Share your itinerary for Scotland, England and France

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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?

It was a really great trip--I was just looking at the photos the other day!

Admittedly, we were away for a month, but we're a stay-in-a-cottage-and-take-daytrips sort of family, with early mornings and early nights. We arrived in Edinburgh and spent a couple of nights, then rented a car and drove to a cottage near Loch Lomond for a week. We drove back to Edinburgh, and flew to Bordeaux -- I think we had to change planes in London, but everything went smoothly. From the Bordeaux airport we drove to a gite in the Dordogne (which I must say is a perfect destination for families [or almost anyone, really]). We stayed for two whole weeks; family members flew in to join us for a multi-generational trip. After our two weeks was up, we drove to Bergerac (RIP, Flybe Airlines?) and flew to London for a few days before heading home.

You'll notice we didn't go to Paris on this trip.

All of this was made possible by being able to use open-jaw tickets to and from Europe, renting a car at one airport in France and dropping it off at another without any big drop-off fee, and making use of low cost carriers for the flights to and from France.

I hope we will be able to resume this kind of thing post-pandemic.

Thanks!

I want us to be a cottage and day trips family. You’ve inspired me.

[Anonymous]

I’m leaning towards London, Cotswolds, either Isles of Scilly or Channel Islands, and Paris.

[Anonymous]

https://www.mummytravels.com/guide-isles-of-scilly-with-kids/

Isles of Scilly

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Yes! I returned a rental car early after driving in the Lake District! My nerves were shot. Also get an automatic so you can focus on driving and not on gear shifting. But worth it in the end because you can’t get around that area without a car.

TBF this is true in many parts of Scotland as well-- probably the most stressful driving I've done. In rural areas the roads may have 1 1/2 lanes and if there is oncoming traffic you try to time it with a passing lane cutout (and some bridges or tunnels don't even pretend to have more than one lane).

NP- we are considering a similar trip a couple years down the road, but I just don't know if we will be able to handle the driving- are there any good options for getting around the Lake District and Scotland by train/bus? Or would you really be limited to the main towns? Alternatively, if there's an area that gives you the most bang for your buck for driving, we could consider a car for part of the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Yes! I returned a rental car early after driving in the Lake District! My nerves were shot. Also get an automatic so you can focus on driving and not on gear shifting. But worth it in the end because you can’t get around that area without a car.

TBF this is true in many parts of Scotland as well-- probably the most stressful driving I've done. In rural areas the roads may have 1 1/2 lanes and if there is oncoming traffic you try to time it with a passing lane cutout (and some bridges or tunnels don't even pretend to have more than one lane).

Ach, this is what keeps putting us off taking a trip to Scotland. A million years ago, I lived in Edinburgh for a bit after college - I LOVED IT - but I was so broke back then I barely got to see any of the country. Now I am desperate to go back with my husband and see Edinburgh again, and explore more of that gorgeous place - but I really don't think either of us has the nerves to do the driving. I guess we could take shuttles around, but that seems to take a lot of the fun out of it. In short, how do you do this trip if you don't have nerves of steel?!

But yeah, OP - I think you could spend two happy weeks in Scotland alone. I'd go out to the outer isles go to hiking and exploring, personally.

[Anonymous]

I was the one complaining about roads in Scotland and I would say the main roads are fine (altho they do use roundabouts which you need to be careful about driving on the left). I would just try to stay off smaller roads if they make you uncomfortable.

Also if you want a tour company, Rabbie’s seems to use smaller vans so you could do some day trips that way. There’s also the “Harry Potter” steam train, so you that’s another option for getting around that might be fun/interesting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Yes! I returned a rental car early after driving in the Lake District! My nerves were shot. Also get an automatic so you can focus on driving and not on gear shifting. But worth it in the end because you can’t get around that area without a car.

TBF this is true in many parts of Scotland as well-- probably the most stressful driving I've done. In rural areas the roads may have 1 1/2 lanes and if there is oncoming traffic you try to time it with a passing lane cutout (and some bridges or tunnels don't even pretend to have more than one lane).

NP. I have driven and or lived in: Japan, UAE, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Egypt, many Caribbean islands, Colombia. It was driving in Scotland wedged between speeding lorries and lochs that shaved a few years off me. It's no joke if you're not used to it.

[Anonymous]

"Thanks!

I want us to be a cottage and day trips family. You’ve inspired me."


Go for it! We really love traveling like this, and I hope you will, too.