13Days Trip plan to Great Britain-Advice appreciate

Our Arrangement is from June 8 to June 20, 2014

I am working on my planning of itinerary for a 13 days trip to Great Britain. I am very glad to have some advice on the plan.

D1 Edinburgh -Nira Caledonia

Beijing to Edinburgh, Arrived at Edinburgh on 4:50PM, D1 we will take a rest and walk around the princess street to have a good dinner

D2 Edinburgh-Nira Caledonia

Edinburgh Castle- Royal Mile Walks

Edinburgh Castle-Gladstone’s land-St Giles Cathedral-Scotland National Museum

D3 Edinburgh-Nira Caledonia

Calton Hill-Holyroodhouse of palace- Scottish Parliament- Princess Street

D4 Bath Dorian House

Take a long train to Bath, arrived at Bath on 3:15PM

Jane Austin Museum-Royal Crescent- Take a Spa

D5 Bath Dorian House

Stonehedege Trip-Roman Bath- Bath Abbey-Pulteney Bridge

D6 Bath Dorian House

Oxford Day Trip

D7 London A apartment of Airbnb Buy a 7-days Travelcard

National Gallery-Trafalgar Square-Coven Garden Market

D8 London Buy a Six days London Pass

British Museum-Charles Dickens Museum-King’s Cross Station-Sherlock Holmes Museum-Madam Tussauds

Kensington Palace is pending for the arrangement, as the plan for D8 seems busy.

D9 London West End Trip

Wellington Arch-Buckingham Palace(not entering)-Westminster Abbey-Big Ben-House of Parliament-No.1 Downing Street

It will be a long walk day

D10 London South End Trip

Borough Market-Shakespeare's Globe Theatre-Tate Modern-London Eye- The Phaeton of Opera

D11 London Center of London

St Paul's Cathedral-Tower of London-Tower Bridge-Thame River Cruise

D12 London

Windsor Castle Day Trip

It is a pity that the Elton College will closed in 2014.

D13 Last Day in London

We will take the airplane at 6:00PM to back home

We plan leave the last day free, such as take a relax walk in Hyde Park, and take a visit to V&A Museum.

The Pity of the trip plan

I cannot include the trip to the Cotswolds.

I am really want hear some advice from you.

Regards,
Robert

Edinburgh - The Insight Guide for Edinburgh easily available from the tourist office for about £7 is a good guidebook for walking around the City.

Train journey to Bath though long is interesting giving a wide spectrum of southern Scottish and English scenery from wild moorlands over Shap to the pastoral areas of Cheshire and various industrial areas such as Birmingham. More interesting than an internal flight to say Bristol.

London - If you are interested in Kings Cross Station you should also make time for neighbouring St Pancras with its wonderful renovation of the hotel and train shed and then since you appear to have a lierary interest the British Library is also close even if you restrict yourself to items such as the Lindisfarne Gospels.

British Museum - After the hordes looking at the Egyption collection you may find the Japanese collection both interesting and an area of tranquility!

Do not be too worried about Eton being closed; a walk over the bridge from Windsor takes you close to the College and you will at least gain a flavour of the place.

If you can try the Thames River cruise earlier in your stay. It does really give you a good overall flavour of the complexity of London and its many sites. The river bus (Cityclipper) is as good as any and worth taking it through to Greenwich.

Do not however try to cram too much in. Just walking through the Parks and Georgian Squares or along the river is a joy in itself.

R

Edinburgh - The Insight Guide for Edinburgh easily available from the tourist office for about £7 is a good guidebook for walking around the City.

Train journey to Bath though long is interesting giving a wide spectrum of southern Scottish and English scenery from wild moorlands over Shap to the pastoral areas of Cheshire and various industrial areas such as Birmingham. More interesting than an internal flight to say Bristol.

London - If you are interested in Kings Cross Station you should also make time for neighbouring St Pancras with its wonderful renovation of the hotel and train shed and then since you appear to have a lierary interest the British Library is also close even if you restrict yourself to items such as the Lindisfarne Gospels.

British Museum - After the hordes looking at the Egyption collection you may find the Japanese collection both interesting and an area of tranquility!

Do not be too worried about Eton being closed; a walk over the bridge from Windsor takes you close to the College and you will at least gain a flavour of the place.

If you can try the Thames River cruise earlier in your stay. It does really give you a good overall flavour of the complexity of London and its many sites. The river bus (Cityclipper) is as good as any and worth taking it through to Greenwich.

Do not however try to cram too much in. Just walking through the Parks and Georgian Squares or along the river is a joy in itself.

R

I will try to move the St Paul and Cruise tour to a former days.

Very helpful advices and response. Thanks you Rodway.

Rod/Robert
Train journey Edinburgh to Bath goes via York, not down the west coast.
My concern is that in13 days you are only seeing about 1% of the UK. I would personally cut down London to about 3 days and Edinburgh to 2 days and then spend more time elsewhere: Scotland,York ,Lake District etc but if that is what you want to do then it is ok by me.

"Rod/Robert
Train journey Edinburgh to Bath goes via York, not down the west coast.
My concern is that in13 days you are only seeing about 1% of the UK. I would personally cut down London to about 3 days and Edinburgh to 2 days and then spend more time elsewhere: Scotland,York ,Lake District etc but if that is what you want to do then it is ok by me."

Pedro,

Thanks for your advise.

We will arrive at Edinburgh at the local time around 5:00 PM, actually it is a 2 days in Edinburgh.

In our past experiences like in Roma, I planned 3 days, Paris and Barcelone for 5 days, every time I feel I have no time to fully explore the sights, as a result, I keep around a whole week in London, including a day trip to Windsor. Hope we can have a next trip to GB in the future.

I am a little doubt on whether three days in London is sufficient.

In short I would say some of your days look a bit soft, not enough in them. Cram more into your days in London and you'll have more time to do other things elsewhere, for example add a day to Edinburgh and take a train to Glasgow for a day trip.

Edinburgh is not a big city. All the activities you listed for each day can easily be done in just a few hours, leaving you with the rest of the day to explore the city.

By the way, there aren't any good restaurants on Princes Street. It's a generic high street with lots of big name shops. George Street is more upmarket. But if you want seriously good food the best restaurants are tucked around town, not on Princes or George Street.

There are tour companies that organize a day's tour into the highlands, usually stopping at Loch Ness and a visit to a whisky distillery. I do think it would be a shame to go to Scotland and not even see a bit of the Highlands.

If you're taking the train from Edinburgh to Bath you may want to stop at York for at least a few hours. It's a lovely city with a fantastic cathedral and charming city centre. The train station is quite handy to the city centre and the cathedral is only a 15 minute walk. You should be able to book your ticket to allow for a few hours' stopover.

Bath abuts the Cotswold. If you had an extra day you could explore the Cotswold, although without a private car this is quite hard to do. I'm not a big fan of Stonehenge (I find it vastly overrated and worth perhaps a 10 minute viewing) so perhaps on that day you could skip the Stonehenge and focus on trying to get into the Cotswolds. There are many great stately homes in the area and it's well worth visiting at least one.

It sounds as if you're trying to see all the usual touristy sights in London without any thought as to whether they will actually interest you. Madame Toussands is very expensive and do you really want to see waxwork dummies? The Dickens Museum is just where he lived for some years. If you want to see what a middle class London townhouse of the 1830s and 1840s was like then it's worth visiting, but otherwise you're not really going to get much of a sense of who Charles Dickens is. It's also quite small as you could easily spend less than an hour in there (the last time I went I spent only about 40 minutes in the museum). But it can be combined with a visit to the British Museum.

"Wellington Arch-Buckingham Palace(not entering)-Westminster Abbey-Big Ben-House of Parliament-No.1 Downing Street...It will be a long walk day"

That's just a couple hours walk, not a long day. You have plenty of time to do other things.

Same with your planned day for St. Pauls Cathedral and the Tower of London. That's just a few hours, not an entire day.

You can easily combine several of the planned days in London into one or two longer and more active (but still not strenuous) days, leaving you with more time to see other museums or to take day trips from the city.

What about a day trip to Oxford? Easily done by bus or train. Some of the colleges are open for public viewing. If you're disappointed at missing Eton then Oxford is a more than adequate substitute.

Edinburgh is not a big city. All the activities you listed for each day can easily be done in just a few hours, leaving you with the rest of the day to explore the city.

By the way, there aren't any good restaurants on Princes Street. It's a generic high street with lots of big name shops. George Street is more upmarket. But if you want seriously good food the best restaurants are tucked around town, not on Princes or George Street.

For restaurants, I have done some research on Tripadvisor of some good restaurants, like Ondine, The Dogs, do you have some traditional or good restaurants recomendation?

I am sure about whether Day trip to highlands is enough, I am also feel a little pity for not have a chance to go to the highlands.

If you're taking the train from Edinburgh to Bath you may want to stop at York for at least a few hours. It's a lovely city with a fantastic cathedral and charming city centre. The train station is quite handy to the city centre and the cathedral is only a 15 minute walk. You should be able to book your ticket to allow for a few hours' stopover.

For advice on take a stop in York, it is a very helpful advice, I will check the train timetable to see whether there is a train fit for us.

Bath abuts the Cotswold. If you had an extra day you could explore the Cotswold, although without a private car this is quite hard to do. I'm not a big fan of Stonehenge (I find it vastly overrated and worth perhaps a 10 minute viewing) so perhaps on that day you could skip the Stonehenge and focus on trying to get into the Cotswolds. There are many great stately homes in the area and it's well worth visiting at least one.

As originally planned ,we will go to Oxford for a Day-trip. I am also very interested on have a chance to visit Cotswolds, I will check whether there is a Day tour to Cotswolds, as we have not planned for rent a car for these days.

t sounds as if you're trying to see all the usual touristy sights in London without any thought as to whether they will actually interest you. Madame Toussands is very expensive and do you really want to see waxwork dummies? The Dickens Museum is just where he lived for some years. If you want to see what a middle class London townhouse of the 1830s and 1840s was like then it's worth visiting, but otherwise you're not really going to get much of a sense of who Charles Dickens is. It's also quite small as you could easily spend less than an hour in there (the last time I went I spent only about 40 minutes in the museum). But it can be combined with a visit to the British Museum.
Good suggestions for us, I am really want to find some local activities or other interesting sights in London. Perhaps, we could skip Madame Toussands, and go to little venice or take a tour to the district of Chelsea or Notting Hill instead.

"Wellington Arch-Buckingham Palace(not entering)-Westminster Abbey-Big Ben-House of Parliament-No.1 Downing Street...It will be a long walk day"
That's just a couple hours walk, not a long day. You have plenty of time to do other things. Same with your planned day for St. Pauls Cathedral and the Tower of London. That's just a few hours, not an entire day.

I have found some suggestions for St. Pauls and Tower of London, it give the suggestion about 3 hours tour for each one, so I want to keep a whole day for these two interesting sights.

Good Advices, We have planned a trip to Oxford.

Thanks for your particular advices for our whole itinerary, Tallybalt. I will take some considerations for your suggestions.

Hello,

These are just suggestions, feel free to cut, paste and discard as you wish.

Although I live on the South East Coast of England I have of course been to London many times and have always found these activities very enjoyable. I am unsure what your personal interests are but hopefully the below info will be useful.

Day 7 – You don’t specify what time you will arrive in London but I will assume midday (11am) for reasons I can’t explain! Settle into your accommodation, I would suggest staying in Zone 1 unless you don’t plan on being out late during your stay (there are night buses & taxis once the underground stops though).

First day, just get your bearings and relax mostly.

Covent Garden for Lunch (depends on your price range but if you want a cheap eat in an interesting atmosphere, Covent Garden usually has a giant communal wok of Paella for 5 quid at its centre). Lunch time is busy but it’s nice to see it then because all the street performers are out entertaining. Walk around the little shopping areas.

Wander from here to the British Museum, spend the afternoon here.

Continue to Piccadilly Circus for dinner.

Go to Kings Cross Station to take the underground back to your accommodation (after admiring the station itself of course!)

Day 8 – London West End Trip- All of these sights are surprisingly close together and you can walk to each quite comfortably. I would recommend looking at Trafalgar Square and wandering into the National Gallery (09:00-10:30) go through Wellington Arch about 10:45am in the morning, pop round the corner at 11am to Horse Guards Parade and watch the Changing of the Guard. Wander through St James Park (try not to get mugged by the squirrels! Take a lunch with you or buy lunch in the park and relax) When ready, continue walking through the park until you reach Buckingham Palace. Continue from there to 10 Downing Street, continue walking and you will reach Houses of Parliament, Big Ben and Westminster (take a wander inside as it is impressive and there are many famous figures buried here).

Walk over the bridge and along the Thames to Borough Market and have a scrummy late lunch, just eat in the market itself and wander around tasting! (It’s open until 5pm) Wander back towards the bridge and jump on the London Eye for a view of London at sunset. Catch an early evening show at the Shakespeare’s Globe.

Day 9 - London South End Trip – Stroll along Kensington High-Street and take a peep in Harrods grand and ridiculously expensive window displays.

Just off the high-street take a look at the Natural History Museum (this is a must see for me, more so even than the British Museum, it’s just beautiful & interesting). You can easily spend an hour or two here.

Buy something to eat and take it with you (pre-planned) or, stop somewhere, bearing in mind that Kensington is an expensive place for food.

Continue down the road to Kensington Palace; eat your lunch in the Kensington Palace Gardens. If you want to go inside, perhaps spend an hour or so max).

You are now practically in Hyde Park, take a stroll to Speakers Corner to see if there is anything happening and then catch a River Boat from Hyde Park to Camden Loch (this is much more unique & enjoyable than a Thames Cruise).

Take in the eccentricity of Camden Town, wander through the markets and people watch  this is a unique part of London you should not miss. Have lunch here from the many stalls (I have eaten here many times and never been sick so do not worry!)

If you are into music, see if there are any live shows that evening in Camden or spend the evening as you choose on the day.

Day 10- Spend the morning at the Sherlock Holmes Museum.
Have lunch in Regents Park, hire some deck chairs and chill.
Afternoon Free – Go souvenir shopping –Oxford Street, Bond Street, Regent Street, or, go to the Charles Dickens Museum.
Go to an afternoon Matinee of The Phantom of the Opera at her Majesty’s theatre. Get there a bit early to soak up the atmosphere. Have a few drinks afterwards.

Day 11 - A Spooky Day! Go to St Pauls Cathedral in the morning and before departing have a late breakfast in the Crypt.
Walk to the Tower of London and Tower Bridge and wander the dungeons & take in the history – see if you can spot Anne Boleyn!

Grab a bite for a late lunch.

Go to the London Dungeons – it sounds cheesy, but it really is great fun after taking in dry facts all day. It is very refreshing and different. It is by no means just for children!

Go to an early evening of acting (not musicals or Shakespeare) of one of the oldest showing plays, the Woman in Black.

Try and get some sleep!

Day 12 – Windsor Castle dedicated to an entire day would be a bit boring after a while…I could spend half a day there and be happy. It’s further away too. Possibly spend this day seeing other things on London’s perimeters such as Hampton Court Palace (morning) and Kew Gardens (afternoon).

D13- Last Day in London
We will take the airplane at 6:00PM to back home. Free day.

Sorry, just realized I said Wellington Arch...it's not called Wellington Arch! But you cant miss it ne'how, its right opposite Trafalgar Square.

Very useful information, thanks RLouiseB1.

For three days in Bath,

D1 in bath We will arrive at 3PM, I would like to go the Roman Bath.

D2 in bath, We would like to take the one day tour of Madmax, go the stonehenge and Cotswolds.

D3 in bath, We plans to go the Oxford for a day-trip.