Best Places to Visit in UK??

[Shaka]

My husband and I are planning to spend an extra 8 days in the United Kingdon later this summer and are trying to decide what to do with the time. I know this is a loaded question, but . . . What would you do with your time? I have been thinking of spending 3-4 days in London and then traveling around. The things on my list so far are Cambridge, Oxford, Stonehenge, Brighton, and Hadrian's Wall. I would love to get up into the Highlands of Scotland, but am not sure that is feasible with the time we have.

 

We are interested in hiking, art museums, and history which makes it difficult because there are so many tempting choices. We are going to rent a car so that should make some of the travel a bit easier (if we can figure out how to drive on the right!).

 

Any suggestions would be much appreciated! I can always count on the CruiseCritic folks for excellent advice!

[DougYWG]

Shaka, don't know if this will be excellent advice but anyway...

 

My personal favourites are the Cotswolds and the Lake District. I think you are right about Scotland. Great shame, but don't try to do too much in the limited time available.

 

In the Cotswolds you will find Stow-on-the-Wold, Bourton-on-the-Water, Upper Slaughter, Lower Slaughter, Broadway etc etc. Don't you just love the names? Cute as anything, straight out of Disney.

 

The Lake District is not so much cute villages as gorgeous scenery, mountains and lakes. Start at Windermere.

[Sekhmet]

Shaka,

 

If you're planning on 3-4 days in London, then I wouldn't try to be too ambitious in the other 3-4, and Hadrian's Wall on your list is a bit far, maybe 8 hours drive. I wouldn't bother with both Oxford and Cambridge, and I would pick Oxford of the two, but I'm slightly biased as I was a student there!

 

You will get your art musuems in London and Oxford, and your history everywhere. For walking within the southern part of the UK, the Cotswolds are a good suggestion - gentle and picturesque rather than rugged, and the South Downs. A bit further afield is the England/Wales border country (try Offa's Dyke instead of Hadrian's Wall - same function to keep the bandits out of England(!), different periods), or the Cornwall and the South West.

 

One final thing for now - driving on the right in the UK is NOT a very good idea - I guess you meant on the left, but it's always best to be sure??

[Alan2504]

I've gotta say SCOTLAND haven't I ??? :) :) :)

 

But seriously you should check out low-cost airlines like Ryanair, EasyJet.....

for internal flights from London upto Edinburgh or Glasgow

 

see below for Ryanairs current offers

 

http://www.ryanair.com/site/EN/

 

London to Glasgow for £0.99! plus charges & taxes.

You usually need to plan well in advance to get these offers :)

 

 

Alan

[EJNutz]

I would certainly recommend the Cotswolds. If you want to see Stonehenge then I would suggest going into Devon and Cornwall ( in particular Land's End) The scenery here is spectacular. As you have limited time I certainly wouldn't suggest driving to Hadrian's Wall or Scotland. THe budget airlines are your best bet for travel. I would alsoi say that you could probably find better places to visit than Oxford and Cambridge. However if you have a particular reasonm to go then they are not too far from London by road or rail.

 

Enjoy your time in the UK wherever you go. [/url]

[jbettlam]

I've gotta say SCOTLAND haven't I ??? :) :) :)

 

But seriously you should check out low-cost airlines like Ryanair, EasyJet.....

for internal flights from London upto Edinburgh or Glasgow

 

see below for Ryanairs current offers

 

http://www.ryanair.com/site/EN/

 

London to Glasgow for £0.99! plus charges & taxes.

You usually need to plan well in advance to get these offers :)

 

 

Alan

 

I'm sorry, I went to this site, but can't make heads or tails of these fares> At the risk of sounding American, how much is the L0.99 fare in U.S. $ ?

[Globaliser]

I'm sorry, I went to this site, but can't make heads or tails of these fares> At the risk of sounding American, how much is the L0.99 fare in U.S. $ ?

£0.99 = USD 1.87 today.

 

But as Alan says, you will usually need to plan well in advance to get any chance of finding the flights on which these fares are available. These will usually be found only on the flights that would otherwise go out part-empty or there may only be a small handful of seats at that price on each flight (if there are any at all).

 

Also, you need to be aware that Ryanair is probably the leanest and meanest of all the low-fare carriers. No favours, no concessions. 15 kg per person free baggage allowance, and they will charge for every single kilo over. And no backup - all they promise you is the flight, as and when they can operate it. Usually, it's fine, but when it goes wrong it can go horribly wrong. At the extremes it can be this bad: I remember a story of one flight being cancelled because the aircraft went tech, and some of the passengers were stuck in that airport for 4 days, because that's how long it took Ryanair to reaccommodate everyone on their later flights. There's no chance of Ryanair paying any money to fly you back on any other airline when that happens.

 

If you are thinking of flying from London to Glasgow or Edinburgh, the first place you should look is at British Airways and bmi. Very often their fares are no more than easyJet and Ryanair, and when they are sometimes the difference is more than made up for by the quality of service - but many people get suckered into thinking that easyJet and Ryanair must be infinitely cheaper than the major airlines, because they say they are. (But then again, many people actually believe what's said in advertisements!)

 

For the OP, I would have said that 8 days is enough either for staying in London and the south of England, or for going up to Scotland/Hadrians Wall, but not really enough for both.

[Elaine0138]

http://www.flybe offer great flights around the UK too.

 

For walking there is nothing like Scotland, bag a Munro or two.

 

I would actually give London a miss, great dirty place. Bath would be a great place to base yourself, handy for Stonehenge and the Cotswolds.

[judyzoo]

How about visiting the town of Bath? Nice, historial buildings, and the baths are a must-see for anyone interested in history.

[Bruin Steve]

We did just about what you are talking about in August 2001 as a post-cruise to our Baltics cruise...

 

To be honest, it was a fairly aggressive itinerary...We had to plan it out carefully...and we only got a hint of some places where it might have been preferable to spend a couple of days...But, we figured we may not be getting back with our kids and we wanted to show them as much as we could...Anyway, on a 8-day itinerary, with getting up to Scotland and all, we certainly didn't have time for 3 or 4 days in London...but, FWIW, here's what we did:

 

Day 1: Arrived at Heathrow (Our cruise ended in Copenhagen). Rented car and drove immediately to Stonehenge...after visit to Stonehenge, drove directly to Bath...Spent night 1 in Bath

 

Day 2: Took double decker bus tour of Bath then drove through Wales stopping at various sites (some town whose name I've forgotten with old Roman ruins) to Mold, North Wales, where we spent Night #2...

 

Day 3: Drove to Conwy, Wales, toured the Conwy Castle and walked around town, then doubled back and headed north, going slightly off course to visit some of the more interesting sections of Hadrian's Wall, then eventually ending up in Airth, Scotland (Stayed nights 3 and 4 at Airth Castle)...

 

Day 4: Got up early and drove to Inverness then down along Loch Ness, toured Urquhart Castle and drove through Ben Nevis and Scottish Highlands back to Airth, went to Edinburgh for the evening for Dinner and to wander around town

 

Day 5: Went back to Edinburgh, toured Edinburgh Castle then drove South to York, toured York and drove on to Warwick...Spent night in Warwick...

 

Day 6: Drove to Stratford-upon-Avon, toured Shakespeare's House and other sites then drove on to Oxford...toured Oxford (University and town) then drove on to London...

 

Day 7 and 8: London...took the hop-on, hop-off bus tour, visited various sites, etc...

 

Look, it's not ideal...and there's so much more to see that you miss trying to do it all in 8 days...And you hardly stay in one place long enough to really appreciate it...but...it did get us to a lot of places worth seeing (and there are other short stops we made along the way that I left out of this abridged version)...It depends on how you like to travel...this itinerary was fairly hectic...and there were places we intended to go that we bypassed for the sake of time, while other places we lingered a bit because they were nicer than anticipated...I particularly enjoyed York and Oxford...Because of an interest in Shakespeare, Stratford is always nice...My wife enjoyed Bath...Edinburgh may be one of the unexpectedly more charming cities...

 

Having the rental car allowed us to do a lot at our own speed though driving on the wrong side takes a bit getting used to...

 

But, your answer is, YES, it can be done...we're living proof...

[MVPinBoynton]

We did a tour to Windsor Castle and Hampton Court. It was a wonderful day. Lovely towns incredible castles without a lot of traveling time.

[Andym]

Steve,

Wow, thats some travelling you did. Even seasoned travellers over here in the UK would be pushed to attempt anything like it. I live near York, and I'm interested what you thought of it. It seems that most folk seem to offer advice that skips the north of england, when we have so much to offer. London to us is really somewhere we have to go to see the really big theatre productions that don't tour the country. Other than that it is overpriced and undercleaned, oh, and full of tourists.

[belgiancruiser]

Near Oxford, which is quite interesting and a must-see, is Blenheim Palace, birhtplace of Winston Churchill, and one of the most stateliest of Britains stately homes.

 

Stonehenge is near Salisbury, which has a beautiful cathedral, where, I think, one of the originals of the Magna Charta is exhibited.

 

Bath is certainly a must-see, a gorgeous Georgian town. Nearby is Bristol, where Brunels SS Great Britain of 1843 is exhibited (restoration seemingly complete this summer). After all, you were on a cruise, and SS Great Britain is one of the main ancestors of commercial passenger shipping !!

 

South of London is Canterbury with its cathedral, Leeds Castle is nearby. a little bit more in Kent are both Hever Castle (of Anne Boleyns fame) and the very beautiful gardens of Sissinghurst Castle.

 

Johan

[Andym]

Johan,

you just proved my point.

[Bruin Steve]

I live near York, and I'm interested what you thought of it.

We absolutely loved York. Of all of the many places we visited in Britain, York had to be one of the cleanest, most charming, most picturesque...We parked at the York Castle and wandered through town visiting York Minster, the Shambles and more...My daughters and wife are into shopping and the selection of shops rivals anywhere in the world...the streets and layout are very visitor-friendly, the people are extremely cordial...it has a very small-town feel...It is quite different than London...also, the history back to the Middle Ages is quite fascinating...

 

Even hearing people suggesting that those wanting to visit Scotland FLY between London and Edinburgh makes me think "Wow...they're going to miss York...what a waste!"

 

Okay, yes it is ambitious to drive the length of England and back, but visiting places like Stratford, Oxford, Hadrian's Wall and, of course, York, on the way makes it very much worthwhile...

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Don't attempt too much, concentrate on one or two areas. My knowledge is not extensive, but my favourites: West Country (Dorset, Devon, Cornwall), Cotswolds, Lake District, Yorkshire, Oxford.

 

We plan on doing something brief like this next summer. At the moment it's very open, but I definitely want to spend a couple of days in Oxford again, love that place. Maybe then we will go up to Wales, haven't been there yet.

 

Just don't bite off too much, relax and enjoy yourself!

[Tania]

Being leery of driving on the left, may daughter and I did two day tours out of London with Astral tours which uses 16 person mini-vans.

 

The first tour only had three people in the van so it was like a private tour. Bath was superb and Stonehenge was disappointing even with the included audio tour. We also stopped in a charming village called Laycock where a small bit a Harry Potter was filmed. Did the then-14 year old ever get a kick out of that! Took her picture in front of some house from the film...LOL...Drove through some Cotswold villages as well.

 

The second tour went to Oxford, Stratford and Warwick Castle. Not as exciting as Bath but we sure saw a lot, even a jousting tournament.

 

Andy. I understand how you feel about London...I feel the same way about Toronto but it doesn't prevent me from going regularly for some theatre and good shopping now that I've found the outlets north of the city. What selecton! And I still have a hankering for more time in London:)