Critique my 20 night England, Scotland maybe Dublin itinerary

To answer your questions... Here are my opinions:

1) 3 days is not too long for the Cotswolds if you have a car. Without a car, maybe it is. I haven't tried it.

2) I have no knowledge of this. I did Oxford as a day trip from London.

3) NO NO NO -- Edinburgh is way way better than Dublin.

4) I would skip Dublin and spend more time in the Highlands of Scotland. You could go to Inverness by train and do some tours from there. Wales would be nice, but I'm not sure how much you could see without a car. Cardiff is a nice city you could easily get to from Bath. That's the only place I've been to in Wales, but I am dying to get to the rest of Wales.

We've been to the UK more than 40 times and we only use trains and other public transport. While I enjoyed Ireland the one time we visited, we did a 'big bus' tour. Ireland has more limited public transport. Personally, this is what I'd do:
Drop the Cotswolds- only one train stop there, and while pretty, not worth 3 days to me.

Drop Dublin- loose too much time to get there

Dot he following:
London 4 nights- day trip to Blenheim via Oxford

Train to Stratford- 3 nights- 1 daytrip to Warwick, 1 daytrip (or 1/2 day) through Cotswolds (see Tourist Info office in stratford)
Train to York- 1 night
train to Edinbrugh- 2 nights
Train to Aviemore-3 nights
Train to Inverness 5 nights- day trips to various places ( Urquart Castle & Loch Ness, Isle of Skye & Eliean Donnan Castle, Culloden Batttlefield & Clava Carns, Orkney, Great Glen & Glen Coe,etc. - see Tourist Info Office)
Train to Glasgow- 1 night
Train to Cardiff Wales- 1 or 2 nights- fly home from there or train to London to get home.

I have to agree that Edinburgh is better than Dublin. Also, if you can add a day ato Scotland and some time in the north you will be happy with yourdecision. It's beautiful and worth the extra day.

You missed Glasgow Dave.

(hee hee - joking)

I like Toni's revision of your itinerary, although I'm not sure why she has you staying 1 night in York. (Perhaps just to get you to the Highlands faster. ;D) York's worth more time. You'll probably have time to see the Minster though and walk the wall. Both of which are worth the one night. You'll get a flavor of the city and probably want to return to see more, when you have more time.

I'd save the Lake District for when you can afford or are comfortable with the idea of driving over there. (I'm not sure of your reason to avoid the car.)

Is this your first time in Britain? If so, I'd go with Toni's revision, if you can, and save Ireland for another trip.

Dave - I also like Toni's itinerary. Here is a link to Eastcoast Rail for cheap train tickets. The earlier you can purchase tickets, the cheaper than can be. Eastcoast Web site

You might consider your visit to Blenheim palace from Oxford. Blenheim palace is just a couple of kilometers outside of Oxford. We visited the palace from the Cotswold but we had a rental car. We made it a day trip and visited several Cotswold locations both to and from the palace. This worked for us. It would seem to be much more difficult and time consuming by bus.

Drop Dublin, add Lake district. Wales difficult without more time and or car. Highlands a long way north from Edinburgh and w/o car. Cotswolds is terrific if you slow down alittle going from village to village is lovely, peaceful and scenic but only for those who can slow down and enjoy. include pub lunch and dinners as the social part there is fun. Darts, conversation, sport games on TV at pub bar

We stayed in Woodstock and did Blenheim Palace and
found it very charming. I think the Cotswolds for 3 days
without a car might be a bit long.

Skip Dublin and keep Edinburgh/it is lovely city./don't miss Royal Yacht at the harbor/easy bus trip from center of town/maybe 15 t to 20 minutes/also take tour of Mary King's Close by the castle/it was great.