Share your itinerary for Scotland, England and France

[Anonymous]

https://handluggageonly.co.uk/2018/02/22/16-places-enjoy-best-seaside-holidays-uk/

Seaside inspiration

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fly into Paris. Stay 5 nights. Train to London. Stay 5 nights. Train to Edinburgh. Stay 4 nights. Then you’ll have to take the train back to London to fly back home.

There aren't nonstop flights from Scotland to here currently but there are plenty of one stop flights from Edinburgh or Glasgow, and that probably would be better than getting back to London just for a flight (or you could put London at the end and try to get a cheap flight from Paris to Edinburgh).

United operate a direct flight from IAD to EDI in summer, or at least they did pre-COVID.

But if that does not work out a good alternate is to fly via Dublin, to avoid entering the UK at Heathrow, which can be a bit of a horror show.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fly into Paris. Stay 5 nights. Train to London. Stay 5 nights. Train to Edinburgh. Stay 4 nights. Then you’ll have to take the train back to London to fly back home.

There aren't nonstop flights from Scotland to here currently but there are plenty of one stop flights from Edinburgh or Glasgow, and that probably would be better than getting back to London just for a flight (or you could put London at the end and try to get a cheap flight from Paris to Edinburgh).

United operate a direct flight from IAD to EDI in summer, or at least they did pre-COVID.

But if that does not work out a good alternate is to fly via Dublin, to avoid entering the UK at Heathrow, which can be a bit of a horror show.

Unfortunately that IAD-EDI route is among the thinner routes United has cut for the entire summer 2021 season. They still have a flight from Newark, and American does from Philly, and Delta does from Boston. Some of those aren't going to operate every day of the week, and schedules may get cut as summer approaches, based on government rules, infection rates, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://www.frommers.com/destinations/england/suggested-itineraries/in-two-weeks

If we just stay in England for two weeks, this itinerary could work with modest tweaks. I have no desire to go to Stonehenge or Stratford upon Avon (btdt). I’d prefer to see more of the coast and Cotswolds aiming for off the beaten path. Thoughts?

This is insane. Who the hell drives to Cornwall for one day?

Out of that I would do maybe do London, Oxford (maybe), Bath, Cornwall, Cotswolds.

Other south of England options would be Brighton and the south coast or the Norfolk Broads. Another option might be to jump over into Wales to visit Cardiff and the Brecon Beacons.

[Anonymous]

Sorry, spamming this thread now but I am enjoying living a life vicarious.

I would fly into Edinburgh via Dublin. Couple of days in Edinburgh and 5 day road trip round Scotland. Then to Paris, Bordeaux, and Biarritz.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, spamming this thread now but I am enjoying living a life vicarious.

I would fly into Edinburgh via Dublin. Couple of days in Edinburgh and 5 day road trip round Scotland. Then to Paris, Bordeaux, and Biarritz.

My Scotland driving route would be Edinburgh - St Andrews (via the East Neuk or Fife) - Cairngorms - Inverness - Isle of Skye - Mallaig (by car ferry) - Fort William - Loch Lomond - Glasgow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.frommers.com/destinations/england/suggested-itineraries/in-two-weeks

If we just stay in England for two weeks, this itinerary could work with modest tweaks. I have no desire to go to Stonehenge or Stratford upon Avon (btdt). I’d prefer to see more of the coast and Cotswolds aiming for off the beaten path. Thoughts?

This is insane. Who the hell drives to Cornwall for one day?

Out of that I would do maybe do London, Oxford (maybe), Bath, Cornwall, Cotswolds.

Other south of England options would be Brighton and the south coast or the Norfolk Broads. Another option might be to jump over into Wales to visit Cardiff and the Brecon Beacons.

That Frommer's itinerary really is insane. Blenheim Palace and Hampton Court in a single day would put me on complete palace/castle overload and you would not be able to either one justice, really. Certainly not with kids.

With two weeks, and wanting to not just be in two or three primary cities (London, Edinburgh, Paris), a couple of strategies come to mind, all roughly split two-thirds, one-third:

a) Fly into Edinburgh, spend a few days there, then rent a car and either explore Scotland, or visit some combination of Lake District, Yorkshire Dales, North York Moors, York. Return to Edinburgh, fly to Paris, and fly home from Paris. I would imagine splitting maybe 9 or 10 days UK/4 or 5 days Paris.
b) Fly into London, spend several days there, then rent a car and head to the southwest. Lots to choose from -- I love Dorset and Devon, and you could also go on to Cornwall. You could hike the Coast Path, eat lots of cream teas, hunt for fossils, go paddleboarding or surfing. On the way (or way back), you could visit some cathedral cities (Winchester, Salisbury), or do a bit of a detour up to Bath, Cotswolds and Oxford. And then the Chunnel to Paris.
c) Fly into Paris, spend time there and in the French countryside (I have only been to Provence, so can't provide many suggestions here), for a total of 10-ish days, then chunnel train or flight to UK for final four days of vacation in London.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
That Frommer's itinerary really is insane. Blenheim Palace and Hampton Court in a single day would put me on complete palace/castle overload and you would not be able to either one justice, really. Certainly not with kids.

+1 I kind of wonder if they’ve even been to England. There’s no train from Oxford to Woodstock. It’s a bus, and it takes ten minutes just to walk from the bus stop to the palace itself. That itinerary is totally unrealistic about actual travel times. (The day that starts with Windsor and ends at Piccadilly Circus is also absurd.) Reader, do not take their advice! You will be miserable!

[Anonymous]

Is that the itinerary that for London starts at Westminster abbey then suggests working your way along the south bank, maybe seeing the globe, to the tower bridge and visiting it i lb the afternoon? Even that is crazy

[Anonymous]

Personally, I would focus on France/England and skip Scotland to save on travel time.

How about something like this:

London
Winchester
Southampton
Bournemouth
Jersey or Guernsey
St Malo or Granville
Mt. St Michel
Bayeux/D-Day Beaches
Honfleur
Paris
Eurostar back to London

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.frommers.com/destinations/england/suggested-itineraries/in-two-weeks

If we just stay in England for two weeks, this itinerary could work with modest tweaks. I have no desire to go to Stonehenge or Stratford upon Avon (btdt). I’d prefer to see more of the coast and Cotswolds aiming for off the beaten path. Thoughts?

This is insane. Who the hell drives to Cornwall for one day?

Out of that I would do maybe do London, Oxford (maybe), Bath, Cornwall, Cotswolds.

Other south of England options would be Brighton and the south coast or the Norfolk Broads. Another option might be to jump over into Wales to visit Cardiff and the Brecon Beacons.

That Frommer's itinerary really is insane. Blenheim Palace and Hampton Court in a single day would put me on complete palace/castle overload and you would not be able to either one justice, really. Certainly not with kids.

With two weeks, and wanting to not just be in two or three primary cities (London, Edinburgh, Paris), a couple of strategies come to mind, all roughly split two-thirds, one-third:

a) Fly into Edinburgh, spend a few days there, then rent a car and either explore Scotland, or visit some combination of Lake District, Yorkshire Dales, North York Moors, York. Return to Edinburgh, fly to Paris, and fly home from Paris. I would imagine splitting maybe 9 or 10 days UK/4 or 5 days Paris.
b) Fly into London, spend several days there, then rent a car and head to the southwest. Lots to choose from -- I love Dorset and Devon, and you could also go on to Cornwall. You could hike the Coast Path, eat lots of cream teas, hunt for fossils, go paddleboarding or surfing. On the way (or way back), you could visit some cathedral cities (Winchester, Salisbury), or do a bit of a detour up to Bath, Cotswolds and Oxford. And then the Chunnel to Paris.
c) Fly into Paris, spend time there and in the French countryside (I have only been to Provence, so can't provide many suggestions here), for a total of 10-ish days, then chunnel train or flight to UK for final four days of vacation in London.

Note, if you do rent a car and intend to go to the Lake District, rent the absolute smallest car you can. The roads are incredibly narrow.

[Anonymous]

Did a trip like this a few years ago by flying into Edinburgh via that IAD-EDI flight, flying to Bordeaux, and flying from Bergerac to London before heading home.

I love flying into Edinburgh— it’s a small airport with a much nicer arrivals procedure than London or Paris.

[Anonymous]

When are you traveling? Isn’t Paris in a locked down now? According to State Department, you will not be allowed to enter France without showing a qualifying compelling reason.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did a trip like this a few years ago by flying into Edinburgh via that IAD-EDI flight, flying to Bordeaux, and flying from Bergerac to London before heading home.

I love flying into Edinburgh— it’s a small airport with a much nicer arrivals procedure than London or Paris.

This sounds perfect!

How long did you travel? Where did you stay?

[Anonymous]

"My Scotland driving route would be Edinburgh - St Andrews (via the East Neuk or Fife) - Cairngorms - Inverness - Isle of Skye - Mallaig (by car ferry) - Fort William - Loch Lomond - Glasgow."

I second this itinerary--I did this in 1994 when my sister was getting her PhD at Glasgow University. I especially appreciated Castle Kilchurn, Eilean Donan castle, Glencoe and the five sisters of Kintail, as well as visiting the Culloden battlefield. I think they would all be along this driving itinerary. We did not have a lot of money and I remember that we stayed in this little B&B in Mallaig the night before we caught the ferry to Skye. It was Mrs. Watt's little crackerbox house and we had two twin beds in a tiny little room, but the best breakfast ever the next morning. On Skye, we splurged and stayed in an old manor house that was really cool. It was my first trip abroad and still one of my favorite trips.