RS's Great Britain 22 day Itinerary

Hello Bob. Ignore (forget) the recommended itinerary in the book "Rick Steves' GREAT BRITAIN". Decide what places you want to go to, then ask for transportation advice here at the traveller's helpline. The Lonely Planet book on England has information about many good places. If you want to walk through a good old mansion in England, from York you could go to a town in Derbyshire for a visit to Chatsworth House. It is near Bakewell. I think Chatsworth is the best mansion in England (not including royal palaces).

I'm not familar with Rick's interary, but if I had 20+ days in the UK (we always did 9-14 day trips), here's what I'd do: (NOTE_ we always use trains- never have driven in the UK) London- 5-7 days with possible day trips to any of these by train- Windsor, Canterburry, Dover,Winchester, Brighton,Cardiff (could do 2 or 3 days here), Stratford-upon-Avon, Cardiff, Bath (could spend few days here and possibly rent a car to visit the Cotswolds) Train to York- 2+ days (if you are interested in driving, possibly rent a car and see some of the Yorkshire dales, Durham, Haidrian's wall, etc.) Train to Edinburgh- 2 days Train to Aviemore- 3+ days with trips to visit distilleries, Blair Atholl, and time to spend on more rural activities Train to Inverness- 5-7 days with day trips via tour companies to Isle of Skye and Eilen Donan castle (see Great Glen, Glen Coe, etc.), cruise up Loch Ness with stop at Urquart Castle and Drumnadrochit, trip to Culloden and Clava Cairns with time to walk in some lovely spots Possilby go up to Orkney for a few days, but can do that as day trip also. Train to Glasgow- 2 days You miss Wales, but could shorten time in some places so you could see Snowdonia (we enjoyed staying in Betws-y-Coed) and Cardiff and maybe some castles. It all depends on your priorites.
Tell us more about your interests and we'll be able to make better suggesstions FOR YOU.

You'll get as many answers as responders to your question. If you follow the RS itinerary, you will be very busy and hit his version of the "highlights." In some cases you're only going to see enough to find out if you'd like to come back and see it better. The one nice thing about the RS books is that he gives you an opinion and not (IMHO) an endless list of wonderful things to see and do like most guidebooks. It's nice to supplement the RS book but for a first visit it's a good starting point. As for itinerary, you should carefully read his book and see what the sights are for each stop. You may not care to see Blackpool or even Bath. Drop what you don't want to see. If you have 22 days, you can easily add several days to London on top of Rick's miserly 3 days. You may want to immerse yourself in North Wales. Don't take his suggestions as gospel. Be sure to carefully see the travel times between stops. Some places (IMHO) aren't worth bothering with public transportation on a first visit based on the time and trouble to get there. Some places are great relying on public transportation. Even with a car you can find yourself driving way more than you want to.

You'll get two totally opposite opinions on advanced reservations for lodging here. One camp is for the free spirits who want to be able to be spontaneous and go where their whims take them. I'm in the other extreme for trips where I'm targeting specific destinations. So, I'll recommend you always get reservations. Getting reservations ahead of time means you know where you'll be sleeping that night but it also means you need to get there. This necessitates more planning so you know how far it is to your next stop so you know when you have to get on the road (or train, etc). You need to have a decent idea of how long you'll spend at the various sights. You probably could get away with not having reservations but you may spend time driving around to different B&Bs until you find one that you like. I would definitely make reservations in any large city you'll be visiting.

I agree with the posters above and take what interests you in his books and develop a path. As you plan ( I am in those stages myself for a trip in June) it becomes evident to what fits and what does not, based on the time you have, the places you HAVE to see and distances. Use a trip estimator to help you judge traffic and travel times. I used AA, which gives you lovely drive maps. Since I am Welsh and my grandparents came from Wales, it is getting 4 days on my 15 day tour. I had to sacrifice York and Durham for this trip as I just did not have enough time to get back over to the eastern side of the isle. I need to see castles, Glastonbury, Wells, Tintern and of course some sights in London as well! Good luck on your planning, it becomes a great jigsaw puzzle as you setttle into the plan... Nancy

My thanks to all of you for your thoughtful replies. During our trip we hope to visit the "must see" places so we will be spending at least 4 days in London before we begin to visit other areas. While there, we will be staying with friends in the west London borough of Ealing. I am a Presbyterian pastor so we have an interest in visiting places that relate Presbyterian church history like Westminster Abbey in London and John Knox sites in Scotland. We also like to visit churches and listen to pipe organs. (We will be in London on a Sunday so we will be able to attend an organ recital and an Evensong in one of the London cathedrals.) I am in the early stages of planning an itinerary. When I get further along I will post it for your comments and suggestions. One further question, since we are traveling in the shoulder season is it necessary to make advance lodging reservations?

Ken, I too think it wise to make advance reservations. We followed that procedure in Germany last year with the exception of the final three days. I asked the querstion because I was not sure if it was best to follow the same procedure in Great Britain. Thanks for your answer. Bob

When we first started traveling quite a few years ago, we did not make advance reservations. From not making advance reservations we moved to having the Tourist Office locate a place for us once we were there. Now we always book in advance. I know it's not what some people like, but we find it actually saves us time. We have gotten quite proficient in estimating travel times and how much time to spend in each place so it works for us (plus, we know what kind of room we want, so can target that ahead of time).