Should we add Barcelona to UK trip??

I love Barcelona, but there is so much to see in Britain. Also, in my opinion, Madrid and Seville are ahead of Barcelona for Spain.

We are planning a four week driving tour of England and Wales (London is not included).

My research of places to see keep uncovering more interesting places to see. Our itinerary includes Bath, Wells, South Wales, Cotswolds, Oxford, Blenheim Palace, Stratford on Avon, Warwick, York, an antique rail trip from Pickering to Whitby, Durhan, Hadrian's Wall, The Lake District, Winchester, Arundel Castle, ending in Southampton.

We have driven the English countryside before and it is amazing.

Thanks so much for your reply. I'm on the side of staying in the UK. In all of our trips to Europe we have never rented a car, but are seriously considering it for at least part of our trip. Your itinerary is very similar to what we've been looking at. If we rent a car for only part of our trip, which areas would you consider the easiest for us first time car renters?

Thanks again

Do you really want to spend a whole 28 days in one country/region? (My attention span is a little short, and I get bored in one place.).
Have you considered taking the Eurostar down to Paris for 4 days? It's too important a place to miss.
Then take the 6 1/2 hour fast train down to Barcelona from Paris for another 4 days. And fly home from there.
Now, that'd be a great trip.

It doesn't matter what others want to do; it's your holiday so do what you want to do.

A month in the UK is great but if you want to see Barcelona that's perfectly practical too. There's no right answer to this. But forget Paris it will just lead to more indecision.

Thanks for the input. We've been to Paris twice, so don't want to go there this trip

Sue,
Spain is nice, but Britain is awesome.

Regarding renting a car, the last time we rented a car in Britain, we rented from Thrifty, since they had the best deal. It may depend on what type of car you rent. I use Kayak for checking for the lowest car rental.

Two things that you should consider renting a car. First, get a navigation system, unless you have a smart phone that can provide that for you in the UK. Second, get an automatic, shifting with the left hand and dealing with driving on the left, listening to the navigations systems, makes it so much easier than with a manual. Of course, the manuals are cheaper.

I am looking at somewhere between $1000 and $1200 for four weeks of rental, and that without the extra insurance, that I will buy with my AmEx card.

Parking is an issue and some of the places we plan to visit. In places like York, parking your vehicle for one hour can cost 2-3 GBP.
Find hotels or B and Bs that have free parking near the city where you can walk or take public transport.

If you are interested, I can give you some great places to stay. I have booked mainly B and Bs.
Part of our trip ts to visit places where our ancestors came from. The vast majority of mine come from England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. We are doing Scotland and Ireland on a separate trip. Going to a village in South Wales were my ancestor left from in 1716.
George

I don't think that 4 weeks is too much to spend in the UK. I just did that this fall, despite having been a few times before. Of all foreign countries, you probably connect the most with history and literature in the UK, and can most enjoy entertainment in your own language, etc., all of which encourages you to go a little "deeper." Not feeling rushed will help you remember to take a weekly "vacation from your vacation," whether that means to you a day for hiking, or beach lounging, or golf, or just not driving anywhere.

Of course you can fly to Barcelona more easily and cheaply now than ever before and it could give your trip a spark of something different. But if you could make a longer trip to Spain in the future, then I'd save it and give Spain several weeks of its own.

Why not, if it's what you want to do.
However, with the luxury of four weeks you can make quite a thorough exploration of the UK. To include 4/5 days in Barcelona means that exploration is a little less thorough. There is also so much to see in Spain that it's worth a similar amount of time. If you see the possibility of a future trip I would avoid the temptation.

There really is no right answer, but on the con side consider:

1. It will be very hot and crowded in Barcelona even in September;
2. You will lose a day of travel enjoyment to an airplane flight.
3. With the exception of London, you will be going to smaller more relaxed places and Barcelona may feel frenzied by comparison.

On the plus side:

1. It will feel like starting a whole new vacation.
2. You will get to taste Spain without committing to an extended trip.
3. It will very much be a change of pace.
4. Chances are good that the food will improve.

Planning a trip always means making hard choices. If you can fly open-jaw, home from Barcelona, that makes it not crazy. I was in Barcelona for the first time last year for 5 days and went back this year for another 7. It's unlike any other European city I can think of, and for the most part, unlike other parts of Spain.

After 3-plus weeks of English food and pints, it might be fun to have great tapas and vino. I like to use the weather underground site for historical data. It shows a high on Sept 24 this year of 25 Celsius and then using the Travel Planner on the side, I looked at Sept. 24-29 for the last 6 years. You can see the highs and lows on the graph and then scroll down to see daily weather for the entire period. Absolutely balmy, never hit 30 C, and some days in the lower 20's. Sounds like perfect weather to me, even with a little rain.

And I love London, could easily spend 2 weeks there and not manage a day trip out.