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Post by hazelnutlatte on May 16, 2011 9:42:09 GMT -5
Hi everyone,
We're having our honeymoon in June in the UK and would like some advice on possible itineraries. We'll be flying into London from Singapore and we plan on visiting two or more of the following places:
1. London
2. Edinburgh (and maybe the highlands?)
3. York
4. Bath/Stonehenge
We understand that it's not possible to visit all of the above in such a short period of time, so we came up with a few options:
Option 1: London and Edinburgh (including a visit to the highlands or Isle of Skye)
Option 2: London, York, Edinburgh only
Option 3: London, Bath/Stonehenge, Edinburgh
Option 4: London, York, Bath/Stonehenge (will York be a good enough substitution for Edinburgh?)
Must-sees in London for us are:
1. Westminster Abbey
2. Houses of Parliament/Big Ben
3. Buckingham Palace
4. Tower of London & Tower Bridge
5. Picadilly Circus
6. British Museum
7. Billy Elliot musical
Nos. 1-3 and 7 we plan on doing it in one day, 4-7 the next day.
Would be great if we could squeeze in some time to visit Portabello or Camden Market... or Brick Lane.
Any help or advice is appreciated!
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Post by Eagle on May 16, 2011 23:47:58 GMT -5
hazelnutlatte,
Welcome to the Boards and congratulations!
June is not far off, so it would probably be a good idea to pre-book accommodations soon, as that will be in the peak of the spring shoulder season.
It's difficult to know which of the four options to suggest, as which one to choose will depend to some extent on what you're most interested in. Three of your choices feature Edinburgh, so I'm assuming that's important?
That's a very short trip, especially after travelling such a long distance! Is there any possibility you could add a few days? Do you have to return to London for your flight home?
For such a short time frame, I'd normally recommend visiting only two places, however it should be possible to fit three cities in to that time frame if it's really important to you. Therefore, Option 2 seems like the most workable. You could consider:
> London - 4 days
> York - 2 days
> Edinburgh - 2 days
York is not really a "substitute" for Edinburgh, as they're both somewhat different. You'll need to allow some time for travel between locations, which will be at least half a day in each case.
One other point to consider is the time difference. You'll probably lose one day in the flight from Singapore to London, so be sure to account for that in your planning.
Hopefully the others will have some suggestions also.
Happy travels!
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Post by madamtrashheap on May 17, 2011 2:38:30 GMT -5
To add to Eagle's notes, such a short trip will involve making a list of things you absolutely have to see/do and things that will be a bonus if you get to to them this time around, otherwise they stay on the list for the next trip.
I'm with Eagle in choosing Option 2, but that's only if you can spare more time for London.
If you can't then I'd go with Option 1, making 5 days London and 4 days Edinburgh. That way you have time for travel between the two (plane, train?) plus you can take an organised day trip from London to Bath and Stonehenge. Many tour companys (Evan Evans is one that springs to mind) often have Windsor in their Stonehenge/Bath trip, so that's a bonus. And time in Edinburgh will let you either day a (long) day trip to the Highlands (I'm guessing you're thinking of Loch Ness mainly?) or even spend a night somewhere in the highlands before travelling back to London for your flight.
It's worth keeping in mind that Camden Markets are best visited on the weekend (ie Saturday and Sunday) as that's when they are in full swing. Fridays aren't bad if you're stuck for corresponding days. Portobello Markets have different things in different sections of the markets - antiques, clothing, food, etc - and they stretch on for a long way, so check which section you want to see, or allow a lot of time to go through them all. And remember Saturdays are jam packed, making it difficult to move quickly.
And one last thought, you should consider one full day for a Sightseeing Bus Tour, one of the hop-on-hop-off ones will do the trick. That way you get a good orientation of the city, take photos and get off at the sights you want to go into whilst added a few extra ones to your hit list. These busses leave from many points around the city and your accommodation will have information on at least one of them. The two bigs ones (Original and London) are both fine, so whichever you see first will do.
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Post by hazelnutlatte on Jun 4, 2011 23:08:57 GMT -5
Hi,
Thanks for the tips and advice! We've decided to cover only London and Edinburgh. Train tickets have been booked. This is our rough itinerary:
Day 1: London (arrive at 4pm).
Walk by Big Ben and Parliament in the evening. Maybe head down to Oxford Street and Picadilly Circus to take a look around. Should we do a hop-on-hop-off tour now or wait until the next day?
Day 2: London
Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, British Museum
Day 3: London:
Day trip to Bath + Stonehenge + Oxford
Day 4: Edinburgh
Head towards Edinburgh Waverley via East Coast rail (arrive at 3.30pm) from Kings Cross. We'll be staying at a hotel near the station.
Day 5: Edinburgh
Visit major sites in Edinburgh
Day 6: Edinburgh
Take a day trip to the highlands. We're thinking of driving or taking a tour (any recommendation?). Would love to visit Skye but we understand that we don't have much time to do that, so we're thinking of something like Stirling-Loch Ness-Glencoe.
Day 7: London
Head back to London at 11am, arrive in the late afternoon around 3.30pm.
Option 1: Spend the evening walking around, shopping for gifts and souvenirs.
Option 2: Visit one of the open markets
Day 8: London
Tower of London/Tower Bridge, Hampton Court, musical at night
Day 9: London
-More shopping and exploring what we might have missed
-Head to Heathrow airport for our flight back home at 10pm.
How does our itinerary look? Should we allocate one more day to Scotland so that we might spend more time in the highlands?
Thanks for your help!
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Post by Eagle on Jun 5, 2011 0:24:29 GMT -5
hazelnutlatte,
Your revised Itinerary looks reasonably good, however I have a few concerns....
> I'd wait until the following day to take the Hop On / Hop Off Bus tour. You're going to be tired and jet lagged on arrival day, so likely won't have the energy for much touring.
> Day trip to Bath / Stonehenge / Oxford - it may be possible to get to Bath and Stonehenge in one day (although you won't have time to see much at either location), however I'm not sure that you'll have time for Oxford as well.
> For day tours from Edinburgh, you might have a look at Timberbush Tours or Heart of Scotland Tours. I'll be visiting Edinburgh in a few months, so have researched those tour options for my trip. I wouldn't bother driving as the tour will be much more interesting and relaxing.
Whether to spend one more day in Scotland will depend to some extent on your interests and whether you want to see more in Edinburgh.
Cheers!
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Post by madamtrashheap on Jun 5, 2011 22:39:25 GMT -5
I'm with Eagle in recommending you wait until your first full day in London to to your bus tour. That way, you can just stroll at your leisure on day 1, have an early dinner and get some rest before taking on the hop-on-hop-off tour first thing the next morning. You'll be able to plot the sights you want to get off at and how much time you'll need that full day once you've had a bit of rest.
As for the day trip from London - I'm not sure you'll have time to do all the things you listed plus a day trip. The British Museum can take quite a chunk of time. If you do decide to do a day trip, it will have to be either Bath & Stonehenge OR Oxford, not both. Unless you're taking an organised tour (like Evan Evans) in which case this will make for a long, but full day. I think they do a Windsor, Stonehenge, Oxford tour from memory.
Day trips into the highlands from Edinburgh are easy enough to find, and simplier than driving yourself. As Eagle noted, spending an additional night there will depend on how much more of the highlands you want to experience vs time in London.
Not sure what "open markets" you're referring to in London, but many of the ones you listed previously close around 4pm as a general rule.
I am glad to see that you are heading back for time in London before you fly out, rather than trying to make it down from Scotland the day you fly out. That way, you won't be rushing and you can still have at least one full day to play in London, even if you do decide to stay longer in Scotland.
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