help with logistics: Bath-Cotswolds-Conwy-Edinburgh-London

'I'm considering Edinburgh as a day trip from London.'

How??

I suggest you rent the car. Get an automatic to make it easier.

You can probably find bus connections between Bath and the Cotswolds. It might require you to go back to London. Going to North Wales will also be an issue but I suspect doable.

Rick's book has details on public transportation options for all the identified locations. Some of them are downright ugly without a car. You will also spend many supposed vacation hours and days sitting in a bus or train.

Your comment on the $500+ rail pass is one of my concerns. Rick recommends taking the bus to Bath but renting a car in London lets you tour the area on the way to Bath. He then recommends renting a car in Bath, doing his circuit to York. In York you check the car in and take the train to London. Even that one train ticket (for two that is) seems pricey versus keeping the car and dropping it off in London. In London the car would become a liability.

Rick also does tours where you wouldn't have to worry about transportation. There are certainly many other operators too. I'd really recommend these over trying to do an intensive pubic transportation tour of Britain.

Without a car, your trip will be anything but relaxing. If your family just won't rent one, then you may have to skip portions like the Cotswolds. Even if you get there by bus, you'll be mostly stuck in a town and unable to tour the countryside and towns that make the area so nice. I would think it'd get boring pretty fast.

You say sleep in Cotswolds, but the Cotswolds is a region. You say a day trip from Cotswolds to Stratford-Upon-Avon but the town is often used as a good base for touring the Cotswolds. It's not a "day trip" so to speak. And a drive from Bath to Stratford is a day of pleasant drivng through the Cotswolds with time to stop at Stonehenge and Avebury as well as some small towns.

Bath is a wonderful place and good for relaxing and shopping and eating.

Edinburgh is worth more than a day and half. And its about a 4 hour train ride from London. That would make a pretty long day trip to say the least.

Have you invested in some guidebooks? RS covers much of your trip and others will fill in blanks. Use resources online too to help plan. You might also want to quickly catch up on lodging as August is the busiest travel time for Europe and hotels in popular places like Bath and Cotswolds fill up.

Doesn't sound very relaxing to me. And I disagree with the others about driving. We have been to the UK more than 40 times and NEVER driven. It would just stress us out and add alot of worries. Parking is scarce and expensive, we don't drive stratight drives, much less with our left hand for shifting, gas (petrol) is horribly expensive, and many roads are what we'd consider "back roads". Just not for us. The trains are easy to use and we like getting a BritRail pass for the flexibility (I know it is not a price bargain like it used to be). If I were planning your trip, here's what I'd do:
Skip Edinburgh this time- August is Festival month and finding lodging will be hard and it will be EXPENSIVE. Plus the city will be VERY VERY VERY crowded. Fly into London- plan on using it as a base. Do day trips by train- easy, though not always cheap. The BritRail pass is worth it to me- no worry about getting tickets, flexibilty for change due to weather and other things. You can do Bath, Stratford-upon-Avon (can do a 1/2 day tour of the Cotswolds from there), Windsor, Brighton, Winchester, Canterburry, Dover, Cardiff Wales, Brighton, Oxford, Cambridge and othere places as day trips easily by train!!! Do some research and prioritize where you want to go. When you get there, make day by day plans based on weather and what you find in London. Feel free to pm me- I can give you a copy of my article about doing day trips from London by train if you are interested.

I think Toni's suggestions are the best for you so far if you are not using a car. I took the train in the UK when I was single and found it was easy to book a room from the Tourist Information office, often in or near the train station. You can also book day tours to the local sites from there. When I stayed in Bath I took a day tour to Stonehenge. The train goes thru Conwy, but I would reccomend staying in Chester and take day tour to Conwy as it is very small and the Castle can be done in an hour. For the Cotswolds I would take day tour from Oxford. I reccomend Blenheim Palace in Woodstock. I know the bus goes there. If you have Scotish Ancestry it is worth going to Edinburgh...it can be seen if you have 2 days. I would take the train there from London and stop off in York. I wouldn't travel long distances by bus. It can take forever. Maybe after this first trip...you will be able to finally drive; which my husband and I have done the last 2 times. It really gives you the freedom to see what you want when you want to and opens up so many opportunities that are missed; especially since there are many places in the north where the trains don't run anymore. If you or your Mom drive now (you can rent automatics); it only takes a day to get used to the left side of the road. Have a great time.

My son didn't want to rent a car but I did so we got an automatic/I had driven stick in Ireland and had HARD time with shifting. We loved the flexibility of just stopping when/wherever we wanted and did not find driving on wrong side hard at all. Do what is best for you but don't be scared. Agree, day trip to Edinburgh from London is too much. On the other hand/if you don't want a car you can definitely do day trips from London to BAth,Windsor,etc and keep London as your base.

Thanks for the replies. I am using Rick's book, Great Britain 2010, which piqued my interest in the Cotswolds and Conwy. He gives non-car options so I was trying to stitch together my ideal trip but it seems I need to pare down my targets. At one point I did think staying mostly in London and taking day trips by rail (I also read Britain by Britrail 2010) but it seems quite touristy--as opposed to settling into a small town for awhile--and the time on the train adds up.

If we let go of Edinburgh and Conwy, how does this sound: sleep in Bath, Cotswolds, London and take rail day trips or bus tours from those bases? Or should we choose between Bath and the Cotswolds and have just 2 bases in 14 days?

By the way, our plane tickets to/from London are already booked. Thanks!

Emi, I thought your original itinerary was pretty good with a rental car. Without one, I agree with the others that it would be very stressful. With you trip so close, I think you need to keep it simple. I loved Toni's idea of basing in London the whole time and doing day trips. It's very easy. There are numerous day trips that require a train ride of just an hour or hour and a half. After a day of walking around that hour or so on the train on the way back to London is very relaxing.

I also like your idea to split your time between London and Bath. I love Bath and there are many places you can get to easily from there. I think staying in the Cotswolds without a car is not ideal. You might be better off taking a tour of the Cotswolds from Bath. I would also look into tours of other places like Stonehenge, Avebury, etc. from Bath. I think that is your best bet. I'm sure some people can tell you what tour companies would be best to look at.

Try to nail down your basic itinerary quickly so you can book your hotel(s) -- and tours if you decide to go that route. August is a busy travel month. Good luck! You can figure out the day trips from London later.

I spent two weeks in England last fall based in Bath and London, with a daytrip to Paris. From Bath I daytripped to Salisbury. The same train would have taken me to Southhampton--a possible daytrip. Trains go to parts of Wales from Bath in an hour or two. In the past I have taken commercial day tours from Bath to Wells cathedral and Glastonbury and also to parts of the Cotswalds. From London I've taken daytrips by train to Cambridge, Brighton and Portsmouth as well as Paris.

Emi your latest plans seem more reasonable if not renting a car. Staying in London, Bath and Stratford would be good bases for tours to more remote areas like Stonehenge and through the Cotswolds. Your guidebooks should have more info on various tours, or try online with the local tourist sites. It should also balance seeing what you want without the stress of either driving or figuring out complicated bus routes from town to town.

Now really focus on booking rooms in your bases. Good luck!