Trip Itinerary

Hi!

I'm starting to get a good idea on a trip to Scotland and London in a year (mid May) and I'm just looking for some advice on the rough (I mean VERY rough) itinerary that we are thinking about.

Currently it looks like we may be staying near Farringdon Station in London and close to Waverly Station in Edinburgh. We will not have a car.

Day 0 - Fly overnight into Edinburgh from Philadelphia
Day 1 - Check in and explore immediate area & Royal Mile
Day 2 - Edinburgh Castle, National War Museum and Royal Palace
Day 3 - Holyrood Palace, Author's Seat and/or Calton Hill with Holyrood Park
Day 4 - Begin 3 day tour to Isle of Skye
Day 5 - Isle of Skye
Day 6 - End 3 day tour to Isle of Skye
Day 7 - Leave Edinburgh in the AM and take train to London; Arrive in London in the afternoon
Day 8 - Tower of London in the AM then St. Pauls Cathedral in the PM; Walk around Borough's Market, Millennium Bridge and Tower Bridge
Day 9 - British Museum in the AM then a walk around Trafalgar Square, Covent Garden, Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square
Day 10 - Take the day to the Warner Bros. Studio Tour; Huge Harry Potter fan so I plan to take a long time
Day 11 - Westminster Abbey in the AM then a walk by Big Ben, 10 Downing Street and Buckingham Palace with Churchill War Rooms in the PM
Day 12 - Take 1 day tour to Bath, Stonehenge, Avebury & Lacock. I'm sure we will be spending more time in Bath when we come back, but we want to see those other sites too and this is the best way
Day 13 - Half day to Windsor then free to do whatever or get packed up for our departure
Day 14 - Check out and fly out from Heathrow in the morning/afternoon back to Philadelphia

I feel like I've read the guide books a million times over but it's hard to know if I'm on the right track or not. None of this is set in stone at all, its just a way for me to organize the things that we want to do and we can roll with the punches with 'most' of it when we get there. The tours are the only thing that will eventually be set. I'm hoping it all makes sense! I appreciate any insight :)

Take 1 day tour to Bath, Stonehenge, Avebury & Lacock.

We took a day-trip by tour bus from London that visited Bath, Stonehenge, and Salisbury Cathedral - and I have to say that Salisbury Cathedral was the absolute highlight, but I concede I'm and architecture / history buff.

Otherwise, your trip looks pretty good, and well planned. Although, during one of your three full days in Edinburgh, I would be looking at a bus or tour to Stirling Castle ... again, an historical highlight for us.

And you're visiting a fair number of ticketed historical sites - have you investigated whether some form of National Trust pass might be economic? I don't know the details.

Why have you chosen to stay near Farringdon Station?

Consider merging days 1,2 and 3 into 2 days. Stirling Castle along with Wallace Monument is a better option than Edinburgh Castle but you may visit on your Skye trip.
Day 14. Better places to go than Philadelphia!

I’m not quite sure what you mean by Royal Palace on Day 2 - Is this Edinburgh Castle or Holyrood House. I’m not aware of another one (unless you are meaning the ruined Criagmillar Castle in Edinburgh?)

National Trust Membership as mentioned by Jinglii isn’t going to help as none of the places mentioned are National Trust (apart from Lacock Abbey and the day tour may well include this ).

Have you thought about using the sleeper between Edinburgh (or Glasgow) to London?
https://www.sleeper.scot/
You could catch it at the end of Day 6 and this would give you a full day in London for Day 7 (OR - better still - another day in Skye)

Just a shame you're zooming through all the other interesting places between Edinburgh and London - Durham, York ..... - or are those planned for next time??

I actually do not think the tour goes to Stirling. I really wasn't sure just how much we could do that first day we get there so I left it pretty bare. I read that Edinburgh is small so maybe we can do more in one day. Stirling Castle was something we wanted to see.

I've never heard of the National Trust pass, I'll look into it! I know we're going to stop on more places with the tour so that definitely could be useful.

It's a nice and reasonably cost Airbnb that I've found so far but I'm still looking. I just wanted to add it to help make the day plans more clear!

We've never flown this far before so we weren't sure how much we could do day one. It will be an early arrival, have you done that before and been able to hit the ground running?

To be honest I looked into a sleeper a bit. Not sure why I stopped. I think I was worried about getting back from the tour late and to the train station.

I actually wrestled for awhile with York. I tried making it work more times than we can count but there was so much we wanted to do on London. I wish we had more time off of work. We actually originally were not even planning to go to Scotland and we were going to spend 4 to 5 days up in that area. It is a must for next time for sure!!

Day 14. Better places to go than Philadelphia!>

We live near Philadelphia.

Most tours (but not all) include entrance fees into various sites in the price. I think you need to have a fairly specific set of NT properties to visit, in order to make a pass work for you. But worth checking!

The village of Lacock is tiny, with a pleasant garden around a modest manor. You can visit a stable and the abbey house, which is barren inside. Its tourist attraction is built on looking a century old (or more). The town has hidden its electrical services, TV reception and so on, to serve as a backdrop for period TV and film shoots. A theme park in reverse, I suppose, recreating what has been there rather than fabricating it. An hour plus lunch will cover it.

https://www.google.ca/maps/dir//Lacock+Abbey,+Lacock,+Chippenham+SN15+2LG,+UK/@51.4148046,-2.1231358,17z/data=!4m9!4m8!1m0!1m5!1m1!1s0x48717b591d698cfb:0x172e4bf18b3dd772!2m2!1d-2.1171611!2d51.4146597!3e0

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