Planning Ideas for a UK Vacation
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Need some planning ideas for a UK vacation? Me, too! Let’s chat. Share your tips and tricks for traveling with kids in the United Kingdom.
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The crew walking through Kensington Gardens, Fall 2014
Today it’s Q&A day! Where I give the Q, and you provide the A. 😉
I’m super excited that our family is going to be traveling through the United Kingdom this spring, and while I furiously scan the internet for the best places to visit, I also know that YOU are some of the best people to ask.
I did this years ago when we were planning our first Disneyland trip with kids and again before we took the kids to Europe the first time. How immensely helpful your suggestions have been! Our family has benefitted so much from your hard-earned wisdom. So, today, I’m turning the mic over to you as concerns UK vacation travel with children.
How would YOU plan a UK vacation?
Feel free to plan my family’s UK vacation. Hypothetically speaking, of course.
Who: Two parents, Six kids, ages 8 to 19
Our kids have spent a month abroad, with about 7 days in London and another three weeks in western France. They have a small idea of what to expect, but as you know London is not the sum total of the United Kingdom. They will be ages 8, 10, 13, 14, 16, and 19 when we go, though two of the boys will have birthdays while we are abroad.
Where: the United Kingdom, plus Ireland
The boundary lines are pretty wide open. We fly in and out of London and have the ability to hire a car.
When: 4 weeks in the Spring, before summer vacations begin worldwide
Since we homeschool, we can make our own calendar, but we needed to wait until our college son was done with his finals.
How: Budget travel
Let’s say you have about $25,000 to cover transportation and travel expenses for eight people. While the dollar has been stronger as of late, in comparison to the pound, we realize this is not a skies-the-limit kind of trip.
Feel free to leave me links, book recommendations, travel spots, things to pack, tips, etc.
I love castles and historical sites, for sure, and loved Edinburgh Castle and the Churchill Museum And War Rooms, etc. But my favorites were visiting the Yorkshire Dales and seeing the Scottish Highlands. The Highlands made me feel as though I’d stepped into a world of giants, knights, sea faring adventure, and mystic tales. That was just driving around, nevermind the stops we made. My visit to the Yorkshire Dales was largely driven by a book called James Herriot’s Yorkshire; we saw things like The Buttertubs which is an unmarked places at the top of one of the fenns (mountains) where the peat has washed away from the limestone. If you like a hike, I suggest Malholm Cove–something I chose not to do in favor of going into Hawes to visit the Wensleydale Creamery. Hardraw Force is the highest single drop waterfall in the U.K. — or maybe just England — and is accessed by paying a small fee in a quaint pub for getting onto private land. I’d have to do some recon with the family to find the places I went in the Highlands. I think my parents planned that trip along with my English brother-in-law.
Sounds like a great trip! My husband has great memories of the James Herriot film series. The kids and I have read some of kids’ books. I need to get some more James Herriot stuff. Thanks for the reminder.
Ulster American folk park, the north coast, Giant’s causeway, Dunluce castle etc in Northern Ireland are all super. Castleward national trust property is beautiful also-and I believe you can stay there in little ‘glamping’ pods. Belfast is a great city to visit-Dublin is overrated!
I have looked at the glamping. Haha! So fun!
When our children were young (age 2 and 8) we lived in England for a year while I did a Fulbright exchange teaching near the Lake District. I’m glad that’s on your list. Tons of places to walk and we spent a lot of time at Windermere. We did have a car and acclimated (my husband driving) after a few days. Scariest at first were the roundabouts where, of course, you go opposite what we’re used to. The car allowed us to go to rural places that the train could not get us to, although we did take the train on longer trips. I’d also suggest to bring (or buy there) a collapsible cooler for picnics.
St Michaels Mount near Cornwall was fun. You can reach it by foot or boat depending on the tide.
Plymouth-to see where the Pilgrims set sail.
Also York, which may others had said.
We spent an amazing week in the Mull of Kintyre in Scotland but that’s a bit far as it’s way north.
The one thing I really wish we did, that we didn’t do, was rent a canal boat. They come furnished, sleep up to 8, and we regret not going on that adventure.
Have a wonderful time! Family travel is the best!
Thank you for the suggestions! What an amazing experience that must have been.
I agree with everything the previous commenter Nicky said! Trains are very expensive in the UK, and a car is really needed once you leave the city center. We found Novotel to be a very family friendly hotel when traveling in the Uk and Europe.
We lived near Windsor for 3 years, and you can some of our travel by looking at our travel page https://txtanya.blogspot.com/p/travel.html or just searching for the location you want. My top picks for the UK would be: London, Windsor Castle, York, Edinburgh, the Highlands, Bath, Wales, and Cornwall. I also spent two weeks in Ireland many years ago. It is worth a visit, but might be a lot to squeeze all into one trip.
Let me know if I can help!
Thanks for your link! I can’t wait to sit and read all your posts!
We love the Great Britain! We spent our honeymoon in London and have taken several other trips there. You’ve gotten some great information about England and where to visit. The Tower of London is amazing, as are the portrait gallery, walking tours, plays, and the British museum. You could easily stay the month in London with day trips and never be bored, but there is so much more to see and do in the rest of the United Kingdom.
I would highly recommend looking into getting a self-catering house in Scotland, if you’re going in the off season. The grocery stores are great and you can cook all your meals yourself. We only ate out three times in the 8 days we visited. Many of the self-catering places have lots of great outdoor activities you can do that are available at the rental house. Hiking, fishing, horse riding, archery, falconry, bikes, games, pool tables, and lots of room. We stayed in a place that was close enough to take day trips to Edinburg, Glasgow, Loch Ness, Inverness, Culloden, Pitlochery, visit Scone Castle, hike in the highlands, get to the ocean and drive to Aberdeen for dinner. The waiter thought we were crazy for driving so far for dinner, but being Texans we don’t have much regard for a mile ;). Most of the time we took food and a waterbottle with us everywhere we went. There was always somewhere to sit and eat and a place to fill up our water bottles. We even took our own tea bags and got hot water to make tea most places without a problem.
VisitScotland.com is a great place to start looking. Good luck with your trip. It sounds amazing! I can’t wait to take my son, niece and nephews back to Scotland. It is full of history and a great place to be outdoors and explore.
Thank you for all the great suggestions! We are definitely looking for self-catering options. We were able to picnic in hotels last time, but a kitchen and fridge would be so nice.
Suggested itinerary (not knowing anything really about what sort of attractions you and your family might be most interested in visiting):
Arrive in London, spend a few days recovering from jet lag/sightseeing
To Cambridge, 1 night is probably enough to get a feel for the place
To York, for up to a week (as above)
To Newcastle, for maybe 3 nights? (Hadrian’s Wall, castles etc)
To Edinburgh, for a couple of nights (Castle, Zoo etc)
To Glasgow, for a couple of nights (Kelvingrove in particular)
To the Lake District, for 2-3 nights (lakes, Beatrix Potter, Wordsworth)
To Liverpool, for a couple of nights (Beatles! and several other very good galleries and museums as well – I can give you more info about Liverpool if you want, as my husband is from there)
Fly to Dublin for a few days, and back to Liverpool (maybe? not sure if you have time to squeeze it in, and you’d have the problem of what to do with your hire car while you were away)
To Stratford upon Avon (Shakespeare)/Warwick (the Castle is excellent) via the Ironbridge Gorge in Shropshire, for 2-3 nights
To Bath, for a couple of nights (Jane Austen/Romans)
To Glastonbury (King Arthur) and on to Salisbury (Cathedral/Stonehenge/Avebury), for a couple of nights
And back to London, possibly via a detour drive through the top of the New Forest
🙂
Personally, I would recommend trying to do Wales/Ireland/the highlands and islands of Scotland in another trip. 4 weeks really isn’t very long, and there is sooo much to see.
This is so fun — it’s almost exactly the path I had been carving! Great minds…. Thank you!
Yay! 🙂 I look forward to hearing all about your trip eventually.
Some random thoughts:
Travelling by train can be very expensive, particularly if you try to buy your tickets on the day of travel. If you buy tickets in advance, using eg thetrainline.com, you can get some good deals. I highly recommend you don’t travel until after 9am and avoid Friday evenings. A much cheaper way of travelling is by coach – but it does take aaages. If you want to get out into the countryside, you really need to hire a car. If you’re just going from city to city, then train/coach might be easier.
It’s much cheaper to make your own sandwiches for lunch than to buy lunch, and tap water is fine to drink. Remember that tipping isn’t as big a deal as in the US.
B&Bs might seem like good value, until you realise that you have to eat out for dinner – and many B&Bs don’t even let you bring takeaways back to your room. Youth hostels can vary widely re their family friendliness, but I have some friends with 3 kids who always go youth hostelling for their holidays. The big advantage is that you can cook your own food. Might be worth checking the YHA website to see what is available for the places you’re considering visiting.
The weather in spring is very variable, so be prepared for both cold and wet/hot and dry, as you’re likely to get the whole range.
If you’re considering visiting lots of stately homes it might be worth getting a family membership for the National Trust: https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/join-us#Family Likewise, if you’re considering visiting lots of castles and other ancient monuments, it might be worth getting family membership of English Heritage: http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/join/ Look at their websites to see what’s available in the places you’re considering visiting.
If you’re driving out from/into London, it will take you at least an hour before you’re out of the city (or longer if it’s at rush hour). It takes sooo long! If you’re nervous about driving in the UK, then it might make more sense for you to avoid driving anywhere near London. It’s a whole different kettle of fish to driving around the rest of the country.
Thanks for the tips. Love it!
I would have to say when you and if you venture into Ireland, I would check out The Ulster-American Folk Museum. We don’t learn much about how the Irish were treated in their homeland, their voyages here on the “coffin ” ships and then their treatment here. Gave me a real sense of pride to be of Irish decent.
Thanks for the tip!
Re London, here’s a number of links to give you some ideas about what you can do which is cheap and/or off the beaten track:
http://www.timeout.com/london/things-to-do/101-things-to-do-in-london (Time Out is a great source for anything to do with London – try searching for cheap eats, cheap accommodation etc)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/united-kingdom/england/london/articles/Londons-most-unusual-museums-50-of-the-best-part-one/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/united-kingdom/england/london/articles/Londons-most-unusual-museums-50-of-the-best-part-two/
https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2012/jul/23/50-free-things-to-do-london
https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2012/jul/24/50-free-things-in-london-south-east
https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2012/jul/24/50-free-things-north-london
Thank you!
Premier inn hotels that I have stayed in, especially close to Heathrow are great. A trip to the New Forest and the ponies is lovely. A lot of the major tourist attractions in London are ridiculously expensive and with 8 of you would be prohibitive. The lake district is very pretty and Scotland can be lovely but us very dependent on weather
We stayed in a Premier Inn in London, will be going back this time, as well.