If you only had 7 days in UK where would you go?

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sd5

London - (all this stuff is free) Camden Market (if it's a weekend), British Museum (take a free tour), the south bank of the Thames at sunset opposite the Houses of Parliament or at the other end of town at Tower Bridge and the Tower. Most museums in London are now free so that is a huge plus!

Wales - go to Snowdonia in the north, has the perfect mix of Welsh language, culture, wilderness and history. Concentrate on castles and mountains. Caernarfon is a very popular castle as is Conwy (my favourite), both Unesco sites. Everyone goes up snowdon (the highest mountain) as there's a train! But there are other accesible mountains and you can walk up easily (take care, obviously).

Ireland - you can take the ferry to Dublin (Dun Laoghire + bus / train) from Holyhead, north Wales. An amazing day trip and not expensive. Dublin - the Guinness museum, Trinity college.

Scotland - a long way from anywhere! If you have the money or are clever take the sleeper train overnight to Fort William and explore Glen Coe / Ben Nevis. Other option - Edinburgh, the castle is expensive to enter but is pretty good.

A britrail pass is a good idea. Get a lonely planet or similar and do your reseach before you come! Oh, and the UK is more expensive than you think.

The main airport is of course, London Heathrow. Birmingham is in the centre of the country whilst Manchester is well served and in the north of England. Could you consider arriving at one and leaving from another?

Have fun!

tracy e

stratford upon avon will shakespears territory its beautifull. in wales you wont get much prettier than monmouth.

Rose

Seven days is not long enough to see England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland - so here are my recommendations for just England (fly into Heathrow or Gatwick - Stansted is a long slog from the city!)

I would suggest, in London - the London Eye, The Tower, Greenwich, for the maritime museum and parks, reached by the rollercoaster-like Docklands Light Railway - fun in itself. The V&A museum and the Photographers Gallery. Shopping in Portobello or Kings Road, plus the top dept stores - Harvey Nicks, Selfridges and Liberty. A guided walk is a good idea eg Jack the Ripper tour. The South Bank for shows, rather than the West End. I would eat at Pret-a-manger for good fast food and Conran or a Time-Out recommended pub in the evenings for an English feel.

Avoid like the plague: Madam Tussuards, The London Dungeon, Covent Garden and Oxford Street.

Further afield, Bath can be easily reached by train. Bath has amazing architecture and the fab Roman Baths.

For the British seaside try Brighton (less than 1 hr from London by train) - great shopping in the Lanes and good nightlife, plus the Pavillion is wonderful.

Or, the North Norfolk coast eg Wells next the sea, or Hunstanton.

Cornwall (though this is a good 6-7 hrs from London) which is very scenic - sandy beaches, surfing, rocky coastlines, old tin mines, standing stones, cream teas!!!

dinodino

Absolutely no way can that be done in seven days. This a trip I have done in seven days -- 2 days in london. Take train to York. This is medeval city with walls still intact, Old Yorvick expereince that takes to through the city when it was a viking town...and take bus tour to the Yorkshire Dales or Moors. I think one could do that in a day. Two nights in York

Then I rented are car and drove to Edinborough this took one day
a very leisurely pace. However, as they drive on the other side of the Road that could be intimidating. So Alternative is to take train to Edinborough. The best way to see highlands is also by car, but there must be bus tours also. 2 nights in Edinborough.

Then fly home from Edinborough. This trip at least gives you flavor for two countries.

Some of the other people are sending you all other the place very impratically.

Another idea is to fly to Edinborough and focus on Scotland and North of England.

amy d

Edinburgh is lovely. Cant go wrong going there. The lake district is nice too.

Travellin Bry

Start in London on an open top bus seeing the sights and check out a west end show, then travel up to Stratford Upon Avon, the home of Shakespeare and full of very old and historic buildings.
York is a nice city, Newcastle and Durham are good for shopping and night life. Edinburgh is a must stop off for the castle, gardens and the people, try some haggis and black pudding. Travel up the west highland way through some of the most beautiful countryside in the world making stops at some of the small villages. Head up into Skye and then onto the islands of the orkneys and shetlands. Before having a well earned drink in a Dublin pub.

mjs

winchester-it an hour on train to london- an hour to the southcoast-it is a small , easy going city-and being the ancient capital of england is full of history- we have the cathedral,roundtable, beautiful country walks, through out the meadows etc. nearby we have southampton /eastleigh airport-great for inland flights to scotland,ireland wales . bournemouth is great for nightclubs.again an hour away. well worth considering

Forlorn Hope

Not London...

Depends what you like to see...

History, YORK!!!
Countryside, YORKSHIRE, CUMBRIA

stargazer

London (fly into either City or Heathrow airports - heathrow is on the underground)
Edinburgh (cheaper to fly internally, check www.skyscanner.net for cheapest flights)
Cardiff (not sure the cheapest way to get there, but probably coach)
Dublin (fly with Ryan Air or Aer Lingus).
with a week though she wont be able to see any of these places for very long at all. If she had time I can recommend Durham, its beautiful.

Girl from the Borders

Northumberland is really beautiful and full of historic castles and things. Its close to Newcastle as well, which has a kicking nightlife, and is pretty central for Scotland, The Lake District, Manchester etc all being a few hours drive.

NONAME

i would go to the aeroport to buy a ticket to the republic of georgia!!
woohooo

richie_b

I assume (probably wrongly) that your North american ...
Do London for a day - you can see all the main sights on foot and you'll burn the cash if you stay and longer .... then get up north to see the real Britain. There is some top countryside in Yorkshire, Cumbria, Wales and Scotland ... and some great historical cities too York, Stratford, Bath, Huddersfield.

rukidding

Lets see...Gosh that's a lot of territory in 7 days. I've been to London 3 times and Scotland once and there's still lots to see. If she's going to the capitals, I suggest one of those open air tour buses that give you an overview of the sites and allows you to jump on and off for the price of a ticket for 24 hours. That way she'll have an idea of what's there and she can choose what she's interested in and jump off and see it.

julie618490

she could go to Edinburgh castle or loch lommond in scotland they are nice places to visit. i think lutton airport is quit central.

pinoyscrewer

England has got to be London, there is a cheap hostel in Crawford passage off the Farrington Road that is especially for foreign youngsters doing exactly what your daughter is going to do. The Hostel even has their own security officers because some famous Americans have stayed there including Bill Clintons daughter. It easy to find, look for Guardian newspaper and it is at rear of that building. Wales, she should visit Bedgelert or Carnavon for real welsh history and Scotland should be Edinbrough for Scot History. Forget Ireland because with a week she wont have time, but if she do go to Dublin and try real Guiness and breakfast of black and white pudding. Drinking age in U.K is 18.

Lulu

Manchester
Lake District
Edinburgh/Glasgow
Brighton
Blackpool - very english and if you are snobby, quite good fun.

X P

1st thing try to manage more days in your budget. Check about deals from Railway....If you book in advance they give a big discount + there are always good offers for students.....

qatpoo

No London is not central. Notts East Midland or Birmingham are central, but depends where she wants to go first.
Scotland, do not miss Glen Coe and poss the western isles.

EURiCO

London- tour of london's highlights and 5* hotel !!!

lozzlaws

Cornwall. Stunning scenery, great people, relaxing, just great.

Bristol aint bad, but we do talk like farmers!

egger

I think that the north of Scotland could rival ANY country in the world. It's beautiful and in November you can see the northern lights. The Lake district has stunning scenery. Scotland has (I have been told) the largest natural area of wilderness left in Western Europe and Scottish people are really nice to boot. Edinburgh (capital of Scotland) has a real continental feel and a good airport. there is always loads going on in Edinburgh and your daughter would never be bored. I live near Birmingham Airport and that is about as as central England as you can get but Manchester is another big and well located airport. Don't bother flying to Stanstead. The journey sucks.

Bridget

I wonder if she's graduating from high school or college. Europe has good youth or student rates. Check them out before she leaves. I went 8 years ago when I was in college and traveled by BritRail (which I understand no longer exists) and stayed at hostels. I LOVED staying in hostels, especially in out of the way small villages, some of the hostels were gorgeous old Victorian houses. Hostels in London were crap, it was better for us to stay at Bed and Breakfasts. London hostels are too expensive and crowded (and noisy b/c it's too many to a room). You pay just a little more for a B&B. In Ireland Giant's Causeway is amazing--volcanic rock formations on the North coast. But she'll probably only get to Dublin if it's only a 7 day trip. Dublin is cool too though, the museums, Temple Bar, lots of walking and things to see. Taking the ferry to Dublin is fun. I went for about 9 days and didn't have time to make it up to Scotland. We were Beatles fans so we went to Liverpool (great shopping there too) for the Magic Mystery Tour. Also went to Salisbury for Stonehenge, Bath (I thought was only so-so, back then young people clubbish party place at night), and then little places along the way, those were my favorite. I like walking along the Thames. I backpacked so I lost like 10 pounds in a week with all the walking and extra weight on my back. So fun. I loved the train travel too. It's relaxing and you still get to look out and see what's around you. She's going to have a blast. Just have her bring a locker lock if she's staying in youth hostels. And as for the airport, Heathrow is usually the cheapest from the U.S. and there is sooo much to see in London, she'll want to spend a few days there definitely. Go see the historical stuff and catch a half price show at night--there used to be a last minute ticket booth.

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