer, you may be too late to find lodging on the Isle of Skye. Also, the ferries are more limited than normal this year.

If you are not planning on seeing Bath then I would not stay there. If you are wanting to see Stonehenge, then I would stay in Salisbury. I'd drop the car and on your full day take the local bus company shuttle out to the stones and back via Old Sarum then perhaps finish up with Evensong at the Salisbury Cathedral.

To me trying to see Stonehenge and Wells on the same day is a lot, especially if you are doing it as a drive from Bath.

Have you been to London before? If not, then unless Stonehenge is a must for your group (for some it is, for some it isn't) I would go from wherever you are staying in the Cotswolds directly to London and give it extra time. I do see you don't prefer cities but London is different...says this totally outdoor/no-city-for-me gal, hahaha!

Day 12 Glencoe to Keswick drive- add at least an hour on to make that 4 1/2 hours, and add a stop.
Day 14 Keswick to the Cotseolds in 4 hours would be a very good day. More normally a minimum of 5 plus at least one stop.

Thank you all!
One idea would be to skip Lake district?
How do you like Bath? Or should I extend Cotswold?

Thanks!

If you have not bought airline tickets you could fly into Edinburgh and spend several days there then rent a car to see Scotland returning car in Scotland and then train to perhaps York spend a couple of days there then rent a car to explore England, return the car and train to London.where you can have four or five days before returning from London. There are several people here who are experts regarding England travel and hopefully they will reply. Good luck.

With respect, your itinerary is way too compressed. You plan limited time to see most of your places.
Example, you have about 1 1/2 days in York, which is pushing it. We stayed there three nights and spent three days touring.
Just taking the tour of the Minster (Cathedral) took us 3-4 hours. The National Railway Museum was at least a 2 1/2 hour event.
Walking the ancient walls, visiting some of the great museums there as well as city sites can't be done in such a short time.

Go to the internet site where you plan going from one place to another and you will see that driving in the UK is not a speedy event. Especially if you enjoy the sites. Do this for your trip and you will find that it usually takes longer to go from one place to another than you expect.

We did the Cotswolds in two full days. Research exactly where you plan to go and you will understand.

Suggest reducing your number of places.

We did four weeks in England and S. Wales in 2017 in our rental car, not visiting any large cites (York was the largest) and didn't even go to Scotland.

I think you're spending a LOT of time driving.

If it were me, I would rent the car outside of Edinburgh, and drive it to where you want to go (a car is definitely a benefit on Skye). Then unless you are dead set on visiting the Lake District and driving through England, I would return the car in Glencoe (if possible) or Glasgow, then take the train down to Bath, where you can explore the Cotswolds, Stonehenge, and London using public transportation.

smkarla1,
I have never found a "driving" site which gave accurate information about how long it takes to drive from one place to another. Depending on the distance, you should add 1-2 hours more travel time. Add to that, in transferring, factor in time to check out of lodgings, getting out of the city, finding your lodgings in the new city, finding parking, and checking into new lodgings. This could go very quickly, or could add a good hour to travel time as well. Just fyi. Best of luck in your plans.

These are good places but I think you will spend too much time travelling between them. I would cut out the Lake District and only rent a car for the Scotland portion, personally.

Very thankful for everyone taking the time to reply!

I bought airline tickets, but just checked and seems I can add 3 more nights at zero cost.

THINKING:

• Adding one to two more nights in Scotland (+1 Inverness area, Oban?, Glencoe or Glasgow)
• Exploring now the idea of Glasgow. Drop car, and then train to (London, Baths or Cotswold)
• Exploring adding +1 night in England in one of the stops?
• skipping stonehenge, unless a day trip from London?

The only thing.... I wish I had a car in Cotswold? Seems like freedom of exploring that area might be worth it?

PS. curveball, I actually need to stop in Bristol for work for a few hours!

It doesn't matter to the tourist industry in the Lake District (which has quite enough tourists), but a stop in the Lake District (not necessarily Keswick) is a very useful punctuation point in the long journey south. But likewise so would Hadrian's Wall or North Yorkshire.
You could actually add more time there and cut out the Cotswolds.

In fact the one night car borne tourist is increasingly not the sort of value visitor the Lake District needs. The longer stay public transport user is what is being sought by both the county and the National Park.

Penrith is a good base for the Lake District, being both on the main railway line and on the M6. By car Keswick is only a less than 30 minute diversion (17 miles or 15 minutes if you get lucky) off the M6 (or 50 minutes by bus).

Likewise you could stay in Bristol for two nights, and visit Bath from there.

If you want to do Stonehenge, please don’t do it as a day trip from London. It’s too much time on the road. If you do one of the bus tours from London you spend all day traveling. If you wanted to do it by public transit you’d wind up in Salisbury via train, then the local shuttle out to the stones.

You asked about Bath. I am one that loves Bath. I think it’s fascinating to see the Roman ruins (the baths) next to the Georgian era buildings. I love the Regency era in fiction so I can imagine myself there in 1810, lol. The Roman Baths are excellent. I also enjoy visiting Number 1 Royal Crescent, a restored Georgian townhouse. There are a number of museums which may or may not interest you. There are also some interesting gardens.

I’d have a car for the Cotswolds.

I've done Stonehenge as a day trip from London a couple of times, and while it is a long day it is very doable. There is a direct train to Salisbury and then from just outside the station, a bus to Stonehenge. You can then get a bus back into Salisbury and see the cathedral, have lunch, etc.

You can also do the Cotswolds as a day trip from London- by taking the train to Moreton-in-Marsh and then using buses/walking to get around. I've done this and it's a very nice day out. Of course if you are planning to see multiple sites in the west/southwest direction (Cotswolds, Stonehenge, Bath) it doesn't make sense to do all those as day trips from London.

Agree if you want to visit the Lake District you can easily get the train from Glasgow to Penrith and get around from there. From Penrith you can get a direct train into London (or other destinations further south).

Overall tho this sounds like a very nice trip and I am keen to hear what you wind up choosing in the end.

You say you don’t want too much time in cities but you have chosen city locations for most of your bases. A better option might be to stay in rural locations and then day trip into the cities for a short time. This also makes a lot more sense of you’re travelling by car because you aren’t trying to battle city traffic. Eg, for the Bath area you could stay anywhere outside the city such as anywhere towards Bradford on Avon. Homewood House is a nice hotel on that area. It makes day trips to other places a lot easier if you aren’t starting from a city location.

If you give an idea of budget for hotels then it’s easier to make suggestions. If you really want to be flash then the Newt hotel in Somerset is outstanding but very expensive.