10 Day Trip To England

By train London to Manchester is just over 2 hours, Manchester to York is 1 hour 25 minutes, York to Bath is 4 hours 20 minutes including a change at Bristol Temple Meads station, and Bath to London is just under 1 hour 30 minutes. So, that is just over 9 hours on trains, over 4 days when you will actually be travelling, a bit more than 2 hours on average on each of those days. That sounds fine to me, but I live here! The question for you is when do you think you will pass this way again? I'm not interested in football, so I can't see the attraction of Manchester, but assuming you really don't want to miss that and will therefore be in the north anyway it would be a shame to miss York, and Bath would be the obvious place to cut. London really needs as much time as you can give it, but if there will be a next time, perhaps you could spend more time then?

Hi Liz, When you say "already booked," I guess you mean your round trip airfare to and from London is booked? So any itinerary must start and end there, and obviously the Man U match cannot be moved. What time of day do you arrive in London? Is Day 10 your departure day? What time do you have to be in Manchester for the match? It's possible you're doing too much, but I think it can be done if those are your priorities. What questions come to mind involve days 1-3. You'll arrive in London. Early? Late? Will you check into a hotel and try to see some of the city that day? Then you must check out, go to Manchester, check into hotel, drop your bags, and get to the match. Then day three is another check out and travel to York. Two days later and you're moving back south again. There is a lot of crisscrossing and train travel. Two thoughts. You could skip Bath and spend an extra day in York and in London at a slower pace. Or if you arrive in the UK early, maybe you could go from London directly to Bath, catch the highlights that afternoon, and depart early the next morning for Manchester? Use days 5-6 for more of York or London as suits your interests. These are just ideas. Without more specifics on the fixed dates, I'm just guessing. Happy travels, Matt
(P.S. You don't have to believe me. I'm a Tottenham Hotspur supporter.)

If you'd like to see everything that's in your original itinerary, here's how I'd do it: Day 1 - London Day 2 - Manchester Day 3-4 - Train to York, visit York, rent a car and drive in the Moors of Yorkshire, etc Day 5-7 Train to London, sightseeing & visit friends Day 8- Train to Bath (early morning) Do it as a day trip. Day 8- Evening train back to London
Day 9 & 10- London & sightseeing That puts some space between your train trip back to London from York and your train trip to Bath. That will make it seem like you're not constantly rushing around on trains. And it will give you some time to rest in London and see some sights. "Would splitting the time between London and York (North York) be enough?" Yes.

It seems a shame to be so close and skip all of the Cotswolds (one of my favorite places) I would give up Bath and do some small villages since most of the rest of your trip is cities.

Bath is the obvious outlier. Now while Bath and York are completely different places, no doubt about that, they are sufficiiently similar, IMVVVHO, to skip one or the other. For extra train time to get to and from Bath you get: Hills white buildings Regency archietecture A Crescent or two A costume museum - meh narrow lanes Smelly water at the Spa Relatively scarce and expensive lodging -=- Stick in York and you get Yellower buildings and some white ones Much older archietecture Some cobbles Jorvic Museum - meh even narrower lanes and many more of them, including The Shambles no smelly water relatively abundant and relatively less expensive lodging including dozens of decent B&Bs just outside the walls and... Several really good tearooms including 2, yes 2, Betty's You are a stone's throw from Harrogate with the Royal Horticultural Society Gardens, a spa with smelly water, a spa with all sorts of exotic and strangly wierd electric and passive 19th century excercise and spa equipment - AND 2 more branches of Batty's, and a lovely garden through the town making an extremely nice walk to the RHS Gardens all that York Moors coutryside and even the North York Moors steam railway, one of the best in the world
a castle one of the top 5 (IMVVVVHO) churches in the world, York Minster. Incomparable at Evensong. a many many other things which are wonderful and cheap You pays your money and takes your choice ...

I think that for this one, I would, for the most part, throw in with Nigel. The exception: Yorkminster. It sounds like Manchester is a number one priority. So, train there and see the game. With your short timeframe of 10 days, I'd probably limit to two places (not counting Manchester). Given the short train trip to York, it makes sense. Then, I'd spend the rest of the time in London. "See all the sights" in London in three days? It would take months, if not years!!

I agree with Nigel. Give Bath a miss. (Or if it is really really important, go with Rebecca's suggestion and do it as a day trip from London.)

I want to know what Nigel's other top-four churches are! And I agree that York offers more than Bath, if you have to choose, and your original itinerary seems pretty rushed. Assume you will return....

In no particular order, Pantheon Koelner Dom St Pauls London Worcester with Kings College Chapel - Cambridge Westminster Abbey the French Church on P Navonna whose name escapes me The Old Coventry Cathedral (ruins) San Moise - Venice
not far behind and a host of churches and basilicas throughout Italy, particularly in Rome and Venice which I feel are like my homes away from home. FWIW, and my purely personal opinions