2 weeks in Great Britian, best itinerary

I would add Oban in your Scotland travels if you can. On Rick's tours, Scotland is now a separate tour. If this is your first time to Britain, you may want some extra time in London, expensive but one of the most marvelous cities in the world. I love Bath, York and the Cotswolds.

Carrie - How are you planning on getting around?

well Joel, I was planning on taking trains and buses as my main source of transit. However, I am very open to whatever will get me there the cheapest and the easiest.

Carrie - Here's a website for you to look over for train schedules and prices. www.nationalexpresseastcoast.com. I know there is a national bus service in the Cotswolds but I cant remember the website.

To my mind this itinerary is far too busy for 2 weeks, its a bit like me saying is LA, Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Niagra Falls, New York and Florida Disneyland a good idea for 2 weeks.

Personally I'd stick to England and do Scotland another trip, unless you extend your trip another week.
If you're into history I'd say London, Windsor, Bath, Oxford, Cotswolds, Stratford, York and back to London.

If you're into countryside and some major 'must see's' - London, Bath, Cotswolds, Lake District, York and London.

We spent 10 days in London and never left the city. Even 10 days was barely enough to see the major sights there, Tower of London, British Museum, etc. We feel we could spend another 10 days there easily and see some sights again, and others we missed (like the British Library). I agree with Bob, it's best not to schedule too much in a short time like that. Take Rick's advice and spend 2 nights at each location, don't ever just plan one night anywhere. We nearly planned to spend the night in Paris while in London, and go there by the Chunnel train. We cancelled after the fire in the tunnel, and were glad we did.

My wife and I spent 28 days in the UK this summer and pretty much did what you have on this list except Bath. Out of the rest of it, I wish we had spent more time in Edinburgh (we spent 4 days - maybe 5 or 6 with some sidetrips), less time in York (we spent 4 days - 3 would have sufficed), more time in the Cotswolds (we spent 4 days, but could have easily done 6), and WAY less time in Wales (we spent 7 days b/c of a free place to stay). Wales was nice, but it is kind of out of the way from the rest. If I was doing two weeks, I'd skip it and focus on the others. But it is easy for me to say that b/c I can now always say I've been there :).

If you have 2 full weeks "on the ground" I'd suggest something like the following- London 3-5 days with day trips to any of the following: Windsor, Canturbury/Dover, Bath, Stratford-upon-Avon, Cardiff Wales. Train to York- 1 -2 nights there. Train to Edinburgh-1 to 2 nights. Train to Inverness- 3 -5 nights with day trips to Isle of Skye, Glen Coe or Great Glen, Culloden, Loch Ness cruise, Etc. Train to Sterling- 1 night. Train to London- 1 to 2 nights. We have done similar trips many times. But staying put in London for 5+ with lots of day trips is wonderful too. You could then go either Edinburgh or Cardiff and stay 5+ days and do day trips. Do some research. Feel free to Private message me with more ?s.

Carrie - This is very ambitious. Add Inverness and Ireland and it looks a lot like my first trip to the UK, but I had 4 weeks. Look at the map and you'll see how all over the place this itinerary is. Then what ever you think travel times are, double them. London yes, Bath & the Cotswolds, absolutely. Swap Oxford for Cambridge because it's closer or forget it entirely except possibly as a day trip from London. York and then to Edinburgh if you have time and I'm only saying that because I love Edinburgh. Start with Bath and finish with London. It all depends on you. If you're the "check list" type of traveler that's one thing but if you want to really see the Cotswolds and explore Bath it all takes time. Also remember you will be going back.

After looking at different options, we chose the following for a 12 night trip this summer with family of 4 (15 and 11 year olds): 4 nights London, 3 nights Bath, 2 nights York and 3 nights Edinburgh - Flying in London and out of Edinburgh.

We thought about another stop, but thought it would get too rushed/less relaxing.

Richard, the final post looks good. You should have time to explore each area and still get a good taste of the "whole".

Richard, Perfect.

if you are still going to Britain all the places you have picked is a good choose if i was you i would go to Cardiff in south wales because it is very beautiful and there is a lot of places to go

To Richard, great trip. We did same trip but took a day out of London and Bath and added 2 days in the Cotswolds. Either way you can't go wrong. The Cotswold's area was great.

I'm confused. Is this Richard's post or Carrie's?