Mrs. Mike has decided we, her parents & my mom are going to England and Scotland in maybe May of next year.

Anyone have suggestions for places for us to visit. And should we choose a different month? We thought it won’t be so warm (for them).

So far:
Buckingham palace

I want to see Hadrians wall in maybe Bath

——-update numero one——-
MRS MIKE has asked about hotels, is there a particular chain that’s better than others?

——2——
She says we’re gonna be there for 10 days.
I know nothing of the place, but like military history , so please include those

This info is how she’s gonna arrange the trip.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: MikeinNC,

The only piece of advice I can think of is get to Westminster Abbey early if you want to visit. I've been to London three times and have yet to see the inside because I didn't want to wait in the line.

My wife and I have been over there several times. My e-mail is in my profile and you're welcome to contact me.

wife and I went n 2008, and plan on going back in 2026 for our 40th anniversery,

we did Bath, great town, try the water, it does taste horrible,
our tour bus was pushed for time, so we only got a short visit there, that area deserves a bit of time,

if you are an XTC fan, the chalk horse is not that far from Bath

My favorite time to go to Scotland is late September and October. Definitely avoid the summer (way too many tourists). May and June is the start of Midgie season (think black flies on steroids).

The northwest coast is incredible. Culloden at dusk is haunting. You can feel the souls of the dead Highlanders in the winds blowing across the Moor.

What parts of Scotland are you interested in? My wife and I have been all over the Highlands and can give you plenty of recommendations.

In Scotland visit Edinburgh and tour the castle.

In London there are all sorts of things to see.

The Tower, Westminster Abby, Buckingham palace, St Pauls cathedral etc. I could go on but you get the point.

If you like military history and will be in London, try to visit the Imperial War Museum and Churchill's war room.

Tower of London is well worth a visit.

If you enjoy a wee dram now and then, I'd take advantage of being in Scotland to visit a couple distilleries or three.

In addition to the above mentioned items, I love going to the British Museum. If you can get a tour, see the Tower of London, the House of Lords and the House of Commons. Harrods London Department Store is cool, even if you don’t shop or buy anything. They have an amazing food court in the basement.

If you want suggestions for Scotland, my wife goes to Edinburgh for business at least once a year, contact me and we will get you a list for that city and nearby locales.

As a fan of British military and naval history, I would be sure to visit HMS Victory in Portsmouth.

The Imperial War Museum would also be a must-see for me; it encompasses five sites, I believe, including Churchill's war rooms.

Imperial War Museum

Visit the ravens at the Tower Of London!

Take a day or two from sight seeing in London and run up to the Cotswolds, specifically Broadway or maybe Chipping Camden or Stow on the Wold. If spending a night up there, suggest staying in Broadway at "Russells, a Restaurant with Rooms"

1) Research hours of operation for the attractions you want to see, well ahead of your trip. Opening can be later and closing earlier than what is common in this country.

2) In London, the Underground is a fast easy way to get around.

3) The hop on, hop off tourist buses are also a good way to get around in London.

4) Many attractions are within easy walking distance of each other in London. Don't be fooled by a map into thinking things are too far apart. Before jumping onto the Underground or a bus, consult a maps app on your phone for the walking time/distance to your next destination.

5) If you're interested in history, navigation, etc, visit Greenwich for the observatory and then the maritime museum. Read the book "Longitude" before your visit! A water taxi from London is a fun easy way to get to/from Greenwich.

6) Use one of the train apps to find cheaper train fares. Some specific times are vastly cheaper than others.

7) Depending on your interests in history, check out videos (youtube, netflix, prime) and look for books in your library. In London there is endless historical things to see. A bit of Roman wall by the Underground station at the Tower station. Shakespeare's theater area (building is gone), Blackfriar's iirc, where you can walk the alleyways and eat in a pub where he did. Fleet Street offers the Templar church, Sweeney Todd's, etc. The Old Bank of England Pub is a fun and reasonably priced meal.

8) Many castles and estates to visit. Warwick Castle is one of my favorites.

9) I strongly discourage renting a car and driving yourself.

10) Bath and Stonehenge are worth visiting. They do run bus tours from London that hit both in a day. Or do them separately. Stonehenge is a 1-2 hr event. Bath is anything from a couple hours in the Roman baths to a couple of days.

11) If you're into musical instruments, the museum at the Royal College of Music is worth a couple of hours.

I can recommend a great travel consultant, if you’re interested. Otherwise, we were in Scotland just last year. After you leave London, rent a vehicle, drive a loop to Hadrian’s wall, up into Scotland. So much to see in Scotland: the Isle of Skye, Inverness, and St. Andrews for example (you don’t need to be a golfer to enjoy St. Andrews). End up in Edinburgh, drop off your rental, spend two or three days there and get around on foot, bus, taxi. Fly out of Edinburgh to LHR for your flight home.

How long is your trip?

I would suggest picking a couple places and spending quality time on them rather than trying to do it all and exhausting yourself in the process and not really having a good experience.

You could spend a month in London alone and not even cover half of what it has to offer.

If you’re doing Bath, hit Stonehenge.

There's also the Royal Armories Museum that's in 3 different locations. Ian McCallum of Forgotten Weapons has done multiple interviews with Jonathan Ferguson over various subject and highlighted a few rare pieces of their exhibit.

If you're also doing Scotland and you're over in Speyside, you might try taking a few trips at several of the distilleries there. They very rarely use peat in their whisky so you shouldn't be in for a rude suprise.

Its been a while, but my suggestions:

In London:

The Tower of London - worth it for the ravens alone.

Westminster Cathedral for early mass, then walk a few blocks to Westiminster Abbey for Sunday [i]Matins[/b].

The London Eye, at night.

The Holland & Holland Gun Room at rd Floor, 36 St James's St, London SW1A 1JD, United Kingdom

In the north/Scotland:

Roslyn Chapel

Hadrian's Wall, but one of the excavated gatehouse

The Lake District

Any of the stone circle sites (Stonehenge ain't the only one). Get a pass from UK Heritage (https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/) to get a guide to their sites, plus a much less expensive entry fee at the sites.

Best advice I can give you (based on experience), is not to try to do or see too much. Pick several areas and do day trips from the sites.

In Scotland spend a few days in Edinburgh and then do a couple of days in Inverness to explore the Highlands. Go to the Visit Scotland, Scotland's National Tourist organization's website. It has a wealth of suggested tours and individual attractions. In the Highlands,if you want a very "personal" distillery tour, try Edrador in Pitlochry. It is the smallest commercial distiller in Scotland and has a great tour. If you do some research, you will find that many of the now amalgamated Highland regiments have regimental museums, sprinkled throughout the Highlands, usually in the areas where they originally recruited. I have been to several (the Black Watch regimental museum in Perth was a favorite).

The Culloden Battlefield and Museum is absolutely worth visitng. It is a very moving experience.

In Edinburgh, the castle is an obvious choice to visit as is the Royal Mile in general. The Hollyrood Palace and the Scottish Parliament Building are worth a stop, The Royal Museum of Scotland is absolutely worth a visit as well. I can tell you that Edinburgh was the first place I have ever been where haggis is on the hotel breakfast buffet, as well as being a popular pizza topping. It is much better tasting than most folks would have you believe.

There is more to do in London than I possibly have room to type. As for military museums, the Imperial War Museum and the National Army Museum are terrific. One that many people miss is the Guards Museum on Birdcage Walk. While not huge, it is absolutely worth visiting.

The Victoria and Albert Museum is wonderful and may be more interesting to the family members who are not as interested in military stuff. Harrods is worth a visit for sure. I could go on and on, but a good guidebook and an Oyster card for the public transit system will open London up for you.

Another suggestion are the Hop on Hop Off tourist buses. You pay one fare and can jump off and on over the course of the day. We got a good idea of the layout of the city riding over the course of the day (as well as visiting many places and getting sunburned!). I think we went through Trafalgar Square six times over the course of the day. Be aware that many of the "classic' hotels do not have air-conditioning (the modern ones obviously do) and sometimes do not have window screens (never imagined having a pigeon sitting inside my hotel room window in London). Find one of the classic hotels and do "High Tea". I guarantee you that the female members of your group will absolutely love it.

Just to echo what others have said, late September is nice in Scotland. Not too many tourists and the midges are mostly gone. Aviemore is a great town to base out of to experience the Highlands. Dalwhinnie distillery is a good tour.

In response to your wife. Don’t stay in hotel chains, a big part of the charm of the UK, Ireland (Europe) is staying in hotels unique to that area, and there are many in the UK. I can make some suggestions around Scotland, or as I said above, recommend a great travel advisor.