Help me plan the finer details of my UK Summer vacation!

We will be travelling to the UK this summer for an ex-pat reunion!

What is planned so far:
we land at LHR 26 June
we depart from EDI 11 July
we will spend the first day/night in London and just rest, maybe see a play and have nice dinner
day 2 we pick up rental car (from WHERE?) and want to tour Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, and Bath -- spend night in Bath or that area
day 3 head to Pembrokeshire coast for reunion
day 8 drive with another family from Pembrokeshire to Edinburgh, stopping along the way (WHERE?) and spending 1-2 nights (WHERE?)
day 11 arrive in Edinburgh,part ways with other family who will stay with friends (WHERE to go, what to see?
days 12-15, tour Scotland- do we stay in Edinburgh and strike out on day trips? Stay in Edinburgh one night and drive from site to site?

If there is anyone who enjoys planning, or has any tips or suggestions for us, would love to hear from you. We are 2 middle aged active adults travelling without kids. We have been to London a few times but never anywhere else in England or UK. We are thrilled to return to Europe and appreciate your advice!! Thanks so much!!

SettinSail said:

We will be travelling to the UK this summer for an ex-pat reunion!

What is planned so far:
we land at LHR 26 June
we depart from EDI 11 July
we will spend the first day/night in London and just rest, maybe see a play and have nice dinner
day 2 we pick up rental car (from WHERE?) and want to tour Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, and Bath -- spend night in Bath or that area

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Right,I have lived in London and Edinburgh and my sister lives in the Bath area.

1. I would advise staying at a hotel at the airport. As you only want to spend 1 day sight seeing in London, the hotel prices are almost double in central London compared to what they are at the airport. There is very good transport from the airport to central London. This is what I would do - land in Heathrow, get shuttle bus to a nearby hotel, relax and eat. Next morning, get shuttle bus back to the airport, get the tube into central London, day sightseeing in London, get tube back to airport, get shuttle bus back to the hotel. The tube journey from the airport to central London takes about 40 minutes and you can get an all day travelcard which will give you unlimited travel on buses and tubes for the day.

2. Staying at a hotel at the airport then means you can rent a car from the many car hire companies. This will mean you don't have to drive in central London, which is a nightmare.

3. Then the next morning, you wake up, check out of the airport hotel and collect your car

4. Windsor is only about 20 minutes on the motorway from Heathrow airport

5. From Windsor , Stonehenge is about 2 hours drive on the motorway

6. From Stonehenge Bath is about an hours drive, don't think that part of the journey is on a motorway though (just looking at the map, you will go through the village where my sister lives )

7. I can get back to you about places to stay in Bath. I have been to the town many times but I usually stay with my sister and get the train there

SettinSail said:

day 8 drive with another family from Pembrokeshire to Edinburgh, stopping along the way (WHERE?) and spending 1-2 nights (WHERE?)

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There are lots of places along the way, major cities like Liverpool and Blackpool, or more random little towns and villages. I would look at the route and then research the towns and cities on the route and go from there

SettinSail said:

day 11 arrive in Edinburgh,part ways with other family who will stay with friends (WHERE to go, what to see?
days 12-15, tour Scotland- do we stay in Edinburgh and strike out on day trips? Stay in Edinburgh one night and drive from site to site?

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Ok, I just had a look at your travel dates again. July in Edinburgh is MAD SILLY SEASON Edinburgh population basically doubles over the summer due to what is known as Edinburgh Festival but is actually multiple festivals all running at the same time. Wait for it.....deep breath... there is the Edinburgh Military Tattoo show at Edinburgh Castle, the main Comedy Festival, the side comedy festival, the book festival, the film festival, and all sorts of street entertainment night and day.

At any other time I would tell you to stay in Edinburgh, but unless you are really quick and book your hotel in the next few weeks, I really doubt you will find a hotel in Edinburgh.

The next option is to stay in Scotland's second city, Glasgow and travel over to Edinburgh to be part of the madness. The train journey between Glasgow and Edinburgh is about an hour and is a well travelled route. When I lived in Edinburgh I used to go shopping in Glasgow on my day off

Most of the sightseeing trips will probably go from Glasgow as well as Edinburgh. Most are day trips, yes you can even go see Lough Ness on a day trip The one I would recommend is the day trip to Sterling. I took my dad on this. Sterling is the real life town where William Wallace "Braveheart" is from and you can visit the castle and see the battlefields where the real battles took place

Thanks so much Bad Tink! This is great info. It was bothering me that we would go sleep in Central London only to have to return to Heathrow to pick up the car.
That makes more sense to sleep near the airport and just take the tube to and fro.

Good to know about Edinburgh being so busy during the Summer! We will consider staying in Glasgow and taking day trips from there. I will add Sterling to the list. The other must-sees I have on my list are
Edi Castle
St Andrews
Loch Ness
Highlands

If you can think of any others, let me know! Thanks!!!

hi @SettinSail I just did a double check on the Festivals date, Its August they are all on this year. Edinburgh will still be crowded but not as much as August. You know have the option of either city. So sorry if I have confussed you.

The Castle is amazing,but so is the rest of the area around it. Edinburgh is a city of two halves, the Castle is in the old town and across Princes Street is the new town. The new town is the main shopping and commercial area, where as the old town is the historic area.The Castle is at the end of a street called The Royal Mile, which is full of living history. I would also recommend MARY KINGS CLOSE, which is a real life walk through the streets of 17th century Edinburgh. It is the real streets which have been excavated and preserved. Take a day just walking around Edinburgh Royal Mile and old town. At the end of the Royal Mile is Holyrod Palace where The Queen stays when she visits Edinburgh. This is also open to the public and well worth a visit

Thanks for that, so we will probably then research both Glasgow and Edi and see which one we'd rather base ourselves from.
That sounds like many European towns, divided between a historic area and a more modern area. I have added Mary Kings Closie, Royal Mile and Holyrod Palace. This is great info! Thanks so much!!

Agree with the PP about staying around Heathrow, it will be much easier car wise, living in London I can warn you that you won't want to drive here so hiring a car from Heathrow is much more advisable and you'd get to Windsor much quicker.

I'm not sure you'd see Windsor, Stonehenge and Bath all in a day though, we've done the drive that way a few times and once off the main motorway traffic has always been awful, what should be a 3 hour drive has always taken 4-5hours but if you're staying in Bath you could allow the next day or at least morning to explore there a little though bearing in mind from there it's around a 4 hour drive I think to Pembrokeshire

One place I may suggest stopping on the way to Edinburgh is Lake District, imo is one of the prettiest places in the country

Thanks Disney Belle, will have to add the Lake District as a possible area to explore on our drive from Pembrokeshire to Edinburgh.
Yes, we definitely never planned to drive while in London. We've been there many times, this trip we will only spend 1-2 days there and just want to go into the city briefly since we are right there!! We will not pick up the rental car until we check out of our hotel ready to head to our friend's house at the coast. She says she is a 4 hour drive from London. I got the idea of touring Windsor, Stonehenge and Bath all in one day from a coach trip I saw online. It was a daily tour that leaves from London daily and returns 11 hours later. Now, I want to add Althorp as well so there's no way I can do all that in one day. I hope to do as you suggest and end that day near Bath to tour it the next day. I would also love to tour Highclere, but it is closed then! I am planning on long days full of daylight so we can arrive as late as 8-9:00 at my friends house, giving us a long full day to tour things on the way!

If you're staying in Glasgow, for history visit Glasgow Cathedral, the Provands Lordship (oldest house in Glasgow, 15th century) Kelvingrove Art Gallery. Shopping in Princes Square (best after London) but can be very expensive. Take a tour bus around the city, some of the tour guides really know their stuff and you can hop on/off the bus. You can do this in Edinburgh too, but I would totally recommend the Edinburgh Tattoo. I've been to several and had a fantastic time.

cathydisneynut said:

If you're staying in Glasgow, for history visit Glasgow Cathedral, the Provands Lordship (oldest house in Glasgow, 15th century) Kelvingrove Art Gallery. Shopping in Princes Square (best after London) but can be very expensive. Take a tour bus around the city, some of the tour guides really know their stuff and you can hop on/off the bus. You can do this in Edinburgh too, but I would totally recommend the Edinburgh Tattoo. I've been to several and had a fantastic time.

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Thanks Cathy! I think we are still planning to stay in Edinburgh but we will definitely be touring Glasgow so I have added all your suggestions to the list! I'm not familiar with the Tatoo - googled it and looks like it is in August. We will be there in July

It's very awesome plan . Also i want to do it .but some problems there fore i can't do it .Hope you enjoy very well .