UK trip Aug/Sept 2013

Yes, until the kids go back to school it is high season.

August 26 is also a bank holiday in England and Wales. Things will be more crowded then. Think "Labor Day Weekend." Are you just going to the cities or are you looking at other sites? Are you planning to drive or depend on public transportation? All this comes into play for people giving you their opinion and anything you get from here shouldn't keep you from doing your own detailed planning. You definitely want to fly "open jaw" with your arrival city being the start of your trip and your departure city the end. I suggest you figure out which two cities give you your best air options and price. An obvious suggestion is to fly into Dublin. Go to Belfast and then Edinburgh. You'd end up in London and fly home from there.

If you did that route in reverse (ie flying back home from Dublin) you would save the UK Air Passenger Duty on a transatlantic departure. This saves £67 each - although there is the factor of the specific air fares to take into consideration.

Thanks all for the information. It is our hope that we do not have to drive. We would prefer to take public transportation. We did it Italy to Germany and it worked well. We will look at the different fare costs. Coming from Portland, Or there are not a lot of options. thanks

Chuck: You will enjoy the UK much more if you drive. We are a middleage couple from Seattle and we have gone twice and driven both times. For a West Coast person it should be easy as we are used to driving every where. You may even save money as the trains tend to be expensive in UK. You will not need a car in London but you would miss a lot of sites in and around Edinburgh if you do not have a car. Scotland doesn't have the commuter style public transportation like the south of England. Most residents prefer to drive their autos to Costco. If you want to get out in the countryside and enjoy discovering special places; drive a car...you won't be sorry.

Chuck- We NEVER drive in Europe. The trains in the UK are easy to use and we find they are not that expensive if you plan carefully (you'll have to do the math regarding pre-purchasing and BritRail passes and decide if flexibility is something you want or don't need). And gas (petrol) is VERY expensive. And parking is expensive and sometimes rare. The one exception might be Ireland. It doesn't have the extensive rail network that England,Scotland and Wales has.
It is true that some areas are not as easily accessed by rail (the Cotswolds for example), but you can see much of the UK using only public transport. And we enjoy the 'rail experience', too. (listen to the Moody Blues song "English Sunset to get an idea).

Marco is correct to try to save on the Heathrow departure tax. We have done both modes of transport, public and car rental. Have pro and con for both. If you are only considering cities as you stated, no need for a car at all. Go for what you think is best for you. Enjoy.

The Band B rate APD does not apply from Belfast either, if flying directly back to the USA and not connecting in GB.

Hi Some things to think about. Start looking at either ,flying into Dublin, tour Ireland,hire car, fly to edinburgh (this is 49-69€ ex Dublin) hire car, tour Scotland, then move south, drop off car, go to london, and fly home. Or do the reverse. Yes fuel is more expensive than the US, but , you will be driving a fuel efficient small car, and anyhow, budget for it. Why the posts that keep the fear of hiring a car alive, just take a look as the cost of the train travel, where the trains don't go, For the car include all the insurance cover in your calculations, they get cheaper on weekly rates but only you can decide what is cost effective for you. Look for flights to from London, there will be deals coming up.
Google Rick Steve's utube ireland and take a hour tour with Pat, to see where you want to go. Regards

While I generally agree with Toni's urging to just use trains, a car can be essential for some sorts of travel. That is, if you want to spend a lot of time exploring, in depth, an area poorly served by rail. For example, I spent two weeks in a relatively small section of Scotland's Highlands in 2011, with a car. I wasn't on a schedule. I meandered slowly and often got lost. It was great fun. But, it was a special circumstance. The stress for Americans of driving on the left while seated on the right is often exaggerated. But, it is different, and the stress will vary from person to person. In my experience, most people find Day One to be miserable. An important factor that is almost always ignored is that the road signs and the rules of the road are often very different than in the U.S. These are more likely, in the long run, to produce frustration. In general, Americans driving for the first time in the UK should have a navigator, avoid congested areas (cities and around airports), avoid blind reliance on GPS by buying and studying good maps, and figure on an average speed off the motorways of 35-40 mph. Do NOT drive between major cities if no sightseeing is involved. Use the rails. Renting a car costs more than in the U.S., and gas/diesel fuel is roughly $10 a gallon.

Chuck, Based on the information that Marco posted about the departure tax, you could (for example) travel London > Edinburgh > Belfast > Dublin. It should be possible to fit York in between London and Edinburgh if desired. It shouldn't be necessary to rent a car at all. You could use this method: > London to Edinburgh - if you pre-book your ticket, you should be able to save some money. Check the Seat 61 website for all the details. > Edinburgh - if you want to take some day trips to the Highlands, Loch Ness, etc., there are excellent local tour firms that will take care of all the transportation (details in the Guidebook). If you want to visit the Royal Yacht Brittania, that's easily done with the local Buses. > Edinburgh to Belfast - I believe EasyJet operates on the that route and that would be a good choice. > Belfast to Dublin - travel by train. It's an easy and pleasant trip (I've travelled that route in the reverse direction). August and September are "high season" so it will likely be busy in the U.K. Reserving accommodations would be a really good idea. Depending on the dates you'll be in Edinburgh, the Festival, Fringe Festival and Military Tattoo take place in August, so it will be crowded at that time. Good luck with your planning!

We just came back from a London and Scotland trip. I highly recommend traveling between London and Scotland by overnight train. It's an inexpensive way to travel and you don't lose valuable daytime traveling between the two. When we traveled this way, we left around 11 pm and arrived in the morning refreshed (sleeper cabins provided on the train). Glasgow from Edinburgh is only 45 minutes by train and can be easily done as a nice day trip. We also went to Loch Ness which was beautiful if you have some extra time. Edinburgh has a lot of history, Glasgow is more commercial.

Thank you all for the information which will help to make our trip fun and efficient. We also very much enjoy getting off the beaten path and mingling with the and will be looking to stay in B&B's.
We hope you all have a Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday Season wherever you are at or travel.

If you don't want to drive, you might want to look into the coaches (that's what they call the longer distance buses). They can be very convenient and reasonable. They are clean with big windows and usually good temperature control. National Express Coach is the big one. You can save money if you can buy in advance, even a day or so, if you have internet access. You can opt to pick up your ticket at the coach station. I found driving in Scotland very easy, it just wasn't very congested.

If you use only public transportation (especially in the UK) you will miss seeing some of the small quaint villages. I strongly suggest thinking of renting a car in Edinburgh and driving down to London, dropping off the car outside (like in St. Albans) of London and taking the train into London.
You won't be able to, as you say get off the beaten path if you use public transportation, you need a car for that. You won't regret it.

I have been to Ireland, Scotland and England 3 times in the last two and a half years as my daughter has moved to London. I have a few suggestions that worked well for us. We took a train from London to Edinburgh and then rented a car at the Edinburgh airport. Returning to London we flew as it was going to be a lot less expensive, so really research your options. Everyone enjoyed the train ride up to Scotland, as the scenery is wonderful. Scotland has so many quaint towns that you really need to explore, as wonderful as Edinburgh is, those small towns are really where it is at. Again in Ireland, the countryside is amazing. Dublin was good for 3 nights, but I would definately go west to Galaway and that area, Kylemore Abby, Ashford Castle, the coast, it was a fabulous area. Belfast is different, but worth seeing, and if you have time there is alot to see in Northern Ireland, we only spent 2 nights in Belfast due to time. One of our best memories of Ireland was when we were traveling on a country road in the rain and the sheep and the cows were blocking our lane and we couldn't move for half an hour until they decided to move, but we have great pictures from that journey! London has so much to see, do the double decker bus to get a feel for the city. Do all of the main sights, including some of the museums and churches, pubs and hit some of the different neighborhoods, they are all so different, I love the area around Liverpool Street Tube station and I love the area around St Paul's and Burough Market! A trip to London would not be complete without a day spent in Greenwich, take the boat on the Thames to get there. . . great sights, great market on weekends, great pubs, park is amazing, and the view of London is the best! Walk through the park to Blackheath, another charming town alot of people don't know about! You can take the tube from Greenwich back.