Two weeks England/Edinburgh alone
Replies: 6 - Last Post: Aug 30, 2012 11:50 AM Last Post By: fowler9
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Two weeks England/Edinburgh alone
Hello everyone,I am planning on traveling to England and Edinburgh in April next year on my own. By that time I will be 20, so it is not possible for me to rent a car, so I will be travelling by train (I will buy one of those britrail passes, so I won't have to worry about getting a good deal etc).
I was thinking of flying from Amsterdam to Edinburgh,and fly back from London to save time. But I am not quite sure how many places I could visit without rushing anything. Even though I have been to London before, I still have some things I'd like to see (but I have seen the major tourists sights).
My itinerary so far is 3 days Edinburgh (is this too short?), 3 or 4 days London (because the last day never really feels like much fun), an overnight stay in York, 2 days of Liverpool and a daytrip to Oxford or Cambridge (from London).
I do realise that these are all cities and I assume that this might become a bit much for that reason. So I am definitely open for suggestions, because I would love to see small towns as well,as long as it is accessible by public transport.
I was also wondering how much spending money I will need (so excluding accommodation, flight and britrail pass), I know from experience that London is expensive, but how about the other cities? Would let's say 50/60 pounds a day be enough?
I hope you can help me!
Edited by: humanfly
1
A lot depends what you plan to do when you get here but for me 3 days in Edinburgh including the day you fly in from Amsterdam would be enough.It would be well worth while checking out point to point rail tickets against the price of a pass - there are some bargains, but you need to look at the individual rail companies to get the best deals. You might also like to check out national express and megabus coaches who also have some really cheap rates.
Personally I'd spend longer in York than Liverpool but again it depends what you want to do while you're there. Chester is only an hour from Liverpool by train and worth considering.
As for day trips from London, I think Cambridge has more to offer tha n Oxford, but had you considered Canterbury, Winchester, Salisbury among others. Your budget sounds OK depending on how much travel / entrance fees etc you intend. Good luck!
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I hadn't really considered that it might actually be cheaper to buy point to point railtickets, so I will definitely do some research on that!I was already wondering whether two full days of Liverpool would be a bit too long for my itinerary. Chester seems like a really nice place to visit, so I might make a stop there as well!
To be honest I hadn't really thought of other daytrip options, but the towns you suggested seem very interesting as well, possibly even nicer than Oxford or Cambridge.
Thank you for your helpful reply!
3
A couple of random thoughts- as regards York v Liverpool, it really depends what you're interested in, because York (and Chester, for that matter) have thousands of years of history, but if you want to immerse yourself in the Beatles and football scene in Liverpool, you can. If you're travelling from Edinburgh to York by train then I'd suggest working the Carlisle-Settle-Leeds railway line into your itinerary (plenty of connections to York at Leeds)- several hours of dramatic scenery and some small country market towns like Settle and Skipton that you might not otherwise have the chance to see.£50 a day should be plenty on top of your accommodation and travel- food isn't all that expensive (or doesn't need to be) if you look in the right places. There are several chains of sandwich shops which do a lunch deal for about £3.50 (sandwich, drink and crisps or chocolate) and pubs in the Wetherspoon chain offer a good variety of hot meals in the £5-10 range, but you should also try some of the typical British food such as fish and chips, pork pies and the wide range of ethnic cuisines available in most towns and cities.
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Just wanted to point out that there is a lot more to Liverpool than the Beatles and football. It was one of the most important cities during the time of the empire and sadly during the slave trade. It allegedly has the most grade 1 listed buildings outside London and also allegedly the most green space per head of population in the country. The Albert Dock was the first non combustable warehouse in the world and makes up the largest collection of grade 1 listed buildings in the country on 1 site. Along with the Pier Head area it is part of a very beautiful world heritage site.That said, and as a proud scouser it pains me to say it, given your tight time budget maybe 1 day is enough.
5
Thank you for the tip regarding the Carlisle-Settle-Leeds line as I would love to see some beautiful scenery and visit some market towns instead of only spending time in big cities. I wasn't exactly planning on spending 50 quid a day on food, but I would hate it if I'd ran out of money by the time I arrive in London (which has happened once to me before haha). But thanks for the great advice!I know that Liverpool is more than just the Beatles and football, because I am actually not a Beatles fan (and not a real football fan either ghehe). I am definitely going to visit Liverpool as it seems like a great city to me, which I wouldn't want to miss on my trip to England. Thank you for the information! I will certainly visit the sights that you pointed out, and I hope that one day will be enough to experience some of Liverpool!
6
Check out the Cathedrals and if you can go on a trip up to the top of the Anglican Cathedral, the views are amazing. The buildings around William Brown Street and St Georges Hall are pretty impressive. Have a trip on the ferry. Its a fairly compact city so you can see a lot of it in a day.I only really mentioned it because someone said to come to Liverpool if you want to immerse yourself in the Beatles and football (No offence to them for saying that). The Beatles aren't my cup of tea at all. They did provide some entertainment though. Back in the 90's I got the bus home from school at the end of Penny Lane and loved watching the look on tourists faces when they saw it. "Its just a little road in the suburbs with houses and a few shops!" Ha ha. I think they were expecting the Champs Elysees.
